As the final bell sounds, Stagg High students sluice their way through the halls to a myriad of after school activities. It’s January 2026 and for the first semester in school history, eight members of an auxiliary gather in the parking lot. The crew unfold a giant floor mat and began practicing their routine with crisp dance moves and flag tosses. They are the inaugural Stagg High winter guard.
According to Band Director Jerren Robinson, throughout Stagg’s history there have periodically been flags added to marching band or drumline performances, but never a full team. The Cortez-Aguilar sisters set out to change that.
The team is a family, literally
Contrary to what one might think, the origin of Stagg High’s team actually starts at Chavez High in 2024. During Italia Cortez-Aguilar’s senior year, multiple coaches came in and out of the program. Italia Cortez-Aguilar asked her sister Irlanda Cortez-Aguilar, who spent time in guard and drumline during high school, to visit a practice. Seeing the need for a coach, Irlanda Cortez-Aguilar stepped up.
It was tough at first, as the program was recovering post-Covid, but the Chavez High team went on to place first at championships. Italia Cortez-Aguilar graduated and joined Irlanda Cortez-Aguilar as a coach for the 2024-2025 season, where they continued to place and move the team up into a higher division.
After a successful first season building the team, Stagg High Music Department Assistant Director Luis Ramirez asked if they would consider doing the same thing for Stagg. After careful thought and deliberation, they said yes.
In fall 2025, the pair coached a team of five and had a successful season competing against teams with upward of 25 members. But by the end of January, they were starting over from scratch with eight new students. The sisters prepared to begin again for a third time.
“I’m very proud of them from being a beginner and first ever winter guard,” Assistant Coach Irlanda Cortez-Aguilar said. “And we’ve already beaten two (schools) that have had winter guard.”
Proposition 28 changes the game
Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, passed in November 2022, and began distributing funding in the following school year.
Both Ramirez and Robinson cited Proposition 28 as a turning point for Stagg, as it directly helped them purchase the supplies needed, including the floor mat, uniforms and flags.
‘We’ve never had as much support for the arts as we do now,” Ramirez said. “The administration is always willing to help us.”
The help from the superintendent and trustees is crucial, Ramirez said, and noted their readiness to aid the community.
Joining the team
Auditions were a straightforward process with fundamental dance movements and learning what winter guard is. Students had the opportunity to touch the flag and feel it out, according to Italia Cortez-Aguilar.
Irlanda Cortez-Aguilar added that it gives them the opportunity to say, “I’m interested in it, but I don’t know if I want to do it.”
Twelfth-grader Delyla Martinez did marching band previously and was inspired by the fall team to try out for winter. She wishes the opportunity was available sooner and is graduating this year.
“The instructors really helped make me want to do it because they were really welcoming,” Martinez said. “They weren’t looking for experience. They just wanted us to come out and try it.”
Another 12th grader Alejandro Cruz Mendoza, saw a post on Instagram and visited on the last day of practice in the fall.
“I (saw) the coaches, and (said), ‘I don’t have any idea, what is this,'” Cruz Mendoza reflected. “They showed me a video. I say, ‘Okay, I like it.’ Then I go there, first practice, and say, ‘I want to do this.’ I love it. I love the tosses, especially the double toss.”
The championship and future seasons
The season culminated at the Central Valley Guard and Percussion Alliance Championships at Enoch High School in Modesto on March 28. Stagg competed in the SRA Bronze division and placed fifth competing against Franklin, a fellow Stockton high school.
- First Place: Tracy HS with 77.020
- Second Place: Thomas Downey HS with 67.820
- Third Place: Franklin HS with 66.540
- Fourth Place: Los Banos HS JV with 66.440
- Fifth Place: Stagg HS with 63.490
- Sixth Place: Patterson HS with 62.050
Click for photo caption:
12th grader Amanda Sixtos Mundo stands with clips in her hair at the Central Valley Guard and Percussion Alliance Championships at Enoch High School in Modesto, California on Saturday, March 28, 2026. Sixtos Mundo joined the group because she loves to dance. At competitions it is a tradition to sneakily place the clips on someone else and to write words of encouragement on them. (Photo by Annie Barker/Stocktonia/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
The coaches celebrated the growth in skills and bonds formed through the season, while noting just how close the final scores can be.
“The thing about these competitions when it comes to marching and color guard and all that, you can lose by a fraction of a point,” Ramirez said. “Maybe, like, one-tenth of a point could be the difference between first and last. So, when you when you got a couple points on top, you may think, oh, it’s only a couple points, but no, in reality, that’s a lot.”
As half the team graduates this year, the coaching staff looks towards next season. They’ve already showcased their skills to prospective freshmen.
“I am honored and humbled to actually not just be a part of something happening, but to bring something new to a high school like this,” Robinson said. “And I am very excited and anxious to see how the future will branch out and blossom here.”
