Nupur Maheshwari

As the softball season starts, the players have been to taking on other teams, in addition to a larger problem — the school’s new field.  

Softball team reflects on past year and looks to the future. 

Junior Anya Herne, now a model for the local agency HMM Halvorson, has realized that modeling is much tougher than it appears.

Team shows improvement individually and aims for state.

Ten former AP Environmental Science students took a four-day trip to the Sea Turtle Conservatory in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, on Sept. 24 to study the endangered sea turtles species there. The trip is facilitated by AP Environmental Science teacher Kristen Thomson and biology teacher Kristofer Orre. 

The cross country team recently participated in a Lynbrook meet on Sept. 8 and an Early Bird Invitational on Sept. 12, marking the first big races of their competitive season. The senior and freshman girls won their division on the hilly, 2.1 mile Lynbrook course, with standout athletes freshman Sasha Pickard and senior Kimberly Chen completing the race with times of 13:09 and 14:24 respectively.

Today, the Saratoga Youth Commission's goal to get Saratoga's youth more involved in the city is recognized as the commission acts as a liaison between the young citizens of Saratoga and the City Council, reaching out to more of the city’s youth through engaging events than they have before.

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), an international student press association, released the winners of the Gold Crown award for the 2013-2014 year, and among the 13 schools awarded with the “High School Newspaper Gold Crowns,” the Saratoga Falcon made the list.

The baseball team began playing games on Feb. 24 with a win, but as of March 5 their record is 2-2.

Day One of the M-SET build season began on Jan. 3, when this year’s challenge was revealed to teams all over the country

The school’s biennial Career Day event will be held on March 23, providing students with a chance to learn about more than 70 different careers. The event is mandatory for students of all grade levels.

SHS athletic trainer Liz Alves, who has been working in the position for seven years, helps provide diagnosis, treatments and emergency care year-round to all the school’s athletes.  

Senior Neesha Malik reflects on the time she spent in Karachi, Pakistan, during her junior year.

This year district leaders decided to lower Saratoga High’s athletic asked-for contribution from $275 to $225 — the same amount now being sought at Los Gatos High School. Los Gatos’ contribution has been raised from $200 to $225. According to Robinson, the district’s decision to lower Saratoga’s asked-for contribution has left SHS sports programs with a $12,000 deficit.

The girls’ water polo team made quite a splash in CCS this year after two wins against Stevenson and St. Ignatius.

The Saratoga Youth Commission and Cupertino Teen Commission event “Pizza and Politics: A Political Forum For Teens" took place on Oct. 22.

After sustaining several losses, the boys’ varsity water polo season is off to a rough start with a league record of 1-4.

Lunch lady Diane Ray has made over 60,000 sandwiches for students in the 21 years she has worked at SHS, calculated by multiplying the number of sandwiches made per day by the total number of days she has worked.  

Measure E, a bond measure that will provide the school district with $99 million to re-modernize classrooms as well as upgrade the school’s plumbing, electrical, sewer, heating and air conditioning, was passed on June 3. Renovations began this summer and are expected to take five years.

Junior Ankitha Sarvesh performed at Carnegie Hall after being selected to sing by the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) last June.

Girls' water polo team looks to advance further in CCS than last year.

Boys' water polo hopes to repeat last year's success.

The city council has finalized its plans to spend money on upgrading two major routes: Prospect Road and Saratoga Avenue. The improvements will occur in early 2016.

The Saratoga Union School District (SUSD) Board of Trustees approved new math courses that focus on Common Core concepts and methods during a meeting on Feb. 25, resulting in a new math track for younger students. This math track, however, has caused some concern from parents. 

During a time in which teens often feel the need to compare themselves with others, being ranked solely on looks is usually the last thing teenagers want to face — especially when that ranking is carried out by their peers.   Teens tend to struggle with confidence and self-worth, and being “rated” is most likely not on their wish list. Unfortunately,  the boys at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California did exactly that. 

After joining the lower El Camino Division El Camino Division this spring, the track team gained more success than in recent years. The boys ended with a 5-1 record, and the girls were 2-4.

What drives teachers insane? Students who have bad penmanship, leave class early and don’t read directions on assignments. But of all the misread instructions and the scrawled handwriting upon wrinkled sheets of paper, many teachers’ biggest pet peeve is grade grubbing: Students asking teachers to give them more points on an assignment or a test unnecessarily and in a pestering way.

It’s not every day that students decide early in life what they want to be when they grow up. One of these rare students is junior Nik Aji, who wants to be a rapper.

“These two objects are the same size and the same weight,” physics teacher Kirk Davis tells his AP physics class. “With that information, which do you think travels faster?”

“Optimistic.” It’s the first word that comes to coach Archie Ljepava’s mind when thinking toward the upcoming season of track.

Senior Akshay Madhani recently learned he was the valedictorian for the Class of 2014.

A new, clearer ASB constitution took effect last month, on Feb. 24, after agreeing earlier this year that the old version was incomplete and ambiguous. ASB officers hope the revised document will prevent misunderstandings about elections procedures and give the student body a voice in school affairs.

For Gou, who has been fencing competitively since age 6, each tournament is a test of the mind.  Not only must he study and analyze his opponent, but he also must balance himself between an appropriate level of intensity and relaxation.   

When seniors Akshay Madhani and Alex Renda walked into the guidance office in early February, they had a suspicion of what was going to happen. Yet, that didn’t stop the two from being “in a state of disbelief” when they left. Madhani and Renda had just received the school’s highest academic honors: valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively.

From April 27-30, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) will visit Saratoga High in order to assess and certify the school’s accreditation.  

Aggarwal is the kid who walks into a room with a smile plastered on his face at all times; he is the guy who works to make everyone around him laugh as hard as possible. In short, Aggarwal is a class clown.

Chinese New Year, also known as The Lunar New Year, is a time of both new beginnings and old traditions. This year’s holiday, which starts today, Jan. 31, marks the Year of the Horse.

Sophomore Corinne Bryan pressed her face against the window of the plane, enjoying the icy cold glass against her cheek while the buildings and streets of San Francisco receded beneath her. As the ground gradually became smaller, revealing an intricate map of lines and lights, Bryan turned to her grandmother, who was sitting beside her, and grinned in excitement.  

Travel to Lexington Reservoir near Los Gatos on a typical afternoon, and you’ll see senior Izzy Zuccarino crouched down at the end of the boat, yelling out words of encouragement and directions to the rowers in front of her, as their oars cut through the water in one fluid motion.

As the lights in the Large Gym went out last Friday, colors flew around the packed gym. Thrown from all sides of the room, the glow sticks that had been handed out at the beginning of the assembly painted the air in rainbows as students’ screams echoed off the walls.

If the rally commission has its way, students hoping to enter classrooms on rally Fridays will find doors closed and locked.

On Nov. 16, students from Cuernavaca, Mexico visited the school, and are currently staying with host families until Dec. 2.

Scrolling down the Facebook newsfeed, many people are greeted by a big blue box with white and green letters inside. The link opens up ask.fm, a webpage filled with questions such as who are you best friends? who do you like? and the answers to these questions. The site also contains a text box for people to submit anonymous questions. 

Starting in late October, the ASB decided to revise its constitution in order to legitimize ASB processes and clarify rules concerning clubs and elections.

At only 5 years old, Mardi had just begun to realize why she was sitting on the steps of a funeral hall, wearing an itchy, black dress. Her mom had passed away from liver cancer.

Alumnus Amin Mirzadegan is now a freshman at Yale University, one of the most prestigious schools anywhere. It also comes with an annual price tag of $44,000 per year. It’s money his parents are paying gladly, but Mirzadegan admits his decision to go to Yale was an agonizing one for a main reason: The University of Southern California had offered him a substantial scholarship.

At halftime of the football game against Mountain View on the evening of  Oct. 4, seniors Ingrid Hong and Nikhil Goel, both section editors for The Falcon, were crowned Homecoming Queen and King. Their victory came as at least a mild surprise since it, as it challenged the tradition of enthroning mainly marching band members.

Junior Rohith Krishna is frustrated. Not because he didn’t get his desired SAT score or didn’t ace his last Calculus test, but because he will have to miss out on the annual Bombay in the Bay show this year. The reason? He’ll be competing at a speech and debate tournament at Berkeley in mid February.     

Sophomore Matthew Tran doesn’t do pull-ups or air squats or run the mile once a month for time, the way many freshman or sophomores enrolled in PE do.  Instead, he is one of 31 students now enrolled in the school’s Independent Study Physical Education program.

On Sept. 15, New York’s Nina Davuluri twirled across the polished Oxford blue stage of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on in a Ghagra Choli, a traditional Indian dress adorned in crimson and gold. 

It had taken weeks of dedication, memorizing lines, running chaotic dress rehearsals and suffering through glitchy tech runs. Yet, even with all of the preparation and hard work, nerves were bound to prevail, for it was the first time junior Jack McCarthy had ever directed a performance.

It’s a bleak, gray morning. Freedom is fading and silence hangs in the air: blatant signs of a typical Monday up ahead. The dizzying wave of doom, however, occupying everyone’s mind not only indicates the first day of the week, but also the first day of the school year.

With the start of the new school year underway, the ASB is hoping to rid the school of dormant clubs, work harder to create a positive atmosphere on campus and consolidate the school’s charitable efforts this year.

At the Senior Prom last May, the administration tested a policy that prohibits dancing commonly known as “freaking”, in which the boy dances directly behind the girl in a way that often shocks those who haven’t seen it.  The policy, known as “Face to Face,” required students to face each other during dances, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive: Last year’s Leadership class took a survey that stated that more than 90 percent liked it.