Tiffany Zheng

In 2011, Kevin Hart spread the joy of schadenfreude with his “Laugh at My Pain” tour, a special that chronicled his crude and self-deprecating stand-up comedy.  

A new coach goes about remaking the team's attitude and playing style.

After receiving much-awaited college decisions throughout March, seniors have begun to plan college tour itineraries in hopes of deciding which university is most suitable for them.  

Preview of boys lacrosse

As the announcement for awards started, the dance team huddled up and held hands in anticipation. A few moments later, the team’s 11 members were jumping and shouting:  They had just learned they had won first place in Medium Hip-Hop Division at the USA (United Spirit Association) Regional Competition at Bella Vista High School on Feb 6.  

I have achieved my parents’ ultimate dream. I’m a doctor. But the job comes with a couple of hiccups that my parents never anticipated: I don’t get paid, my patients are my friends and I mainly treat the emotionally constipated. Call me judgmental, but I’m the therapist of salt and the queen of quality advice.

The 64-acre Saratoga Quarry Park, located at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, was officially opened to the public by the city of Saratoga on Oct. 31.

Reporter discusses the problems with snowboarding.

The Jazz Band performed “Billie's Bounce” by Charlie Parker, “Recordame” by Joe Henderson, and “Oleo” by Sonny Rollins at a music festival at West Valley College on Nov. 6.  

As we tumble into 2016, new word memes have exploded across the Internet, sparking a heated debate over the evolution of language.  

Team shows improvement individually and aims for state.

With Homecoming week encouraging school spirit for all students, the dance and cheer teams have worked hard to serve as spirit leaders.  

At age 11, Arul Venkatesh sat in front of the television set, his eyes glued to the Formula One competitors speeding around the track in polished go-karts, blurring past the world beyond them and obeying only the drop of the checkered flag. From that point, Venkatesh was inspired to  become a professional kart racer, and he soon found a place to practice: Sonoma Raceway, 34 miles north of San Francisco.

In October, an artistic trend made its way across the Internet.

Youtuber Troye Sivan releases latest EP "Wild."

As a result of money buildup from previous class funds, the ASB has about $275,000 in its account. This money should be funneled into efforts that benefit most, if not all, students on campus.

Clad in a hot pink T-shirt with a light pink ribbon pinned to the front, senior Maya Kumar set up her trifold covered with breast cancer facts behind a table draped with a pink table cloth. Kumar was at “Breast Cancer Benefit Ride,” an event she single-handedly organized for horse riders on Aug. 1 in Calero County Park in Santa Clara. All proceeds went to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The cross country team recently participated in a Lynbrook meet on Sept. 8 and an Early Bird Invitational on Sept. 12, marking the first big races of their competitive season. The senior and freshman girls won their division on the hilly, 2.1 mile Lynbrook course, with standout athletes freshman Sasha Pickard and senior Kimberly Chen completing the race with times of 13:09 and 14:24 respectively.

I’ve been waiting for Frank Ocean’s sophomore album since my sophomore year and as a current senior, it’s finally time for my diss column.  

On Aug. 14, the 305 students in the Class of 2019 gathered in the gym at 9 in the morning for a campus tour and lunch with their designated Link Leaders, the older mentors to incoming freshmen.  

The quad will be transformed on June 4 when the Class of 2015 will say goodbye at a Grad Night that will include casino-style games, henna, air tattoos, massages, a senior video and other surprises. The night’s theme will be unveiled on that day.

AP Spanish 6, or Spanish Language and Literature, will no longer be offered starting next year. 

All-nighters corrode a student’s health; they cause students’ bodies to ache with fatigue and their minds to grow dull during school hours, since neither have been given the opportunity to rest. According to U.S. News Health, pulling all-nighters also causes people’s memory to worsen since it prevents the brain from repairing itself. In fact, getting a few hours of sleep is a better use of time than half-hearted cramming in the early hours of the morning.

Though the final details of a new schedule that will begin in 2016-17 will be worked out in coming months, the district is hopeful of having both Los Gatos and Saratoga High on similar schedules that will allow students to take classes on the other campus.    

Despite two early-season team losses, the Falcon swim team has seen several CCS-qualifying performances. The team fell to Los Gatos on March 13 and Monta Vista on March 19, leaving the team with a 0-2 record as they advance towards leagues in late May. The girls’ varsity team lost 101-69 to Monta Vista, while the boys’ team lost 122-48.

Reporters review Smashburger, a burger joint in the Westgate shopping plaza.

The boys' swim team prepares for the upcoming season.

Current seniors Reilly Bowker and Ryan Hoag, alumnus Ryan Patrick and senior Aneesa Walden recount their near-death experience falling off the side of the road in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Having visited a neighborhood in Liberia for the past four years, junior Luke Salin and his family have started a campaign against Ebola.

Some burglars target the homes of Indian families during the fall.

On the weekend of Oct. 3, the Mechanical Science and Engineering Team (M-SET) partook in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) offseason event called CalGames.  

Reporter describes navigating the fandom community on Tumblr, a popular blogging site.

America is a pretty great place to live. We enjoy freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly, and there's no nation with such a diverse melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. What many people don’t know, however, is that America’s children rank at the bottom of the 19 industrialized countries in arithmetic, writing and reading.

Saratoga Strings has been selected to perform as part of a prestigious conference at McCormick Place in Chicago during the week of Dec. 15, which also happens to be finals week first semester..

Reporter describes her tummy-satisfying experience at Pieology, the up-and-coming pizza spot in San Jose.

The year opened with an abundance of school spirit. Both the rally and spirit commissions ran a successful week of school spirit reaching its peak at the rally on Sept. 5.

Jon Nakamatsu, husband of chemistry teacher Kathy Nakamatsu, is a world renowned musician who has performed in places such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York. 

With California in the midst of a three-year drought, students are seeking ways to promote water conservation.

As seniors celebrate graduation, juniors frantically stress over the dreaded college applications that lurk just around the corner.

Is handwriting as important now that our society is so based on technology?

Snapchat recently released a new update for iOS and Android devices on May 1, adding a new feature called Chat. It enables users to video chat live and send text messages.   

Earlier this spring, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association presented the Saratoga Falcon the “Gold Crown,” a prestigious journalism award.

What does it mean to play football all the way to the pro level? “I have had seven knee surgeries, a shoulder surgery, degeneration and stenosis in my neck, two lower fractures in the lower spine, and have broken both hands several times in addition to fingers. I’ve had my front teeth busted out and received 12 stitches in my left arm from a large gash. Besides that, I feel good.”

Seated in a brightly lit room, sophomore Mena Wang looks over the next question on the multiple choice test. “The affairs and property of FBLA shall be managed by ____.” Wang hesitates a second before choosing answer “C” which reads “board of directors.” 

This summer, members of the music and language programs will embark on a two-week trip to Spain. The orchestra, band and any student in Spanish 3 or above is eligible to participate.

Sixteen thousand hands clapped for J. Cole’s live performance of “Crooked Smile,” the pressure-sensitive bracelets lit up with the motion. One moment, the crowd was immersed in darkness, and the next, thousands of little white and blue lights filled the Oracle Arena. Sophomore Gitika Nalwa cheered with the crowd.

In 2006, Los Angeles producer Richard Van Vleet helped YouTube personality Ryan Higa and his friend Sean Fujiyoshi create their first feature-length film, “Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure.” In 2012, popular YouTuber Kevin Wu, better known as Kevjumba, released a movie titled “Hang Loose.” On Feb. 14 of this year, “Camp Takota” was released starring famous YouTubers such as Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart and Hannah Hart. All of these films pulled their weight in revenue, drawing in their YouTube fan base.

As the football players make their way onto the field, spectators from the top of the bleachers cheer as they spot the red mass of uniforms. Closer up to the field, students can make out multiple small Nike logos, similar to the many other athletic teams adorned in this brand. 

California Gov. Jerry Brown made a “crucial step” toward conserving water on March 1 due to the recent drought. Brown signed a bill into law costing approximately $687 million that will be used to expand the usage of recycled water, the recapturing of storm water and an improved organization of underground water storage. 

On Friday, March 21 — the day Sadies was supposed to occur — the Small Gym sat empty but for a few students taking photos of the empty room. 

Last year, senior Danielle Henao took a deep breath and prepared to step out onto the runway in San Francisco. She could see the blinding camera lights flashing incessantly even from behind the curtains as she checked one last time in the mirror to make sure her professional makeup, blonde hair and short, tight dress were perfect. She was the last model to perform at Bay Area fashion week, an annual event that stretches from October to November, and a huge honor. It had to be perfect.  

Planned by ceramics teacher Leah Aguayo and attendance secretary Mandy Armes, an informal club of female students and Saratoga High parents, “Girls for Courage” had around 20 to 25 participants in its second year. 

Visitors to the Saratoga Music website on Dec. 15 were greeted not by the usual music schedules, but instead by a black screen with moving red text saying “Hacked Hank Sandlep” (presumably a pseudonym). 

As the doors of the school library swung open, students were hit with a warm gust of chocolate brownie-scented air. But...these weren’t just any ordinary brownies. These were vegan. Saving the environment one brownie at a time.   On Nov. 5, eight student advocates met in the school library for the annual Green Summit meeting. 

In the last week of October, College Board and ACT were sued for their sale of student information without the proper consent of students. The case against these testing companies, representing Illinois resident Rachel Specter, claims that students’ names, test scores, birth dates, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and home addresses were being sold to third parties, mainly colleges, for a profit. Each name was allegedly sold for around 37 cents by the SAT and 38 cents by the ACT. 

The season of winter brings many holidays and festivities; families enjoy delicious Christmas meals together, and everyone anticipates opening presents. With this holiday cheer, many Saratoga students find fun ways to spend the glorious two weeks of winter break, whether by themselves or with families and friends.

The Music Education with Saratoga High (MESH) program was started by 2013 alumna Michelle Won in 2010. After she graduated last year, seniors Lauren Casey-Clyde and Gloria Liou took the hold of the reins on this program with hopes of continuing its previous success.  

Kathy Nakamatsu was inspired early on to be a chemistry teacher by her own high school chemistry teacher Kathryn Hardy at Willow Glen High. Although Nakamatsu admitted she did not initially succeed in the class, she nonetheless developed a love for the subject and set her mind to follow her former teacher’s footsteps.  

Only valedictorians get close to this theoretical number.

Stanton’s well-known blog about people in New York has encouraged and brought together five students, who have decided to adopt this his method to document SHS culture. 

As soon as the bell rings at 9:25 a.m. for an average Friday tutorial, dozens of students rush out of their classrooms, meeting their friends to do homework together or just to hang out. Sophomore Nicole Chiou is not among them. Instead, Chiou goes directly to the music building to practice piano for her after school class.

Senior Casey Takahashi isn’t ditching cross country. She’s leaving practice 30 minutes early, but it isn’t because she’s a slacker. Rather, Takahashi, a team captain, is heading over to San Mateo College to take a night class — physics.

The bell rings, signaling the end of sixth-period Spanish. “¡Adiós, gringos!” Spanish teacher Bret Yeilding calls after the students slowly trickling out the door. He finishes some grading from the previous week’s quiz, and heads out, not to his car to head home, but to the football field.