Will Edman

For as long as I can remember, I have been a scrawny kid. At 5’11’’ and 140 lbs, I am all skin and bones, and no amount of food can improve my skinniness. My attempts to eat massive amounts of protein have never produced results, my forays into working out and weightlifting have proved ineffective, and despite my above average height, I have never progressed past the status of a featherweight.

The school is renowned for its academic achievement: consistently ranked among the top public schools in the nation, students strive to reach new intellectual heights. However, a tour of campus may convey an additional tradition, that of athletic excellence.

During a lunch period in late February, senior Viraj Parmar parked his car in the second row of the section of the parking lot traditionally reserved for seniors. He noticed that a car in an adjacent parking spot contained a green parking permit, the mark of a junior vehicle. Parmar began speaking to a student who had ridden in the car, informing him that this was the senior parking lot. The junior (who Parmar could not identify by name), to the astonishment of Parmar, swore at him.

Students might be surprised to find the STAR tests much earlier in the school’s schedule this year. The tests, which have previously been administered during the final week of AP testing, will now be taken on April 25 and 26. Seniors do not attend school on STAR testing days.

Two members of the non-profit organization FACE AIDS visited the leadership class on Jan. 26 during lunch and shared about their program, which seeks to reduce

During the summer, the outdoor basketball “Courts of Dreams” next to Benny Pierce Field were used by a diverse group of people, from middle school students to SHS alumni to adults searching for recreation. However, among the many different people who frequented the courts, one person seemed to be ever-present: junior Arthur Tsao.

Two members of the non-profit organization FACE AIDS visited the leadership class on Jan. 26 during lunch and shared about their program, which seeks to reduce the spread of AIDS around Rwanda and surrounding countries.

Students might be surprised to find the STAR tests much earlier in the school’s schedule this year. The tests, which have previously been administered during the final week of AP testing, will now be taken on April 25 and 26. Seniors do not attend school on STAR testing days.

During the summer, the outdoor basketball “Courts of Dreams” next to Benny Pierce Field were used by a diverse group of people, from middle school students to SHS alumni to adults searching for recreation. However, among the many different people who frequented the courts, one person seemed to be ever-present: junior Arthur Tsao.

Mitt Romney Strengths: Most, including his opponent Newt Gingrich, predict that Romney will be one of the final two GOP candidates competing for the Republican nomination. Romney has name recognition, is the former governor of Massachusetts and is known for his success with business. In a time of economic hardship, many Republican voters feel Romney is their best bet; he is well known for turning the Salt Lake Olympics around after its $379 billion debt.

The boys’ basketball team ended an up-and-down preseason feeling ready to take on the best of the El Camino League.

On March 11, the world watched as a monstrous tsunami hit the east coast of Japan, killing thousands and sparking a nuclear emergency. Although more than six months have passed since the tsunami, the Tohoku region of Japan remains in disrepair. The tsunami is no longer global news, but Japanese teacher Yuko Aoki yearned for a way to assist those still suffering, and found an unlikely medium in her friend, a businessman named Alan Mockridge, who lives in Santa Clara.

The 2011 NBA playoffs were considered an instant classic. A series of compelling headlines and tight games culminated in a championship for much-maligned German maestro Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. However, recently a lockout, as the result of a disagreement between the owners and players has almost guaranteed that next season will be postponed.

On April 28, National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell walked on stage at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to announce the first pick of the 2011 NFL Draft and was greeted with a chorus of boos. A far cry from the usual celebratory mood, this year’s draft was marred by the contentiousness and uncertainty due to the lockout which has endangered the 2011-2012 NFL season. During the lockout, players are not permitted to meet with coaches or work out on team facilities, and player transactions are also barred.

As the end of the 2010-11 school year nears, parents continue to work to bring Grad Night to fruition despite abnormal number of seniors who have not purchased bids yet.

The valedictorian and salutatorian of the Class of 2011 are Daryl Chang and David Zeng, respectively, according to the guidance department. Saratoga High’s highest academic awards are given to the senior students who have the two highest grade point averages spanning their entire high school careers.

As student and teacher fans filled out brackets at the start of the NCAA tournament, others played out Saratoga High’s version of the basketball craze. The annual March Madness event is a three-on-three, first to teacher points basketball tournament. The team made up of seniors Kent Paisley, girls varsity standout Arya Parhar and social studies teacher/girls’ basketball coach Mike Davey took the crown in a hotly contested bracket.

In order to shed some light on the CCS qualification and division placement process, I decided to read through the CCS bylaws in order to simplify the system. However, I learned that despite the Central Coast Section’s effort to acknowledge and celebrate athletic excellence, the CCS playoffs seem more like a math contest than a sporting event.

When students are asked for a sports idol or a favorite player on the San Francisco 49ers, many mention modern stars such as linebacker Patrick Willis or tight end Vernon Davis. Others name Super Bowl-winning legends such as Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, wide receiver Jerry Rice, or safety Ronnie Lott. However, junior Mitchell Faylor has a unique answer: his own dad.

The thieves had left her house in such appalling disarray that the junior girl still cannot erase the memory from her mind two years later. All the drawers and closets were open and almost nothing was undisturbed. Some jewelry along with hundreds of dollars of electronics, were missing—leaving their house feeling empty.

Breakfast: $1.95 donut at Starbucks Lunch: 2 Double cheeseburgers .99 each Small fries $1.07 Dinner: $5 big box at Taco Bell: Crunchwrap Supreme, taco, burrito and cinnamon twists Total: $10

The most stressful part of a student’s career is arguably the first semester of senior year. During this time, seniors must navigate through their toughest classes and maintain grades that colleges will certainly view, while additionally completing college applications.

At the start of the year Saratoga High boasted 62 ASB-recognized clubs at the start of the school year, a number that continues to rise.

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.

In recent weeks, Link Crew leaders have been trying to re-establish connections with the freshmen they are helping guide through their first year in high school.

From the end Thanksgiving break until the start of Winter break, hundreds of shoes filled the usually sterile central storage area of the science wing as biology teacher Kelly Nicholson led a group of students in organizing the footwear.

As a new decade dawns in the sports world, a major issue has arisen that has caused major college football to be tarred with controversy: pay-for-play scandals.

On the shelves of the small textbook room in the library are roughly 31,000 textbooks, according to librarian Kevin Heyman. Getting those books into the hands of students, repairing damage, keeping track of lost books and assessing fines, is a massive job shared by staff members and parent volunteers.

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.

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.

On Sunday, Oct. 240, I decided to sit down and plan my coming week. I tossed my homework aside and headed over to espn.com as the last week of October is not a normal week; it is the best week of a sports fanatic's year.

When the First Amendment was penned, the Founding Fathers could not have foreseen the controversies that would surround the five basic rights that were guaranteed to all American citizens.

On a recent Wednesday, junior Eric Wang walked out of his class five minutes into the lunch period and began to search the quad for friends to eat with. However, he found that all of his friends had already driven off campus, and so he resigned to do homework in the library. Such a situation is routine for Wang, who, like many other upperclassmen, has no means of driving off campus at lunch.

“And we’re on in three, two...” Juniors Nicole Shadman and Talia Sisco sit in movie director chairs, reporting news that will soon stream throughout the entire school. Accompanied by the wide green screen walls and supplied with the necessary new technology to create a video report, students in the Multimedia Journalism feel as if they’re in a professional television studio.

Amid the budget cuts and financial difficulties that face the school, the Media Arts Program has continued to move ahead. Now in its third year, MAP has included the 9th grade by creating new English 9 MAP classes this year.

Student elections have been moved online this school year by the elections commission in an attempt to save class time and be more environmentally friendly. The move was masterminded by the elections commission and executed by co-head commissioner Kevin Mu, who designed a program and website himself, hoping to make voting simple and fast.

Every year, quad days and the Homecoming football game draw large crowds of spirited students, but this year, students may be occupied with much more than just Homecoming. Unlike most years, Homecoming takes place the same week as the SATs and the end of the six-week grading period, forcing students to choose between school spirit and academics.

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."

On what seemed like a typical Tuesday night, junior Nicole Fetsch stared at her computer screen, video chatting with a Yoda doll that was being held up by a stranger hiding underneath his desk. Unsure of what to do next, Fetsch exited the site before she saw the person's face. So it goes in the world of Chatroulette, the latest trend in the use of video-chatting technology. Originally a medium of friendly communication, video chatting has evolved into something many teens consider adventurous and fun.

In mid 2009, a group of Christians, Jews, and Muslims created the Cordoba Initiative, an association that planned to build an Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York called Park51 that would house a mosque.