Deepti Kannan

As fun as it might be to listen to the auto-tuned machinations of artists like Calvin Harris or Jessie J (whatever you kids like these days), we need to revive our cultural roots and go back to where it all started: classical music.

With the 87th Academy Awards airing on Feb. 22, the Falcon staff voted for winners among the nominees of a few main categories.

In December 2013, Spotlight published an online page about the Falcon’s reporting for the story titled “Tutoring in the Shadows.”

Who's to blame when students see old quizzes that later turn out to be the same quizzes they take in class?

Math teacher Audrey Warmuth has been named district teacher of the year for 2014-2015.

When I traveled to Spain in sixth grade, I was mesmerized by the flamenco dancers, bull riders, the cathedrals — all part of the unique Spanish culture, tied together by a single language. The following year I decided to take Spanish in middle school; I could not wait to immerse myself into this culture and actually interact with native speakers in California and abroad. But it seems that the language curriculum does not align with my goals. This is unfortunate because practically anyone can take the class with minimum effort just to get their language credits for college without learning a thing.

A revised version of the SAT will be implemented in spring of 2016 in time for current freshmen to take it. The new test is intended to fix problems with the current version of the current test and to keep pace with the ACT, which has been outstripping the SAT in recent years in popularity.

The door slams shut. Junior Alana Hess’s parents have just left the house to go out for dinner. Many teenagers would seize this opportunity to do whatever they like. But Alana cannot.  

An inside look at a tournament that sent Shrey Desai to the state level in speech and debate.

As expected, a bill inspired by the incident that led to the suicide of Audrie Pott in 2012 will be heading to the state Legislature soon.

Despite dominating the scoreboard for the majority of the game, the girls’ soccer team was unable to pull out a win on Jan. 31 against their rival, Los Gatos, losing 2-1.

In recent months, the Pott Foundation has worked with attorney Robert Allard and state Sen. Jim Beall to pass a new sexual assault law.

A new California law, Assembly Bill No. 526, that allows schools to punish off-campus bullying, took effect on Jan. 1. School administrators and superintendents can now suspend or even expel a student for bullying that occurs via an “electronic act,” such as sending messages via text, email or social media from an on or off campus location. 

For the next school year, the College Board has mandated that all schools make AP Physics B a two-year course with two separate AP tests in order to cover material slowly and in a more in-depth way. The first year will largely consist of mechanics and rotational dynamics, and the second year will focus on electricity and magnetism.

As a child, I would always look forward to the one meal guaranteed to appear on the kid’s menu of any American restaurant: the classic grilled cheese sandwich. The simple combination of bread and cheese was mouth-watering and destined to satisfy my taste buds.

2002 grad Amy Chang faced hardships in high school for her sexual orientation but found acceptance as an adult

Only a few seconds remained on the clock before halftime during a preseason soccer game against Carlmont High last year. The score was tied 0-0. Sophomore Lauren Plesse raced down the field with the ball her feet, her face intense, eyes unblinking.  

After the suicide of Audrie Pott in the fall of 2012 and the resulting fallout, the school has employed three counselors from the Counseling and Support Services for Youth (CASSY) in an effort to provide extra therapeutic support on campus.  The school offered students access to an on-campus therapist in the past, but with CASSY, three counselors are on campus to help students deal with personal issues.

The school’s speech and debate team learned recently that it ranks in the top 5 percent of the teams in the National Forensics League (NFL). It also continued its success at the novice tournament on Nov. 3 and the league tournaments on Nov. 9-10.

While a mere 150 students showed up to the Back-to-School dance in August, at least 1,000 students from local schools enjoyed a wild night at the Masquerade Mixer at the Chinese Performing Arts Center on Oct. 19, a dance organized by students and free from the restrictions of a “boring” school dance that prohibits freaking.

This year, lead guitarist Derik Nelson from the popular television show “Glee” will be on the judging panel along with Saratoga teachers. The lucky winner of Idol, along with last year’s winner sophomore Nina Nelson, will get to sing with Derik Nelson during a fundraising concert he will be giving on the next day at 7 p.m., also in the McAfee.  

After early successes in October, the 90 members on the speech and debate team are diligently preparing for the upcoming novice, league and Santa Clara University (SCU) tournaments in November under the guidance of new leaders.

Junior Alana Hess has always had a hard time focusing in class. Her mind wanders to amusing yet distracting thoughts, such as the happiness of Disneyland or the sights outside the window, unfortunately at the most inconvenient times, such as while taking her finals.

When athletes mindlessly fill out the mundane, nine-page packet of forms required for participation in sports, they often blindly write a check for $275 without giving much thought to where that money actually goes.

Alumnus Jackie Gu walked onto Brown University’s campus for the first time during orientation on the first week of September, meeting new people from different high school backgrounds — and with different SAT scores. Despite these differences, they all share a united passion for learning, their SAT scores simply remnants of the past as they move on to a new chapter in their life.

Freshmen, say goodbye to obscure vocabulary words like “acrimony,” “deleterious,” “pugnacious” and “obfuscate.” According to College Board president David Coleman, the new SAT to be unveiled in 2015 will be redesigned to “focus on the core knowledge and skills that evidence shows are most important to prepare students for the rigors of college and career.” 

Hysterical thoughts flooded the minds of millions of Americans when Edward Snowden’s leaks last May revealed the government’s use of mass surveillance programs and interception of telephone metadata, which describes information about calls without disclosing the actual content.

While the members of his Boy Scout troop enjoyed the fresh air during their latest kayak outing at Elk Horn Slough in Monterey, freshman Shrey Desai was absent from the festivities. Instead, Desai was studying in his room in order to appease his overwhelming desire to get good grades.

Following in the footsteps of many other high schools in the area, the school is now seriously considering installing solar panels in the front parking lot. The Green Commission met with the district board on April 9 to discuss this possibility after hours of research and planning. 

Allison: So ... how do we begin our story? Deepti: Once upon a time there was an old hag named Allison Chang ...

After an undefeated 12-0 season as the El Camino division champions, the golf team finished second at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals on April 29, qualifying them for the CCS tournament scheduled for May 8. The Falcons had a score of 400 with five players for 18 holes at the Coyote Creek Golf Course, coming in close second after Palo Alto, whose team was also 12-0 in its division. 

On April 6, family and friends filled the many seats stationed around a runway in the Large Gym to watch around 140 student models support a worthy cause. This year, the eighth annual Benefit Fashion Show raised money for the American Cancer Society in memory of longtime art teacher Steve McCue, who passed away from a rare form of lung cancer in early January at age 48.

As the speech and debate season comes to a close, the team celebrated its successes at the state tournament in Burbank, Calif., which took place on April 19-21.

Imagine returning to school on a dreary Monday morning after a weekend filled with music lessons, a speech and debate tournament and a track meet. Dark circles surround your eyes, you sigh, realizing that you have not completed the homework for the seven classes that lie ahead of you —  it's going to be a long day.

For the first time in over 10 years, the Falcons advanced to CCS in division A, but lost 1-0 to Burlingame in the first round on Feb. 19.

A world history teacher lectures at the front of the classroom about the horrible conditions of trench warfare during World War I.

Adrian stands at his usual spot in the quad under the shade of the redwood tree near the base of the quad steps.

As soon as the bell rang, I knew I was doomed.

Sixty-nine members of the speech and debate team attended one of the largest tournaments in California, the Cal Invitational in UC Berkeley, from Feb. 16-18, where they had new experiences participating in different events than usual.

Transformed into a swing dance floor complete with lights hanging from the ceiling and a grand disco ball, the gym went back in time to the 1920s. With dainty desserts and jazz music from the Saratoga choirs and jazz bands, Jazz Cabaret turned out to be a huge success.

With two first-place winners in individual events, 10 members of the speech and debate team competed successfully at the Golden Desert Invitational in Las Vegas, which took place from Feb. 1-4.

Teachers, counselors and administrators attended a lunchtime meeting in English teacher Natasha Ritchie’s classroom last month to brainstorm ways to lessen the burden of letters of recommendation on teachers.

It’s 5:15 a.m. on a Tuesday and sophomore Hannah Hulme is already awake, before the sun, as usual. 

It’s time to gather your belongings, pack your bags, head out to the nearest bomb shelter and hold on for dear life.

The speech and debate team will attend its first national travel tournament of the year at the Golden Desert Invitational tournament in Las Vegas on Feb. 1-4. 

Mormonism, as described by its followers, is a restoration of the Christian Church, founded by Joseph Smith and later developed by Brigham Young.

After a month-long trial period, speech and debate coach Erick Rector has finally arrived at the decision for who this year’s speech and debate captains will be.

After the re-election of President Obama on Nov. 6, many students expressed both relief and concern for the future of the nation. 

At the CCS meet on Nov. 10 at Toro Park, the girls’ cross country team finished sixth out of 13 teams in Division 3, in which Aptos won first place. Because the Falcons did not place in the top three, however, it did not make it to the state meet.

With new coach Ben Maxwell and many talented freshman players, the girls’ soccer team is rebuilding this year after the loss of key seniors from last year, such as graduates Kari Clark and Meghana and Antara Rao.

The infamous Sherlock Holmes strolls into the yard and examines every detail of the scene. The flower beds have been trampled with footprints. The footprint of the right leg is more prominent than that of the left, suggesting the culprit walks with a limp.

If you had a machine that could travel anywhere in time and space, where would you go?

On a normal Friday after school, a few cross country girls make their way down to the track for practice.

In high school, life can be overwhelming. But the college applications, SATs and AP tests do not even compare to the daunting task I had to complete last year. As an unathletic freshman, there were two words that haunted me: PE credits.

When speech and debate practices began on Sept. 24, the returning debaters noticed several changes for the season including a new coach, new captains, the implementation of a travel team and the new student-led team meetings.

Before speech and debate practices even began, sophomore Rohith Krishna and senior Venkat Munukutla competed successfully at the St. Francis Lincoln Douglas debate tournament on Sept. 22-23, setting the stage for an exciting season.

After a successful season in 2011, the girls’ cross country team ran its first meet on Sept. 5 at Lynbrook High School with almost double the number of last year’s athletes and perhaps even double the excitement.

Although many students may be anticipating the premiere of the new season of “How I Met Your Mother” while frantically trying to catch up on the previous season’s episodes online, senior Neil Prasad tunes in to a different sort of website: Google news.

High school. Two words that go way beyond the literal meaning. But for now, let’s look at what each word means. “High” is defined as “of great vertical extent,” and school is denoted as “an institution for education.” So, technically, by entering “high school,” you are entering an institution for education of great vertical extent. For the vertically challenged like me, this could be a problem.