The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

AI Detectors

Dahlia Schilling and Ananya Chaudhary June 11, 2024

MVHS teachers try to guess which essay was student-written, AI-assisted and written solely by ChatGPT.

Treating toxicity

Treating toxicity

Amberly Sun and Kalyani Puthenpurayil May 21, 2024

As a former MVHS student, math teacher Katie Collins recalls thinking the school was overly competitive. The students and teachers put a heavy emphasis on grades, which encourages students to compromise...

The juice is loose!

The juice is loose!

Niveda Hari and Megha Mummaneni May 21, 2024

“The juice is loose!” Fans cheered as ex-football star O.J. Simpson and former NFL player Al Cowlings drove along the Los Angeles freeway in a low-speed car chase, pursued by the LAPD, which had...

Illustration | Ellie Wang

2D body, 1D personality

Shannon Yu May 20, 2024

The moment Melisa Lu set foot in Lynbrook High School as an English teacher, she knew she was going to love her job. As a child, Lu found school to be an unengaging, tedious chore. She often wished she...

Graphic | Sonia Verma

Integrating Artificial Intelligence

Raj Thapliyal and Jason Chu March 9, 2024

AI-based tools have flooded classrooms across the nation in the past two years. Most notably, almost 90% of students reported usage of ChatGPT, just months after its release in November of 2022, according...

14 days of love: Kimika & Shozo

14 days of love: Kimika & Shozo

Aashna Patel February 7, 2023
In the seventh installment of the 14 days of love series, El Estoque explores the familial relationship between English teacher Shozo Shimazaki and his daughter sophomore Kimika Shimazaki
Kenneth Gan poses with his pet python Udon in his classroom. 
Photo by Abha Dash

Animal Love

Abha Dash, Staff Writer October 10, 2022
Exploring teachers’ pets and the impact they have on them
French teacher Janissa Zahns pen pals would send photos of themselves and their life in France.

Exchanging Letters

Kalyani Puthenpurayil and Anna Jerolimov March 4, 2022

Sophomore Daphne Huang, Juniors Rohin Inani and Yamini Mathew, English teacher Shozo Shimazaki, Biology teacher Renee Fallon, French teacher Janissa Zahn and parent Venkat Ananthan share the letters they...

As methods of communication such as emailing and calling became more popular in the 1990s, English teacher Shozo Shimazaki remembers thinking that the post office would go out of business, but the letters that people sent across the world remain in our history.

The forgotten art of writing letters

Kalyani Puthenpurayil and Anna Jerolimov March 4, 2022

Thoughtful. Underrated. Special. A nice gesture. A method of reflection. A lost art. Below are the experiences of students, teachers and community members regarding receiving and sending handwritten letters. 

Monta Vista shares New Years’ resolutions

Sonia Verma and Lillian Wang February 9, 2022
MVHS students and staff share their goals for the upcoming year
MVHS teachers utilize classroom playlists as a medium to make the learning environment more comfortable. Graphic by Justin Kim

Breaking down classroom playlists

Justin E Kim, Arts and Entertainment Editor February 1, 2022
Teachers explain the philosophy behind listening to music with their students
The iconic scream mask | used under creative commons

Horror is not for everyone

Amber Milesi, Staff Writer October 22, 2021

he young woman turns the corner hesitantly. She looks pale and is covered in a sheen of sweat. Her body is trembling as she inches her way down the hall, an old phone clutched in one hand. Once an average...

Load More Stories