Compiled by Jamie Eng
Staff Writer

Black Student Union to host Baccalaureate
The school’s Black Student Union (BSU) will be hosting its first Baccalaureate, or farewell ceremony, for this year’s Senior Class. It will take place tomorrow, May 30 in the Eagle Theatre. Awards will include improved GPA, talent, positive attitude, athletics, art, overcome challenges, as well as many more.
“A lot of [BSU] members and staff thought there wasn’t enough recognition for African American students,” BSU adviser Kalinda Price said.
Awards will go to BSU members, African American students who may not be in BSU, and students who are not African American but are in BSU. The ceremony is for other BSU members but also the friends and family of the graduating seniors.
“We are really looking forward to this and we hope that it’s a great event for the seniors,” club member junior Sarah McGee said. “It’s taking a lot of work … because we’re looking for donations and sponsors, but it’s work that we’re happy to do for our seniors.”

Broken Box chooses plays for next year
Broken Box will be performing “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Dining Room” next year.
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” will be based on the original story by Lewis Carroll, and will be different from the Disney version with more characters and a slightly different plot line.
Broken Box will also be performing William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A full Shakespeare show is done every other year the musical is not performed.
“The Dining Room” will be similar to this year’s “Museum.” This story shows the experiences of different families who have moved in and out of the house over a span of 50 years. This show will be predominantly comedic but will have some serious scenes as well.
“I’m really looking forward to Alice in Wonderland because it’s the legit Lewis Carroll version,” Broken Box member junior Natalie Hon said. “The plays next year are different and there’s a lot we can do with them.”

By Daniel Anderson
Staff Writer

Number of incoming Blach students up

On Thursday, February 5, ASB took nine students to Blach Junior High School to accompany the Mountain View High School Ambassadors to answer any questions incoming freshmen might have about high school.
LAHS has sent students to Blach in the past, but stopped recently because only a few students went on to attend LAHS, with the majority attending MVHS.
This year, that number of students rose to 43, a large number compared to last year’s 8 students.
ASB Member-at-Large sophomore Tyler Stout was among the students who attended the outreach program. Tyler came from Blach two years ago to attend LAHS.
“We passed out notecards,” Tyler said. “Each student would write down something they knew, something they didn’t know and a question they had about high school.”
The presenters from both high schools then went through the notecards and answered any questions the students had.

ASB to create new website component

To make ASB more accessible to the student body, ASB is trying to add another part to the school website. This project is currently being headed by ASB Member-at-Large sophomore Jack Montgomery.
Jack hopes to improve communication between ASB and the student body.
“We are the people that put on the events,” Jack said. “We like people’s input.”
According to Jack, this is part of a much larger effort by ASB to become more active in the student body.
Details about how much freedom ASB has to change the website are still unclear.
“We still need to meet with Principal Wynne Satterwhite to see how much freedom we have,” Jack said.

Senior Class to choose prom theme

The senior prom will take place at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Saturday, May 16. Ticket prices have yet to be determined, although the Senior Class Council is hoping to fix them sometime this week. The tickets are estimated to cost somewhere between $70 and $80 per person.
On Tuesday, February 10, the Senior Class Council narrowed the possible dance themes down to five ideas. These themes were Ancient Greece, City of Lights, Arabian Nights, Blue and Silver and 60’s Pop Art.
These choices were put on a ballot and voted on by the entire Senior Class during English classes last week. As of press time, the final theme decision was unknown.

Compiled by Danny Auerbach, Mason Satterwhite and Sandra Song
Staff Writers and Information Editor

Test prep company presents in classes

A Revolution Test Prep representative came and spoke to junior English classes about how they provide test preparation for both the SAT and ACT tests. The representative covered the cost and what the course would provide for students.
When the school first partnered with Revolution Test Prep, the company made announcements in classrooms. In subsequent years, however, the practice was discontinued. This year, Revolution decided to return to the classrooms with the addition of a new mock exam.
“We decided to go into classes again this year because this is the first time an ACT prep class is being offered,” English teacher Joanne Miyahara said.
Miyahara emphasized that the announcements were “focused on providing information about PSAT/SAT/ACT preparation, not on promoting Revolution Test Prep opportunities.”

Mandarin teacher returns to school

Chiao-Li Wang, the Mandarin teacher who left the school early in the year due to problems with her teaching requirements, has returned to teach Mandarin. Wang worked with the language program at Foothill College to correct the earlier problems and returned to the school in January.
“I hope to stay here,” Wang said. “Having one teacher is good for the students, and they have had two substitute teachers. That isn’t good for them.”
Wang said that she really hoped to return to the school after she left.
“I really missed the students,” Wang said. “I felt I was destined to return to teach here.”

Ron Nelson leaves

Friday, January 30 was Student Conduct Liaison Officer Ron Nelson’s last day at the school.
Nelson has worked at the school for the past eight years.
He is returning to his hometown in Pennsylvania to be with his family.
Nelson says he will “miss all the students in the classroom, in the sports fields, in the theater, and everywhere else.”
His favorite memory of the school is how he has impacted the students’ lives.
“At Camp Everytown, they asked what one of our goals were,” Nelson said. “Mine was to make a difference in just one person’s life. To just make a difference in someone’s life everyday.”
Nelson hopes to stay in touch with the students at the school.
E-mails can be sent to nelsonmvla@gmail.com.

By Udaya Tenneti
Staff Writer

Graffiti found in private study rooms
Roughly at the beginning of November, in one of the enclosed study rooms, graffiti was found on all of the walls. Someone used the dry erase whiteboard markers to vandalize and write all over the white, blank walls. As soon as the librarians and the administration noticed the defacement, they closed the study rooms indefinitely.
“Students ought to know that it is a privilege to use the room,” librarian Dr. Nina Waite said. “And we felt that right had been abused.”
The culprits were never caught. The librarians found the graffiti later on in the day, so they weren’t sure when the vandalism occurred. Neither Waite nor the administration would comment on the content of the graffiti. The private library rooms are now once again open, but the librarians are keeping a much closer eye on who is using the room at all times.

Seniors recognized for National Merit
Seniors Eleanor Arculus, Jessica Fan, Daniel Moerner, Neha Shah, Daniel Son-Bell, Benjamin Struve, Lauren Taylor, Jing Wang and Holly Yort were named National Merit semifinalists in early September.
The National Merit Scholarship program ranks students nationwide based off their junior year PSAT scores. There are two levels of recognition: commended and semifinalists. Overall, the school had 39 commended students, including the 9 semifinalists.
The nine seniors are now working towards making it as a finalist. Finalist selection is based on the student’s SAT score, leadership in both school and the community, academic record and an essay as well as teacher recommendations.
There were roughly 1.5 million students that were in the pool for being ranked by this program.

Art Department hosts student exhibit
On Friday, December 5, the Art Department held its first department-wide show of the school year. The show took place all day in the cafeteria. Every art class participated in the show.
The art show served as a reflection of many of the students’ works from the first three months of school. Each student had anywhere from three to five pieces of art in the show. Teachers were assigned to bring their classes into the cafeteria at various points in time.
This was the first of three department-wide shows of the year. Each show is meant to be a display of all the work the student have put into their artwork.
“[They] have put endless hours of work into their pieces,” art teacher Christine An said. “They deserve some recognition.”

Compiled by Max Wiederholt
Staff Writer

Teacher hopes to create science team

Chemistry teacher Carl Babb is looking to create a school Science Bowl team this year.

Although the school used to have a team, it disbanded at the end of last year due to a lack of student enthusiasm.

“The team in general has to be real strong and it has to be aggressive,” Babb said. “In the past we tried it, but people seemed like they were either divided with too many teams that they were doing, Mock Trial, a thousand things in general or their science background just wasn’t strong enough.…I am thinking about starting it again, but I’m not really sure…whether or not the commitment is there.”

Science Bowl is an academic panel for science and math enthusiasts who train for a trivia contest. They compete in February in an environment similar to that of a game show.

Those interested can find Babb in room 710.

Senior Class makes first prom deposit

The Senior Class has made its first deposit for a prom location, booking a ballroom in the San Jose Fairmont hotel.

Dinner will consist of a buffet, and the cost of tickets purchased by individual students will depend on the size of the final’ deposit. This in turn is decided by the scope of the seniors’ fundraising campaign.

“We’re going to do our See’s candy fundraiser, which is coming up in November,” Senior Class president Mo McBirney said. “We’ll do a dinner night, and we are probably going to do a senior breakfast sometime in the next month. [The seniors] want to raise a lot of money now, because the more money we pay [the hotel] the less that each person will have [to pay for tickets].”

The choices of theme and activities will be decided on in a future Senior Class meeting.

Orchestras take part in Exchange Concert

The school’s Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble participated in the annual Fall Exchange Concert on Saturday, November 1.

Schools converged at the McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center at Saratoga High School. About 240 students from Los Altos, Saratoga and Lynbrook High Schools participated in 2 performances; 1 was at the “intermediate” level, and another was at the “advanced” level.

Band and orchestra director Ted Ferrucci believes this event is a great opportunity for inter-school bonding.

“It allows them to get together with their peers from other schools and collaborate,” Ferrucci said. “It allows us to make music on a higher level together and really challenges… and inspires the students.”