Sabrina Cismas

The integration of technology into classrooms becomes increasingly prevalent as both students and teachers seek more efficient and useful methods for a successful learning experience. Document cameras, which magnify copies of paper on projector screens, are becoming a staple in math classes, and two years ago all classrooms were equipped with their own Toshiba projectors.

With more and more fashion pushing the boundaries of appropriateness, the school is considering beefing up its dress code to make it more specific and less open to interpretation.

“It was my first time there because this is my first year on student council as well as on spirit commission,” senior Shayda Khorasani said. “Everyone just got their own food and sat down and talked to everybody else. It was a nice community event, and it was the first day of break also, so it was really relaxing.” Junior clubs commissioner Sasan Saadat said that besides the ASB, the students there were mostly juniors and seniors from the leadership, rally and events commissions.

When one thinks of alternative medicines, acupuncture or herbal supplements usually come to mind. Though not as well known, some Eastern European home remedies also provide rapid relief for common health problems.

As I began driving to school this year, I knew that I needed to set aside a few extra minutes in the morning in order to park my car. I was unaware, however, of the of the chaos that would soon ensue.

“Local history is sexy.”

For the first time in school history, more students from the graduating class of 2011 enrolled in private colleges than in the University of California system.

With the college application frenzy well on its way, seniors are finally at the point in their lives when they take a step back from “doing” and focus on “showing.” The process of laying out one’s entire high school career is ironic, in that it not just reveals the inner workings of the student to the admissions officers, but to the student himself.

Some of the greatest acts of recycling can be found in the business of movie making. For a fraction of the work, producers can manipulate an old storyline into many sequels, or even more easily, reintroduce a classic movie to theaters in 3D. I have often ignored horrible sequels, comforting myself with the thought that the good originals still existed, but, alas, when one of my favorite movies had been tampered with, I could no longer avert my eyes.

10) We finally get the clappers at the rallies. They’ll help with the cheering when we win every game.

As students walked into their classes for the first time on Aug. 22, most were greeted by the regular arrangements of inspirational posters, floods of green course sheets and ice-breakers. Few, however, expected that their classes would be stuffed with more than three dozen students.

“I AM a senior.” I had some trouble rolling my tongue around these words on the first day of school, as I could hardly believe they told the truth. Most students wait three years of high school to reach this point in their lives, but I’ve looked forward to this moment since I was 4 years old.

The Bell Tower restaurant in downtown Saratoga had a busy night on May 19 thanks to the Spanish 4 Honors classes’ “Paella y Guitarra” night. Spanish teacher Arnoldo Rodriguex’s students are required to participate in three cultural events per semester as a part of their participation grade, and this night of food and music proved to be popular among students. The following week, on May 26, a subsequent event was held for AP Spanish 5 and 6 students.

The California Standardized Testing and Reporting program, known as STAR, was administered on May 11 and 12. The tests are designed to gauge whether students’ proficiencies are in line with state standards.

What does a pool, three brothers, and a passion for swimming equal? The perfect environment for an outstanding family legacy of swimming.

The drama department’s successful performances in the spring musical “Jekyll and Hyde” is credited to the actors’ devotion, from their construction of a mobile, high-tech set to the long hours spent in their daily rehearsals.

Career Day 2011 falls on April 5 this year, a day when students will have the opportunity to explore possible jobs they are interested in.

With testing season in full swing, upperclassmen are plagued by the stress and multitude of costs accompanying the AP and SAT tests. A single AP test? $87. An SAT test? $47. This is not to mention the numerous SAT II subject tests that add up to an outrageous total cost. The College Board, the company that administers all of these tests, has been the sole distributor since 1900, and many students have been complaining that the organization is an overbearing monopoly.

Saratoga High has some successful lawyers in the making on the mock trial team, which secured second place in Santa Clara County finals out of 22 schools, losing by a mere three points to Prospect High School on Feb. 22 at the Superior Courthouse. It was the best performance ever by a Saratoga High team.

Senior Amol Aggarwal’s road to becoming a finalist in the Intel Science Fair began with a geometry project he was working on: how to find the maximum number of distances in the most efficient way.

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.

Already on the ground and running after a relaxing winter break, the mock trial team is preparing for their first tournament on Jan. 15 at the San Jose County of Education.

Major shakeups of Congressional seats and gubernatorial posts from the U.S. elections dominated the news in early November. The students in history teacher Mike Davey’s U.S. government classes, however, just finished the long and mudslinging-filled campaigns in their realistic presidential election simulations on Jan. 3.

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year for most, but for seniors, it’s a time of nail-biting and anxiety as they begin anticipating the results of their applications to college. Students refer to days as Yale-day or Columbia-day, based on the life-changing letters that they will find in their mailboxes that day. However, is this all necessary?

At this point, I feel that it is my duty to say that I am no tech geek. I will never understand how my dad speaks computer and is able to write in binomial. Recently, though, I received a new Droid X. My family has Verizon, and I was secretly hoping for an iPhone 4 when it comes to this carrier early 2011, but I can’t exactly complain now. Nevertheless, I cannot help myself from comparing these two super smart-phones, so here you go: my honest and jargon-limited review of my new Droid X vs. the iPhone 4.

In elementary and middle school, when all students were young and license-less, their parents would drop them off in the morning in the school parking lot, hand them their lunch, and kiss them goodbye. This intimate and time-consuming parting fit perfectly in the environment of these schools, but not now. This is high school.

With the football team ending its 27-year regular season losing streak to Los Gatos on Oct. 22, happiness and pride still radiates throughout the school. However, unsportsmanlike conduct on Facebook centered around a handful of Los Gatos players highlighted the trouble that this over quarter-century rivalry could bring.

Don’t be surprised if you start to see pieces of fitness equipment in the quad in the next few weeks and students cranking out repetitions.

With the application season in full swing, seniors are faced with the daunting task of mapping out their futures through their decisions of which colleges to apply to. A popular choice has always been to apply to the UCs, but with California's financial crisis and UC tuition costs on the rise, future graduating classes are expected to stray off the usual beaten path of enrolling at a UC.

Saratoga's Garrod Ranch hosted the Saratoga Historical Foundation's annual BBQ and silent auction this year on Sept. 19. This BBQ is an important fundraiser for the foundation because it supports the events and activities the foundation does, such as the collecting of important artifacts and records for the Saratoga Museum, along with their safekeeping and display.

The average junior has probably had three teachers for each subject or maybe fewer. I doubt, though, that many students have so far had five teachers for one subject the way I have. One day toward the end of first semester in my sophomore English class last year, my teacher was not present in class nor the next day, nor the day after that. My class wasn't told a word about the disappearance, and then we entered a phase of about three rotating substitutes. As the weeks stretched on, we began to worry about what might have happened to our teacher.

“Time is like the waves on the shore, slipping away quickly, only leaving the memory of sound and shadow in our hearts. They used to make our life colorful, but now they’re only forever remembered.” And so ends the English translation of the first story in the Chinese anthology, The Story of Walking. Filled with wise messages and meaningful life stories, The Story of Walking seems to be a book from ancient China, written by a notable philosopher. Actually, it was written by a teenager.