School Features

Zoe Morgan/Town Crier
Santa Rita School sixth-grader Alexandra Platon counts the bouquets parent volunteers made for teachers and staff as part of the school’s Flower Day. In total, Platon counted 108.

Classic red roses, deep pink tulips, bright yellow sunflowers and pale lavender hydrangeas were among the thousands of flowers arranged in more than 100 handmade bouquets outside Santa Rita School May 14.

Parent volunteers spent the morning creating the bouquets out of flowers parents and students donated. The flower arrangements were then given to teachers and other school employees as part of Santa Rita’s staff appreciation week celebration.

Courtesy of Eman Magzoub
Foothill College student Eman Magzoub recently received recognition as a Newman Civic Fellow for her impact on campus.

Genuine, authentic, warrior, beautiful. These are the words Foothill College counselor Leticia Serna used to describe second-year student Eman Magzoub.

Magzoub, who moved to the United States a year and a half ago from Saudi Arabia, was recently named a Newman Civic Fellow for the impact she’s made on the Foothill campus. Through the program, fellows – nominated by their college president or chancellor – are provided with resources to network and learn how to further aid their communities.

Courtesy of Cheryl Weiden
Students Jessica Young, from left, May Jiang and Alisha Xiong educate drivers about the harmful effects of vehicle idling.

The combined efforts of Los Altos High School’s Green Team and GreenTown Los Altos to curb idling of cars picking up students have proven effective.

The number of cars that idled in March decreased nearly 80 percent from GreenTown’s previous survey in 2017, according to Green Team’s Anya Gupta.

Courtesy of Kimberlyn Tilley 

Los Altos High School graduate Kimberlyn Tilley, center, is surrounded by young children in Haiti, a frequent destination for service trips she first began in high school.

For many people, Haiti may seem less like a country and more like a headline, as news of protests against government corruption and economic uncertainty have entered mainstream media.

James Cham/Special To The Town Crier
Yangsze Choo spoke at Los Altos High’s Writers Week about her 2019 novel “The Night Tiger.”

Without the push from her husband, Yangsze Choo may not have become the successful author she is today.

“My husband is actually the reason why my books are in the public,” Choo told an English class during Los Altos High School’s Writers Week in March. “He sent my novel out to a couple of friends without me even knowing, and I was sent messages to publish my story. I was very surprised. I did not expect so many people to connect with my novel.”

Courtesy of The Actuarial Foundation
Karina Halevy, from left, Maxwell Liu, Josh Hejna, Rushil Arora and Shawn Huang won the Modeling the Future Challenge.

There may be no sure-fire way to predict the future, but mathematical modeling can paint a good picture of what may lie ahead.

For Los Altos High School junior Maxwell Liu, that’s part of the appeal of competing in mathematical modeling competitions.