(from left to right) Junior Cynthia Mao, senior Gabby Ley, junior Hayley Chan, senior Danna Ashkar, senior Hannah DeBaets, junior Casey Kute, junior Gal Haroush, senior Claire Nastari, junior Mimi Akaogi, junior Hadar Sachs, junior Lauren Hanson, senior Kaylene Reid, senior Jessica Rahn, junior Malli Mecker, junior Celeste Kim, senior Sophia Tiene, sophomore Kelly Ruckstuhl and freshman Christina Jennings.

The day of their senior game, seniors Hannah DeBaets and Sophia Tiene thought they would not be able to play. However, coach Alan Kute had something else in mind. Kute arranged for a special start, allowing DeBaets, injured during the Feb. 8 match against Mountain View High School, and Tiene, injured during a scrimmage against Lynbrook High School, to play during their final home game.

The varsity girls (10-4-6) finished its last league match on a high note, adding an eighth game to their undefeated streak (5-0-3) with a win against Saratoga High School (3-9-3) Feb. 15. Juniors Casey Kute and Lauren Hanson assisted junior Malvika Mecker’s goal in the first half, and junior Hadar Sachs cemented the 2-0 shut-out with a goal in the second half.

Juniors Miki Akaogi and Gal Haroush accompany senior Claire Nastari during the team’s senior ceremony on Feb. 15. “We decided when we were freshman that we wanted to be Claire’s juniors,” Haroush said. “The reason she’s the “Savage Senior” is because she’ll have a twisted ankle, bruised knees, a broken wrist and a concussion, but she’ll still keep playing.” Photo by Yaamini Venkataraman.

The girls started off the senior night game missing passes, as they were flat-footed and unprepared. The strong winds on the Matadors’ side helped to move the ball up the field, and the first half was played mostly on Saratoga’s half. However, the girls had trouble keeping possession of the ball, and though the team took many shots, none were successful.

In the 31st minute, Sachs finally completed the first successful breakaway, but her shot flew over the crossbar. Two minutes later, however, strong team coordination helped the Matadors to score the first goal of the game. Casey Kute passed to Hanson who took a shot that rebounded off the Saratoga goalkeeper who had dived to block the shot. Mecker then followed up the rebound and chipped the ball into the upper left corner of the net.

“[The ball] just happened to be in front of me and I just went for it,” Mecker said. “Now that I think about it after, it’s like ‘How did I do that?’ but it was in the moment.”

With the Matadors in the lead, the second half progressed more smoothly than the first. Junior Mimi Akaogi prevented several of Saratoga’s key pays from developing by preventing breakaways. Although Saratoga came closer to the goal box during this half, goalkeeper junior Gal Haroush successfully blocked Saratoga’s shots if the back line did not prevent the offense from entering.

Senior Danna Ashkar (16) attempts to reach the ball before a Saratoga High School player (7) during the team's senior game victory on Feb. 15. The win added an eighth game to their current undefeated streak (5-0-3).

Sachs ran a strong breakaway 20 minutes into the second half, and took a shot that went wide. However, Sachs redeemed her failed attempts eight minutes later when she made another breakaway.

“This season I’ve been having trouble using my left foot instead of my right foot because my right foot is more dominant, [but] I finally shot it from my left foot and I passed it by the keeper,” Sachs said. “It was really gratifying just because it was my left foot and I haven’t scored on my left foot this season, and it’s important to be equal on both feet. And it was awesome.”

The Matadors didn’t let Sachs’ goal get to their heads, as they continued to play aggressively. With two minutes left in the half, junior Celeste Kim also took a shot, though she was unable to score.

“For the senior game, they’re all focused on all the other stuff. But we got a few chances, got goals — we did what we were hoping to do,” Alan Kute said.
The varsity girls, the No. 5 seed in the CCS Division 1 playoffs,  will play at No. 12 seed Lincoln High School Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m.

The Sadies dance is put on by MVHS Spirit, who decide everything from the theme to the nominees for the Sadies King. According to Song member senior Kayla Hsing, the ten seniors in Spirit sat together before a basketball game to choose the nominees.

“We try to stay away from the stereotypical Homecoming king nomination and choose people who represent the different social groups on campus,” Hsing said. “We chose people who are well liked and pretty much embody the [MVHS] spirit.”

Nine seniors were chosen to compete for this year’s Sadies King and were presented to the school in various ways. This year, Spirit posted a video on Facebook and Tumblr as well as arranging a promotional activity at brunch on Feb.14, but according to Song captain senior Amy Kahng, it was a half-hearted success.

“We tried to have a Sadies promo where we showed all the nominees to the school, but our sound wasn’t working, so it ended up being kind of quiet since we only had a megaphone,” Kahng said.

However, putting on a dance is not just about making posters and promos. Everyday this week, spirit members were required to work from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., making decorations and preparing for the dance. It was a lot of work, but at the same time, it provides an opportunity to bond with the team.

“I think it’s fun,” Hsing said. “It’s a good way for us to get away from just practicing and spend time with each other and get involved in the school — Plus, the nominations give people more of an incentive to go to Sadies, so we have a higher attendance.”

At the dance, students will be able to vote for their Sadies King nominee ballot box style. Spirit members will count the number of votes each nominee received and announce the Sadies king at the end of the dance.

“I really enjoy hosting Sadies,” cheerleader senior Amanda Kretsch said. “I think it’s a good way for cheer to open up to the public and show them what we do. It’s a big thing for us because we work really hard to put it all together and it’s exciting to see who wins at the end.”

Nominees: Akshay Agrawal, Brian Delue, Sam McCann, Eric Hu, Sam Jiang, Faraz Abidi, Ashish Chatterjee, Kevin Tsukii, Austin Burrow

Update at 9:47 a.m. on Feb. 19, 2012: Senior Sam Jiang was crowned Sadies King at the dance on Feb. 17.

On Feb. 14, four Variations groups delivered an estimated 340 Singing Valentines to students and teachers on campus, performing approximately twelve Valentines each period. Selling at $3 each, Singing Valentines sold out Feb. 9 at lunch. El Estoque followed the group “Seventh Direction”, comprised of senior Variations members Timothy Hwang, Aaron Ho, Viren Singh, Yasaswi Vengalasetti, Howard Yang, Israel Young, and junior Bryan Zhao during sixth period. Vengalasetti also spoke with El Estoque about his experience throughout the day, singing 84 times.

Senior Steffanie Sum watches the ball soar after a free throw shot. The last home game against Saratoga High School ended 51-59. Photo by Christophe Haubursin.

For the varsity girls basketball team, it’s a normal tactic to spend the first half of the game figuring out the strategies of the other team. And it’s normal to come back after halftime stronger than ever.

“We’re a second-half team,” senior Steffanie Sum said. “We go all out third and fourth quarter.”

According to Sum, the last time the team played the Falcons, they were able to spot the key players, including Saratoga High School junior Hannah Johnson, and figure out strategies to work around the challenges. But during the Lady Mats’ senior night game against SHS on Feb. 10, the usual routine of picking it up during the second half wasn’t enough to clinch a victory, ending eight points behind 51-59.

Prior to the game was a senior ceremony dedicated to Sum and senior Hitomi Sugimoto, as this was the last home game of the season.

“It hasn’t hit me yet, but I’m definitely thankful for this team,” Sum said.

At the beginning of the first quarter, Sum and Sugimoto both drew fouls and scored the team’s first four points with free throws. However, the Lady Mats’ lead did not last long as SHS sophomore Tivoli Sisco scored a three-point shot shortly after the team made two layups in a row.

“We knew who were they’re best players, and first game [with SHS] was like a trial-and-error kind of thing,” Sum said. “We knew that one girl [Johnson] was their ultimate player, but we didn’t know that number 12 [Sisco] was a shooter. So in this game, we tried to cut down her threes, but we just couldn’t do that.”

Right from the start of the quarter, SHS began to take far shots, avoiding contact with the strong MVHS defense. As Sisco continued to take three-point shots, the Lady Mats couldn’t quite catch up due to missed free throws, constant turnovers, and inability to make shots. During their full-court pressure, small mistakes in ball control by the Lady Mats allowed SHS to steal the ball and score fast breaks.

“[The pressure] was kind of messy at first,” Sugimoto said. But both she and Sum agreed that they cleaned up the offense more during the second half.

Throughout the game, SHS missed quite a few far and outside shots — Sisco missed more three-pointers than she made — but although many times the Matadors were often able to get the rebound, they seemed unable to take advantage of them. When Sum drew a foul behind the three-point line, she only made one of her three free throws. Both Sum and Sugimoto agree that if the team had been more successful in free throws, the chance of winning would have been much better.

“[Coach Sara Borelli] told us that we were going to win this game from free throws,” Sugimoto said. “But I guess we couldn’t do that.”

Being unable to force the Falcons out of the key due to match-up problems was a huge challenge in defense. According to Sum, many of the the team’s attempted offensive plays ended up being blocked by the larger SHS players during the second quarter, causing them to miss fast break shots. Points scored by Sugimoto’s layup and junior Megan Tsao’s free throw did little to close in on the opponent’s lead, going into halftime behind 19-36.

Although the third quarter began better for the Matadors, with a three-pointer by sophomore Stephanie Jennings and two layups by Sum, SHS was able to make successful plays on several loose balls to keep their possessions alive. Sugimoto, drawing a number of fouls in the quarter, was very successful in most of her free throws, helping to slowly reduce the opponent’s lead. As the opponent began to miss many of their two-point and three-point shots, the Lady Mats’ aggressive pressure seemed to work well in forcing turnovers.

However, another overarching problem of the game was that MVHS was often unable capitalize on these turnovers to translate them into points on the scoreboard. This allowed the Falcons to continue pulling slightly ahead, even as the Matadors seemed to come close in the middle of the last quarter 46-50 after free throws by Sugimoto and two layups by Tsao.The game ended 51-59 with Sugimoto’s layup six seconds before the buzzer went off.

“[Borelli] said we gave them a game,” sophomore Sarah Im said. “[SHS has] been winning really easily [so far in the league], and we’re the first team that they actually had a real game with.”

This game being the last home game for Sum and Sugimoto was bittersweet, as they are both thankful for the bonding throughout the season and dance performance at brunch by the team dedicated to them.

“It’s sad that we lost, but I think we played really hard,” Sugimoto added. “I don’t really regret anything.”

From left to right, sophomores Anna Aswadhati and Samyu Sridhar and seniors Manvita Tatavarthy, Suruchi Salgar and Janani Prasad with the lanyards they plan to sell to raise money for their DECA community service project. They plan to fundraise for the Free the Project Campaign: Brick by Brick, which helps to build schools in poor villages. The event will run from February to May. Photo by Margaret Lin.

After reading the book “Free the Children” by Craig Kielburger in their sophomore year, seniors Suruchi Salgar, Janani Prasad and Manvita Tatavarthy were later inspired to base their current DECA community service project on one of Free the Children’s campaigns: Brick by Brick which helps to build schools in poor villages. Sophomores Anna Aswadhati and Samyu Sridhar were working on another DECA chapter project called the Creative Marketing Project for the same organization at the time, and decided to work with Salgar, Prasad, and Tatavarthy to raise funds.

“[We were mainly inspired by Free the Children’s motto]: ‘children helping children‘ and just the fact that this 12-year-old could start an organization like that and have it go on to become a nationally and internationally known organization,” Prasad said. “We thought it would be amazing to do anything to contribute to that.”

Kielburger started the organization in 1995 when he was 12 years old. From there, the organization has traveled to 48 different countries to help out communities worldwide. These DECA members are fundraising to build a school in Rajasthan, India which will cost a total of $8,500.

“We hope this will be an ongoing project so we’re not thinking about finishing an entire school this year but we hope our DECA chapter continues [this project],” Salgar said. “Our goal [for this year] is $3,000 to $4,000 but we’ll see how it goes.”

According to Aswadhati, Free the Children is very different from other community service organizations. One of the biggest factors that made a Free the Children a unique organization was that with this organization, Aswadhati and all her DECA teammates knew the exact location for the school that they are currently fundraising to build.
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“[We were mainly inspired by Free the Children’s motto]: ‘children helping children‘ and just the fact that this 12-year-old could start an organization like that and have it go on to become a nationally and internationally known organization. We thought it would be amazing to do anything to contribute to that.”

- senior Janani Prasad

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“The core value of the program is children helping children and we thought that was kind of special because with [organizations like] the Red Cross, it’s kind of open to everyone,” Aswadhati said. “We thought [Free the Children] was closer to heart [because it would be] directly impacting [certain groups of people].”

According to Free the Children, the money raised will also help to “build a library and provide the tools and opportunities required by children to receive a quality primary education. This includes supporting teacher salaries and the purchase of school furniture, uniforms and basic school supplies.”

Free the Children also works to sustain the schools by reaching out to surrounding villages and providing them with the necessary supplies and education to eventually operate the schools on their own.

In addition, Free the Chilrdren gives the necessary supplies and education to a village so it can eventually operate on its own and not have to consistently depend on an organization for its survival; most organizations simply provide villages with supplies, not sustainability.

“Just because we build them a school room doesn’t mean that the organization is done with that village,” Sridhar said. “They have other programs that help them get clean water, keep the school running and sustain the school. They also have alternative income programs for families that live there so they really care about making the village is functioning. “

Currently these DECA members are selling lanyards for $3 and bracelets called rafikis for $1 in order to raise money for the school. However, they plan to continue fundraising through benefit concerts, bake sales, car washes and a district-wide coin drive to eventually reach their goal of $3,000 by the end of this year. They plan to spread these events evenly out from now until May.

As for future plans after fundraising, they hope that one day they will either be able to visit the location where the school will be built or visit the school after it is built.

“[Seeing our school after it’s built] would be amazing,” Tatavarthy said. “I’m going to India this summer and I’m trying to convince my parents to take me there so I can actually see [the site they’re going to build our school on].”

To learn more about Free the Children: Brick by Brick visit their website here.

Dr. Adam Dorsay answers questions during the Q&A session following the “What Makes You Happy” seminar. The event, held on Feb. 13 in the library, was coordinated by PTSA member Kathleen McCulloch and had a total of about 60 attendees. Photo by Lisa Zhang.

“I really wanted the students to come because this was the PTSA, not the PTA,” Parent Seminar Coordinator Kathleen McCulloch said. “I asked my son what would make him come, and he immediately said ‘donuts,’ so we went along and brought donuts, and I was really happy to see we had a handful of students.”

The lecture, by Dorsay and Forman, was titled “Simple steps to increase Happiness and Resilience,” and discussed the benefits of the currently scientifically-unexplored field of positive psychology. The field focuses on the retention of the positive aspects of life, and emphasizes the necessity of remaining optimistic. Dorsay, a Lynbrook graduate, prefaced the lecture by explaining the academic pressures he observed in FUHSD schools.

“For Darwinian reasons, people generally have a negative filter [to remember negative things] for survival,” Dorsay said. “It sounds silly, but there really are reasons to be happy.”

Both Forman and Dorsay describe the process of human cognitive development through a gardening metaphor, in which they compare the human brain to a rose. They view the necessity of pulling out the weeds to be representative of the current psychiatric model, in which psychologists focus on allowing patients to overcome the bad memories. However, they also argue that just as necessary is the addition of fertilizer, which promotes positive growth.

Their aspect of positive psychology focuses on bringing an individual’s strengths, defined to be their most positive traits, to the forefront. This allows individuals to be meaningfully engaged at the task at hand. According both Dorsay and Forman, the individual’s ideal condition is described to be the flow state of mind, in which the individual is so engrossed and focused in his activity that he is able to look back and enjoy the experience afterwards.

“Common sense isn’t always equal to common practice,” Forman said. “[The latter] is what we’re trying to teach tonight.”

For more information regarding the developing field of positive psychology, visit the University of Pennsylvania, one of the leading researcher institutions in the field, at their site: authentichappiness.org.

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On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, Chinese Club members delivered pre-made rose grams. The rose grams, which were bought for $2 beforehand, come with a ribbon adorned rose and the customized message by the sender. Chinese Club sold 99 roses in the span of a week.

Striking their ending pose, the Marquesas perform their last routine of the night, a character routine inspired by “The Pink Panther.” Their Character routine placed fourth out of eight teams. Photo by Angela Liu.

On Feb. 11, the Marquesas dance team placed first in Small Lyrical and Kick, second in Large and Medium and fourth in Character at the Norcal State Championships, a regional competition and a national championship qualifier held at MVHS. The competition included dance teams from all over California. In addition to the team routines, officers senior Teresa Li and juniors Lyan Cogan and Rheanna Ganapathy also performed solos, with Li placing fourth in finals. The team performed well, partly due to the familiar surroundings.“It’s more fun here because we have our friends here to support us and formations are much easier since we practice in the gym,” officer senior Camille Mol said. “The vibe here is so much different because this is our home and we love it here.”

The team’s routines included songs that were upbeat and sassy to slower, more lyrical songs, to a routine inspired by “The Pink Panther.” Throughout the routines, the team demonstrated their technical proficiency and showmanship, two key aspects of the competition, with high kicks, pirouettes, and bright, energetic smiles.

“[I guess the important thing is] looking at the judges,” sophomore Kitty Liu said, “and making sure that everything is clean and staying on count, and being aware of everyone else around you.”

In between routines, the team used the time to change and rehearse each routine one last time before performing it in front of judges. Dance coach Hilary Maxwell spoke to the team as they sat focusing intently on their performance ahead. Even though they faced tough opponents such as Valencia High School, a five-time national champion, the team was not distracted by the pressure.

“[It’s] not necessarily pressure [to win],” Maxwell said. “Maybe [it could be] pressure to keep the team pumped up, keep up energy, make sure everyone is doing well and feeling good.”

Despite the success, the team is not planning to rest on its laurels. For them, the next step is to keep progressing. One expectation is that they will continue to improve their technique.

“Our team, when we get really excited, we forget about the technique behind [the counts],” Mol said. “ But definitely our showmanship and our energy on the floor has been consistent all season.”

Go Green Foundation created a sign-up website for MVHS students to make their pledge for the Spare Our Earth program. Screenshot from the Go Green Foundation’s website.

Participants are to visit Go Green Foundation’s website to sign up and make a pledge to walk, bike, carpool, or take a bus to school. Upon registration, a drop-down menu asks students to list which class they are a part of. For students with Facebook accounts, signing up is as easy as clicking a button and selecting a pledge.

Two years ago, Go Green Foundation had also worked with MVHS in a similar event. Hicks, a member of the advisory board of the foundation, helped bring Spare Our Earth back to MVHS.

“The [class of 2011] and [class of 2010] did it two years ago as a class competition. It worked out pretty well,” 2014 social manager Colin Kim, who worked to bring about this event along with the Leadership class, said.

According to 2013 social manager Hadar Sachs, Leadership hopes to change the way some students commute to school in ways other than driving, and unlike the temporary nature of a typical “Walk-to-school” day, Spare Our Earth is slated to be long-term.

“This program is different from other programs in that it doesn’t encourage just one day of walking for a prize,” Sachs said. “It rather tries to change a student’s habit.”

Kim and Sachs hope that through the Spare Our Earth program, their classes will become aware of the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted daily from commuting to school and the difference students can make by choosing an alternative.

The class with the most participants that report back their pledge will be awarded $200 from the Go Green Foundation for use for future events like Junior Prom for the sophomores and Senior Ball for the juniors. One random participant will be given a $20 gift card at the end of the week.

To participate in the Spare Our Earth program, visit Go Green Foundation’s sign-up page.

Senior and co-captain Boson Wang runs past a Santa Clara player in pursuit of the ball during the first half of the senior game. Photo by Kevin Tsukii.

The Matadors (6-3-2) had a lot on the line on their senior night game. This was the game to give it their all — not just because this was the seniors‘ last home game, but they were close behind second place Santa Clara High School (7-1-2) in the El Camino League. For the seniors and for a chance at CCS, they had to win this game.

Despite senior Dustin Polgar goal to tie the game 1-1 in the second half, but the Bruins managed to answer quickly, eventually winning 1-2. The Bruins immediately started off strong, bringing the ball up the field in position to score. They were able to keep it there and score within five minutes into the game with a header from a throw in, putting Santa Clara up 1-0. The Bruins were able to capitalize on the positioning mistakes from the Matador’s defense and goalkeeper senior Pushkal Kannan.

“It really was just mental lapses,” junior Devin Ho said. “Those two goals just should not have happened. Even our coach said that he wasn’t even watching cause he didn’t think they would be goals.”

MVHS fought back throughout the first half by applying pressure to the Bruins defense. After a few breakthroughs, the Matadors had a few chances to score but were unable to get the ball into the net.

Both teams played aggressively and after several tripping incidents made the game tense as players from both sides shouted to the referees to make more foul calls. Even as the Matadors drove the ball into scoring position, the Bruins were able to kick the ball to the other side every time.

“I need to figure out how to play teams that play kickball,” head coach Pooya Hajjarian said. “Teams like Santa Clara play kickball. The ball comes to them and they just boot it to two fast forwards who put it in.”

Despite the rocky start, the Matadors were able to gain some momentum with a free kick. Although the shot from junior Bobak Ohadi was close, the ball hit the side of the net and did not go in. They continued with a few more close shots, a few going right over the net, but still did not score.

Finally the momentum led to a goal when Polgar hit it in with an assist from junior Baris Demirlioglu, making the score 1-1. However, the celebration was short-lived as the Bruins responded quickly on a throw-in taking the lead once again 2-1.

The Matadors continued attacking and driving the ball to the other end of the field, but once again missed the chances to score. Although the game was extended a few minutes because of the ball being hit out of bounds so many times, MVHS was unable to tie the score.

“They have a strong defense and its hard to break down,” Hajjarian said. “We broke it down more than four or five times, we just couldn’t finish those chances.”

The Matadors needed to win this game in order to have a chance to enter CCS. As the second to the last game of the season, MVHS played strong until the last minute. Despite the loss, MVHS has proved to be a strong soccer team this season with a winning record.

“People are starting to respect MVHS,” said Hajjarian, “[MVHS] is being known as a powerhouse now and we really wanted to show that today and I think we did.”

The last game of the season will be on Feb. 15 at Wilcox High School.