Tim Rollinson

Film is an art that builds upon itself. Each innovation accelerates the industry and brings about new changes. With recent developments in technologies, it seems that the film industry is bursting into the future. It’s about time the Academy caught up.

The Monta Vista High School pool deck will be noticeably quieter this year. Longtime coach and teacher Ron Freeman passed away on Jan. 21 at age 52 from a heart attack after watching a Monta Vista basketball game.

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.

Science teacher and swim coach Kristen Thomson started receiving letters from schools chasing seniors Adam Hinshaw and Justin Chung as early as last winter. So instead of waiting on the fateful decision of the college, many colleges were waiting on the decision of these two boys, and it came earlier this fall. Next fall Hinshaw will be attending UC Berkeley and Chung will attend Carnegie Mellon.

Since freshman year my niche has been the pool. I have long been defined as an aquatic creature and my athletic career has (until this point) been contained within the lane lines and the water polo cage. This reputation is likely the reason it seemed like so many people were staring at me when I showed up for soccer tryouts or it may have been the baby blue socks that had clearly become obsolete since my days as a youth on the soccer field. The question accompanying the stares: “You play soccer?” The best response I could muster was, “It’s been a while.”

The boys’ water polo team surged to a strong finish for the league season as they ended a successful year with a 9-3 record and a second-place finish heading into the De Anza league tournament.

Maize. In Spanish, it translates to corn. Now, take the “i” out of the word maize but keep the corn and what do you have? Swank Farms Corn Maze in Hollister.

Let’s face it: It’s been a long 27 years for Saratoga football. As Saratoga students grew increasingly indifferent to the football program due to mediocre results, the program fell into a self-perpetuating slump that seemingly bogged down players, causing failures that only served to further alienate the fans.

On a normal weekday, a boys' water polo player must wake up at 5:30 in the morning only to tread in cold water for hours, a routine that is also repeated every afternoon. However, the tedium of an average player's day pales in comparison to that of senior co-captain Gavin Peake, the starting goalie on the varsity team, who must face even bigger physical challenges when he is in the pool. "Gavin is a monster," said junior Eric Wang. "Even when the defense is weak, he stops so many goals."

A common saying in water polo is that the key to being a good water polo player is anticipation. After graduating four key seniors last year many players anticipated a collapse. Fortunately for the team, a load of new talent has arrived this year, including a transfer student from Bellarmine, and prospects for success this year are looking more favorable. “The team looks a lot different than last year,” said senior goalie Gavin Peake. “But the talent level is similar.”

Top Ten Reasons to be excited for Homecoming 10. Freshman decorations are going to be awesome! 9. The costumes for the dance. Somehow girls will make board games inappropriate. 8. Homecoming king and queen. I wonder if anyone from band will win? 7. The football team playing Lynbrook. Ask Cupertino about the Homecoming game last year. 6. The teacher dance. That doesn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable. 5. Maybe this year the sophomores will finally get a Clue. 4. The Homecoming night rally. Remember how well the Candyland rally went last year.

Coming off a momentous season, the boys' swim team made its mark again by earning a third consecutive top-five finish, placing fifth place and emerging as the top public school at the CCS finals meet on May 21 at Santa Clara International Swim Center. Bellarmine won its 26th consecutive title.

Every time science teacher and swim coach Kristin Thomson checks her box in the main office, she seems to always have a stack of letters piling up. They come from colleges in Florida, Texas, Virginia, Indiana and everywhere in between and they all want the same thing: the chance to have Adam Hinshaw on their swim team in two years.

As a new swim season commences, the previous one seems almost like a dream. One fateful day last May, the boys' CCS swim team, consisting of only 10 swimmers, won seven events, broke five CCS records, one national record and would later be named the high school national champions by Swimming World Magazine. This unlikely and unprecedented performance places the 2009 boys' swim team as the greatest in school history.

A random passerby during the March 26 swim meet against Los Gatos may have noticed a strange occurrence. Although the Falcons have a formidable reputation, many of the team members were sporting blue water wings while preparing for the meet.

A random passerby during the March 26 swim meet against Los Gatos may have noticed a strange occurrence. Although the Falcons have a formidable reputation, many of the team members were sporting blue water wings while preparing for the meet.

When I was asked to do a "Can You..." story relating to prom, I gladly accepted. I had already been planning to ask someone and I was trying to think of a creative twist. I had a basic idea of sitting atop my friend's legendary 1990 Previa on a clear night surrounded by candles and blasting music, but I was still struggling with how I would transport my date from her house to the parking lot where we would set everything up.

"Step up." Eight swimmers step on to the white starting blocks. "Take your mark." They bend down, fingers and toes curled around the edge of the block, poised for action. "Go!" Bodies explode off the blocks in a tight streamline and they are off, swimming the first 100 of varsity boys' swim coach Christian Bonner's dreaded test set.

The wrestling season seemed to be taking a turn for the better as the team headed into its CCS meet on Feb. 19 and 20 at Independence High. Team captain Allan Yen hoped to compete after recovering from a severe foot injury that kept him out of the majority of this season's meets. In addition, sophomores Alfred Murabito and Nick Marshall and freshman Zach Hansen, all ranked in the top ten for their respective weight classes, were predicted to place top ten at CCS.

There is a trend growing among some boys this past month: facial hair. While the number of partcipants remains small, their beards are growing longer than ever. No this isn't some sort of infectious disease, it's "No Shave November." Ever since alumnus Matt Pearce showed off his huge beard in November two years ago, senior Nathan Kim was inspired and decided to create his own Facebook group, "No Shave November," in which, as the name implies, participants don't shave for a month.

After nine months away from the wrestling mat, many of the team members were rusty at the start of the new season. The first step of developing a successful season is to reteach the basics and get the athletes back into the wresting mindset. "The tough thing at the beginning of the season is that we have to break people of their bad habits," said head coach Gabe Tseng. "Then, we can go forward from there."

Retired tennis star Andre Agassi released his autobiography, "Open" a compilation of the chapters in his rich, full life. Along with an honest recitation of a much-fulfilled career, Agassi, with perhaps too much honestly, describes his use of the highly addictive stimulant methamphetamine, or "crystal meth." The aftermath of this confession sent shock waves through the athletic world, eliciting demands from other players that Agassi denounce his titles and forfeit all prize money.

Despite falling to fourth place in league play, with a record of five wins and seven losses three places lower than last year, the boys' water polo won two out of three games in the league tournament to finish third, one place higher than last year's tournament results.

With a new strategy in mind, the 4-6 Falcons are currently in the middle of the El Camino League standings. Recently water polo coach Christian Bonner implemented a system in which the starters would be determined by effort in practice rather than raw ability. The new system paid off on Oct. 21 as the Falcons won their game 12-5 against the second-place Fremont Firebirds. "The game against Fremont was the best we have played all season," said sophomore Nic Doyen. "It felt good to beat such a quality opponent by so much."

National champions. Until now these two words were never before associated with Saratoga High athletics, but after an stunning performance in last May's CCS swimming tournament, which included several national times and national record-breaking relay, the 2009 boys' team was crowned national champions by Swimming World Magazine in its Sept. 5 issue.

As a result of the new LED scoreboard recently installed at the Saratoga High Aquatic Center, swim meets will be more organized, water polo players will know how much time is remaining in the quarter and the school will likely host more aquatic events. The ol faulty and out-of-date scoreboard, which continually caused problems for the Falcons swimming and water polo teams, was replaced by a brand new top-of-the-line system earlier this month.

Boys' water polo returns for its second year in the El Camino Division of the Silicon Valley Athletic League after dropping down a league last year. However, this year the team has several reasons to be optimistic. After years of constant coach changes, the team will finally have a stable coach for the years to come as second-year coach Christian Bonner agreed to return to coach the team. "Even though we lost some key seniors we still have a few returning players and [Bonner] is back as the coach, so we definitely have a shot," said senior Kevin Rollinson.

In 2007, investigators received a warrant to search the property of NFL quarterback Michael Vick. They found three buildings full of abused and neglected dogs that had been trained to viciously fight other dogs. Three years after being convicted, Michael Vick has spent time in a federal prison, apologized for his actions and pleaded for forgiveness from his fans. He has learned his lesson and is ready to get back to the NFL .Although Vick committed the horrific crime of sponsoring a dog fighting operation, he deserves a second chance.

The Falcons came out in force at the CCS meet on May 16 at the Santa Clara International Aquatic Center. Of the 21 athletes representing Saratoga High at the meet, 12 placed in the top 16 in at least one event.

Sophomores Aditya Dev and Chris Chung like to stand out. That is why it surprised no one when the two of them, along with a group of friends, showed up to school on April 23 in board shorts, visors, sandals and pooka shell necklaces.

Girls’ water polo star Alison Norris has made the decision to continue her career at Santa Clara University next year. Norris chose SCU over top choices Loyola Marymount and San Diego State because of the balance of high-level water polo and the connection she felt with the team and coach.

“We are going to go out there and crush that CCS record,” senior Matt Murray said. “ We are going to show Bellarmine and everyone else here that we are the best team in CCS.”

Two popular restaurants have expanded to new locations closer to campus. Yogurtland opened a new location in the Westgate West shopping center while a Chipotle Mexican Grill is slated to open just across the street on the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Prospect Road. New Yogurtland closer to campus Last December, Yogurtland opened a location in Cupertino, drawing out-the-door lines. This year, the popular frozen yogurt bar held an official grand opening of its new Saratoga location on April 10, and the new location was also welcomed by large crowds.

Both the boys’ and girls’ swim teams began their seasons with dominating victories over Lynbrook at home on March 12. The girls’ 100m backstroke was the only varsity event that Saratoga lost and the girls’ 50m freestyle was the only event in which no Falcon swimmer qualified for CCS. “It’s amazing how many people qualified for CCS at the first meet,” said girls’ coach Kristin Thomson. “We have never had that many at a first meet.”

Reality television star Matt Roloff of TLC’s “Little People, Big World” delivered a speech about how he has successfully faced adversity in a world that didn’t seem to be fit for him at the McAfee Center on the evening of Feb. 12.

After swimming together since elementary school, seniors Matthew Murray, Ben Hinshaw and Brad Murray will go their different ways this fall as they swim for UC Berkeley, University of Viginia, and Georgetown University.

After a 1-0 victory over Milpitas on Feb. 6 marked the end of a tumultuous regular season for the girls’ varsity soccer team, the girls began to play a different, albeit less fun, game. They began to play the waiting game, anxiously anticipating the decision of the CCS Board as to whether or not they could qualify for the championships as a wildcard.

After leading the Lady Falcons to a 3-1-1 record in their first five league games, varsity girls’ soccer head coach Tulin Mendoza was replaced by history teacher Kim Anzalone for the remainder of the season.

Classes last week were interrupted with a bit of holiday cheer as the SHS Chamber Singers sold their annual Carol Grams to raise money. The tradition to sing holiday grams around school also financially benefits the Chamber Singers. “We do it to raise money for our music accounts since [the choir] goes on a lot of trips. The Chamber Choir is the choir that travels the most,” said choir member senior Sarah Baldwin.

The girls’ soccer team is trying to gel around a new coach and integrate three freshmen and three new sophomores—a challenge that has shown up in some pre-season losses. “[The girls] are just getting to know each other and play as a team, which is what preseason is about,” said new coach Tulin Mendoza. Mendoza has been coaching for the past 15 years at a number of different high schools, youth programs and Olympic development programs in the Bay Area. Mendoza expressed enthusiasm about working with the lady Falcons this year, but feels there’s much room for improvement.

The girls’ soccer team is trying to gel around a new coach and integrate three freshmen and three new sophomores—a challenge that has shown up in some pre-season losses. “[The girls] are just getting to know each other and play as a team, which is what preseason is about,” said new coach Tulin Mendoza. Mendoza has been coaching for the past 15 years at a number of different high schools, youth programs and Olympic development programs in the Bay Area. Mendoza expressed enthusiasm about working with the lady Falcons this year, but feels there’s much room for improvement.

Sophomores Gabe Guido, Alex Sturge and Matt Cresci created a marketing plan for a kids’ juice drink to win a competition at a local business camp they attended this past summer. As a reward, they will be going to New York in January to present their ideas to company leaders.

This year’s golf team is winding down as the members play their last matches for the season. As a pioneer team for the school, the players have enjoyed a solid, if not an undefeated season.

Disaster struck. Susie Q logged onto to her Facebook account and looked aimlessly for her usual sidebar and updates. But there it was, horrifying and permanent. In plain view, this new layout stared back plain, dull and bumper sticker-less. September 2008: The new Facebook was officially made mandatory for all users. The old adage goes “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” but it seems Facebook employees disagree. They changed the very functional website to a new, difficult to navigate format.

The No. 1 and 2 players are sophomores. The No. 3 player is a freshman. Typical JV team, right? No, this is the first year girls’ varsity golf team led by sophomores Uttara Sivaram and Annaliese Parker and freshman Jayten Weiss. The single freshman on the team, Weiss, who took the No. 3 spot despite having only one year of previous experience, has proven to be a key player.

For the first time in school history, a girls' golf team is teeing off. A growing number of requests to the school last year resulted in the team being formed. Eight students said they’d play, two more than the minimum player requirement for high school golf, and the team became official.

The scene was wild. Flashing lights, blasting music and cardboard animal cutouts filled the quad as hundreds of students gathered for an exotic, safari-themed quad dance. Drinking was only a minor problem. This was the beginning of the year dance, themed “Born to Be Wild,” which took place in the quad on Friday, Aug. 29, from 8-11 p.m.