Kelly Liu

Beloved art and digital photography teacher Stephen John McCue passed away on Jan. 4 at the age of 47 after suffering from a rare form of lung cancer. McCue was diagnosed last February, but chose to continue teaching as much as possible because of his love for his students. 

When football linebacker senior Henry Wei was trash-talked in his senior year for the first time, he was shocked.

In December, Time magazine published an article regarding the decision of Scandinavian toy retailer Top-Toy to release gender-neutral toys.

Beloved art and digital photography teacher Stephen John McCue passed away on Jan. 4 at the age of 47 after suffering from a rare form of lung cancer.

“I’m not a mathematician, but I know this,” says Hazel Grace Lancaster, the narrator of “The Fault in Our Stars” (FIOS), the 2012 novel by young adult fiction author John Green. “There are infinite numbers between zero and one. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others … Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” The truth, she adds, is, “I want more numbers than I’m likely to get.”

Just past noon on Wednesday, Sept. 12, principal Paul Robinson announced the death of sophomore Audrie Taylor Pott. 

“SITS IN BORING CLASS... FIRE ALARM GOES OFF,” reads a caption above and beneath an image of a baby pumping his fist. Posted on the Saratoga Memes page on Facebook, this “Success Kid” image represents students’ enthusiastic reactions about the accidental twice-sounded fire alarm on Feb. 27. It received approximately 80 “likes” from Saratoga High students.

Hello noise, my old friend. Now that winter break is over, I have resumed back to my daily life of clamor: chatter in the school hallways, music playing constantly in my room, rings and pings from the phone and computer, et cetera, et cetera.

AP U.S. History teacher Matthew Torrens took his students on a walking tour around San Francisco for extra credit on Dec. 29, explaining the role of the city in the development of California. Torrens has been leading this tour for the past nine years, making connections with street names, plaques and museum exhibits to the Manifest Destiny era in American history.

For new student junior Kristen Zung, capturing the beauty of the world in a still image with her Canon camera is nothing new. Now, she is making her mark on the school with her talent.

Despite placing second in Homecoming week, competition was not in the mind of most juniors. Many felt that after the sophomores’ disqualification, the junior class had a bigger mission to achieve the next day: to set a proper example of what a quad day should be like for the underclassmen.

Despite placing second in Homecoming week, competition was not in the mind of most juniors. Many felt that after the sophomores’ disqualification, the junior class had a bigger mission to achieve the next day: to set a proper example of what a quad day should be like for the underclassmen.

In a world where the Internet is a vital part of our lives, many readily recognize online slang such as “woot,” “sexting,” “retweet,” “mankini” and “cyberbullying.” These words have become so standard that according to The Telegraph, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added them into its recently released 12th edition.

When March rolled around last year and schedule preferences were made, senior Thomas Ishikawa requested a free sixth period because of conflicts with baseball. However, upon receiving his schedule this year, the school said that he had to take seven classes during his final year in high school.

Online journalism is often accused of allowing aimless articles, inaccuracies and sloppy reporting. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is one of the foremost critics of the rising online journalism industry. He believes that majority of online journalists are negligent about upholding the values of journalism and are not as committed to “real” reporting as traditional print journalists are.

Because of a state law passed on Jan. 1 for the 2011-12 school year only, all students entering 7th through 12th grade will need proof of an adolescent whooping cough (Tdap) booster shot before starting school. Students who do not have proof of receiving this shot after their seventh birthday will not be able to pick up their schedule, attend summer camp or extracurricular activities. They also will not be able to begin school until proof is provided.

Last year due to the budget deficit and lack of sign-ups, elective courses such as CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) and Creative Writing Poetry were cut. Since the results of course sign-ups rolled in by March 4, administrators will be determining what courses will be cut and what changes will be made to each department for the coming school year.

Last year due to the budget deficit and lack of sign-ups, elective courses such as CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) and Creative Writing Poetry were cut. Since the results of course sign-ups rolled in by March 4, administrators will be determining what courses will be cut and what changes will be made to each department for the coming school year.

The swim team gathered around in a huddle, leaning their heads inwards. After an enthusiastic roar of “Toga!” the JV girls rushed up to the starting blocks to begin the Monta Vista away meet on April 1.

The pressure that high school students in certain areas, mostly high income ones like Saratoga and Palo Alto, are under is unprecedented. They have to compete with their high-achieving peers by lining their resumes with high GPA and SAT/ACT scores. On top of that, parents enroll their children in numerous extra-curricular activities in hopes of impressing the best colleges. The documentary “Race to Nowhere” examines this dangerous level of stress.

The swim team gathered around in a huddle, leaning their heads inwards. After an enthusiastic roar of “Toga!” the JV girls rushed up to the starting blocks to begin the Monta Vista away meet on April 1.

The pressure that high school students in certain areas, mostly high income ones like Saratoga and Palo Alto, are under is unprecedented. They have to compete with their high-achieving peers by lining their resumes with high GPA and SAT/ACT scores. On top of that, parents enroll their children in numerous extra-curricular activities in hopes of impressing the best colleges. The documentary “Race to Nowhere” examines this dangerous level of stress.

“Ooooh ching-chong ling-long ting-tong!” said Alexandra Wallace, mimicking a stereotypical Asian dialect that, according to her infinite wisdom, disrupts the UCLA library every 15 minutes.

Teachers’ policy of scheduling the finals for AP classes slightly before students take the actual AP exams is popular with juniors and seniors, according to a recent poll conducted by the school.

How many of us want top-notch grades? Sure, that’s probably all of us, but how many of us who strive for A’s truly deserve them? Do we really retain what we learn in our classrooms, or do we all just cram and drop all the material we have learned the day after the exam? In the end, does that glorified “A” mean anything substantial to us?

Traffic has always been and will forever be a damper in the mornings. However, Saratoga High does not efficiently deal with the traffic flow to ensure that parents and students alike can move freely. We are either biking and walking through the parking lot avoiding life-threatening cars, or we are the ones sitting inside of them.

After a solid season last year ranking 6th overall in CCS, the girls’ swimming team has high expectations for the coming season, led by all seniors: backstroker Debbie Lin, freestyler Sophie Heyman, freestyler Caroline White and diver Lauren Gardanier.

How far are we willing to go in order to feel safe? Sure, we can legalize all sorts of “self-defense” tools and weapons, but are they doing as much good as we want to believe? Is a deadly weapon like a Taser a powerful self-defense option or are there too many instances where its use has been misdirected or abused?

On the first day of school, Naomi Baptiste of North Miami Beach Senior High School stepped into her precalculus classroom … and was faced with a room full of computers. She soon learned that she would be learning math from a machine. In fact, the only adult figure in sight was a “facilitator” whose main role was to keep the computer programs running.

The bell rings, and students pour out of the classrooms, heading for their next class. In the hallway, they pass by several rooms that are vaguely recognizable, but which they have no knowledge about.

Science Hallway: Science teachers forbid students to enter what lies beyond their class’s back doors: the science hallway. The science hallway is a vast tunnel of assorted equipment, lab materials and chemicals. About the only time students are permitted is when they are on fire or have come in contact with chemicals, at which point they are allowed to enter the hallway and use the nearby pull-down showers displaced every other classroom. Teacher’s assistants, however, who go back and forth to help teachers prepare for labs. Still, the science hallway is, for the most part, unknown to many students.

The music department has begun its Winter Guard season along with a reintroduced similar winter activity: Winter Percussion. According to Michael Boitz, chair of the music department, Winter Guard and Winter Percussion are both similar to the athletic part of marching band. The only difference is that Winter Guard is dance movement with equipment and Winter Percussion is movement with percussion instruments.

On the shelves of the small textbook room in the library are roughly 31,000 textbooks, according to librarian Kevin Heyman. Getting those books into the hands of students, repairing damage, keeping track of lost books and assessing fines, is a massive job shared by staff members and parent volunteers.

A few days prior to the highly anticipated football game between Saratoga High and crosstown rival Los Gatos, seniors Tim Lycurgus and Kevin Darchuk created a page on Facebook for Saratoga and Los Gatos students alike to discuss their sentiments regarding the game. The initial comments were harmless—one-liners poking fun at the opposing team.

If there is one thing in the world I absolutely cannot get enough of, it’s Harry Potter and everything that has to do with Harry Potter. I don’t mean the Harry Potter character himself—I much prefer Draco Malfoy or the Weasley twins—but the whole franchise itself. However, if there is one flaw in the perfect world of the Harry Potter franchise, it is the movies.

Homecoming week is a time that many students anticipate, talk about and, most of all, love. However, what was supposed to be a fun, relaxing week this year also served to bring up the issue of cheating. In particular, other classes complained when the freshman quad decorations appeared to benefit too much from parents' help.

Around campus, many students, especially upperclassmen, seem to be stressing about how to get into the right college, how to find the right college and how to find out more information about potential careers. They are sometimes confused and don’t realize the answers to many of their questions can be found in the College and Career Center, located near the main office and special education classrooms.

Pregnancy stories, or more often, myths, are notoriously strange, although descriptions of massive bellies, aches and pains, and random cravings for foods such as pickles and chocolate are widely known to be true characteristics of a pregnancy. This fall, some students are getting a taste of what it means to carry a baby. Continuing a tradition that goes back several years, students in Laressa Ridge's child psychology classes had the chance to wear pregnancy vests. The vests give students a better understanding of the changes the mother's body goes through during pregnancy.

Sophomore Justin Ra is part of part of an influx of students who are moving to Saratoga High from all over the world. School registrar Jeanne Jamieson said 50 students have come to the school from other countries since 2008. Their reasons for coming here are as diverse as the countries they come from. Some come in search of a better education; others are displaced from their home countries because of their parents' jobs. Regardless of their reasons, they all share one thing in common: the myriad of obstacles that confront them.

Compared to the enormous efforts put in by The United Nations to relieve the victims of hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Chile, the international community was nowhere to be found when Pakistan was hit by a devastating flood this summer.