Sarah Finley

The hype started long ago: Everyone’s expectations were high for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved American classic. The star-studded cast, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan,  looked promising and the score intriguing to say the least, with Luhrmann and Jay-Z as producers. 

Students driving to school on April 12 found an unusual sight — news vans from ABC, CBS and Fox, parked just outside the school attempting to interview students. Just the night before, on April 11, Audrie Pott’s family went public with the circumstances surrounding Pott’s suicide last September. 

For sophomore Becky Hoag, her first time driving without a driver’s education teacher last year was memorable. 

For most of society, the “season of giving” is limited to the winter holidays, but ASB is trying to continue this mood throughout the rest of the school year.

When students returned from this year’s Martin Luther King holiday, there was more waiting for them than piles of homework and projects.

Senior defensive tackle Abraham Salas started playing on the school’s football team for the first time sophomore year.

After tying No. 4-seeded Saint Francis in quarterfinal game play 0-0, tying them again in two 7-minute overtime periods and ending the first round of five penalty strokes 1-1 due to senior Courtney Ruppel’s goal, the girls’ field hockey team lost to the Saint Francis Lancers in the second penalty stroke-off when Saint Francis scored five strokes compared to Saratoga’s four.

Walking into the Big Basin Cafe,  the creativity of the menu on the black chalkboard catches your attention.

At intersection after intersection, glistening signs advertise higher and higher gas prices, much to the dismay of drivers across the state. Aware of these rising prices, upperclassmen who drive often try to limit their gas usage, with prices rising to as high as $4.59 per gallon.

Just a few years ago, junior Maya Srinivasan was on the track to becoming an Olympic gymnast, until a series of severe injuries ended her gymnastics career. 

“If you’re not making a difference,” Teen Truth Live presenter Erahm Christopher asked the class of 2016, “what are you doing?”

While last year's field hockey team had only two seniors, this year's team has the opposite situation, with 12 of the squad's 20 players being seniors.

Link Crew, which has welcomed freshman classes for eight years, has become a Saratoga tradition. However, the program still continues to evolve, using student input to help improve the program.

The Falcons have tough games ahead of them, but head coach Lifon Huynh believes the girls have what it takes to accomplish their goals for the season.

Growing up, birthdays often correspond with important milestones in a young person’s life—each one special in its own way

Spitting cherry pits in the summer and celebrating Chinese New Year in the spring may come across as two traditions unlikely to be shared by one family, but not for sophomore Gloria Breck and her brother, freshman Samuel Breck.

My 23-year-old sister and I have only one major job over the December break: to bake enough Christmas cookies to feed our entire extended family for our annual get-together. This task, as you can imagine, often turns out to be quite a job.  

On Monday, April 4, the school's campus seemed deserted.  Hallways and classrooms alike were emptier than usual, due to the 198 students missing from school.  The reason for these absences lay in a trip taken by one of the major groups on campus: the orchestra.

To sophomore Jason Li, creating a successful company is all in a day’s work. He may only be 15, but being the CEO of iReTron.com, a company founded in last July, which allows users to sell old electronics in exchange for money, makes him seem years beyond his age.

With the bright lights, colorful costumes and ever complicated dance moves, Bombay in the Bay is always a hit. While the crowd is enjoying the dinner and entertainment, few of the close to 800 audience members truly realize and appreciate the countless hours of organization that go into making the night run smoothly.

Imagine that all the high school students across the country were ranked based on test scores. What if, then, these scores were released to the public and the press nationwide? Sounds awful. That nightmare was put into reality not for students, but rather their teachers. On Feb. 24, after a long court battle, the New York City Department of Education publicly released performance rankings of over 18,000 school teachers, known as Teacher Data Reports. These reports use standardized math and English exams to rank teachers based on their students’ improvement.

When the ever-popular question, "If your house were burning down and you could only save one thing other than your family, what would it be?" appears in conversation, peers always seem to be so sure of the correct answer.

Tension builds in the air as my cousin and I sit across from each other, each on the edge of our respective couches. I watch carefully as he blankly stares at the screen of his iPhone, then groan as I see a smile light up his face.

How to best schedule the school day is a topic that will debated by teachers, students and parents in the next few months.

In society today, one of the earliest lessons taught to children is the importance of conservation.

As underclassman, my peers and I have often heard horror stories about upcoming junior and senior years. With multiple AP and honors classes, standardized testing, college applications and the ever time consuming extra-curricular activities, sleep is pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities for many juniors and seniors.

The rush of adrenaline, the pre-competition nervousness, the rising excitement and the enthusiastic crowd—it is all the same as a typical soccer or basketball game. But in this case, there is one small difference—this is vaulting. For sophomore Lizzie Ioannou, vaulting has become a major part of her life over the nine years she has participated in the sport at Garrod Farms. She first got involved in the sport when she took pony rides as a young child and saw vaulting classes in action. Ioannou then decided to try taking classes herself.

One of the many problems that Falcon writers face is coming up with oh-so-clever nicknames for their personal columns. This problem usually makes its appearance the night before an issue is scheduled to be sent to the printer, when the journalism room is a mixture of chaos, stress and excitement.

When I was young, coins never ceased to amaze me. They were full of possibilities, for they could be flipped, spun, counted, organized, shined—the opportunities were endless. But unlike many of my other toys, they were worth something in the world. Coins could be used to purchase other items, so they were powerful in my eyes.

The winter holidays are usually thought to be enjoyable. Those cold days seem to be times of good cheer, fantastic food, happy families and Yuletide gifts.

Last week was eventful for the girls field hockey team. The team beat two top teams, Presentation on Oct. 12 and Saint Francis on Oct. 14, putting them in a good position for the rest of the season. The Falcons won the game against Presentation 2-1. Juniors Jenni Miller and Courtney Ruppel scored. According to Coach Leaf Huynh, though, the players did not get their usual warm-up in before game against Presentation, which affected how the team played in the game.

The field hockey team is on a winning streak, having defeated three of the four teams they have faced in the last two weeks, as of Oct. 22. One such win was against Saint Francis on Oct. 14. The Falcons lost to the Lancers 0-4 the first time the teams played, but came back to beat them the second time 1-0. Senior co-captain Anna Ashe scored the Falcon’s only goal. Senior co-captain Abby Williams said that the win against was a big accomplishment for the team.

"Love it, live it, spin it."

More than 15 years have passed since the track has been replaced, and its worn-down conditions are becoming more and more apparent. However, much to the relief of frequent joggers and student athletes, the track will finally be resurfaced later this year. The track will be resurfaced beginning in December on the week before finals and finished before students return from Winter Break.

Last Wednesday the girls varsity field hockey team played a tough game against Los Gatos to beat their rivals 1-0.

As he begins his fourth year as the head football coach, Tim Lugo will also will be taking on the new role of athletic director.

This season, the field hockey team is facing a difficult challenge. Unlike past years, the team has only two seniors to lead the way.

Last week was successful for the girls varsity field hockey team. They won both their games, beating Monta Vista 2-1 on Wednesday and Leland 4-1 on Friday.

Old movies and musicals describe huge all-city parades, with floats, a marching band and lots of young children. Yet nothing like that has ever seemed to happen in the small town of Saratoga.

Saratoga High is one of the most rigorous public schools in California. More than 98 percent of its graduates attend college, and in 2011, 90 percent of the AP tests taken earned a qualifying score. As a result, most graduates feel that the school has prepared them to face college and life in general.

The girls varsity field hockey team started their pre-season with a 2-2 tie against Cupertino on Thursday September 1. Both of Saratoga’s goals were scored in the second half, while Cupertino scored one goal in each half.