Lauren Louie

Two major activities Common Roots will focus on for the rest of the year are “weekly missions” and working with the Application Developer’s Club to create a Common Roots app, which will allow students to communicate with peer counselors and CASSY counselors.

Freshmen are often overlooked or seen as an acceptance onto sports teams. But this isn’t the case with freshman Stephen Ding, a nationally ranked badminton player after only two years of playing in the U15 division.

On Feb. 28, a crisp, rainy Saturday morning, approximately 50 students and adults spent three hours in  the school’s cafeteria trying to put a dent in the problem of world hunger.

If you read the Falcon regularly, you know it has a lot of opinions from students and not many from teachers. In an effort to correct this imbalance, Falcon staffers decided to host a 'fishbowl' discussion with three teachers. 

An education should be a right, not a privilege. But with the University of California’s recent announcement of an annual 5 percent tuition increase over the next five years, higher education is rapidly turning into a nightmare of student debts.

Involving parents in the college application process is dangerous. From biased and uncalled for essay edits to unlimited, constant access, parental involvement when applying to colleges is more harmful than helpful.

College presentations aren’t nearly as effective as they could be. Rather than emphasizing what makes a school unique, each is a marketing pitch that invariably says it’s “a great college for students just like you.”

Reporters try out the scary computer game, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

Whether or not you plan on Trick-or-Treating this year, make it the best Halloween yet with sparkly purple candy apples!

Alumni Jason Li discusses his worthwhile experience at his current school, UChicago, after a heartbreaking rejection from his original dream school, UPenn.

Do you know what Lou Gehrig’s disease is? Neither did most people until recently, but the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been changing that.

After negotiations with the city of San Francisco about building a new stadium at Candlestick Point failed in 2006, the San Francisco 49ers decided to move locations from their old iconic stadium, Candlestick Park, to Santa Clara. After two years of construction and a cost of $1.3 billion, Levi’s Stadium finally opened to the public on July 17.

After an exhausting battle against Milpitas on April 29, the badminton team emerged victorious with a close 16-14 win. As of May 1, the Falcons have a record of 5-2 and in sixth place in the SCVAL A league.

Over the years, the process of asking someone to prom has become an event in itself. Prom askings have escalated from posters to performances, requiring more time, more effort and resulting in more pressure. In the past, flowers and a poster were more than enough to score a prom date. Prom askings weren’t necessarily considered an event.  

We’ve all parked our 8-year-old selves in front of the television on early Saturday mornings. This habit of waking up early to catch all the Disney and Nickelodeon classics continued through middle school as we all spent hours channel surfing and ignoring the seemingly copious amounts of homework. But these days, kids are powering off their TVs and instead turning to their desktops, laptops and phones; all this in the name of YouTube.

From the moment senior Bryan Chow was introduced to the sport of badminton, a seed was planted that would take him to unbelievable heights. With blood, sweat and tears invested in what started as a fun pastime, Chow’s hard work gave rise to an impressive career.  

Recently, there has been controversy surrounding the movie “Captain Phillips.” The film paints Phillips as a hero who led his crew through the terror of Somali pirates. Since the movie’s Oct. 11 release, however, anonymous crew members have come forward criticizing his poor leadership and calling the portrayal of Phillips’ character completely inaccurate. In fact, a handful of crew members are sueing Phillips for $50 million, testifying “willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety.”

Going home to watch YouTube videos of two grown men rant and rave about giraffe sex has never been so amusing; specifically, when one of the two is world famous author John Green. Commonly known as Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green connect and educate their audience through their various YouTube channels. Most famous is their Vlogbrothers channel, which produces two videos a week, with topics ranging from timely worldwide problems (most recently the government shutdown) to 53 of the most terrible jokes.

Juma Community Day at AT&T Park is sponsored annually by Juma, a non-profit organization that provides low-income students with college financial aid. Juma raises the money through volunteers who attend sporting events like San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s games as vendors.

When Homecoming commissioners senior Lauren Lin and junior Amanda Le were contemplating possible themes over the summer, they agreed they wanted something different from what’s been done in recent years. Announced on Aug. 30, this year’s Homecoming theme is videogames.  

Childhood memories include memories of us hiding friends to avoid going home and pestering older brothers to no extent. However, nothing compares to spending hours on end in front of the TV watching our favorite shows.

As if there isn’t enough perfection in the world — sit down for this one — Pixar has graced the world with the promise of more sequels, leading to a joyous celebration for all those who love the fantastic animated movies. 

Unnecessary roughness is unavoidable in any sport. However, there is a fine line between foul play and the natural spirit of the game, especially in soccer and basketball.

It’s another SAT Saturday and students are again faced with the hardest section of the test: signing the certification statement in cursive, something that seems redundant in today’s world.

When people mention party games, it can spark the image of the iconic Italian brothers, Mario and Luigi, to the dark battle fields of Modern Warfare 3. However, there is a whole other world of gaming that is spreading quick: PC gaming.

To some people, old party games are better than new party games and vice versa. But in order to say which really is better, first one needs to define what a party game actually is.

On Oct. 25, the girls ran the flat, 2.06 mile Lynbrook course for the second time this season.

Have you ever spent hours upon hours baking delicious homemade cookies but had to throw them away a week later because they were stale? Well, prepare to be amazed, because Reddit has an easy solution for this peril.

At the starting line of one of the season’s most grueling races, runners wear a face of grim determination and, in some cases, dread. But not junior Casey Takahashi, one of the school’s three cross country captains, who smiles with genuine enthusiasm. 

Some students are blessed with the fact that they have teachers with witty senses of humor that keep the class entertained.

Unaware of the rival athlete speeding up to catch her, then sophomore Casey Takahashi is only about 100 meters away from the finish line of last year’s Lynbrook meet. She is completely oblivious and has no clue that she is about to be passed.