Jordan Waite

The parents who pleaded the district to start a lacrosse program at SHS three years ago knew that lacrosse was a fast-growing sport, but no one expected the team to grow and succeed as much as it has. Only two seasons ago, the lacrosse program had to recruit in order to make a full team, but this year, players were cut from the varsity team in order to have the optimal-sized team of 22 players.

"All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes," declared Winston Churchill. In other words, analyzing one's mistakes is essential to progress. And in the same way a student's ability to look at previous tests is extremely important to academic progress. Unfortunately, with the test-returning policies of some teachers, students are not having the chance to learn from their mistakes.

I spent two months of my summer in Costa Rica as an exchange student, and I attended a high school there for one month. Costa Ricans are some of the frendliest people I have ever met, so naturally, I made a lot of friends. Skype is by far the best way to stay in contact with my Costa Rican friends, since it is as close to talking to them in person as possible while being over 2,000 miles away. Considering that I wish I was still in Costa Rica, I use every opportunity to "Skype" my friends there.

On May 7 in the Saratoga Library, the Saratoga Youth Commission hotsted its second annual Film Fest, an event where Bay Area students were able show off their self-produced movies. "Our main objective was to give a place for people who enjoy making films to show them and get rewarded for their work," said organizer Ramiz Sheikh, a junior. "We also had a Flim Fest last year, which was a great success, and wanted to make it better this year."

More than 30,000 people have viewed one of freshman Sharuay Agrawal's "C-walk" dance videos, and many more of his videos have over 1,000 views. With his lightning quick feet and smooth dance moves, Agrawal is a local upcoming YouTube star

For most students, YouTube is a source of offers a diversion from homework, but for junior Cortney Fields, YouTube is more than just that: It is a way for her to express herself. "I started making YouTube videos after I saw other people making videos, and I thought it was a cool idea, so I tried it out and ended up liking it," said Fields.

As the spring season begins, morale is high on the varsity boys lacrosse team. They have better players, a new coach and more effective practices. "[Head Coach Larry Boehm] is a lot better motivator than our old coach was. Our stick skills are definitely a lot better this year than last year," said senior co-captain and midfielder Danny Baldwin. According to Baldwin, not only is the new coach a better motivator, he is also knowledgeable about the game and is able to encourage the boys to try harder things to improve, according to Baldwin.

It was an intense wrestling practice. The room felt like a sauna. Sweat was steaming off of the hard-working athletes. The team was preparing for a tough tournament that they would attend the following weekend, and everyone was anxious. The only thing I remembered from that day was the face of the person I was wrestling. The rest was a blur.

Sophomore wrestler Nick Marshall let out a sigh of relief as he stepped onto the awards podium at the toughest tournament of the year on Jan. 23 , Mid-Cals, to receive his seventh place medal. The Mid-Cals tournament in Gilroy is a two-day competition in which the best wrestlers from the all over the state come to represent their schools, and Saratoga was well represented. Other notable Falcon performances were sophomore Alfred Murabito, 127 lbs, and freshman Zachary Hansen, 105 lbs , both making it to the second day of the tournament, held Jan. 22-23.

As soon as you explore the Planet Granite rock climbing gym in Sunnyvale, the massive facility really does feel out of this world. Not only are there climbing walls in every direction, there is a complete weight training area with rows of treadmills and elliptical machines and a large outside area with more climbing. Planet Granite is a great place for a full-body workout, a fun activity with friends, and relaxing yoga.

The students of history teacher Matt Torrens' second-period AP US History class walked into the classroom on Dec. 8 anticipating a field trip to the Madronia Cemetery located in downtown Saratoga .

As junior Kyle Fukui crosses the finish line of the 2.95 mile Crystal Springs course Nov. 14, he looked to the scoreboard for his time. Fukui saw he had taken 26th place overall, clocking in at 16:50. The end of the race was the end of a long but rewarding season for Fukui and his teammates as the squad competed in the CCS finals. "I was pleased with the result because I ran a faster time than I ever have before," said Fukui. "Overall, the team had a great race."

After nine months away from the wrestling mat, many of the team members were rusty at the start of the new season. The first step of developing a successful season is to reteach the basics and get the athletes back into the wresting mindset. "The tough thing at the beginning of the season is that we have to break people of their bad habits," said head coach Gabe Tseng. "Then, we can go forward from there."

Six-year-old cub scout Zachary Christie sat down to eat his home-packed lunch at Downes Elementary School in Newark, Del., on a day he thought was an ordinary day in Oct. He took out his camping eating utensil—which contained a fork, spoon, can opener and small knife—and was immediately sent to the principal's office for being in possession of a dangerous weapon. Christie's initial punishment was a mandatory 45 days of reform school before returning to first grade. In no way does a 6-year-old deserve such a harsh punishment over a harmless camping tool.

As the season nears its end and CCS looms on the horizon, the Falcons continue to post successful results, but they have also been consistently hampered by setbacks. Lacking any real veteran leadership, the team has had to rely upon its youth to overcome the rigors of a demanding season.

Sand goes flying as the students roll and stumble down the 500-foot-tall sand dune until they reach the bottom, left with a layer of sand that stays in their shoes and clothes for the rest of the week-long trip to the rugged landscapes of Utah.

The injuries of two varsity runners, freshman David Zarrin and sophomore Lawrence Liang, may prevent the boys' cross country from succeeding in league and CCS meets. Liang is slowed by a back injury while Zarrin has to wear cumbersome knee braces while running. "Unless [Liang and Zarrin] recover from their injuries, we're going to have a hard time placing in CCS," said top runner junior Kyle Fukui.

Despite being a freshman in high school, troop 581 Boy Scout David Zarrin completed his eagle project, one of the toughest tasks on the road to becoming an Eagle Scout, during the last week of July.              “I did [my project] earlier than most people,” said Zarrin, “because I know I will only get busier as I get older with school and sports.”            

Despite the loss of several key team members and the promotion of former assistant coach Dan Hodgins to head coach, the boys' cross country still has high expectations for a great season. The team’s two strongest runners, alumni Alan Menezes and Kian Banks, graduated last year, a big loss for the team considering the talents the duo brought to the squad. The team will also having to deal with the loss of seniors Kyle Borch and Nick Olsen and sophomore Harry Curtis, who elected not to participate this year.

Graduation, the day that every senior has dreamed about since the first day that he or she stepped foot on campus, is less than a month away. However, seniors can still be prevented from graduating if they don’t follow school rules.

Shoulder and back muscles straining, junior shot-putter Connor Clarke held the cold, 12-pound shot put against his neck, spun to build up momentum, then hurled the massive lead ball down the range, falling only an inch and a half short of qualifying for CCS finals. Clarke threw his personal best of 48’4.5,” placing ninth in the CCS trials on May 23, falling just over one inch away from finishing eighth place and moving on to the CCS finals.

The boys’ track team has been training hard all year for the SCVAL finals, which were on Friday, May 15. Athletes qualified for CCS trials in five events—a big achievement. “Everyone did well at the league meet and CCS qualifier,” said senior Alan Menezes. “We’re all improving at the right times.” Senior Kian Banks is the league champion in the 800m with an impressive time of 1:57.16. The 4x400m relay, consisting of Banks, Menezes, junior Trevor Teerlink and sophomore Matt Cresci, also qualified with a second place finish.

The boys’ track team has been training hard all year for the SCVAL finals, which were on Friday, May 15. Athletes qualified for CCS trials in five events—a big achievement.

Which of the following can improve overall mental performance of students by over 30 percent: a monster, two cups of coffee, consuming massive quantities of food or a quick nap. In a study of NASA pilots, led by sleep expert Dr. Mark Rosekind, research showed that a short, 26-minute nap increases mental performance by 34 percent and alertness by 54 percent for over three hours.

It’s the dream of a lot of athletes to play their sport in college, but for senior Nathan Nguyen, that dream has not only come true, but is becoming a difficult decision. “It was pretty stressful narrowing down,” said Nguyen. “I had to consider schools for not only wrestling, but if I would be happy there socially and academically as well.”

Maybe it was the free AMC movie tickets, maybe it was the drinks and snacks or maybe it was the ability to “save two lives” that brought a huge group of students to the community commission’s annual Stanford Blood Drive on Jan. 23. The drive was held in the school’s Small Gym from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and was open to juniors and seniors of at least 17 years of age weighing at least 110 pounds. “Overall, I thought the event was pretty successful,” said senior commission member Swupnil Sahai. “We got a lot of people who were willing to donate blood. Over 70 students donated and I was happy to see several teachers getting involved as well.”

Sophomores Gabe Guido, Alex Sturge and Matt Cresci created a marketing plan for a kids’ juice drink to win a competition at a local business camp they attended this past summer. As a reward, they will be going to New York in January to present their ideas to company leaders.

The digital video class recently started a first at Saratoga High, a regular half-hour show about the school on KSAR, the local cable channel. The program debuted Oct. 6.

Usually teachers try to help students succeed and stay in school, but it’s different for new math teacher PJ Yim. He dropped out of Boston University for four years before graduating because he had to figure out what he wanted to do.

With most sports, if there is a boys’ team, there is a girls’ team. This is true with cross country, tennis, water polo, soccer and so forth. With the addition of a new boys’ lacrosse team to the sports program this year, the question thus arises: Where are the girls? There’ll be a girls’ team here someday, but now simply isn’t the right time. One of the main concerns is lack of participants, leading to doubt as to whether there are enough players to field a full team.

When previous athletic director Ian Mackenzie left the school last spring, assistant principal Joe Bosco didn’t have to look far for a replacement. State Requirements teacher Peter Jordan was reluctant at first when asked to take the position of athletic director but decided to go for it. Said Jordan, “It was a challenge and an opportunity to try something new and I almost never turn that down.”

When previous athletic director Ian Mackenzie left the school last spring, assistant principal Joe Bosco didn’t have to look far for a replacement. State Requirements teacher Peter Jordan was reluctant at first when asked to take the position of athletic director but decided to go for it. Said Jordan, “It was a challenge and an opportunity to try something new and I almost never turn that down.” Jordan is gaining experience with management but is also getting the chance to watch and learn sports he never played as an athlete, such as water polo, tennis and volleyball.

Usually teachers try to help students succeed and stay in school, but it’s different for new math teacher PJ Yim. He dropped out of Boston University for four years before graduating because he had to figure out what he wanted to do. “Some people have to find themselves.” Yim said. “I was one of those people. So I was the black sheep of my family. Once I found myself, I went back to school.”