Tiffany Tseng

Many students remember the Saratoga Youth Commission for the Community Center dances they used to organize for middle school students, along with the other various events they planned for teens. These past couple of years, however, the commission has been shifting away from these middle school dances and brainstorming new ideas to reach out to teens.

The fate of the California budget will rest in the hands of voters as Propositions 1A-F are on the ballot for a state-wide special election on May 19. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with the State Legislature, authorized these elections as part of a budget signed into law on Feb. 19. Failure to pass any one of the first five propositions will have a direct effect on the state budget and result in a budget hole that the governor and legislators will need to fix, while failure to pass the sixth proposition will not directly impact the state budget, said district superintendent Cary Matsuoka.

Imagine coming home from school, going online and being able to view all the morning announcements that you might have missed as well as pictures of the recent basketball game all in one streaming video. The next day, you could come home to watch the lecture from your biology class that same day to review the material you had been expected to understand in that short class period. The new multimedia journalism class starting next fall, headed by video production and media arts teacher Tony Palma, has plans to host a Saratoga High website “channel” that will constantly stream videos. Although this idea is not new, the recent demand from teachers and students for a higher technological level of interaction has made it more necessary.

Chattering in Spanish, teacher Arnaldo Rodriguex and a few students gather on Friday after school for their weekly “café socials." Rodriguex has taught the language the district for the past 35 years and has been having “café socials” with his students for as long as he can remember. These occur almost every Friday after school and are usually hold at Peet’s Coffee Shop on Saratoga-Sunnyvale. During the socials, students practice talk with each other in Spanish outside of the typical class setting.

As part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget plan, the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District (LGSUHSD) may soon be forced to cut its budget mid-year by 4.6 percent, or $1.3 million, according to superintendent Cary Matsuoka.

Drama 4 Honors: 2 Asians, 11 Caucasians. AP Chemistry: 78 Asians, 13 Caucasians. Newspaper staff: 57 Asians, 12 Caucasians, as determined by a Falcon headcount. Statistics obtained from the school registrar show that in comparison to other public high schools in the area, Saratoga High School, sporting a 41.0 percent Caucasian, 40.9 percent Asian, and 11.9 percent Indian student population, according to the SHS Student Distribution Report, is relatively diverse. However, despite a near-equal ratio of Caucasians and Asians, an increasingly large racial imbalance has developed in some classes over the years.

Traveling miles away from home this summer, senior Alina Yang met children from some of the poorest families in China who were suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and had no money for treatment. After helping these unfortunate children and learning about their many struggles in life, she immediately wanted to support this cause through a non-profit organization called Angelheart International.

As Election Day approaches, people are finalizing their decisions on which presidential candidate they will be supporting on Nov. 4. Over the past few months, people have been following Barack Obama and John McCain closer than ever, tuning in to all debates and watching every interview.

Senior Neyha Bhat sang a solo at a Chinese opera performance at Le Petit Trianon Theatre in downtown San Jose on Sept. 13, quite a surprise considering Bhat is of Indian descent and does not speak the language.

Fans attending the first football game tonight will be surprised to hear an new voice sounding over the speakers. English teacher Erick Rector is the new announcer for JV and varsity football and basketball games, taking the place of math teacher Mike Navrides. “This year I was given the opportunity to announce and I decided to give it a shot,” said Rector.

The lunch bell rang on Sept. 18, finally releasing hundreds of restless students from their classes. As usual, they scurried to the quad steps with the intent of reaching the cafeteria first and avoiding the long lunch lines. However, they were met by an enormous mob of classmates surrounding the center of the quad, surveying colorful posters bearing the names of dozens of clubs. Saratoga High hosted its annual Club Day on Sept. 18. Although upperclassmen had already been introduced to a variety of clubs during their high school experience, freshmen who had never experienced this before, were overwhelmed by the many clubs that their new school had to offer.

Imagine driving to school or walking across the parking lot while knowing that your actions are being recorded. It is easy to feel self-conscious or even violated when it seems anything can be viewed by the administration and outside authorities. Saratoga High has recently installed security cameras monitoring the school’s parking lots after encouragement from the WASC accreditation team, who last year commented on the openness and lack of security of the school. Although this effort to decrease vandalisms is supposed to create a feeling of security for students and faculty, it feels like an invasion of privacy.

As the badminton season came to an end, the major end-of-season tournament CCS determined the top players of each section.

As the badminton season came to an end, the major end-of-season tournament CCS determined the top players of each section. Five seniors from the varsity badminton team attended CCS Championships, held from May 20 to 22. Boys’ doubles teams David Chock and Kevin Chiang, Michael Su and Andrew Shyu, and girls’ singles player Emily Hur all advanced from league finals to play against top-ranked Bay Area high school players. “It was a great experience to meet some new players from all around,” said Hur. “I learned a lot from watching their unique strategies and skills.”

AP Music Theory teacher and Choir Director Jim Yowell was recently named the District Teacher of the Year for 2008-2009. “I feel very fortunate to [have been] selected this year,” said Yowell. “All teachers have their own special talents and deserve to be honored. This great recognition is rather humbling and means a lot because other teachers are complimenting you.”

Saratoga lost three consecutive games over the past two weeks against Monta Vista, Wilcox and Gunn, three of the league’s strongest teams. All three games were lost by a score of 13 – 17. “We were really close [against Monta Vista and Wilcox],” said senior varsity girls’ doubles player Laura Lin. “If we had just won one more varsity game, we would have come out on top.”

Saratoga lost three consecutive games over the past two weeks against Monta Vista, Wilcox and Gunn, three of the league’s strongest teams. All three games were lost by a score of 13 – 17.