Saratoga High School

Weekly Bulletin

Posted on 01/13/2020

SARATOGA HIGH SCHOOL

DAILY BULLETIN WEEK OF JANUARY 13, 2020

Friday Letter: January 10, 2020

Good afternoon!

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!!  I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays with family and friends, taking time to reflect on the various literal and figurative gifts in your life.  When we returned to begin the 2nd semester, right off the bat we started to celebrate our students. As you will see below, Sidney Hough received the Congressional App award from Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo; 34 of our students were selected for the Santa Clara County Honor Band and/or CA All-State Honor Ensembles; and Bikrant Das Sharma was recognized as a Regeneron Science Talent Search scholar.  

In addition to kicking off the Spring Semester, our Winter Sports teams started league play.  In fact, today our women’s soccer teams host Los Gatos at 3:30pm, our men’s soccer team travels to Lynbrook for a 3:30pm game, and both our women’s and men’s basketball programs defend home court with women’s basketball versus Los Gatos (JV 3pm/V 6:15pm) and men’s basketball versus Santa Clara (JV 4:30pm, V 7:45pm).

Next week, we kick off our first Parent Teas of the year on Thursday, January 16 from 10:30am-11:30am in our Community Room.  This is intended as a time for informal/casual meet and greet table conversations between parents and school staff. Also, during Tutorial, we will have our California Healthy Kids Survey breakout meetings with different student groups.

• Seniors: Tues. 1/14  with Mr. Louie and Ms. Mohnike

• Juniors: Wed. 1/15  with Mr. Louie and Ms. Mohnike

• Sophomores: Thurs. 1/16 with Mr. Safine and Mr. Torrens

• Freshmen: Fri. 1/17 with Mr. Safine and Mr. Torrens

Here’s an overview for the next week:

Saturday, January 11:

• Co-Ed Wrestling at Deets Winslow Tournament, Sonoma

    Monday, January 13: (BLUE Day)

• Tutoring Center open (2:15pm-5pm)

• Women’s Soccer vs. Los Altos, 3:30pm

Tuesday, January 14: (RED Day)

• Tutoring Center opens (3:45pm-5pm)

• Co-Ed Wrestling at Santa Clara HS (JV 5:30pm/ V 6pm)

• Women’s Basketball @ Palo Alto HS (JV 5:30pm/ V 7pm)

Wednesday, January 15: (BLUE Day)

• Tutoring Center open (2:15pm-5pm)

• Men’s Soccer vs. Monta Vista, 3:30pm

• Women’s Soccer at Palo Alto, 3:30pm

• Men’s Basketball at Monta Vista (FS 5:30pm/ V 7pm)

    Thursday, January 16: (RED Day)

• Parent Tea, 10:30am-11:30am, Community Room

• Tutoring Center opens (3:45pm-5pm)

• Co-Ed Wrestling vs. Monta Vista (JV 5:30pm/ V 6pm)

Friday, January 17: (BLUE Day)

Sidney Hough: 2019 Congressional App Challenge Winner


  

 On Monday, January 6, Senior Sidney Hough was recognized by Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo with California’s 18th Congressional District’s Congressional App Challenge award.  Sidney will be invited to Washington DC in the spring to be recognized during the #HouseOfCode DC Capitol Hill Winner's Reception hosted by the Internet Education Foundation and the Congressional App Challenge.  Sidney’s app, Uproot, is intended to help prevent crop losses by identifying invasive plants.  The program uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze pictures of “weeds” in real-time to detect and potentially track growth that can be harmful to crops.  Sidney’s app was judged based on quality of idea, including creativity and originality, implementation of idea, and demonstrated excellence of coding and programming skills. Sidney’s app will be displayed in the US Capitol Building and on House.gov for a year.

Santa Clara County Honor Band and CA All-State Honor Ensembles

Over MLK weekend, the following students will be representing Saratoga HS at the Santa Clara County Honor Band. There are over 30 schools in the county and these students each had to go through a rigorous live audition process. Their performance will be on January 19, 3pm at the McAfee Center, open to the public:

 

Emma Chu, 10

Stefano Como, 11

Jared Ho, 12

Helen Kao, 9

Jaehoon Kim, 11

Dyne Lee, 9

Ryan Lee, 10

Matthew Luo, 11

Alex Mah, 12

Alison Okuno, 9

Christopher Okuno, 10

Anthony Qin, 11

Ben Ryan, 12

Yoshiki Shimokawa, 10

Isaac Sun, 11

Amogh Tundiam, 12

Aaron Wong, 11

Brandon Wong, 10

Joshua Yoon, 12

Nathan Zhu, 9

 

During February Break, the following band and orchestra students will be representing Saratoga High School in our various California All-State Ensembles in Fresno, CA. Through an ultra competitive audition process, it is quite a feat to be accepted into one of the All-State ensembles, competing against music programs all over the entire state. The students worked incredibly hard (many re-recording their audition during the Thanksgiving break) to earn a spot in one of these prestigious ensembles.

 

Jared Ho, 12, Bass Clarinet

Brian Hwang, 11, Violin 2

Michael Jang, 9, Violin 2

Madelyn Jin, 10, Cello

Nathan Kim, 10, Bass

John Jaehoon Kim, 11 Bb Clarinet

Dyne Lee, 9, Bb Clarinet

Eileen Lee, 10, Bb Clarinet

Esther Luan, 10, Violin 1

Shannon Ma, 9, Violin 1

Danielle Moon, 11, Violin 2

Alison Okuno, 9, Trumpet

Christopher Okuno, 9, Euphonium

Carolyn Pyun, 9, Violin 2

Anthony Qin, 11, Alto Sax

Yoshiki Shimokawa, 10, Trumpet

Vendhan Srimat, 10, Bass

Isaac Sun, 11, Tuba

Amogh Tundlam, 12, Euphonium

Aaron Wong, 11, Bb Clarinet

Brandon Wong, 10, Bass Clarinet

Joshua Yoon, 12, Piano

Bikrant Das Sharma: Regeneron Science Talent Search Winner

The Society for Science & the Public is proud to share that Bikrant Das Sharma has been named a top 300 scholar in the 79th Regeneron Science Talent Search—the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors. A listing of the 300 scholars can be found here. Almost 2,000 students entered the competition this year.  In recognition of this achievement, Bikrant Das Sharma will receive $2,000, and Saratoga High School will also receive $2,000 to use toward STEM-related activities.

Bikrant Das Sharma could also be named as one of 40 finalists, who each receive $25,000 and are invited to Washington, DC for the final competition in March. The top prize for the most promising emerging STEM leader in the United States is $250,000. The top 40 finalists will be announced on Wednesday, January 23rd.

Career Day Survey: Deadline-January 10, midnight

Career Day 2020 will be March 2nd and March 3rd during Tutorial.  This week students had the chance to request the sessions they are interested in via a survey.  Students took the survey January 8th or January 9th during Tutorial.  

If your student did not select their sessions, they can refer to the January 6th School Messenger email for a list of Job Descriptions for the speakers.  Here is the Career Day 2020 survey:

Career Day 2020 Survey.  Deadline to make selections is January 10th at midnight. Contact Mrs. Sheridan in Guidance with questions.

January 10-12: Redwood Middle School presents "The Lion King, Jr."

Tickets for the show performances are on sale now. Visit http://bit.ly/2020TLKJ to order your tickets.

NEW: Parent Tea: Thursday, January 16

Please join the Saratoga High School Administration for Morning Tea every other Thursday morning from 10:30-11:30am in the Community Room (near the cafeteria) beginning January 16. This is intended as a time for informal/casual meet and greet table conversations between parents and school personnel. Future dates are January 30, February 13, February 27, March 12, and March 26.  We’re looking forward to meeting you!
  

Yearbook Sales

To order a copy of the 2020 Talisman yearbook, families can now order online using our Saratoga High School webstore!!  Please click here to access our webstore and order your yearbook.  Families can also bring a check for $100 to the Activities Office. The check should be made out to Saratoga High. If your student already has an ASB package, they automatically get a yearbook. Please order your yearbook now to ensure your student a copy when the books are distributed in late May. Only those who preorder a book are guaranteed to get a copy of the Talisman during distribution. 

Yearbook Ads Deadline: January 17

Parents: Next Friday is the final deadline to submit senior ads in the yearbook. They can purchase those ads at yearbookforever.com. For more information about ad sizes and prices, they can look at this brochure.

SHS 2020 Poetry Out Loud!  Sign up by January 17

All students are encouraged to participate in our upcoming Poetry Out Loud contest. Poetry Out Loud, presented in partnership with the SVCreates, is a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry--both classic and contemporary--through memorization, performance, and competition.  Since the program began in 2005, more than 3.8 million students and 60,000 teachers from 16,000 schools have participated in POL. Our school-wide competition will be held on Friday, January 24th, immediately after 6th period in room 006. 

To participate, you need to sign up here by January 17th, and memorize and perform two poems of your choice from the POL database. Here’s where you can browse for and select your poems: the POL provides a searchable online database organized by theme. It’s located on the national Poetry Out Loud website where you’ll also find many additional resources Browse poem collection. The website is full of helpful resources, especially the following: “POL Tips and Examples”

Our 3 school-wide winners will advance to the Santa Clara County Finals immediately after school on Monday, February 10th.  Attendance at our competition is free and open to the public. Questions? Contact Ms. Keys (akeys@lgsuhsd.org)

SAVE THE DATES: Upcoming Guidance Presentations

• Electives Night: Monday, January 27, 6:15pm-8pm, McAfee

• Incoming Junior Parent Meeting: Thursday, January 30, 7pm-9pm, McAfee

• Incoming Senior Parent Meeting: Thursday, January 30, 7pm-9pm, Library

• Incoming Sophomore Parent Meeting, Tuesday, February 4, 7pm-9pm, McAfee

• Incoming Freshmen Parent Meeting, Thursday, February 6, 7pm-9pm, McAfee

St. Olaf Band West Coast Tour, January 31

One of America’s preeminent bands, the St. Olaf Band, conducted by Dr. Timothy Mahr, will perform at Saratoga High School’s McAfee Center on Friday, January 31 at 8pm during its 2020 West Coast Tour.  Founded in 1891, the St. Olaf Band performs the very best compositions and transcriptions for symphonic band, producing an exciting, crowd-pleasing style. Tickets are $10 for general admission, and free for all students. 

TEDxSaratogaHighSchool, March 15, 2020 

The TEDxSaratogaHighSchool event will be on Sunday, March 15th.  For this year’s theme, “It Starts With Us,” we are looking for speakers who are taking initiative to promote change in their communities. Please fill out the TEDxSaratogaHighSchool Speakers form if you are interested in being a speaker or have a nomination. This is a big part of making the event happen so all efforts are appreciated!

 

 

Winter Sports Updates

Here are the results of this past week.  If your sport is not here, please send scores, stats, and narrative to Greg Louie at glouie@lgsuhsd.org with the email title “For Friday Letter: ‘Toga Athletics.”  

January 8:

• Women’s Varsity Basketball beat Mt. Pleasant 54-22.

• Women’s Varsity Soccer falls to Santa Clara High School 2-0.

January 7:

• Women’s Varsity Basketball beat Cupertino High School 50-20. 

January 3:

• Men’s Junior Varsity Basketball beat Fremont 48-33.

• Women’s Varsity Basketball falls to Los Altos 43-28

• Women’s Junior Varsity Basketball beat Los Altos 58-45.

“Just Learn It.” Weekly Winners

Congratulations to Liya Wu and Emad Ashraf who are this week’s “Just Learn It” weekly winners!  Liya and Emad have won a gift card of their choice.

Students can receive “Just Learn It” cards when staff see students demonstrate a growth mindset, grit, and determination to grow as a learner.  When the student receives a card, the card can be dropped off into the golden tumbler drum in the Wellness Center and once a week, two cards a week are picked from the drum.  Winners can go to the Activities Office and choose among the gift cards that have been donated to our “Just Learn It” program.

Tutoring Center Now Open After School

Our Tutoring Center is now open, Monday through Thursday until 5pm.  We have a couple of community volunteer tutors signed up to help with math and science.  Also, if you would like to help peer tutor, please see Principal Louie. If your New Year’s Resolution will be about attending after school tutoring, here is the schedule for next week.

 

Falcon's Nest Special for the week of January 13th is "CHOP STIX".  We'll be serving Mandarin Orange Chicken Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday we'll be serving Teriyaki Chicken. Both are $4.50 each and come with rice and a fortune cookie.  We'll also have Veggie Chow Mein, $2.50 and Egg Rolls, $2.00.  

 

Our themed salad bar is "ASIANA".  A large salad is $5.00 and small $4.00.  Add a cup of diced chicken for $.75.

 

FUN FACT

A fun fact, the cafeteria has sold 36,894 cookies since school started in August,  Wow that's a lot of cookies!

 

Thank you and Happy New Year!!  May 2020 be your best year yet!!

Sincerely,

Greg Louie, Principal