Prospective students get a peek into campus life through shadowing program

A student shadow sits in on their matched volunteer’s classes.

So far this year, over 20 students have signed up to shadow a current student for half a school day.

As enrollment deadlines for local private schools approach in mid-January to early February, more than 20 prospective students have signed up to participate in the Saratoga High student shadowing program — an opportunity for them to follow a current student around campus for half of a school day to better understand the school and the typical experience here.

Guidance secretary Sharon Fong, who manages the shadowing program, matches students who sign up to shadow with 18 student volunteers based on their responses to an interest form. While volunteers come from all grade levels, shadows are usually paired with underclassmen.

“It’s like a puzzle,” Fong said. “You want everyone to be matched in terms of grade and interest. If they like music, we try to find a student in orchestra, but this can be difficult since [shadowing] is only half a day.”

In general, students who sign up to shadow live in the district and tend to be from private middle schools such as St. Andrews or Sacred Heart. After hearing about the program — typically by word of mouth — families submit a request to shadow.

Shadowing is scheduled on an individual basis after winter break, due to students being busy before finals week. Fong aims to allow all prospective students to visit the school around January before applications for private schools such as Mitty and Valley Christian are due so that families can make an informed decision. Applications for intra-district registration, which allows transfers between Los Gatos High and Saratoga High, also close around that time (Feb. 10).

Freshman Navya Chawla decided to volunteer to be shadowed for the program after missing the opportunity to shadow someone in 8th grade, as she had moved to Saratoga from Fremont in March, past the deadline for sign-ups. While Chawla was able to receive a tour from her cousins over the summer, she missed the shadowing experience and wanted to ensure others could benefit from the program.

“As an out-of-district student and a freshman, I know how it feels to not know where you’re going,” Chawla said. “I thought I could make a difference if [my being a shadow] would help at least one student know what they’re doing on their first day.”

Chawla has already been shadowed by one student this year, with whom she was matched by the office and guidance department based on personality and subject interests. After being called to the office in the morning, Chawla brought the student to all her classes, introducing them to the Media Arts Program and discussing student life.

“Shadowing is a really good way to introduce people to the community,” Chawla said. “That way, they don’t have to read an FAQ page later on, and actually know what’s going on.”

While shadowing programs are common in private schools, according to assistant principal Abra Evanoff, public schools sometimes choose not to run shadowing programs because prospective students live nearby and are already familiar with the school — or because of the potential logistical mayhem of huge numbers of students coming on campus.

Evanoff said she is “excited” that the school offers shadowing opportunities, and feels that the number of students who have signed up to shadow is a manageable number for the office to facilitate.

“We have new students coming to us from overseas and from towns next door. We want to make sure that we’re welcoming them and making them feel at home here,” Evanoff said. “That’s why I think a shadowing day is a really important opportunity to show that. It’s nice to not assume everybody grew up right down the street and has knowledge of our schools.”

Evanoff noted that while community-wide events such as theater performances and music booster fundraisers can help showcase the school’s strengths, they cannot replace the experience of seeing the campus culture firsthand: As both an administrator and a mother, she believes that shadowing is an invaluable opportunity for students to get a feel for a school’s atmosphere.

“My own two students shadowed at a private high school before I ultimately chose to put them in public,” she said. “But they both loved that day. And in fact, one of them still has a good friend she met from that school. Shadowing is just a neat opportunity for students to get a peek into a different kind of school, especially for our kids that are coming from small private schools.”