Mr. Flynn’s Resolutions for the New Year
Mr. Flynn is excited for a great school year at YLHS!
September 27, 2019
At the beginning of the school year, each student has his or her own wish: to share classes with friends, to have an easy class after lunch, to have friendly teachers. Freshmen hope they don’t get lost; sophomores hope they will more easily find a table at lunch; juniors hope they can survive their classes; and seniors hope they can avoid senioritis. Mr. Flynn (Staff), however, has his own hopes and goals for the school year.
Mr. Flynn has been the principal of Yorba Linda High School since it opened in 2009. The 2019-2020 school year marks his eleventh year at YLHS, and his excitement for the upcoming year is unmistakable as he proudly discusses his plans for the year.
The biggest new idea being introduced to campus this year is the Mustang Way program, a project created by assistant principal Mr. Okamoto (Staff) and counselor Mrs. Pike (Staff). The three pillars of the Mustang Way are respect, responsibility, and integrity, and students who demonstrate these ideals are rewarded with Mustang Way cards which can then be entered into a drawing for prizes such as gift cards.
Mr. Flynn is excited to “recognize students for all the great things they do. It’s our goal to reinforce all the positive things, whatever they are. They could be from opening the door for somebody to helping somebody with their homework…we’re excited about the program and our drawings and our postcards that are going home.”
Another program started this year was the staff spirit teams, which Mr. Flynn explains as “eleven spirit teams, and there’s about eleven people on each team, and we’re always competing against each other: wearing spirit wear, going to the activities, being involved in school.” The spirit teams and Mustang Way program “kicked off our next ten years. We had our first ten years, and now we’re excited to kick off the next ten. It’s fun.”
The Mustang staff also grew this year and welcomes science teacher Mr. Hipwell (Staff), social science teacher Mr. Domen (Staff), special education teacher Ms. Ling (Staff), math teachers Ms. Chen (Staff) and Mr. Cole (Staff), and Spanish teacher Ms. Hoffman (Staff). Mr. Flynn is “so excited to have new people. It’s the most new staff members we’ve ever hired on campus, so it’s exciting.”
Mr. Flynn’s focus for this 2019-2020 school year is to “kick off the next ten years. We had a great [first] ten years, but now, let’s focus on the next ten years…and what can we do to energize staff and energize students. Our two great programs are spirit teams for the staff and the Mustang Way for the students. So I think that if somebody were to ask me what I’m most proud of, right now, for the staff and for the school to start this year, those two items.”
Kicking off the next ten years cannot be the responsibility of these two new programs alone, however–these efforts also lie in the students of YLHS. Mr. Flynn strongly encourages students to “get involved. As always, we want everybody connected. Get involved with something, whether it’s your strong academics, or it’s clubs, or it’s, theater, or music, or going to the activities–just be a participant. Whether you’re a fan, and you just want to cheer on your teams, or if you want to be part of those teams.”
From Mr. Flynn and the staff of The Wrangler, have a great school year, Mustangs!
