Branham Bear Witness

The softball team played the Notre Dame Tigers on Saturday in the CCS Division IV final and lost 0-5.

Before the game, both teams were congratulated for making it this far and all players and coaches were introduced.

During the first four innings, both teams battled it out in a tight game as neither team scored.

The Tigers hit back-to-back doubles that scored first runs on the board in the fifth, which gave them a 0-4 lead. They scored again after a single to right to make the game 0-5.

The softball team finished their season 13-13 overall, with a league record of 6-8.

Reporting by Cain Cheng

The softball team played the Pacific Grove Breakers yesterday and won 5-0 to head to their first CCS final.

The game started off slow, with both teams playing with shutdown defenses in the first three innings. However, the Bruins rallied during the fourth, scoring four runs.

Junior Kaitlyn Douglas was in the hot seat in yesterday’s match, having three at bats and cashing in an RBI for the team, with screams of her name yelled from the dugout greatly motivating her during the trips she made to the plate.

On the defensive side, both junior pitcher Taylor Bugliarello and junior third baseman Autumn Burns had defensive plays that limited the Breakers’ ability to put runners on the bases. Aiding them in the defensive effort was junior Lily Jensen, who made a diving catch in shallow right field to prevent a scoring opportunity for the Breakers.

The Bruins stayed competitive on defense, helping Bugliarello to her shutdown game on offense and ultimately leading them to their win.

After the game, Bugliarello highlighted the team’s spirit.

“We were all believing in each other, and we all hyped each other up and wanted to win,” Bugliarello said.

The Bruins will play the No. 1 seed Notre Dame Tigers on Saturday.

Reporting by Brayden Gassmann

Correction (May 29): The Bruins will play the Notre Dame Tigers next. A previous version of this story stated an incorrect mascot.

Several track and field athletes competed at Central Coast Section (CCS) Finals on Saturday, with two individuals qualifying for state championships.

Freshman Alex Garza ran 1:52.19 in the 800-meter race to place second, qualify for states and break the previous school record of 1:53.63 set in 2009 by Kevin Jani, who began coaching at Branham this year. Garza is currently the fastest freshman and 15-year-old in the world in the 800 meters, according to Athletic.net.

Also qualifying for state championships, senior Alijah Murillo ran 9:02.64 in the 3200-meter race and placed second. Senior Daniel Cheyer ran a season best of 9:19.75 to place eighth.

In the girls 3200-meter race, junior Gemma Cervone (10:55.13) and sophomore Dhrithi Ravilochan (10:59.83) placed seventh and eighth, setting new personal records. Cervone also improved her own school record.

Freshman Lucija Ivankovic ran 5:13.35 in the 1600-meter race, and junior Camryn Setser ran 15.47 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles while senior Livia Roder cleared 10 feet, 2 inches in pole vault.

In the unified shot put, partners Mike Baskin (40 feet) and Damian Arellano Martinez (39 feet, 6 inches) took first. Jeremiah Bolton (35 feet, 2 inches) and Kyle Morioka (29 feet, 7.25 inches) placed fifth, and Holden Wooster (30 feet, 11.5 inches) and Jesse Anaya (25 feet, 8.5 inches) finished in ninth, according to head coach Craig Lee.

Garza and Murillo will race on Friday and Saturday at CIF State Championships in Clovis. Additionally, several runners will compete at the Marin Mile this weekend and Nike Outdoor Nationals in June.

Reporting by Elliott Yau

Former Branham employee Heriberto “Eddie” Plascencia was arrested last week for allegedly sending harmful materials and inappropriate messages to at least two juvenile female students, according to the San Jose Police Department. He was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail.

Plascencia was hired in the middle of the 2024-2025 school year as a one-to-one classroom aide for a special education student. He also coached the JV boys basketball team and track and field team in his first year, then the varsity girls basketball team during this past season.

The 31-year-old is the head coach of Jr Ballers, a basketball training program, and formerly coached at KIPP San Jose Collegiate.

After investigating him for misconduct in 2025, the Campbell Union High School District removed Plascencia from Branham in early December and reassigned him to Westmont High School as an aide. Board policy 4216 says classified employees can receive permanent status after six months or 130 days of employment. Plascencia also coached track and field at Leigh this year.

“Once the investigation report is done, there are certain decisions that principals make site-based, always with the consult of HR,” Silbergeld said. “There are other [decisions] that HR or the district might make for us, instead of just local site control.”

Although the school and district were aware of misconduct last year, new details required an escalation.

“New information was shared with me by a student on May 15 that prompted me to call the police and report the information that I had to the school district,” Silbergeld said.

In response, police arrested Plascencia on May 21 after investigating.

Silbergeld sent a schoolwide message prior to today’s press release.

“I wanted to make sure that students, staff and families had an alert, so that if it was going to be in the news, that they had context for it,” Silbergeld said. “Even though I can only share limited context, that was important to me to respond to previous requests by our community.”

Videos circulated online last week claiming to depict Plascencia getting assaulted by minors.

Reporting by Elliott Yau, Aryella Finkel-Hozer and Emmett Spear

Students and parents gathered in the Performing Arts Center to watch the annual choir concert commemorating their six seniors on Tuesday.

The concert included several songs intended to highlight the strengths of the participating seniors. “The Road Home” by Conspirare and Craig Hella Johnson was sung by the entirety of the choir as an emotional piece intended to represent the last song performed by the senior class.

In addition to musical performances, awards were distributed in the middle of the concert to students across all grades. Senior Lindsay Dixon received the “Most Likely to be Successful in Music” award and Hannah Buchanan and Mahi Deo won the freshman award. In total, ten awards were given out by Choir teacher Barbara West.

Near the end of the concert, two members performed songs of their own choice to celebrate their senior night. Four total seniors performed songs. Junior Kamala Smith — dubbed an “honorary senior” by West because of her change in schools for the following year — performed a classical Irish piece. Following Smith, Senior Layla Calvert sang “Inarticulation” by Rio Romeo, and Lindsay Dixon and Lauren Quimby who sang a segment of “Duo De Fleurs” from Lakme.

Lastly, Sophomore Zachary Im switched roles with West for one song to conduct the piece as his fellow classmates and teacher sang.

Reporting by Kendall Ladd

Editor's note (May 26): Information about performers and award winners were corrected.

The softball team hosted the Presentation Panthers in the first round of CCS division four playoffs yesterday and won 14-2.

The team got off to a hot start by scoring three runs in the first inning off of Panther errors. In the second inning, junior Kaitlyn Douglas hit a single that drove in another run to make it 4-0. Another error by the Panther defense led to two more runs to make it 6-0.

The Panthers scored two runs off a single and a wild pitch to make it 6-2, but Douglas responded with another single that drove in two more runs. Another error by the Panther defense added to the Bruins’ lead, scoring 9-2 in the fifth. Freshman Sabrina Bugliarello hit a double that scored two more runs to give the Bruins a 11-2 lead.

In the sixth, the Bruins closed it out with a three-run double by junior Madelyn Steiner to win the game 14-2.

Coach Chrisopher Jensen is enthusiastic about the strong start for the battle-tested team.

“It was a team effort today. It's hard to point out just one person when you score 12 runs,” Coach Jensen said. “Everybody hit the ball well today, had really good at bats — definitely proud of the team.”

The team is set to play the Pacific Grove Breakers on Wednesday at Los Gatos High School with first pitch at 6:30 p.m.

Reporting by Cain Cheng

Correction (May 26): The upcoming softball game was rescheduled to Wednesday.

The concert band, symphonic band and wind ensemble performed their final concerts of the year on Wednesday and Thursday night.

The concert band took the stage first, playing “Rocketship” composed by Kevin Day, “Let Your Spirit Sing” by Julie Giroux, “Selections from My Neighbor Totoro” composed by Joe Hisaishi and arranged by Yo Goto, “Spring Moon Dances” by Giovanni Santos and “She Made Her Way Through Desolation” by Emily Graham.

After, the symphonic band performed “Rampage” by Todd Stalter, “Rainbow in the Clouds” by Carol Brittin Chambers, “Fireflies” composed by Owl City and arranged by John Wasson, “Sieglindia” by Al Sweet, “This is My Crazy Student Life” by Pinkzebra and “Let Me Be Frank with You” by John Mackey.

In between performances, band director Chris Nalls and assistant band director Andrew Kuykendall gave out awards voted on by students in each band. Lillian Mettler, Zofia Lao and Val Anisimova won the Outstanding Member awards; Dante Olivera-Lee, Josh Yang and Chanyoung You won Outstanding Performer awards; Eunjae Ju, Aarav Pathare, Sidona Danrom and Clement Koh won Most Improved awards.

On Thursday night, the wind ensemble played “Overture to Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, “Rondo from Bassoon Concerto” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Cafe 512” by Ryan George, “Poem” by Charles Griffes, “Afrospire” by Bakhari S. Nokuri, “Soliloquy and Dance” by Philip Parker and “Downey Overture” by Oscar Navarro. Vice Mayor Pam Foley also presented an award to the Branham winter percussion group.

After the wind ensemble’s performances, Nalls and Kuykendall gave out department awards to seniors: Landon Allen won the Director’s Award; Cassie Baker won the Spirit of Music Award; Val Anisimova won the Music Department Award; Will Tischhauser won the Louis Armstrong Award for Jazz; Yun Han Lim won the Quincy Jones Musicianship Award; Andrew Kim won the John Philip Sousa Award.

The band department’s 29 seniors also received roses and shared their plans for the future.

The jazz band will perform alongside the Dartmouth and Price jazz bands at Jazz Cafe on Friday.

Reporting by Elliott Yau

The Backstage Bruins saw Hell’s Kitchen at the Orpheum in San Francisco for a field trip on Wednesday. The musical is inspired by musician Alicia Keys’s life as a 17-year-old girl finding herself.

During the trip, students learned about professional theater and observed how the various technical and performance departments come together to tell a story.

Junior Officer and future Vice President of the Backstage Bruins Josie Saunders explains that watching live performances as a group allows students to experience it with their peers and interact with the actors after the show.

“There's a lot of kids who go on these trips, and you can get everyone's perspective because art is very subjective, and everyone takes it differently,” Saunders said. “I enjoy going on these trips because it's such a fun and unique experience.”

Branham alumna Maya Drake played Ali, the protagonist, who explores her identity through music and family as a teen while living in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. Saunders notes that her onstage presence inspired many students.

“Going into the theater industry is stressful because it's very risky, and I think [Maya] will inspire people to take that risk,” Saunders said. “It's very eye-opening to see what people can become and what they can do.”

Drake wrote a note featured in the Playbill, explaining how growing up in San Jose and performing in Children's Musical Theatre San Jose (CMTSJ) drove her journey to the musical’s national tour. She expresses gratitude for performing in the Bay Area.

“The friendships I built, the teachers who supported me and the sense of community I found here have shaped me in ways I’m still discovering,” Drake said. “Getting to bring this show to a place that means so much to me, and to share it with the people who shaped me, feels incredibly special.”

Reporting by Amelia Martorano

The baseball team faced the Santa Teresa Saints for their senior night game last Thursday and lost 8-18.

During the first inning, the Saints gained an early 0-2 start and continued to add to their lead during the second inning, finishing 1-7. Junior Ryan Raggio stepped up as the pitcher.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, senior Ethan Vietvu hit a 3-run home run to left field for his first home run of the season, making the score 6-11.

The Saints outscored the Bruins seven runs to one to close the game out.

After the game, seniors Luke Knezevic, Gabe Migues, Riley Rhoades and Vietvu were honored.

Additionally, JV won 2-0.

The team finishes their season with an overall record of 7-17.

Reporting by Andrew Ho and Colin Kalanges

More than 40 seniors received awards during the Class of 2026 Senior Awards Ceremony on Monday night.

Valedictorian, salutatorian and senior of the year were announced alongside numerous department awards and athlete awards.

In addition, a number of students received scholarships such as the Cully R. Plant scholarship, PTSA scholarship and several others.

Reporting by Emmett Spear and Noa Muyal