News

Saratoga High has historically been one of the highest ranked public high schools in California in terms of Academic Performance Index or API scores. This year, the school had a record 25-point increase in its API score, going from 903 in 2007 to 928 in 2008, outperforming rival schools like Lynbrook and Monta Vista to become one of the top three schools in the Bay Area and the top performer in the Santa Clara County.

The school’s API scores have been dropping in the past couple of years, which makes this increase much more remarkable.

While the other classes got to confer and choose their themes for Homecoming, the freshman were left with the one theme that nobody seemed to want—Atlanta.

Imagine walking down a dirt road barefoot among shards of broken beer bottles. Imagine losing a friend to enemy fire every day. Imagine not being able to see your family again. Imagine all this when you’re only being nine years old.

In Uganda, 1.8 million children are being forced from their homes to fight against the Ugandan army. For them, it’s either kill or be killed. A rebel group named the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony has taken most of these kids from their homes at the ages of 5 to 14.Not only has Kony destroyed lives, he has destroyed schools. Most of the kids in Uganda don’t have a plan for the future. Lucky for them, hope is on the way.

It is senior Elizabeth Shin’s ultimate dream to run her own venue complete with a bar and food service and open space—for concerts.

It was last year when Shin began to realize that dream, when she sat mesmerized by the story about alumnus Vivian Wang in the school newspaper. Wang, who was an intern at Pinup Productions, had wanted to hold a music concert herself in Saratoga, but couldn’t handle the burden that came with managing it. Wang’s efforts piqued Shin’s interest, and Shin decided to take up the challenge on how to start a music management business like Wang’s Pinup Productions in Saratoga.

Last spring, students from Judith Sutton’s Creative Writing: Poetry 2 class put on a presentation at the Saratoga Library portraying the bombings on Mutanabi Street in Iraq. The bombings had taken place in March 2007 and devastated the entire city of Baghdad. The street had originally been a lively market where ideas, books and thoughts were exchanged freely.

The students wanted to spread the knowledge of the impact of the attack. The reading left the audience with a call to action. What could they do to help? Their answer was a small press publisher by the name of Studio 1801.

Last spring, students from Judith Sutton’s Creative Writing: Poetry classes put on a presentation at the Saratoga Library portraying the Mutanabbi Street bombing in Iraq. The bombing took place in March 2007 and devastated the entire street, which had served for several years as a lively market where ideas, books and thoughts were exchanged freely. Not only were all books destroyed, but some 75 people were seriously injured and 30 people died.

Boy Scout Troop 581 of Saratoga will advance four deserving Eagle Scouts this year, seniors Grant Fukui, Chris Rea, Mihir Sathe and Kevin Shimizu. These four students have worked together for about a decade to achieve Boy Scouting’s highest honor, the Eagle Scout rank, which they will receive in a couple of months.

Students can further enhance their critical thinking abilities thanks to a new teacher in the English department, Ken Nguyen. Nguyen teaches two periods of English 10 and three periods of AP English Language.

Over the next few months, many students will meet and begin to develop a strong relationship with the newest guidance counselor, Dona Feizzadeh.

New librarian Kevin Heyman, who is replacing the retired Tibor Szalay, hopes to inspire students to become skilled researchers and to become as passionate about research as he is.