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April 28, 2025

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absence 2014

absence 2014

Sick or “Sick”?

4 min read

Features

Sick or “Sick”?

Regina Wen December 11, 2014

At what point is taking a “sick” day too much?

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On April 13., Dr. Satsuki Ina, Japanese-American p

On April 13., Dr. Satsuki Ina, Japanese-American psychotherapist and author of “The Poet and the Silk Girl,” visited the Aragon theater to speak about her understanding of and experience with Japanese-American Internment.

The event was organized by the Aragon Asian Parents Association and by Advanced Placement US History teacher William Colglazier. The event began with a showing of the documentary “And Then They Came for Us” then transitioned into a live question and answer with Dr. Ina. Fourth-generation Japanese-American juniors Kate Sato and Kylie Uyekubo led the discussion with Dr. Ina.

Reporting and photos by Meilin Rife.

On Apr. 18, Leadership’s rally commission held a

On Apr. 18, Leadership’s rally commission held a pool rally in center court. It featured pool floaty races, dive contests and the hamster wheel race.

Photos and video by Ethan Tawn and Anna He.

On April 19, a Dunkin Donuts truck arrived at the

On April 19, a Dunkin Donuts truck arrived at the upper basketball courts for a promotional giveaway event open to both staff and students. Arranged by Dunkin, the event offered free drinks after school to close out the week.

Photos by Ethan Tawn.

Aragon held their spring jazz concert on April 11

Aragon held their spring jazz concert on April 11 at 7 p.m. in the theater with the Jazz Band and Jazz Ensemble.

The groups performed a total of ten different pieces, including songs such as “I Snore, You Drive!” by Victor Lopez and “Every Summer Night” by Pat Metheny. Additionally, the Jazz Ensemble premiered a new piece, “Simpler Times” by Jay Jordan.

“I got to do a fun drum beat when our flute player was soloing, called the Cascara Drum Beat,” said senior Jazz Band drummer Natasha Efron. “I had never played it before, and I hadn’t practiced it before … so it was really fun for me to learn and experiment with the sound.”

Following intermission, band director Kevin Gallagher announced awards for student performers.

“One thing I really like about the awards that Mr. Gallagher does is that they’re all student-chosen,” said senior Jazz Ensemble alto saxophonist Dominic Kudzia. “So it feels especially cool when your peers recognize you [for something], instead of just the director recognizing you for it.”

Following the awards for Jazz Ensemble, the senior players gave Gallagher a farewell gift. The gift consisted of a travel bag for the upcoming music program trip to Ireland, a wallet, a book of tips that the seniors have been gathering from Gallagher since the start of 2024 and other various items.

“The concert was very well-produced and performed,” said freshman Rosie Mayor. “[The senior gift] was a really sweet way for [students] to honor their teacher.”

Overall, the consensus amongst performers was that the concert turned out well.

“We did pretty good,” Efron said. “We played everything like we were supposed to, and there were only a couple of small, unnoticeable, little mistakes within the band.”

Audience members also enjoyed the concert.

“[The concert] was really nice,” said sophomore Prerna Gopinath. “The trombone solos were really good and the Jazz Band played really well.”

Aragon Music’s spring concert series will continue every week for the next month, with the orchestra performance up next on April 18 at 7 p.m. in the theater.

Reporting by Reika Lam.

On March 11, Aragon Math Club hosted the Aragon Ma

On March 11, Aragon Math Club hosted the Aragon Math Marathon, the annual math competition for middle school students. Around 100 students from 6 local middle schools participated in the competition held at Aragon.

From March 28-29, Aragon Band, Orchestra and Choir

From March 28-29, Aragon Band, Orchestra and Choir held their Symphonic Pops concert in the theater, performing the musical “Wonderful Town.”

“This year we were given the music very late,” said junior first-chair cellist John Liu. “We pretty much [had] two weeks to rehearse a whole musical. It’s great music, but it’s also hard music, so two weeks is really very little time to get this together.”

The students had around two-and-a-half weeks to prepare for the performance. Most had to practice during Flex or lunch times. During Flex rehearsals, the women’s, men’s and chamber choirs combined.

“Personally, I haven’t found it super stressful,“ said junior and women’s choir member Heli Artola. “The stressful part I’ve found is [that] I can’t go to Flex for math, [which] I need, or AP [English Language and Composition], because I’m dedicating my time to the musical. So I feel like that’s the most stressful thing, that I’m taking time out of my day, like Flex [so] I can’t go to classes I really need.”

In order to perform, the instructors had to purchase copyrights for the play.

“With any copyrighted musical, especially anything by Leonard Bernstein, we have to apply for the license,” Chen said. “A few months ago, before winter break, I applied for the license. We tell them who’s performing it. We have to tell them how many people are performing in it. We have to tell them the age group. We have to tell them the school. And then they will let us know if they’re going to grant us the rights for it. Then right after winter break, they told us they gave us the rights for it, [and] we paid almost $2,000 for copyrights.”

After the performance, students reminisced and reflected on their performance.

“To be honest, I expected to fall out of the sky a little, but we stayed up,” Liu later said. “Maybe there was some turbulence, but we stayed in the air … I was pleasantly surprised with how we played because we [didn’t] have enough time to prepare this, and everyone was struggling, but we pulled it together.”

Check out the full coverage on aragonoutlook.org.

Reporting by Yang Yang.
Photos by Madeline Allen and Ethan Tawn.

From March 20–23, Aragon Drama performed its spr

From March 20–23, Aragon Drama performed its spring play, “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare.

Aragon’s rendition moves the original setting of the play from the Italian town of Messina, to a cruise ship set in the 1980s. The storyline follows a comedic telling of two romances, one being between characters Benedick and Beatrice, played by Macen Adams and Bridgette Martin, and the other between Claudio and Hero, played by Leighton King and Sophie Rayes. However, the antagonist, Don John, played by Andrew McColl, plans to disrupt their love stories, scheming and plotting against their happiness throughout the play.

“I thought it was interesting that they changed the setting,” said freshman Mena Lamberti. “I loved the costumes and the [set design], it was really cool.”

Junior Jack McNeely, who played Borachio, was worried about his lines.

“All of us were very nervous,” McNeely said. “[But] Shakespeare is a staple in the theater community [and] the payoff of being out there and making people laugh and bringing a story to life is just so worth it.”

For others, relationships with fellow cast members are what makes being part of the show enjoyable.

“It is a really great community,” said sophomore Li Jennings, who plays the character Antonio. “There’s something magical about watching the show from the wings and seeing all the characters and all the hard work you put into [a show] come to life.”

McNeely shared hopes for what the audience took away from the performance.

“The second semester of school is never the easiest, especially for seniors and juniors who are going through it right now,” McNeely said. “I hope [it served] as a nice distraction, but I also hope it [gave] budding theater kids in the audience some idea of what they’re getting into if they decide to come to Aragon, or do Shakespeare in the future.”

Aragon Advanced Drama will perform a student-directed musical, Chicago, on May 16.

Reporting by Reika Lam.
Photos by Lian Wang.

On March 24, 2025, the senior class of 2025 hosted

On March 24, 2025, the senior class of 2025 hosted a movie night after school featuring High School Musical 3. Tacos, cookies and snacks were served and seniors sat in center court.

Reporting by Meilin Rife.
Photos by Lian Wang.

On March 6, Aragon’s varsity badminton team clin

On March 6, Aragon’s varsity badminton team clinched a 30-0 victory over Hillsdale in their first game of the season. With a 10-2 record in the 2023-24 season, the Dons have proven themselves a formidable opponent on the court and dominated in their finish last week.

Similarly to tennis and other popular racquet sports, the team consists of a lineup of singles and doubles players ranked 1-2-3 competing against similarly ranked opponents from other schools for a win. The remaining players who are not seated compete in playoffs and different exhibition games. Although the team houses nearly forty players, one of their strong suits is their communication and adaptability with one another.

“We’re all really connected,” said sophomore and singles No. 1 Allison Hsu. “We have really good teamwork and during games, we uplift each other and brighten the mood.”

Additionally, the players focus on training hard during their practices to be able to compete at their peak during games.

“One of our biggest strengths is our competitiveness,” said junior and girls doubles player Sathini Senthilkumar. “Although practices are easygoing, we stay focused and work hard during matches.”

Regarding their game on the 6th, many players anticipated a strong but friendly match against Hillsdale, considering it a good game to open the season with.

“[Hillsdale] came from a different division,” said Hsu. “So I’m hopeful that we can beat them.”

Following their victory later that night, sophomore and doubles No. 3 player Ben Marshall said, “It was a full sweep.” “Although there was room for improvement, we were all very focused and secured our win,” said Senthilkumar. “I believe it’s important to learn from each matches’ mistakes and make improvements in the next one to keep growing and prepare ourselves for tough matches.”

“As a team, our goal is to secure more wins,” said Senthilkumar. “And to earn a spot among the top three schools in the Bay Division for Badminton.”

Their next game is scheduled against San Mateo on March 20.

Reporting by Advika Singh.
Photos by Ethan Tawn and Madeline Allen.

On March 7, Aragon’s College and Career Counseli

On March 7, Aragon’s College and Career Counseling department hosted Career Day, a biennial event that is held only by Aragon, out of all the schools in district.

Career Day takes nearly two years to plan and involves almost every group at Aragon — students, teachers, administration, the Parent Teacher Student Organization and a separate planning committee.

Over 60 speakers came to Aragon to give presentations on their career paths and experiences.

“Aragon was my first career day,” said Emily Delaney, guest speaker and biologist and geneticist at Big Hat Biosciences. “I wish I’d had this type of career information available to me when I was in high school. [The day] was well organized and I’m happy [Aragon] is sponsoring this for students.”

For this Career Day, a new sign-up system was used. Seniors had the first pick of career day sessions, followed by juniors, sophomores and freshmen.

“The sign-up process was pretty good, except one session I wanted to attend was hard to sign up for,” said senior Cata Dulcey. “There was a website that gave you the name of the speaker and their descriptions, but then on the actual sign-up sheet, the speaker’s job was different from what was on the website, so I couldn’t find it.”

Despite some sign-up complications, many regard Career Day as successful.

“Never in my career had I gotten such overwhelmingly positive reviews from a survey,” said Queenie Hua, Career Technical Education and Career coordinator. “There were so many positive reviews, the form even stopped taking responses.”

The next Career Day will be held in 2027, with specific dates still to be determined.

Reporting by Christine Choi.
Photos by Lian Wang and Ethan Tawn.

From Feb. 27 – March 1, Aragon Robotics For Insp

From Feb. 27 – March 1, Aragon Robotics For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics Competition team competed in the Orange County Regionals.

This was a week one competition, meaning it was the first competition in the organization. The team had a little more than seven weeks to complete the design, edits and minimal testing, but not enough time for preparations and training — resulting in some mistakes. Nonetheless, the team won the Judges’ Award for their robot design.

“Our robot only worked as intended for two matches out of 10,” said senior FRC captain Adam Richter. “Our robot design has a lot of potential. It was definitely one of the strongest bots there in terms of potential … So even though [this competition] was in some ways a disappointment, overall, we’re even more motivated because of this to improve for our next competition.”

This year’s game was called Reefscape. Contestants needed to build a robot that could navigate a simulated ocean floor, and the robot had to pick up objects like polyvinyl chloride pipes and balloons, replicating the various elements at the bottom of an ocean.

The team ended up placing 27th out of 40 other teams in the competition, which members attribute to the minor bot malfunctions, such as wires or electronics falling out.

“The reason we didn’t uncover these issues beforehand is because we didn’t have time for enough testing, as well as not having a practice field, the most accurate place to reveal the issues with the robot,” Richter said. “So even though it was working in the room, when we were actually on the field and dealing with intense gameplay and collisions, some things were falling out. One of our biggest issues was a motor controller [falling] off of our robot just because it wasn’t secured properly, and it got caught in the wheel and ripped out a bunch of wires. Our goal is not only to improve the robot overall but [also to] have none of those issues left for [the] San Francisco [Regionals].”

The next FRC robotics regionals will be from March 21–23 in San Francisco.

Reporting by Yang Yang.
Photos by Ethan Tawn.

On Feb. 22 at 6 p.m., Music From the Heart was hel

On Feb. 22 at 6 p.m., Music From the Heart was held at the Congregational Church of San Mateo. It is an annual event hosted to raise money for the Aragon music program and an opportunity for Aragon music students to audition to showcase their ability in a solo or with a group of their choosing.

The next music concert at Aragon will be the Symphonic Pops Concert on March 27 and 28 in the theater.

Read the full article on aragonoutlook.com

Reporting by Dora Chen.
Photos by Felix Ma.

The outlook reviews Chill Spot Rendezvous, a newly

The outlook reviews Chill Spot Rendezvous, a newly opened locally owned ice cream shop. Students get a 10% discount when they visit @chillspotrendezvous #review #foodie #localbussiness #recommend

On Feb. 21, Aragon Jazz Band and Ensemble performe

On Feb. 21, Aragon Jazz Band and Ensemble performed their 19th annual Double Exposure Concert alongside Hillsdale’s Jazz Ensemble. Each year, the two schools alternate hosting the concert, and this year, it was held in Hillsdale’s Little Theater. Although sports rivals, the concert is a way for Aragon and Hillsdale to share the stage and encourage collaboration.

Reporting and photos by Lian Wang.

Buy at: bit.ly/3CQMz1O

Buy at: bit.ly/3CQMz1O

Aragon’s annual winter formal dance, themed “A

Aragon’s annual winter formal dance, themed “An Evening in London,” was held on Feb. 15 from 7–10 p.m. This year, the dance was hosted at Devil’s Canyon Brewery in San Carlos, instead of the usual location, Fox Theater in Redwood City.

“It’s a time for the school to really come together at an event outside of the school campus,” said junior Jocelyn Soohoo. “You almost will never see such a big gathering that’s not on campus, and everyone that’s here wants to be here … you have more fun [and] the chance to dress up and be with friends.”

Overall, students were eager to explore the new location as they shared their expectations for this new experience.

“I’m hoping there’s more space to dance,” said senior Frankie Mayor. “I remember [Fox Theater’s] dance floor was kind of difficult to maneuver on once a lot of people were in there. It’s a cool place, but it was a little hard to get in.”

The dance met many students’ expectations.

“I really liked all the catering, they did pretty well on that,” Soohoo said. “I [also] really liked the venue, just considering everything and how they decorated it.”

While some students appreciated the dance, others expressed their thoughts on the possible improvements of school dances in the future, especially regarding the amount of security guards and staff.

“My least favorite part is the strictness — like [teachers] are watching high school kids having fun and [they’re] just standing there,” said senior Lueni Georgievski. “[The teachers] should have more engagement … because I think they’d really bring the energy.”

The dance introduced a new experience for students but also created a shift in attendance trends.

“I thought [the new venue] would attract more people,” Araneta said. “[But] compared to the number of people last year, we saw a noticeable decline, [which might be because] it was a new venue [and] it was actual food instead of cookies [like] last year.”

Prom is scheduled for May 3, with the location and theme to be revealed.

Read the full length article on aragonoutlook.org

Reporting by Dora Chen.
Photos by Ethan Tawn.

On Feb. 14, Aragon Leadership hosted its annual wi

On Feb. 14, Aragon Leadership hosted its annual winter rally in the North Gym.

“This rally [was] special because it [was] on Valentine’s Day,” said freshman and Rally Commission member Sam Jacobs. “We made one of the games Valentine’s themed: the Cupid’s Arrow Race, [and] we’ve never done anything like that before.”

The rally also featured a students versus teachers knockout game.

“I enjoyed playing knockout with all the teachers [and] I had a good time,” said senior Dalton Kane. “Last year, I wanted to participate in the basketball game [but] they wouldn’t let me, so this year I convinced [a Rally Commission member] to let me play because I missed my opportunity last year.”

Additionally, a new public voting system, in which teachers selected colored balls according to which class they thought was the most spirited, was introduced, as there have been previous claims of the Rally Commission rigging the rallies in the seniors’ favor.

“[The rallies should be rigged towards the seniors] slightly,” said junior Harrison Hsu. “The teachers can give them a little bias. But if they’re not willing to win it, then they shouldn’t [get it].”

Others disagreed, however.

“What’s the point of a rally if it’s fake?” said freshman Sam Chovolosky. “There’s no point in even trying if it’s gonna be rigged.”

At the end of the rally, each grade sang their class anthem chosen by their class councils, but some disapproved of the song choices.

“We were terrible,” Kane said. “Half the people didn’t know the song [“You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift], which is justified. Everybody knew [one part but] nobody else knew anything past that.”

Nonetheless, many saw the rally as a success.

“It was a very good rally, despite most of the freshmen class not knowing what our song was,” said freshman Drew Benevente. “It brought the school together because everybody seemed to have a good time, like the juniors, who were obviously very into the rally. Same with the seniors and the sophomores.”

Leadership plans to host another indoor rally in the spring.

Reporting by Christine Choi.
Photos and videos by Madeline Allen, Darra McLintock, Anna He, Lian Wang, Ethan Tawn.

Spanish teacher Ben Ho first tried his hand at lea

Spanish teacher Ben Ho first tried his hand at learning Spanish in high school, where he discovered his passion for learning languages. Stepping into college, Ho planned to enhance his interests in languages by getting a PHD in linguistics and Spanish linguistics.

“I took classes in Italian, French and Portuguese, and that just led me to explore languages outside of the romance language family… So far I’ve dabbled in about 60 languages,” Ho said. “I can say some basic words and expressions in those languages, but in terms of actual conversational ability, I would say I can hold a basic conversation in about nine or ten of them.”

Beyond basic small talk, Ho is at an intermediate level of fluency for seven languages - English, Spanish, Cantonese, French, Mandarin, Italian and Portuguese.

To juggle the different languages he’s learning at the moment, Ho uses several tools and techniques.

“Every morning, I religiously review my flashcards on the Anki flashcard system, and I spend about half an hour every morning reviewing those,” Ho said. “I also read texts in Chinese, Spanish, and right now, I’m learning Czech, so I try to read Czech as well either on a daily or weekly basis, and then I take lessons on the weekends. In the typical week, I would say around five hours [spent studying] altogether.”

For Ho, learning new languages has played an essential role in expanding his perspective on different parts of the world.

“Something interesting I learned in a recent Czech lesson was in a dialog like dad was telling his kid, ‘when I was young, I didn’t have jeans like you’ and I wondered, Why? Well, it’s because in the communist era in Czechoslovakia, they couldn’t get jeans [as] jeans were prohibited because they were a Western product,” Ho said. “I was like, wow. That hadn’t even occurred to me. So it was a cultural insight that I gained only because I was learning Czech.”

Read our full coverage on aragonoutlook.org.

Reporting by Jack He.
Photos in courtesy of Sr. Ho.

On Jan. 29, the Aragon varsity soccer team (11-3-2

On Jan. 29, the Aragon varsity soccer team (11-3-2 overall) gained a narrow victory against Burlingame (4-10-2 overall) during their conference match. With a score of 2-1, the win was challenging, as the Dons made improvements and tested various strategies on the field.

“We play in a 4-3-3 formation,” said senior forward and co-captain Pouyan Sheikh. “We try to keep the team playing wide while we’re attacking—we try to stay more compressed when we’re defending.”

The first quarter maintained tensions, with Aragon scoring a goal in the first few minutes and pushing momentum, with Burlingame following up with a goal at the halfway mark.

“Burlingame won the season last year,” said senior center back and co-captain Charles Birkelund. “We knew they were a good team, and we knew they were going to be physical.”

“Small mistake from our underclassmen,” said senior midfielder Damian Samano Ocampo. “We’re prepared to come through.”

After cutting to halftime, the teams regrouped and fought with renewed vigor on the field; both sides playing with tenacity and chasing the ball across the field. The two teams kept the competition neck to neck, with each attempt at a pass rapidly intercepted and each opportunity for a goal being met with deflection.

“We were breaking down their defense,” Birklund said. “It was honestly only a matter of time before we scored the goal.”

With two minutes left in the second quarter, the winning goal came from junior Claudio Dominguez Lopez. The kick was made from thirty yards away, and Burlingame was left unable to defend, leaving the Dons to cinch a win.

Ranked third in the league, the team anticipates a path to CCS, and continues preparing for their game on Feb. 12 against Menlo-Atherton. Their away game against Burlingame will be at 4 p.m. on Feb. 14.

Reporting by Advika Singh.
Photos by Madeline Allen.

On Jan. 16 at 8:26 a.m., power went out to over 35

On Jan. 16 at 8:26 a.m., power went out to over 35,000 PG&E customers in Hillsborough, Burlingame, San Mateo and Foster City, including many schools in the San Mateo-Foster City School District and San Mateo Union High School District. The SMUHSD district office lost power, but its battery was able to keep phone and internet services on for about an hour.

“All of our phones and internet for the entire district run through our knock box here at the district office,” said Superintendent Randall Booker. “We are underway in developing a backup generator [at the district office] so that internet and phones don’t go down when there’s a power outage, but that’s not in place yet.”

However, the district was still able to maintain contact with administrators on school sites.

“We have high-range walkie-talkies that work all the way from Capuchino,” Booker said. “I sent district office staff to Aragon, and [we] were in constant communication back and forth throughout the day.”

Many students left school throughout the day, filling out absence forms, calling parents to pick them up or simply walking off campus.

“It was the parents more than [anyone] else that were complaining,” said Dean Donna Krause. “Lots of parents were really upset that the kids were still here.”

Booker believed leaving school was more of a student-driven action.

“[I think] kids were calling their parents and saying, ‘I want to come home,’” Booker said. “I don’t think parents are sitting there and going ‘oh, the power is out, I want my kid to come home.’ … For the most part, parents rolled with it.”

Emails or calls from parents could not be received by the school, but parents and guardians could still pick students up.

“The protocol that we instilled was saying, ‘if you need to go home for whatever reason, a physical parent or guardian must pick you up from the back office right here in student services,’” said Assistant Principal Andrew Moore. “That’s the normal routine when we have power, but we just had to be sure that we saw someone.”

Read the full article at aragonoutlook.com

Reporting by Darshan Bal.
Photo by Anna He.

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