Taft High is a great school for its staff and students alike. The clubs on campus are diverse and not overlapping or overshadowing the other. The band and varsity football team is a duo to be reckoned with.  And students have something to say for how they view Taft High. Yet nothing is perfect.

Reina Mendoza, a Sophomore at Taft High says, “I honestly believe they should fix the math department and their way of teaching and how they switch out teachers nearly every year.”

It’s no secret that the math department has had a few teachers through it. Lately, there seems to be one or more who don’t stay and, instead, leave after only one year.

“There’s a lot of students complaining about the math department, mainly because every teacher either assigns too much homework for a single class or teachers who barely give any study material and expect the students to understand everything.” said Reina Mendoza.

According to the graph of TUHS academics on the California Dashboard, Taft Union High School is currently in the red for mathematics. The school has declined 6.7 points since 2017, putting TUHS 116.7 points below the standard. An attempt was made to find out what factors the math department felt led to the decline, but no response was received from Department Chair Angela Pendergrass.

On the other hand, clubs are a star aspect Taft High has to offer. Whether it be cooking, drawing, or playing music, there’s a club for all students.

Payge Hartley, another Sophomore said, “Music clubs are definitely great ones; there’s not ranking for first place, but the band is a great way to reset and recharge after a stressful day having to sit a desk the entire day.”

It has been proven that music, well good music, is able to lift a person’s mood and put them in a better mindset for the day. Let’s be honest, everyone has had those days where the burnout hits and turning on a favorite playlist brightens everything.

Staff issues are thankfully not prevalent at TUHS and students are happy to not have that one staff member that always seems to bring the room down. In fact, Taft High has the opposite. Kim Fields is definitely the person to go to when you’ve had a bad day. You can usually find him in the halls telling everyone they’re amazing and they’re champions. Kim Fields is like everyone’s friend at school.

“Oh he’s amazing, it’s always nice to hear him yell that I’m a champion when I’m heading to a class I don’t exactly like,” says Esteban Espinoza, a Junior at TUHS.

Taft High may not be the perfect school with perfect food and perfect locker rooms, but it does have integrity and history that everyone can appreciate.