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Student Council Opens Its Doors
At student council meetings, attendees are given the opportunity to voice their thoughts on school issues and propose initiatives for change. Before this year, attendance was limited to selected representatives, chosen by teachers or from extracurricular classes like Speech and Debate. Now, any student can participate by...
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Cracks in the Walls
In an effort to bring students closer together, the school planned day-long workshops designed to strengthen the community from Sept. 3 to through 5 called Breaking Down...
Recent Articles
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A Golden Tradition
Gold outlines curl around the bird as a child carefully applies gold leaf to the collection of art...
3 days ago4 min read
Speeding Into Trouble
For most high school students, getting a license can mark an important step closer to freedom...
3 days ago3 min read
Curtains Close for 3Below
By Winston Chu May 20, 2026 Ryan Park Art In the intersection of Second and San Carlos Street in Downtown San Jose stands a towering three-floor parking garage. This is no ordinary car garage, however. Its ground floor was home to a venue of film showings, live theater and musical productions that brought liveliness and happiness to countless theatergoers. Established in 2018 by Scott and Shannon Guggenheim, a husband and wife duo who has been producing live ente
May 263 min read
Chairs Up for Five Schools
By Ayush Deshpande May 20, 2026 Ryan Park Art On March 26, the members of the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) Board of Trustees convened and voted to close five schools in a narrow three-to-two decision. This concluded a months-long process of numerous board hearings, community meetings and protests. Empire Gardens, Canoas, Gardner, Lowell and Terrell elementary schools will be closing as early as the end of the 2025-26 school year. SJUSD deeme
May 264 min read
Batman of San José
By Liliana Chai April. 5, 2026 Juliana Shin Art With a bat emblem sewn across his chest and a billowing black cape trailing behind him, a masked superhero emerges out of the shadows onto the streets of San Jose, fighting injustice. Known as the Batman of San Jose, the activist has spent nearly eight years supporting the unhoused population and speaking out on civic issues affecting vulnerable communities. With just under a million residents, San Jose faces a per
Apr 55 min read
Eye Spy
The click of keys, the push of a button, the click of a mouse...
1 day ago3 min read
Charging Past 60
For the past 60 years, the school has been a place where students have learned, made memories and grown together...
1 day ago3 min read
Celebrando Una Carrera
By Claire Chang, Ariel Lee, and Srihita Madiraju May 20, 2026 After learning Spanish and French during high school and college, Heather Hendry, Foreign Languages Department, embarked on her teaching career, where her experience as a student herself influenced her to empathize with common challenges students face throughout their linguistic journey and thoroughly help others understand linguistic mechanisms. Throughout her 38-year tenure at the school, she has taught var
May 265 min read
Mathematic Baller: Mr. Clarke
By Melvin Najarian April. 5, 2026 Jane Hong Art After 17 years of teaching at the school, and more than a decade leading Algebra I, Algebra II and geometry classes, Gary Clarke, Mathematics Department, is stepping away from the classroom. Throughout his time at the school, Clarke focused on building the fundamental math skills that students would carry with them into Advanced Placement classes and college. Beyond academics, over his tenure, focused with a startin
Apr 54 min read
Love in the Dark
By Liliana Chai Feb 14, 2026 When lights dim, neon takes over. Glowsticks flicker across the room while music echoes through the cafeteria, weaving together crowds of students in bright fluorescent tops and jeans from Leland and Pioneer High School. The Leland and Pioneer Mixer, a glow-in-the-dark themed dance bringing together students from both schools, will take place on Feb. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Leland’s campus. Similar to Homecoming, foo —including
Feb 153 min read
To Study or To Socialize
Walking into the school library, a student is greeted with a gentle waft of cold air and, alas, not-so-gentle chatter. They spot a friend sitting and shout excitedly over the steady noise. As they make their way over, they unknowingly bump into another student’s chair...
1 day ago4 min read
Reading into the Library
For most students, the library shapeshifts many times per day, transitioning from a quiet refuge in the mornings before the start of school to a bustling gathering area during lunch and break...
1 day ago3 min read
Who Bears the Cost of Campus Cleanliness?
By Dylan Xie & Bradon Koo May 20,2026 A lot of unnecessary cleaning and repair costs come from students damaging property or leaving messes behind. The most frustrating situations are when bathrooms have to be closed because student behavior affects everyone else trying to use them. One time, I even saw a toilet filled with apples in one of the restrooms.
May 205 min read
Behind the Eyes of a Student Athlete
By Dylan Xie Mar 31, 2026 Yunseo Kim Art Eight hours, six class periods and a handful of worksheets into the school day, the reality of being a student athlete kicks in; the day has just begun, and hours of physically and mentally demanding work are to come. Commitment to school sports means not only the obvious long practice hours, but also significant and unexpected money and time commitment. According to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the lim
Mar 314 min read
SJUSD Outside Food Policy
By Melvin Najarian Feb. 11, 2026 For years, potlucks and shared food have been a familiar part of student life at school. From club meetings to cultural celebrations, bringing food from home has allowed students to connect with one another and build a sense of community. However, San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) recently enforced restrictions on outside food brought onto campus during the school day, limiting potlucks and other edibles brought as treats
Feb 153 min read
Introducing New Staff
Albers, a San Jose native, fondly remembers a multicultural education summer intensive at the University of San Francisco, where she cultivated a love for ceramics while exploring how social justice can be expressed through the arts. ..
1 day ago4 min read
Student Action for Social Change
By Sarah Perez Apr 1, 2026 For many high schoolers, changemaking may seem daunting even the most passionate of activists can struggle against the legal barriers of being a minor and a lack of platform. Yet, Senior Anna Kochanska and Freshman Elise Fondeur have found meaning in their small efforts, viewing student activism as
Apr 43 min read
Student Mindsets
By James Yu Apr 3, 2026 With the skyrocketing competitiveness of college admissions, students are increasingly feeling the pressure to achieve academic success. Indeed, a 2024 nationwide survey by the Princeton Review found that 73% of over 10,800 college applicants were highly stressed regarding applications, a significant increase from 56% in 2003. At the epicenter of these worries is finals season, as students cram for their final exams and AP tests. The Pew
Apr 33 min read
Creative Writing Club
By Srihita Madiraju Feb. 11, 2026 With academic-quality writing being just a few clicks away for students due to the rise in artificial intelligence usage and expressing oneself in words being reduced to internet slang through technology, there has been a noticeable decline in writing skills and literacy. A study conducted in the International Journal of Information and Education Technology portrays how independent writing abilities and creativity of students is
Feb 154 min read
Chargers Roll For Initiative
By Dylan Xie December 10, 2025 On Wednesday afternoons, when many students are tired and eager to head home after a long day, a new adventure is just beginning around the corner of campus in Room F-4—the clatter of dice on the table top, the murmur of voices around the table, the players plotting their next move. This is a typical afternoon at Leland’s Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Club, a growing community of students eager to explore the limitless realms of make
Dec 12, 20253 min read
Student Nonprofits: Impact or Performance?
“Founder,” “changemaker” and “youth-led initiative” are buzzwords often used by students to promote their nonprofit work on LinkedIn and other platforms...
1 day ago3 min read
Collecting or Consumerism?
Walking into a collector’s room can be like stepping into a museum...
1 day ago3 min read
Doped on Endorsements
When tennis legend Serena Williams became a celebrity ambassador for telehealth company Ro, she was not promoting shoes or sports drinks...
1 day ago3 min read
No Disc No Deal
When Ubisoft shut down The Crew on March 31, 2024, the game became inaccessible to players who had purchased it...
1 day ago3 min read
Recasting for Inclusion or Illusion
By Andrew Xie May 20, 2026 On March 12 2023, the trailer for the live-action adaptation of the animated film “The Little Mermaid” dropped online and, within hours, garnered tens of millions of views. Online, two sides emerged almost immediately: one flooded with parents sharing videos of their young daughters joyously pointing at the girl on the screen, and another filled with fans of the original, frustrated that something fundamental to the film was lost. When H
May 263 min read
Celebrity Next Door
When Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce married, an artist named Justin Gignac began selling a limited collection of 50 tiny acrylic cubes...
1 day ago3 min read
Bangtan Boycott
On June 16, the Grammy Awards announced a new award category called “Best Asian Pop Music Performance"...
1 day ago3 min read
Bieberchella
By James Yu May 20, 2026 The desert stirs. Like a scene out of Napoleon’s infamous Egyptian campaign, a massive army descends on Indio, California’s silent dunes. Yet, instead of muskets and perfectly-kept uniforms, each soldier is prepared for battle with $16 matchas and bold rave fits. Men used to go to war. Now they go to
May 204 min read
Trendy Trauma
By Lauren Law May 20, 2026 Social media has begun to turn serious struggles into a source of admiration. People often post about mental health, heartbreak or unhealthy habits in a manner that aestheticizes or normalizes them, instead of highlighting how difficult they really are. This can also be seen in trends that frame overconsu
May 203 min read
"Project Hail Mary"
By Mahika Khosla May 20, 2026 With “The Martian” being one of my favorite movies, I was thrilled to see that another one of Andy Weir’s novels,“Project Hail Mary,” was also being adapted into a film. “Project Hail Mary” is about science teacher, Ryland Grace, who finds himself stranded on a spaceship after he wakes up from an induced coma.
May 202 min read
Border Chaos in Ceuta: The Spain Migration Crisis
n a few dozen hours, nearly 80,000 migrants, primarily Moroccan, swarmed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Amidst a tense and chaotic atmosphere...
1 day ago3 min read
The Arday Ordeal
Jason Arday, the youngest black professor in the University of Cambridge teaching sociology of education, was found dead in his home on Aug. 14. While he had been largely regarded as a prominent figure in British academia...
1 day ago3 min read
Tensions With Iran Erupt into War
By Melvin Najarian May 20, 2026 On March 1, Iranian state media reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aged 86, had been killed in a major airstrike carried out by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, along with several senior figures within Iran’s security leadership. The report confirmed earlier statements from President Trump, who had a
May 204 min read
El Mencho's Death Triggers More Violence
By Chelsea Lu Apr 1, 2026 On July 17, 1966, a boy is born into poverty in the Mexican state of Michoacán. By the age of 14, he starts guarding marijuana plantations; at 19, he immigrates illegally to California, where he is arrested and deported for heroin trafficking charges; and, by the early 2010s, he emerges as the kingpin of the infamous
Apr 44 min read
Resurrecting the Floreana Giant Tortoise
By Teresa Sun Apr 1, 2026 Once silent and stripped of their most iconic residents, the volcanic slopes of Floreana Island in the Galápagos are alive once again with a slow, heavy rhythm. For nearly two centuries, the Floreana giant tortoise was a species existing only in sketches and bleached shells. That changed on Feb. 20, when a cohort
Apr 44 min read
Second Chances for EV Batteries
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a cleaner alternative to gasoline or diesel cars due to lower lifetime carbon footprints. But when an EV battery can no longer adequately charge, it gets recycled or gets repurposed for second-life stationary storage to maximize their economic and environmental value...
1 day ago3 min read
The Hidden Bacterial World
While coral reefs make up only 1% of the entire ocean, they hold almost 25% of all oceanic species, per the Smithsonian. Yet, despite being a vital part of the ocean’s ecosystem, the reefs are dying due to coral bleaching, rising water temperatures and other stressors...
1 day ago3 min read
Anthropic-Pentagon AI Battle
By Mahika Khosla Mar 31, 2026 The boom of missiles breaking the sound barrier ripples throughout the smoke-streaked sky, fighter jets perform somersaults across the clouds and the motors of deadly kamikaze drones screech over the heads of ducking soldiers as the army slowly advances. With an ever-increasing pace, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computing are being integrated into weapon systems across the world. Now, the future of such integra
Mar 313 min read
Professional Sleep-Multitaskers
By Brandon Koo Feb. 11, 2026 Mingyue Xiao Art The frigatebird serenely glides across the open ocean, wings locked in place and eyes half-closed over waves that stretch for miles. A brief lapse of attention could result in a fatal plummet, yet the bird continues in a state of half-sleep and half-awareness. It rests yet remains just alert enough—for animals like the frigatebird, sleeping fully can be more dangerous than staying awake. Sleep is essential for near
Feb 153 min read
Mushrooms Insulating Rooms
By Lauren Law December 10, 2025 In Alaska, where homes battle the brutal cold with layers of imported Styrofoam, scientists are turning to mycelium, the living root network of mushrooms, to create a biodegradable and locally sourced insulation alternative that has been in development for nearly a decade. In Alaska, where homes battle brutal cold with layers of imported Styrofoam, scientists are turning to mycelium, a living root network of mushrooms, to create
Dec 12, 20254 min read
Changing the Game
With just a couple minutes before the game begins, the girls are overwhelmed with excitement; it is the biggest football game of the season and the crowd is the greatest it has ever been...
1 day ago3 min read
Pay to Win
In 2025, former University of Georgia quarterback Carson Beck transferred to the University of Miami after a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal reported at about $4 million, per Sports Illustrated...
1 day ago3 min read
Bay Area Olympic Stars
By Lauren Law Apr. 5. 2026 Catherine Nguyen Art For Bay Area athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu, winter weekends in Tahoe were training grounds that helped shape their paths to the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22. Born on Aug. 8, 2005 in Clovis, California, Liu spent most of her childhood in and around Oakland and Richmond,. Liu’s father, who immigrated to the United States from China and later built a law practice in the Bay Area, struc
Apr 54 min read
Bay Area Olympic Stars
By Lauren Law Apr 1, 2026 Catherine Nguyen Art For Bay Area athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu, winter weekends in Tahoe were training grounds that helped shape their paths to the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22. Born on Aug. 8, 2005 in Clovis, California, Liu spent most of her childhood in and around Oakland and Richmond,. Liu’s father, who immigrated to the United States from China and later built a law practice in the Bay Area, struc
Apr 34 min read
Chargers Shine in CCS
By Brandon Koo Apr 1, 2026 As winter blurs into spring, the school’s winter sports teams have concluded their regular seasons and begun postseason competition. Months of practices, conditioning and late-night games have led to the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs. This year, co-ed wrestling, girls soccer, boys basketball, and girls basketball and girls cheer qualified for CCS. Together, these teams reflect a season fueled by grit, growth and Charger pride. T
Apr 14 min read
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