The Student News Site of Saratoga High School

The Saratoga Falcon
Student art being showcased at last year’s Soundings exhibition in the SHS Library.
Soundings’ April 18. Exhibition will feature works from The Wildcat Review
April 17, 2025
Allied teams 95071X (right) and 1000A (left) celebrate after advancing to grand finals at the U.S. Open National Championship.
VEX Robotics team makes finalists in U.S. Open National Championship
April 10, 2025
Rally commissioners act out a skit inspired by “Beauty and the Beast.”
‘Beauty and the Beast’ rally builds hype before prom
April 10, 2025
Trustee Shawn Mortensen (far left) listens to a presentation at the district office during the school board’s March 11 meeting.
Meet Shawn Mortensen: LGSUHSD’s newest school board trustee
April 5, 2025
The Philharmonic Strings orchestra combined with the Freshman orchestra to play together in the non-competitive category of the conference.
SHS orchestras travel to Atlanta for National Orchestra Festival
April 4, 2025
Jain poses during a dive in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, her first rotation at the Johnson Space Center during fall 2023.
Alumni reflect on the benefits of college co-op programs that place them in workplace settings for extended periods
April 17, 2025
Cochrum helps a student during tutorial.
Cochrum reflects on educational journey with learning disability
April 5, 2025
An advertisement poster Leung made for the company.
Senior takes on remote social media job in New York
April 5, 2025
Courtesy of Montalvo Arts Center Often rented for weddings, the beautiful grounds of the Montalvo Arts Center is a popular place for hosting social events.
A nearby gem: the Montalvo Arts Center
April 3, 2025
Combining multiple skill-sets fosters collaboration and growth in ceramics class
April 2, 2025
Bonner instructs swimmers to start the set off the block.
Christian Bonner’s journey from non-swimmer to longtime swimming coach
April 17, 2025
Ning launches a three against Sacred Heart as his teammates prepare to celebrate.
From 13th man to 3rd team all league — Steven Ning’s basketball journey
April 3, 2025
The beam training area at Gold Star Gymnastics.
Paying it forward for the next generation of gymnasts
March 31, 2025
Bossow wrestles against Bellarmine at Overfelt High on Dec. 6.
Wrestling team shows significant improvement this season
March 27, 2025
Coach Brian Liao talks game strategy with sophomores Andy Lu and Teegan Seid-Pham.
New head badminton coach brings valued guidance for players
March 27, 2025
Mangione’s alleged actions were wrong, but the diagnosis of America’s failing health-care system wasn’t
Mangione’s alleged actions were wrong, but the diagnosis of America’s failing health-care system wasn’t
March 31, 2025
Stay safe.
In a dark time, it’s time to know your rights
March 27, 2025
Starting next school year, more students are able to study at MIT without worrying about tuition.
Educational institutions are wise to offer free tuition to low-income families
March 26, 2025
Nationwide voter turnout since 2002, blue is presidential, yellow is midterm
Sagging voter participation puts democracy at risk
March 22, 2025
Cutting the tree of the Department of Education in half.
DOGE’s cuts for educational programs cause instability and loss of research confidence
March 19, 2025
The infamous “criss cross chair” from TikTok Shop, ranging from $40-70, has taken over social media feeds.
Is TikTok Shop another marketing trap or actually have legitimate products?
April 17, 2025
Students gather to eat and talk on the upper deck.
Prom 2025: A grape evening at the Mountain Winery
April 6, 2025
Courtesy of Imgflip If you’re going to stop reading this story right here, this meme sums up my entire high school experience (I been chilling with boba but it’s close enough). Seriously, though, John Cena’s Chinese is elite.
My high school life in memes
April 5, 2025
Courtesy of Neha Sharan Students compete in a co-ed tournament held at the India Community Center in Milpitas.
A sophomore’s gambit: encouraging more girls to take up chess
April 4, 2025
Top 10 celebrity baby names over the years
April 3, 2025
Volume 49, Issue 1
Volume 49, Issue 1
April 15, 2025
Volume 49, Issue 2
Volume 49, Issue 2
April 15, 2025
Volume 49, Issue 3
Volume 49, Issue 3
April 15, 2025
Volume 48, Issue 9
April 15, 2025
Volume 48, Issue 10
Volume 48, Issue 10
April 15, 2025

The Saratoga Falcon

The Saratoga Falcon
All content by Andy Chen
Facing low participation, underclassmen-heavy team remains underdog in league

Facing low participation, underclassmen-heavy team remains underdog in league

Andy Chen and Tiffany Wang
Teachers can do more to address remote student concerns

Teachers can do more to address remote student concerns

Andy Chen
Coolest and cleanest: the best water fountains on campus

Coolest and cleanest: the best water fountains on campus

Andy Chen and Bill Yuan
At the beginning of the game against Homestead, the field hockey team runs onto the field.

Following 9-1 season, field hockey loses in second round of CCS

Meher Bhatnagar and Andy Chen
Junior running back Paolo Navarro runs the ball as senior lineman Parker Smith blocks Monta Vista’s defense.

Falcons kick off league season with a win and a loss

Andy Chen, Jonny Luo, Nikhil Mathihalli, and Shaan Sridhar

Falcons shatter loss streak with 31-14 Homecoming game win

Andy Chen
Rookie members of team MSET 6165 Cuttlefish work on the finishing touches of their robot together in the robotics room before their scrimmage.

Photo or Graphic for: Robotic teams use offseason to get even stronger after a strong pandemic year

Arnav Swamy and Martin Xu

Staff editorial – Title IX: topic too big for tutorial

Andy Chen and Esther Luan
5-1 speaker series (2)

Econ Club highlights real-world applications through speaker event

Andy Chen
ATsalaries

District must provide fair salary, increase benefits for SHS athletic trainer position

Andy Chen, Shama Gupta, and Howard Shu

Top 10 excuses for turning your camera off on Zoom

Andy Chen and Allen Luo

Top ten worst days of the week

Andy Chen and Bill Yuan
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Team tackles season amidst safety concerns

Andy Chen and Jason Cheng
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Gluttonous duo rates Girl Scout cookies

Andy Chen and Tiffany Wang
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Catan: a perfect game to play with family

Andy Chen
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From the runway to the pages: Benefit Fashion Show changes to fashion magazine

Andy Chen and Anjali Nuggehalli
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Robotics team wins top two awards, qualifies for regionals

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha
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School should open new P.E. credit opportunities

Andy Chen

Top 10 things to do after COVID-19

Andy Chen and Justin Guo
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Turn your Zoom camera on (or not)

Andy Chen and Audrey Mah
choir

School hires new long-term subs, staff for second semester

Andy Chen and Ethan Lin
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Robotics: Paused in-person cohorts lead to new challenges, opportunities

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha
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Weir leads maintenance staff in preparation for eventual in-person school

Andy Chen and Cici Xu
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In face of coronavirus, robotics club prepares for competition

Andy Chen
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Teachers increase use of new technology

Andy Chen and Avani Kongetira
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SHS unfairly caters too much to STEM students

Andy Chen and Shaan Sridhar
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Weight room loses $7,000 worth of equipment, reflecting larger security problem across campus

Andy Chen and Allen Luo
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SHS alumni makes videos for hospitalized children amidst pandemic

Andy Chen
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Video games connect friends during coronavirus pandemic

Andy Chen and Justin Guo
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Football: Falcons hope to rebuild after losing key players from last year’s team to graduation

Andy Chen and Jason Cheng
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Class of 2020 alumni move to college campuses to find something like a normal freshman experience in a pandemic

Andy Chen
A Survey of Modern Economics (3)

Econ club to feature Stanford, Princeton, UPenn professors at speaker series

Apurva Chakravarthy and Andy Chen
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I broke a world record

Andy Chen

District’s decision to host the standardized tests causes controversy

Andy Chen, Shreya Rallabandi, and Harshini Velchamy
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Robotics team mentors Argonaut Elementary students through virtual software summer program

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha

Top 10 ways 2020 can get worse

Andy Chen
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P.E. teachers adjust workouts, curriculum

Andy Chen
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District establishes new protocols for distance learning

Andy Chen and Esther Luan
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Science department adjusts to online education

Andy Chen
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Administration and senior class office plan to hold in-person prom in December

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha

Top 10 ways to spend your quarantined summer

Andy Chen and Justin Guo
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Staff finishes yearbook despite coronavirus obstacles; books to be mailed home instead of distributed

Andy Chen
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Transition to online learning continues

Andy Chen and Ethan Lin
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Online schooling hinders students, teachers

Andy Chen
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Leadership to introduce changes to club system

Andy Chen and Esther Luan
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Dance commission hosts online TikTok competition

Andy Chen and Angelina Chen
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M-SET mentors and students print and deliver 3-D-printed face shields to local hospitals

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha
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School closures force cancellation of standardized tests

Andy Chen
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Sleep connoisseur rates the best ways to fall asleep

Andy Chen
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Best practices in online teaching needed in face of coronavirus

Andy Chen

Badminton team experiments with practices in attempt to recover from last year’s season

Andy Chen and Alan Zu
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Kids should get social media sooner rather than later

Andy Chen

Some second semester seniors stay in spring sports, others quit

Andy Chen and Anna Novoselov

Boys’ golf team dominates competition, looks to make history yet again

Andy Chen and Harshini Velchamy

Dietary habits can lead to less spending on meals

Andy Chen

Sophomore pursues comedic passion

Andy Chen and Anouk Yeh

As students scramble for summer recs, teachers encourage other options

Andy Chen

New rules say upperclassmen presidents must have had one year of Leadership

Andy Chen and Harshini Velchamy

Not just another statistic: an examination of teen suicide

Marisa Kingsley and Andy Chen

Daily tutorial system should remain

Andy Chen
Casanova_Etienne109

Sophomore soccer star has played against top national and international competition

Andy Chen
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As build season comes to a close, M-SET preps for competitions

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha

Wrestling team making gains despite inexperience

Andy Chen and Sina Salehi

Students choose to play football despite relative risk

Andy Chen

Unnecessary emphasis on instructional minutes hinders schools

Andy Chen

Immigrants must overcome stereotypes in order to adjust to life in America

Andy Chen and Benjamin Li

Robotics scrimmage provides rewarding experience

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha

Clubs take advantage of social media to advertise

Andy Chen and Tiffany Wang 

JV football team struggles to retain members; trend is part of larger decline in sports participation

Andy Chen

World geography curriculum should include more modern history

Andy Chen and Tiffany Wang

Season preview: Wrestling team looks to polish skills in preparation for league

Andy Chen

Response to NBA, Blizzard controversies are overreactions

Andy Chen and Benjamin Li

M-SET spreads STEM to Argonaut Elementary students through mentoring program

Andy Chen and Kaasha Minocha

Fall fashion without fast fashion

Megan Chen and Andy Chen

Memo to teachers: SHSTV should actually be shown in classrooms

Andy Chen and Esther Luan
Spiny_Shell_-_Mario_Kart_Wii

Blue shells make me blue

Andy Chen

‘Trunk-or-Treat’ aims to foster safe trick-or-treating environment

Andy Chen

Field trips costs generally outweigh benefits

Andy Chen

AP Statistics students interview students, analyze response bias

Andy Chen and Allen Luo

As the power goes off in students’ homes, SHS hosts extends hours for student center, library

Andy Chen

E-sports club achieves wide popularity but has no traditional meetings

Esther Luan and Andy Chen

Later start time both help and hinder students

Andy Chen and Benjamin Li

ASB implements new club policies that target ‘college app’ clubs

Andy Chen and Issac Le

Administration has two new members

Andy Chen and Allison Hartley

New club policy limits growth

Esther Luan and Andy Chen

Falcon Fest changes fail to hit their mark

Andy Chen and Allen Luo

Minecraft takes its ‘Revenge’

Andy Chen and Megan Chen
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