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The City of Cupertino held its annual Pooch Plunge event on Saturday, March. 29 at the Blackberry Farm pools, inviting dogs from all over to enjoy a day in the water. The event consisted of four 45-minute blocks starting every hour from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., with 40 dogs attending each block. This is the first year in which the event will be held twice — one springtime session in addition to the annual fall session, which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 6. Jason Bisely, the Pools and Picnic Recreation Coordinator at Blackberry Farm, says that the choice to introduce a second day was the result of its popularity and high demand for the event, which could not be met with just one day.
“When we first started, it had three swim blocks, and just because it's been so popular, we added a fourth one,” Bisely said. “We talked about adding a fifth one, but that ends up being a pretty long day, and it starts to get a little bit tough for staffing. It's our favorite day of the year, and it always sells out. So we figured we'd open up another one in the preseason, see if it was just as popular. And turns out it is.”
Photos and reporting by Anika Bhandarkar and Ananya Chaudhary
In this post we focused on visually showcasing the dogs swimming and interacting with their owners. Along with this we wanted to spread the information that this is the frist year in which the event is being hosted on two days.
GREEN FLAG. Right from the first time she watched a Color Guard show in freshman year, senior Juyeon Kang was hooked, watching in awe as the color bearers twirled their flags in sync. She later joined the team during her sophomore year. After four seasons of Guard and a promotion to logistics manager, she says her favorite part of Color Guard isn’t the pretty flags but instead the tight-knit community.
Kang participates in both Color Guard and Winter Guard, but she prefers Winter Guard. Unlike Color Guard, which includes both Marching Band and the Guard team, Winter Guard is a smaller team consisting only of Guard members. Kang believes having a smaller team allows them to “learn more about [themselves] and get to know each other a bit better.”
Kang says it’s the small, unexpected moments that make up her favorite memories, namely planning team holiday parties and goofing off with her teammates at practice. Kang recalls a team trip to San Diego last winter where she and her teammates got to stay in a hotel and cook together, making it particularly memorable.
“I really appreciate this opportunity to be on the same team with them, and then to spend another great season with them,” Kang said. “I just hope to make more memories.”
Though Kang is excited for the upcoming Winter Guard season, she says she found her last fall season competition surprisingly emotional — a testament to how important the Color Guard community has become to her.
“My formation was right next to an underclassman and when I made eye contact with her, I just started sobbing in the middle of the show,” Kang said. “The fact that this was my last fall competition made me feel so sad.”
This post features an athlete at my school who participates in a unique sport: color guard. I chose to interview her after observing her at school lugging around flags larger than she. As I watched her and talked to her, all I could think about was that has it been me in her position, holding such large items, I would be complaining. Yet, Juyeon walked around campus with a smile on her face no matter how large an item she was carrying. This is why I decided to interview her for El Estoque's "What Brings You Joy" social media feature, as she emobodies the idea of joy.