The school’s math department gained a valuable staff member this year with the addition of Judi Heher (pronounced HEY-ER). She is teaching AP Computer Science, Intro to Programming and Web Development and Digital Photography. She is also the new adviser for the Robotics team.

She hopes to become a consistent voice between the school and the team to help members with what can be a challenging season.

Heher joins Saratoga’s staff with plenty of experience. She earned her bachelor’s degree of mathematics at the University of Waterloo, in Canada, along with a master’s degree in education from Santa Clara University. Previously, she taught at Valley Christian High School for five years, instructing almost every class in the math department during her time there.

She, however, did not originally intend to become a Falcon.

“I thought I was applying for a job at Los Gatos High School, and as it turns out, [math teacher Debra] Troxell saw my résumé and asked me to interview for a math position here,” Heher said.

Since Saratoga High needed another computer science teacher in addition to Troxell, Heher stepped in.

“It is hard to find somebody who wants to be a teacher and has programming skills,” Troxell said. “We weren’t expecting to find a CS person, but we did.”

On top of her teaching, Heher enjoys paddleboarding, cooking and is preparing to run the Nike marathon in October.

Heher said she is happy to be here and is looking forward to meeting all the students and staff at this school after having had her “best first week of school ever.”