Most people tend to think advanced placement classes elevate a school and students to new heights. Others might think it’s the presence of an arts and music curriculum. At Poway High School? It’s PE.

“I get really excited to work as a team and have kind of a home to come back to every day,” said Poway junior Susanna Kotoyan with a smile.

Susanna’s team in PE is usually a team of two, though. Her teammate is often Lucio Nava Lopez, a junior with special needs. They are both part of Poway’s Unified Sports physical education program.

“We live in a world where people are really different from one another,” said Prescilla Alvarado, Poway’s inclusion specialist. “It makes you feel really proud and happy to be an educator and doing what you’re doing.”

Alvarado said Poway and Del Norte high schools added Unified PE to their curriculums earlier this year. The Special Olympics has already named them both Unified Champions Schools. Students like Kotoyan volunteer to join the class. However, Kotoyan said many students have already arranged to stay in Unified Sports through graduation.

“They are amazing humans, and they’re going to make the world a better place,” Alvarado said. “It makes me feel very hopeful.”

A Poway Unified spokeswoman said the district is trying to be the first to add Unified Sports to all 39 of its schools, from elementary through high school. All five of PUSD’s high schools are expected to have the program by next year. The district also gets added funding through the Special Olympics to pay for events that unite students from multiple schools in athletic events.

The shortest day of the year is near, meaning Californians will get more hours of darkness than daylight. Depending on where you live, that could be several seconds less than others. Or, in the case of people in San Diego, more than 30 minutes of daytime compared to those far north in the state in Redding.

The winter solstice is on Saturday, Dec. 21, in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the astronomical seasonal change from fall to winter, and it is also the shortest day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight, according to the Smithsonian Science Education Center.

The winter solstice will occur at 1:21 a.m. PST, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Seasons are caused by the Earth being tilted on its axis as it orbits the sun, and the winter solstice occurs when “Earth’s tilt away from the sun is at a maximum,” according to the National Weather Service and NASA.

So, how many daytime hours can you expect on the winter solstice? We used Time and Date, a website that provides detailed information about time based on the area you select, to see how much daylight select California cities will experience.

We’ve also included the length of day for the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year, to compare. The summer solstice was on June 20 this year.

Is today the winter solstice? See the length of your day on Dec. 21

Los Angeles

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 53 minutes and 4 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 25 minutes and 32 seconds

Palm Springs

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 54 minutes and 14 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 24 minutes and 18 seconds

Redding

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 16 minutes and 3 seconds
• June 20: 15 hours, 4 minutes and 48 seconds

Sacramento

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 51 minutes and 51 seconds

Salinas

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 39 minutes and 3 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 40 minutes and 21 seconds

San Diego

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 59 minutes and 49 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds

San Francisco

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 46 minutes and 55 seconds

Stockton

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 31 minutes and 50 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours and 48 minutes

Ventura

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 51 minutes and 54 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Victorville

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 50 minutes and 33 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 28 minutes and 11 seconds

Visalia

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 40 minutes and 58 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 38 minutes and 19 seconds

When does the day start getting longer?

After the winter solstice, daylight will start to gradually increase until we reach the summer solstice in 2025, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

San Diego FC started Wednesday with seven players. Less than 24 hours later that number is nearly doubled.

The newest Major League Soccer club came away with six additions by the end of their MLS Expansion Draft. Sporting Director Tyler Heaps and Head Coach Mikey Varas made five picks, two of which were traded away by night’s end.

Their roster additions are midfielders Jasper Loffelsend (Colorado) and Heine Bruseth (Orlando), and defender Hamady Diop (Charlotte). They also selected Thiago Andrade and Hosei Kijima. Andrade was sent to Toronto and Kijima to D.C. United for cash and a draft pick.

Prior to the draft the club announced two trades. Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos comes over from Inter Miami. The 24-year-old has international experience with the United States Youth National Teams. They also added MLS experience in Chris McVey. The former D.C. United defender came to the league in 2022 and won the 2023 Leagues Cup alongside Lionel Messi in Miami.

There was also one move that has been reported, but is not yet official. According to MLS insider Tom Bogert the club landed center back Andres Reyes from the New York Red Bulls. The 25-year-old from Colombia scored the winning goal to lift New York past Orlando in this year’s Eastern Conference Final. Reyes was unable to play in their MLS Cup Final loss to L.A. Galaxy because of an illness.

“I think we have really good players that complement each other very well,” Heaps said. “Now you can start to see the spine start to take shape. I think we’ve got a really good center back pairing for this league – people that complement each other in terms of Paddy (McNair) and potentially the new one that’s coming. We’ve got some goalkeepers that are gonna be eager and challenging to compete for that No. 1 job. We’ve got a frontline that we think is very dangerous. If we can complete one or two more pieces we think it can be among some of the best in the league.”

Heaps believes Loffelsend can start for SDFC from day one. The 27-year-old German has been in the league since 2022, and made 34 starts from 2022-2023 for Real Salt Lake.

“Heine we think has top potential,” Heaps said about the 20-year-old from Norway. He joined Orlando City in 2024 but did not make an appearance.

Diop was the No. 1 pick in the SuperDraft two years ago out of Clemson. Charlotte drafted the now 22-year-old and loaned him to a club in Serbia for 2024.

“He’s proven he can do it in Europe, there was a lot of interest for him to stay in Europe,” Heaps said. “We think he’s a really good profile to stay with us and contribute in MLS.”

Those six join a roster that features Mexican star Chucky Lozano, who will arrive in San Diego after wrapping up his time with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. The team also includes San Diego native Duran Ferree, an 18-year-old goalkeeper. They added 21-year-old forward Tomas Angel from LAFC earlier this week.

The roster will continue to grow in the coming weeks. MLS free agency begins Thursday. San Diego FC is slated to make the top pick in the SuperDraft on December 20. The window to sign players from international leagues opens January 31.

Lozano is currently the club’s lone “Designated Player” – top talents, often acquired from overseas. Lionel Messi is the most popular example at the moment. Given the steep price tag for those players, their salary does not count against the team’s cap.

The club intends to add another “DP” before the season.

“I think the next step for us is to get our second DP,” Varas said. “We know in our league when you get your DPs right you’re competitive.”