Aragon was established in 1961 and has expanded its diversity and population since then. Thirteen years ago, Aragon housed 1,570 Dons, according to Student Data Analyst Thalia Luna. This year, that number reached 1,763. The school is home to a wide academic department, a variety of athletics and more than 60 different student-led clubs.
In the 2016-17 school year, 1,576 students were enrolled at Aragon. In the course of five years, the student population has increased by 11.8%. In tandem with the growing population, Aragon has seen an increase in extracurriculars.
Since Aragon’s current Athletic Director Steve Sell began working with Aragon in 1989, lacrosse, girls water polo, boys volleyball, competitive cheer and girls wrestling. The school now holds over 20 different sports teams.
“[If] you have more kids, you have a bigger pool to choose from in terms of athletics,” Sell said. “This increase in athletes strengthens many of the Aragon sports teams, which in turn can help amplify the success rates for said teams.”
Sell is optimistic about the progress Aragon’s athletic department has been making.
“What I’m proud of is that we tend to be consistently strong across all sports,” Sell said. “There’s 17 schools in the [Peninsula Athletic League] and at the end of the year they always do a commissioners cup. We’ve never finished lower than fourth.”
Some students have indicated they chose to attend Aragon in light of the school’s diverse activities.
“One of the reasons I came to Aragon was because of sports,” said sophomore Hunter Kwan. “I’ve also joined a few clubs like Red Cross and Key Club and they’re fun as well. I’m really happy I chose to come to Aragon, because I like the people I’ve met here and I don’t know if I would have [had] the same experience if I went to another school.”
Sophomore Devika Mehra, who was originally registered for Hillsdale, believes one of the factors that makes Aragon stand out is the school’s environment.
“I think that Aragon has a much better community and I feel that [we] have a lot more spirit than a lot of the other schools,” Mehra said. “I also believe that Aragon’s interesting group of clubs drew me in. I personally have joined Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, Track and Field and plan to join more. The community of these clubs are extremely welcoming and friendly which [is] refreshing.”
Aragon’s extracurricular activities intend to help bond the school’s community and connect students between grade levels. Aragon is also home to many inclusive school traditions, such as the Lip Dub and Link Crew.
“I feel like students here are always trying to get one another involved in different stuff at Aragon,” said freshman Jane Hershberger. “Aragon does a good job trying to hype everyone up and create a lot of school spirit.”
Over the last two decades, Aragon’s student body has greatly increased in size. This has allowed for more opportunity and diversity in sports and other programs, more extracurriculars on campus including a wide variety of clubs and teams and a greater sense of community amongst students on campus.
