Olivia Chock

During the summer, junior Eric Wang attended a camp where he met a lot of people in Taiwan. After making many new friends, he was worried he would never be able to talk to or see them ever again.

People often associate high school students who take college classes as geniuses. However, this wasn’t the case for me when I decided to try community college classes at West Valley and Mission college. 

According to Myron Zhang and Elaine Chou, the two top students for the class of 2012, the key to success in school is working hard, rather than focusing on a title like valedictorian or salutatorian. “I don’t think becoming valedictorian was ever a goal in and of itself.” Zhang said. “Although it sounds slightly corny, it was really just a case of performing at the highest possible levels, trying my best. Academics was never about competing to be No. 1.” Chou, the salutatorian, echoed this sentiment.

On Dec. 2, senior Rachel Le stood in her room with her friends, seniors Kylie Tseng and Sarah Lum, confused by the candles, rose petals, the writing on the mirror closet and the apparent lack of an asker. Suddenly, senior Brandon Pak jumped out of the closet with a rose and asked her to Winter Ball. Tseng recorded her stunned reaction on video.

While the majority of charities help the less fortunate and further humane causes, a select few charities are fooling naïve donors and secretly using their funds for profit. While these charities sometimes donate to the causes they champion, they don’t tell the public that they keep a large portion of the funds for themselves.

Students strutted down the runway in the Large Gym on May 14 for their sixth annual Benefit Fashion Show. High-fives, handshakes, and even a couple of kisses on the cheek were exchanged between the models.

Summer is approaching! For those of you who are at home for the summer with nothing to do and were too swamped to see these movies during the busy school year, here are our opinions on some of 2010’s best movies. These movies are great DVD picks and some might even be instant downloads at this point!

Juniors excitedly waited at the high school for their magic carpets to arrive—this year, in the form of chartered buses. Although many were disappointed at not being able to ride in limos, the buses were a surprising success.

Six students attended a national choir festival called American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in Chicago from March 9-12. Students from all over the country were hand-picked to sing in the choir based on audition tapes sent to the association last fall. Two students were chosen for the national choir, and four other students were invited from Crystal Choir, a Bay Area children’s choir, for a special performance.

On March 16, the 2011 Saratoga idols were crowned. Senior Esha Roy won first place singing "Listen" by Beyonce and "The Voice Within" by Christina Aguilera. Second place went to freshman Manini Desai singing "Since I've Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin and "When I Look At You" by Miley Cyrus. Junior Katie Cummins placed third singing "Jump then Fall" by Taylor Swift and "Breathing Under Water" by Marie Digby.

To avoid the controversy over judging in recent years, juniors who are organizing the Saratoga Idol singing competition are having judges use a rubric to score contestants. Auditions took place Feb. 24 and 25 in the McAfee Center.

Entering CCS with a 10-0-2 record and winners of the De Anza League, the girls’ soccer team lost in the first round of CCS to Burlingame 3-0 at home on Feb. 23. The team made it to the quarterfinals of CCS last season and had hopes of finishing higher this year.

During announcements in fifth period last Month, students heard about the plight of a Los Gatos High sophomore named Shea Shaw. They learned that on Jan. 13 Shaw had been run over by a hit-and-run driver while crossing a street and that her parents lacked health insurance and needed financial help.

Since the Golden Globes took place a couple of weeks ago and the Oscars will show next week, we thought it was only appropriate to do a movie review ourselves. The two movies that were all nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay in the Golden Globes were “The Social Network” and “Inception.” Although “The Social Network” won all three of these awards, we think “Inception” is the better movie.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Tony. “It’s totally normal for a kid of 16 not to have had sex—” replied Stanley. “It’s embarrassing, Stan.”

With the last game left in the season, the girls’ soccer team, currently in first place in the El Camino League, is getting close to making CCS for the second time in seven years.

One rainy day last winter, seniors Peter Auvil and Angel Hernandez were driving to a friend’s house when a techno mix played on the radio. The tune caught their attention and the two realized that they shared the same love for base-heavy beats and house music. On that very winter day, the two seniors decided to try to join the DJ business together, and the dynamic DJ duo was born.

With an overwhelming number of participants in History Day this year, the club’s advisers are busy keeping up with all of the recent presentations.

“Pssst … hey Susie, what’s the answer to question 3?” reads a comic strip from Calvin and Hobbes. The comic brings back a “nostalgic” view of traditional cheating—whispered conversations and quick peeks at peers’ papers. However, the abundance of technology in and out of the classroom has led to a vast increase in cheating techniques in recent years, although “old-fashioned” approaches are still widespread. A survey of 517 students done by the Falcon suggests that cheating is most prevalent on homework.

The girls’ soccer team has high expectations to live up to after making CCS last season, their first qualification for sectionals after seven years. With the departure of key seniors Sara Guy, Sam Li and Jordan Leonard, this years squad had their work cut out for them. Posting a 2-1 record in the preseason, the team has done well to build off of last year’s success.

In a game against Pioneer last year, then sophomore guard Shriya Nagpal dribbled down the court with 12 seconds left and the score tied at 52. She drove hard down the lane and shot over two defenders. Swish. She closed out the game with a steal and two free throws, leading the Falcons to a 56-52 victory, a moment she counts among her great achievements.

Despite the downtrodden economy, most Saratoga High parents are still finding a way to pay for their students’ four-year college tuition to increasingly expensive UCs and private colleges. “I don’t think the cost of college tuition is a huge factor,” parent Ananya Mishra said. “If my child gets into a top college that hundreds of other students are rejected to, we’ll find a way to pay for it.”

This year, with key players senior Mckenzi Crase, senior Ren Norris, junior Kari Clark and junior Courtney Brandt returning, the girls’ soccer team is confident that they will win the De Anza league and go to CCS as they did last year, despite a new coaching staff and only three returning seniors.

Everyone loves to get spontaneous presents on special holidays, which is exactly what the Secret Exchange Pal Program allows students and teachers to do. This program, created last year by the ASB, is being continued this year by ASB secretary Pamela Lee to keep this tradition going in an effort to promote more school spirit.

On Oct. 20, people around the world mourned for the recent suicides across the country due to gay abuse, including the students of Saratoga High.

Every weekday over the summer for eight weeks, I was stuck in a dreadful building from 8:30-1 taking an SAT class. Like so many other students, I put it as my top priority to strive to get that perfect 2,400 score, and I thought that, magically, taking these painstaking classes would get me there. Obviously, the SAT is one of the most important and stressful tests for a high school student. But unluckily for us, the SAT was not always one of the top priorities of a high school student.

This year, the SHS sports teams agreed to a three- to four-year contract with Nike. This agreement allows all of the teams to buy uniforms from Nike for a 25-40 percent discount off the retail price. Head football coach Tim Lugo was connected with Nike when he met one of their reps, Carlos Trujillo, at a clinic for football coaches.

When French teacher Laura Lizundia explains class assignments this year, she has a challenge she has not had before: trying to give work to kids in two levels in the same class. The reality of a tight district budget and fewer students reaching the most advanced level of the language has led not only to larger class sizes but also more combined world language classes.

During the summer, junior Eric Wang attended a camp where he met a lot of people in Taiwan. After making many new friends, he was worried he would never be able to talk to or see them ever again. Thanks to free video chat services such as Skype, Oovoo, and Tokbox, Wang is able to continue communicating with his new friends.

This year, the junior class is doing something a little out of the ordinary. Instead of siphoning profits from class fundraisers exclusively toward class activities, they are hosting extra events so they can donate the excess money to a charity. Although they are only donating what they have left over after prom, they are shooting to donate 20 percent of their funds to the Make-A-Wish foundation by the end of the year.

1. Season Record: 3-13 2. Highlight of the season (something like a win against LG or something): A season's worth of work paid off in the team's senior game against Los Altos on May 11, finishing with a score where they pulled ahead in the 10th inning. "[Our senior game against Los Altos] was good. We had a bad season, losing almost every single game, but we wanted to go out playing our hardest," said senior Nicole Gragnola. "We all wanted to do it for each other so we made fewer errors and played pretty well." The final score was 3-2.

Transitioning to college can be tough for most people. Getting used to having roommates instead of having a room all to yourself, navigating a significantly larger campus with thousands more students than at your high school and, of course, having the independence that punctuates the whole experience. But for '09 alumnus Aaron Garg, who attends Stanford University, the change was minimal.

This year's junior prom was held on April 3 at the Decathlon club in Santa Clara. The bids were cheaper this year than last year's at $130 per couple. This year's theme was "You Belong with Me," after the popular pop country song by Taylor Swift. The reasonable bid prices drew in juniors as well as a number of sophomores. No official attendance figures were available. Sophomore Will Edman was grateful for the chance to attend a prom as an underclassman.

For those who missed out on Saratoga Idol, there's now another chance to see the high school's local talent. The senior class' first annual talent show will be held on Wednesday, April 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the McAfee Center. On March 31, the senior class held auditions for the show. Prospective participants included singers, dancers, impersonators and many more. "There were about 20 acts that came to try out so I was pretty happy with the results overall," said senior Chelsea Sabella. "For the show we probably have around 15 acts."

With teamwork and dedication, the softball team is trying to keep a positive attitude about this season, despite struggles on the field.

Coming off a losing season, junior pitcher Megan Brading knows the softball team will have an uphill climb as they head into the new season. As a result, improvement is the main goal for the team this year. "Our goal is to work together because we have a lot of new people moving up to varsity," said senior third baseman/outfielder Stephanie Borsum. "For now, we're trying to learn where we are and improve from there."

The girls' soccer team had one goal for this season: to improve from last year. Not only has the team accomplished this goal, but they have exceeded it by making it all the way to the CCS quarterfinals. Saratoga, ranked lowest in CCS, lost a close quarterfinal game to No. 1 ranked Scotts Valley on Feb. 27. The teams tied 0-0 in regulation play, and the score remained tied throughout overtime. The game went to penalty kicks, and since Scotts Valley scored all five of its penalty kicks, one more than Saratoga, they moved on the semi-finals.

Talented singers and performers—both students and staff—sang their hearts out on the stage of the McAfee Center in a fund-raising effort to provide money for epilepsy on Feb. 10.

When sophomore Shivani Chadha showed up at the Small Gym on Jan. 31, she and about 140 other students didn't know what to expect from two professional dancers who had been hired to teach them to dance "properly." After instruction and practice, she left with a better knowledge of dances like Merengue and foxy.

After being sent down to the lower El Camino Division this year, the Falcons had one main goal: to earn back their spot in the upper-league De Anza division. Not only is the team on its way to winning the El Camino league, but it could also make CCS. Currently in second place, the Falcons must win the rest of the games this season, most importantly a rescheduled game against league leader Fremont, to grab the league title.

Freshman goalkeeper Ally Nilan-Axline started her varsity soccer career off in style. In her first regular season game, she stopped many shots from Wilcox on Jan. 7, resulting in a 1-1 tie. After playing preseason on the JV team, Nilan-Axline was given the opportunity to move up to varsity earlier that week as senior Jan Iyer recovered from an injury. "My dad had always encouraged me to do varsity and he was really happy when I got to move up. I think this is just going to be a really good team especially since I have a great defense," said Nilan-Axline.

Over Thanksgiving break, a driver crashed his or her car in the back parking lot. According to maintenance supervisor Brian Moran, the driver was parked next to the fence and hit it while backing out.

Preseason is usually a time for teams to gear up for regular league season by starting off against less competitive opponents. However, the girls' soccer team this preseason faced daunting teams from the upper division right off the bat. Early games against strong lineups from Presentation, Los Gatos and Los Altos in the preseason are serving as a way to prepare the girls for playing weaker teams in the lower El Camino Division season that begins Jan. 7.

As the holidays approach, some seniors are looking forward to all the usual traditions—trees with colorful lights, gingerbread cookies with warm milk, red-nosed reindeer and a much-awaited envelope in the mail with a college admission decision.

The girls' soccer team has not had the best track record with stable coaches in recent years. This year, however, the team is trying to change that by having history teacher Kim Anzalone continue as head varsity coach, a position she took mid-season last year, with SHS alum Brandon Chow as assistant coach. Returning players already see a difference that consistent coaches make to the team compared to last season.

Usually, when there are football games at school, my friends have to drag me to them. Watching any kind of sports game is extremely unexciting for me, which is why I was surprised to somewhat enjoy watching the San Antonio Spurs vs. Dallas Mavericks NBA Basketball game.

As a first-year teacher last year, math teacher PJ Yim was trying to make connections at the school and find his place. Little did he know he would find friendship and fitness with the help from an unlikely source: English teacher Erick Rector. Every Monday and Thursday after grading essays and correcting homework, the two teachers go on exhausting 30-mile bike trips together.

The bell rings at the end of lunch on a typical block day. Instead of rushing to their afternoon classes hoping they won't be tardy, sophomore Onie Wongkham and junior Dennis Rosenthal head out to the front of the school to wait for a bus to take them to San Jose for their three-hour afternoon class. As part of a county program called the Central County Occupational Center, or CCOC, they spend the rest of the day taking career-oriented classes and earning credits for them. Wongkham and Rosenthal make up the only two students from Saratoga High in this program.

Club Day took place in the quad on Sept. 23, as students browsed and signed up for some of the 57 clubs on campus. The event passed by with few troubles considering the addition of seven clubs to the multitude of groups already available. However, this year, the Associated Student Body (ASB) will be taking more measures to ensure the validity of the new clubs.

It’s that time of year again. With Homecoming just around the corner, each class is quickly looking for supplies and a location to begin work on their decorations. Homecoming, one of the school's most anticipated and competitive school activities, involves each class vying against the others to win through themed dances and decorations and culminating at the end of the week with a student-picked Homecoming court. At the end of this intense competition, there is a football game and dance.