“[The cuts were necessary because] we have lower property taxes, less state money and increased costs,” Superintendent Barry Groves said.

The cuts in funding will affect 39 programs in varying amounts ranging from $3,000 to $538,847. Among these are the Art and Music Block Grant (reduced by $61,000) and instructional material funding (reduced by $101,000). Exit Exam classes will be eliminated, as will four of eight extra counseling days.

The budget reduction process started with a focus group composed of select people from the school district community. The group identified which expenditures should be cut over a two-year period. According to Groves, members of the group from LAHS included, “a parent, a student, two teachers, [Principal Wynne Satterwhite and] computer specialist.” Members were chosen through the ASB, PTSA, various classified organizations and from the pool of local teachers.

The suggestions were then sent to Groves to be reviewed. Groves presented a report to the Board of Trustees, recommending which budget cuts he believed should be implemented. The Board made the final decisions and posted a list of the reductions on the MVLA website.

Major reductions were made to elective and enhancement programs, as well as staff training and hiring programs. CORE classes were minimally affected.

“Although we are reducing $3.2 million from our budget, we are able to maintain our current classroom staffing ratios for students.” Groves said.

The MVLA High School Foundation hopes to raise $850,000 through fundraising. But Groves does not anticipate any improvement to the budget situation in the near future.

“The 2011-2012 year may also be a difficult year for our budget,” Groves said.

Many students expressed disappointment about the cuts.

“The cuts are necessary, and I understand they were made to keep the school and overall education afloat,” senior Scott Casas said. “But the elective classes are important, and they help students find their own niches.”

Students also anticipate a negative impact on a broader scale.

“[I understand] the state is trying its best … with the dip in the economy,” junior Jamshed Vesuna said. “Unfortunately, this time [cutting education funding] affects our future, and the future of the state.”

To see the final list of reductions made, visit http://www.mvla.net.

FRESHMEN, SOPHOMORE AND JUNIOR SCHEDULE

Monday, May 31
No School (Memorial Day)

Tuesday, June 1
Odd Block Schedule

Wednesday, June 2
Period 1: 8:15-9:55
Brunch: 9:55-10:10
Period 4: 10:15-11:50
Lunch: 11:50-12:20
Period 7: 12:25-2:00

Thursday, June 3
Period 0: 8:15-9:55
Brunch: 9:55-10:10
Period 2: 10:15-11:50
Lunch: 11:50-12:20
Period 6: 12:25-2:00

Friday, June 4
Period 3: 8:15-9:55
Brunch: 9:55-10:10
Period 5: 10:15-11:50

SENIOR SCHEDULE

Monday, May 31
No School (Memorial Day)

Tuesday, June 1
Senior Finals (Odd Block Schedule)

Wednesday, June 2
Senior Panorama Photo (soccer field): 8:00 a.m.
Senior Picnic (bring swimsuit, towel, sweatshirt/jacket): 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 3
Senior Check-Out Forms due at 9:00 a.m. to Registrar
Graduation Practice (large gym): 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Caps and gowns, graduation tickets, Grad Nite bids and prom photos will be available immediately after graduation practice.

Friday, June 4
Graduation Practice (Large gym; bring ticket from registrar): 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (approximately)
Graduation Line-Up (Large gym): 5:15 p.m. Do not wear caps and gowns before entering the gym, and do not bring any valuables.
Graduation: 6:00 p.m. (Tom Burt Field)
Grad Nite: Following Graduation – 5:00 a.m. (approximately)

As the year comes to a close, many groups have hosted events to share their achievements with the rest of the school. They were the result of several months of rehearsal and are a final showing of their collective work.

Dance Show

The annual Dance Show was held at the school on Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Eagle Theatre. Dance teacher April Oliver organized the event, which was themed “The Way I Am” to represent the diverse dance styles performed in the show.

“We had a good time,” junior Becca Fulcher said. “We enjoyed choreographing all together. The experience was sometimes hard and we didn’t always get along, but in the end we pulled it together and had a blast. It was a fun way to end the year.”

The show had a variety of dances ranging from small group dances, big group dances and solos by seniors Natasha Thapliyal and Helen Broering. The end of the show was choreographed by Helen, Natasha, seniors Katarina La Poll and Sarah Warmoth.

“Every year is different because every year we have a different goal and motive,” Becca said.

Oliver said that the proceeds fund next year’s show costumes and pay for other expenses. Extra proceeds will go to charity.

Orchestra and Band Concerts

The Orchestra and Band Concerts were hosted at the school on Tuesday, May 18 and Wednesday, May 19 at 7 p.m. The May 18 concert consisted of the freshmen and intermediate orchestra and band groups while the May 19 concert was a last performance for the 38 graduating seniors in Wind Ensemble and Chamber Ensemble.

The orchestra and band students prepared for the concert with music teacher Ted Ferrucci. This is the first year that the orchestra and band were combined into one concert.

“We’re putting the two senior groups together this year because our class is given credit for pretty much making the music program a lot bigger,” senior Bryan Cassella said. “It’s a pretty important concert. It’s a lot more challenging music, and [we] honor the seniors.”

After students present senior biographies, the Derek Abraham Instrumental Music Scholarship is then awarded to a “really musically involved” student.

“I like music, so I’m going to miss [Chamber Ensemble],” Bryan said. “But I’m doing music in college, so I’m just going to continue.”

Choral Department Spring Concert

The Choral Department Spring Concert was last Sunday, May 23 from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m. at the Palo Alto Methodist Church. The concert had of all of the school’s choir groups, including the Main Street Singers.

“[I’m looking] forward to seeing the songs that I’ve practiced the whole year,” junior Terence Cape said. “[We sang] a lot of pieces that we’ve been practicing since the beginning of the year.”

The singers have been preparing for the concert since the Main Street Singers returned from their April tour. The concert had songs from the tour as well as a new pieces.

“There [are] a lot more people this year,” Terence said. “We [worked] really hard, and [we were] all really excited about it.”

Main Street Final Banquet and Concert

The annual Main Street Final Concert will be tonight from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at the Los Altos Methodist Church. The Main Street Singers will perform songs from their Europe tour.

“I’m really excited for the final concert because it is really the last opportunity we get to show all we have learned and how much progress we have made throughout the year,” junior Shannon Bray said. “It is a really great and emotional finish to the year.”

In accordance with tradition, the last Main Street performance is free to all audiences.

“The final concert is my favorite concert every year,” Shannon said. “It’s always exciting to see how far we’ve come. I’m expecting great music and a whole lot of tears.”

The school’s Garden Club has partnered up with local farmers to sell organic produce to members of the school and community.

“The program sells whatever Farmer Pete brings for that week,” senior Kira Labuda said. “There’s the typical produce like apples, garlic, oranges, but I’ve also seen some really intriguing things like sunchokes, kohlrabi and rainbow chard.”

There is a stand located by the horseshoe drive-through, and is staffed by club members. Customers order their produce ahead of time and pick it up there.

“My mom bought produce there and over the week my family ate fresh vegetables at every meal, including some I had never seen before,” senior Flora Champenois said. “My parents tried hard to use everything we bought. It was fun seeing new dishes.”

In the first week, the Garden Club made approximately $80, about 12 percent of the profit. The proceeds goes toward the club to fund things such as seeds, plants, and soil for our school garden.

Members of the Garden Club are excited to have brought the program to the school and expect it to be a success.

“It makes the food taste so much better knowing that it was cultivated nearby and using sustainable practices,” Kira said. “You definitely get a different experience and relationship with the produce.”

Steve Cochran

Mathematics teacher Steve Cochran will leave the school after this year. He plans to move to Boca Raton, Florida and continue teaching at a high school there.

Cochran has taught at the school since 1990 and said that during his 20 years here that he enjoyed “fun times with the students.”

He has taught almost every math class offered by the school with the exception of the Math Mastery, Algebra I Enhanced and Math for CAHSEE courses.

“I’ll miss the students,” Cochran said. “Because I hang out with them all day. It’s what I do.”

Therese Ducharme

Mathematics teacher Therese Ducharme will leave the school after teaching Algebra I, Math for CAHSEE and freshman AVID for two years.

Following her departure from LAHS, Ducharme has tenuous plans to look for a job in business or curriculum development.

“I don’t know [what I’ll be doing in the future] yet,” Ducharme said. “I haven’t really been looking because there’s too much to do right now.”

Ducharme said the things she will miss the most are the kids and teachers at LAHS, which she called a “great place.”

“I really love the people I work with and that’s going to be the hardest thing for me to leave,” Ducharme said.

Seth Leslie

Assistant Principal Seth Leslie will not be returning to the school next year. Leslie does not plan not to pursue another school position and instead will spend more time with his family.

Principal Wynne Satterwhite said that she appreciates the knowledge that Leslie has contributed to the school.

“Mr. Leslie brought a lot of expertise [to his job],” Satterwhite said.

Leslie said he enjoyed his time on staff this school year.

“Working at Los Altos High has been a great experience for me,” Leslie said. “It has been my privilege to serve the students and families over the last nine months.”

John Payne

PE teacher John Payne will work next year as the Athletic Director at Mountain View High School.

This year, he taught two freshmen PE classes and three sophomore PE classes. Having coached football at the school for four years and directed strength conditioning for two years, Payne said he will miss his students and athletes as well as his colleagues.

“Especially the guys I play cards with at lunch, I’m going to miss all of them,” Payne said.

David Roberts

Photo teacher David Roberts will move to Los Angeles in August to teach at a private school in downtown Los Angeles and to try and pursue his master’s degree in art.

He has taught Photo I and Photo II at the school for two years and has taught for a total of six years. Roberts said his fondest memories of teaching at the school include building connections with his students.

“The students have just been wonderful and very endearing [with] amazing personalities,” Roberts said. “I’ve had a blast this year purveying my love of art and photography to them.”

Roberts said the students are what he will miss most.

“I’ve actually been getting a little teary-eyed thinking about it because I’m probably going to cry on the last day,” Roberts said. “It’s just been a joy and an honor and a pleasure to teach them.”

Suzanne Williams

Biology teacher Suzanne Williams plans to retire after the end of this school year. She is going to move to Idaho in order to be near her family.

She plans to spend her time working on her new five-acre property, taking care of animals and riding horses.

Besides tending to the farm, though, she will also work with the Fish and Game Commission, 4-H and Future Farmers of America. Although she will no longer be teaching officially, Williams will help local schools with biology labs and possibly host a science camp for her daughter’s play group.

Williams says that the thing she will miss is the interaction with the people at school.

“[I’ll miss] working with students, especially at-risk students and students who need tools to learn with,” she said. “[I’ll miss] my colleagues, ones that I work with really well like Ms. [Danielle] Paige. She’s like a daughter to me.”

Judy Yu

Chinese language instructor Judy Yu of Foothill-De Anza College will no longer be teaching at the school next year but plans to continue teaching elsewhere.

According to Yu, her fondest memories of teaching Mandarin at LAHS were the “good facilities” and that “students progress fast in Chinese here.” She would like to thank everyone who helped her as well as those she has not yet had a chance to meet.

“It’s never forgettable because teaching at LAHS is [a] very special experience in my life,” Yu said.

“My goal was to find a schoolwide activity that would get everyone involved,” said Cristy Dawson, Assistant Principal and dodgeball tournament founder.

According to Dawson, the first dodgeball tournament lasted for 5 days and consisted of 44 teams. Furthermore, the administration could not fill the brackets and had no rules or procedures set.

“As time went on, however, the brackets started getting more sophisticated as more teams started signing up,” Dawson said.

However, the increase in participation resulted in the emergence of a different trend.

“[I was worried about the tournament] becoming male-dominated,” Dawson said. “We made the “one girl per team” requirement to combat that.”

Dawson also helped start both the school’s kickball and powderpuff football tournaments in order to boost female involvement.

As for the future, Dawson does not envision many changes.

“[The tournament] is fun and fabulous as it is,” Dawson said. “People get really into it, the costumes are great, and there’s nothing else like it.”

This year 51 juniors qualified for the first round of the National Merit Scholarship program. To be considered for the title of National Merit Scholar and enjoy the aid it provides when applying for college, juniors have to score in the top percentile of the PSAT exam proctored nationwide.

The first round-qualifiers attended a lunch time meeting in the college/career center that informed them about the program.

The students who make it to the final round will enjoy better access to scholarships.

The first round National Merit qualifiers this year are Miranda Adams, Caleb An, Kelsey Ayers, Marielle Beaulieu, Christopher Beyer, Seena Burns, Jacquelyn Cheng, Quincy R. Cheung, Audrey Cole, Mark Cuson, Lauren D’Andrea, Paul Dilley, Michael Drake, Noga Feinberg, Jessica Gann, Susanna Gao, Emily Garverick, Joseph Giacomini, Ian Glasner, Rachel Grate, Tori Greenen, Alexander Guo, Christina Harr, Jason Hu, Carolyn Huang, Arista Jusuf, Alexander Kellogg, Edwin Lai, Mark Levin-Gesundheit, James Li, Curran Mahowald, Egan McComb, Kenny Moran, Laura Murphy, Trisha Nangia, Andrew Nguyen, Rishi Raman, Marissa Ramirez-Zweiger, Ben Schneider, Libby Strichartz, Stefan Tian, Nina Venuti, Cynthia Wang, Peter Wang, Jamie Wasson, Max Wiederholt, Carolyn Yang, Tiffany Yang, Gary Yu, Scott Yuan and Sherry Zhang.

Schedule for end-of-year finals released

Wednesday, June 2
Period 1 – 8:15 to 9:55
Period 4 – 10:15 to 11:50
Lunch – 11:50 to 12:20
Period 7 – 12:25 to 2:00

Thursday, June 3
Period 0 – 8:15 to 9:55
Period 2 – 10:15 to 11:50
Lunch – 11:50 to 12:20
Period 6 – 12:25 to 2:00

Friday, June 4
Period 3 – 8:15 to 9:50
Period 5 – 10:15 to 11:50
Graduation – 6:00

This year, the members of the newspaper’s editorial staff have a hidden secret: They are all gods, and each of them has a unique kind of divine prowess. Although they have kept this a secret from their peers for several years, they have decided to finally reveal their powers to the student body in honor of this issue’s Ancient Greece theme.

Ancy Dow Opinions Editor
The editors call Ancy the Goddess of Kindness because of her cheerful attitude and eagerness to help, but everyone is pretty sure she’s secretly plotting an evil scheme. It’s only a matter of time until she reveals her true colors.

Kelly Wang In-Depth Editor
Kelly is the Goddess of Healthy Habits. Ever since doing an In-Depth spread on nutrition, she has refused to eat In-N-Out with her fellow gods and angrily brandishes her carrots at them to guilt them.

Gilberto Orozco, Jr. Business Manager
Gilberto is the God of Quickness because he is the fastest writer on The Talon. He generally starts writing his articles 10 minutes before a deadline, and it still manages to come out okay.

Trisha Nangia Content Editor
Trisha is the Goddess of Unsanctioned Field Trips During Sixth Period. When she returns from a 20-minute bathroom break, she has usually found a cup of coffee “just lying in the quad.”

Nicole Schreiber Features Editor
Nicole is the Goddess of Crazy Feet. She seems like a beautiful dancer, but that’s partly because she cannot control her feet, as evidenced when she makes any attempt to walk.

Mark Levin Entertainment Editor
Mark is the God of Highly Processed Meats. Raised solely on Taco Bell, he prefers not to eat dinner with the rest of the staff. When he wants higher quality meat, he opts for dog food.

Sandra Song News Editor
Sandra is the Goddess of Hipsters. She will deny that she is a hipster at all, but that’s just what a hipster would say.

Michael Moul Adviser
Michael Moul is a mere mortal, but the gods like to make him feel included, so they usually just play along.

Zia Rosenzweig Copy Editor
Zia is the Goddess of Nit-Picking. In her free time, she enjoys measuring hyphens to make sure they are all the same length.

Scott Stephens Managing Editor
Early on, Scott found he was the God of Good Looks and so decided to grace the student body with his beauty by sneaking his image into every issue. The rest of the gods, however, think he is really the God of Unjustified Vanity.

Jamie Eng Sports Editor
Jamie is the Goddess of Other Commitments. Although she was free at the start of the year, Jamie picked up six sports by November. She also scheduled her Foothill classes such that their finals (conveniently) fell during Late Nights.

Carolyn Huang Information Editor
Carolyn is the Goddess of Highly Awkward Situations. She usually announces her weekly crushes just as the room falls silent, and her comments about tapioca balls are often unintentionally inappropriate.

Sahil Luthra Editor-in-Chief
Sahil is the God of Puns. Though his jokes and rhymes are well-intentioned, he only succeeds in making the entire staff cringe when he refers to himself as “Sahi the Mahi Tuna.”

Shefali Luthra Website Editor
Shefali is the Mother Goddess of Talon. Like any good mother, she enjoys yelling at her children. At the same time, she loves Talon and has memorized the past 100 years of issues, even though The Talon is only 25 years old.

Jason Hu Copy Editor
Jason is the God of Pretentiousness. He enjoys bossing around Copy/ Content (despite being a copy editor himself) and waggles his finger at peers who use fonts that are not sophisticated enough.

Charlie Falconer Photography Editor
Charlie is the God Everyone Yells At. Usually he hasn’t done anything wrong, but it’s good to take extra precautions.

Ava Foudeh Managing Editor
Unfortunately, nobody remembers what Ava is the God of, since she never comes to school.

Justin Koehler Content Editor
Justin is the God of Style—but not just the styles and conventions of written English; he works hard to never repeat a hairstyle. He also enjoys jumping.

Michelle Madani Business Manager
Michelle is the Goddess of Opinions. Her hobbies include telling people that they’re wrong, telling people that she’s right, and telling people who think she’s wrong that they’re wrong and she’s actually right.

Although cumulative finals that cover an entire year’s worth of material make effective cumulative reviews, they are illogical and unnecessary in comparison to semester-based finals. Because end-of-the-year finals come almost directly after AP exams, students rarely have time to study for both.

This leads to an imbalance in prioritization, and the last few days before finals are usually the only time students can allocate to studying.

On top of the shortage of time in comparison to first semester, students are pressed to study for two semesters’ worth of material instead of just one.

Physics Honors teacher Karen Davis said her decision to choose a semester-based final instead of a cumulative final resulted from the “significant load of information covered in both semesters.”

While students are spending time re-establishing what they’ve both learned and been tested on before, they could be more thoroughly reviewing the material only recently covered second semester. This creates a disproportion between the depth and clarity with which students understand the material learned first and second semester.

But instead of cramming into their heads what they already know, students should be able to use end-of-the-year finals as an opportunity to fully review new material.

“We’ve already proven our knowledge of first semester material from the previous final,” sophomore Kelvin Lu said. “There’s no point to [cumulative finals] as they only add more stress.”

Moreover, second semester coursework often builds on first semester coursework. In those cases, it would be redundant to require students to be tested on both, since their knowledge of second semester coursework should be highly dependent on and integrated with their ability to process and understand first semester material.

“Granted, the things we do in second semester are definitely related to first semester,” Davis said. “There are points that come up over and over again, so it’s not like the students can forget everything they’ve learned in first semester.”

In addition, semester finals allow teachers the opportunity to be specific. This allows students to focus on major points that they should be able to fully understand. On the other hand, cumulative finals limit the depth of the material tested due to time constraints.

“Specific questions let us focus on certain points and maximize our reviewing, while broad questions are confusing to answer and study for,” freshman Michael Yen said.

Between balancing other tests, sports, relationships, extracurricular classes, family life, peer pressure and stress, such an expectation is nothing short of unreasonable.

“It would be too much to have a whole cumulative final, even though there are definitely things in second semester that differ from first semester,” Davis said. “I try to keep in mind that my students have a lot of other things to study for, and there’s a limit to how much information the human brain can hold.”

A friend of mine once knew a man named Scott. Scott attended a business meeting where he got one of those stickers that say “Hello, My Name Is” at the top. He wrote his name down, slapped it on, and left the meeting having forgotten to remove the sticker.

But some people he had never met started being extra friendly to him, waving and saying “Hi Scott!” as they passed in the street. Intrigued, Scott decided to keep the sticker on for a little while longer.

Scott had been wearing his “Hello, My Name Is Scott” stickers for many years when my friend met him. He had one on his chest, one on his shirt, one on his jacket and several extras in his pocket. The sticker company had even started sending him a free supply.

Scott was mainly wearing the stickers out of habit. But he was also wearing them to challenge the way people think. Over the years, he had met many people who didn’t like that he was doing something slightly out of the ordinary. They told him to take his sticker off. When he wouldn’t, some got violent and tried to beat him up.

It saddens me to think that people would want to hurt Scott just because of a sticker, a friendly gesture. After all, “Hello, My Name Is” is one of the friendliest phrases in the English language.

But as summer nears and everyone at school gets ready to head their separate ways, “Hello” is hard to come by. The word on everyone’s lips is a sad word, a word of finality: “Goodbye.”

Over the past few weeks, I’ve bumped into several people that I’d said goodbye to over the years, including someone from a summer camp I attended four years ago, on the other side of the country. These were all people I had thought I would never see again.

I’ve realized that just because two people are going on different routes now, that doesn’t mean they won’t see each other again. This makes “goodbye” a pretty useless word.

So I’m going to end my last column with a cheery word, a word that the Beatles once offered as an alternative to “goodbye.” If Scott’s experience tells me anything, it’s that not everyone may like this deviation from the norm. But his story also reminds me that a little bit of friendliness can go a long way.

For the readers of this column that I’ve never met, I am genuinely sorry that we’ve never had the chance to exchange pleasantries. Let’s start again.

Hello. My name is Sahil. What’s yours?