SYHS makes preparations to begin school year

By Michael Chaldu · Mon Aug 10 2026

Summer vacation is winding down and how is the time to get class schedules and books, and — oh, yes, decorating parking spots

By Mike Chaldu

We have entered August, and with that becomes the beginning of the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

And with that, students, parents, and teachers are already taking steps to make it a smooth start. Last Thursday and Friday, July 30 and 31, students started picking up their class schedules, and took care of things like getting ID card photos taken, picking up books, T-shirts, and PE gear, and on Saturday, it was a chance for seniors to decorate the area around a fairly recent perk: Reserved parking spots on campus.

Overseeing all of this is Principal Tori Martinez, who is beginning her first full year in that position.

"We're really excited about just getting our kids back on campus," Martinez said on campus on Friday, July 31, as incoming freshman and sophomores came in to get their class schedules and supplies. "We've had a few improvements over the summer. Our track was resurfaced this summer, our theater has had some nice improvements, and we're really excited for being a couple years into this team of people running the school. We're really excited to just keep building on what we've been establishing."

Martinez was promoted from vice principal to principal shortly after school started last year in a restructuring that saw previous Principal/Superintendent Dr. Kim Sheehan give up the "principal" part of her title to concentrate on administrative duties.

And there was some changes over the summer for SYHS's administration. One that Martinez is excited about is the appointment of Jennifer Connolly as the school's new special education director.

"This is the first year we have a special education department of our own," Martinez said. "Before we had Santa Ynez Valley's Special Education Consortium, which served all the schools in the Valley. With the change, now our special education is run by our own staff, and Jennifer is wonderful. We really get to do what's best for kids on our campus all the time with all of us on the team."

The school also had a switch in the vice principal's seat, with last year's VP, Jasmine Day, moving to Solvang School, where she's now the upper school principal.

"We got Greg Wolf to take over as assistant principal for discipline and attendance," Martinez said. "He was a former California Teacher of the Year, so we're very thankful to again have someone who's very student-first in that role, as Jasmine was."

The SYHS campus on Friday was a buzz of activity as freshman and sophomore students got their schedules (juniors and seniors did so on Thursday) and went on a station-to-station trip around the campus to get picture IDs, books and laptops from the Pirate Academic Center, and PE clothes, among other things. Later would be the orientation for the new students, followed by a parents meeting.

"Our aim in all of this is to have everything ready for the students on the first day of school so they can get started immediately," Martinez said. "Before, they would take care of that on the first day of classes, and they wouldn't really get things going until the next day, and we've tried to eliminate that."

Over at the Pirate Academic Center, which includes the library and study areas, students were lined up to get books, laptops, and whatever study materials they needed.

One of the students there was incoming freshman Dominic Fiore, who was getting ready for his new transition.

"I got my geometry and Spanish books, and I'm looking forward to those classes," he said. "I'm looking forward to playing golf this year at the school, but past that I'm just waiting to see what's interesting and what I might want to do in future years."

Also at the academic center was Ryan Miller, a sophomore getting ready for his second year at SYHS.

"I'm in ASB, which is why I'm helping out here, and I want to stay in that," he said. "I'm just excited to see the difference between my freshman and sophomore years and how much harder the classes will be."

The next day, Saturday, Aug. 1, the activity on campus shifted over to the parking lot as some senior students, helped by family and friends, brought out the paints, brushes, and rollers to make their reserved parking spot their own for the year.

One of them, Jaslene Perez, chose the inspirational route after she missed most of her soccer season last year with a knee injury. A stencil set up on the pink background showed the message "God is within her; she will prevail" with a cross to be added later, according to her mom.

"I had an ACL tear last year at the beginning of soccer season, and I had the surgery the day before Christmas," Jaslene said. "It'll be a message to remind me, despite any setbacks, I will strive to succeed."

Perez has high hopes this year for getting back on the soccer field, and she's also looking forward to her four AP classes this year helping her with college admissions.

"Also, I'd like to make some new friends this year," she said. "Most seniors won't bother trying to meet new people because they figure they'll be going somewhere after high school, but not me — I always like to meet new people."

Another senior working on her space was Lilliana Palacios, who actually got a space next to two of her friends and they agreed to do a SpongeBob SquarePants theme for their spaces.

"We each picked a character from the show for our space, and I picked Patrick Star," she said. "Ever since we got our spaces we've been thinking about how to do it, and we always like SpongeBob, so we went with that."

The upcoming year is one to "get ready for the future," Palacios said. "I'm on the basketball team and we just missed the CIF championship last year, hopefully we can play for that again, and after graduation, I want to continue my basketball career at Santa Barbara City College."

Class started for SYHS on Thursday, Aug. 6. Good luck to all the students on campus.