Features

I stopped by Yolatea on a sunny Saturday as I walked home through downtown Saratoga. The place seemed inviting and I craved something sweet, so I entered through its doors.

There was a display of a dozen different flavors of gelato along with the popular option of Pearl Milk Teas and crepes. My friend ordered a strawberry Pearl Milk Tea and I got a Nutella and Banana Crepe, an amazing combination of flavors. I had high expectations for the food, since I heard rumors about the quality of the crepes.

“Because if I look into your eyes, then I’ll have to say goodbye and that’ll break my heart. So I won’t even start. I won’t even start.”

These lyrics from YouTube singer David Choi’s original song, “I Won’t Even Start,” have been heard by over 1 million people from across the nation. Choi, a singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles, started on YouTube several years ago. Since then, his popularity has risen dramatically.

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.

Michael Chen was at the top of his game in high school—salutatorian, president of the Key Club and editor-in-chief for the school newspaper—just to name a few of his impressive positions. He continued this remarkable streak by getting accepted to Harvard University.

Acceptance into Harvard University is a goal that many top students aspire to. Not only is it hard to be accepted, but the classes there are difficult as well, even for the supremely gifted. However, Chen finds that life at college is not as daunting as he had feared.

Every student longs to be successful in their post-high school endeavors. And due to increasing competition, many students pack their schedule so full of AP class study sessions and extracurricular activities to remain “competitive for college” that they often don’t make time to simply enjoy high school.

But 2003 SHS alumna Michelle Lin, the older sister of current senior Maggie Lin, has shown through her own experiences that stressing out about competition and obtaining an insanely high GPA isn’t necessarily the only path to success.

As summer approaches, so does the deadline to apply for internships and other programs, as well as college application season for the current juniors and scholarships due dates for the seniors, many students will find themselves scrambling to find teachers, guidance counselors and other staff members to write a recommendation letter for them. While upperclassmen may be more familiar with this process, some students may not be sure how to start.

The first step, of course, is to figure out the best staff member to write the letter.

It’s 8 o’clock on a Friday night and a small corner of downtown Saratoga bursts with the sound of live music. On an otherwise quiet street, when most restaurants in Saratoga are closing, the Blue Rock Shoot is just getting started.