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From boba to bookstores: a look into San Mateo downtown’s business turnover rate

Monopoly board of downtown turnover rate.

4 min read

Features

From boba to bookstores: a look into San Mateo downtown’s business turnover rate

Olivia Roxas October 10, 2019

Downtown business owners discuss what it takes to remain relevant in the ever-changing heart of San Mateo.

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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.

On January 23rd, Aragon’s Varsity Girls Soccer t

On January 23rd, Aragon’s Varsity Girls Soccer team (7-2-1, 2-2-1) battled out a crucial home match against the Sequoia Ravens (4-7-2, 1-3). The Dons’ senior leadership and toughness shone through in the intense matchup, where their defense pitched a shutout. Senior Sierra Troy scored the game’s lone goal in the thirty first minute of the first half on an assist from sophomore Emi Lo. The Dons possessed the ball a majority of the contest, as Sequoia’s defensive unit focused on sending the ball long to slow the Dons’ attack down rather than playing for possession. The game would have been a more commanding 2-0 victory if it wasn’t for a controversial offsides penalty that cost the Dons a second half goal.
Heading into the season the Dons knew that they’d have to compete in tons of close games, moving up into the highly contested Peninsula Bay division. Head Coach Mike Flynn has preached the importance of battling in these tough games all year long, “We knew coming into this year moving up [to the Bay Division] that we were going to have some difficult games to play, and the fact that not only are we scoring but we’re not giving up a lot of goals you know that’s huge, our goalkeeper’s have came up big for us.”
With their recent victory the Dons sit at second place in the challenging Peninsula Bay division, and look primed for a CCS playoff run. Senior Sierra Troy commented on what this win means to the Dons after the game, “This win against Sequoia is a great indicator of what we are capable of this year in terms of making it to CCS. We lost to Sequoia in the CCS D1 finals 2 years ago, and now being in the same league as them, we got a chance to redeem ourselves and show everyone what we’re capable of.”

Reporting by Charlie Henderson.
Photos by Darra McLintock.

On Feb. 1 Aragon Robotics’ First Technology Chal

On Feb. 1 Aragon Robotics’ First Technology Challenge 4345 competed in the last meet of the Northern California Peninsula League Tournament at Jefferson High School in Daly City. The team won the Inspire Award, securing their spot at the Northern California Regional Competition. They also reached the League High Score of 241 points and was the Finalist Alliance Captain, with an average score of 165 points per round.

Reporting by Ellen Li.
Photos in courtesy of Aragon Robotics and by Ethan Tawn.

Junior Elsa Richardson started her nine years long

Junior Elsa Richardson started her nine years long roller derby journey after listening to a friend's recommendations. She quickly fell in love with the sport.

“I love the community and all the people that I've met from it,” Richardson said. “I've loved what I've realized about myself by doing the sport. I also loved roller skating, so it was a really nice fit for me.”

Richardson has joined the charter team the Santa Cruz Derby Groms, a competitive travel team. In recent years the charter team has competed in the West Coast Nationals.

“I spent many years being afraid to join the team I’m currently on because I was afraid of the people and the competitiveness,” Richardson said. “I was scared, but [roller derby] also made me push myself more and step out of my comfort zone. [It] has made me much more confident in myself.”

Recently, Richardson competed in the Blood Fest derby tournament in Burbank, CA. On the team, Richardson has played various positions but is currently a jammer, the person who scores points by breaking through the other team’s pack, but she has also competed as a blocker, the person who prevents the opposing team’s jammers from breaking through.

“I push myself by learning new stops, new jumps and a bunch of new things that can help me during a game,” Richardson said. “I also push myself by skating against players that are better than me, and just trying to get more practice out …I continue to grow my communication skills, my stamina and how I observe what's going on around me.”

Richardson’s goal is to one day join a team that competes nationally or internationally. Although she is uncertain that she will ever play professionally, Richardson knows that she always wants to be a part of the roller derby community.

Reporting by Eva Ludwig.
Photos in courtesy of Elsa Richardson and by Anna He.

@globaledleader Dr. Jones speaks about his first s

@globaledleader Dr. Jones speaks about his first semester experience at Aragon

Juniors Mai Brisset and Julianna Galang both began

Juniors Mai Brisset and Julianna Galang both began their journeys as budding nail technicians a year ago.

Inspired to apply her artistic skills into something more tangible, Galang began experimenting with designs for herself and her close friends.

“Whenever I would have downtime, or if I was upset and stressed over schoolwork, I would instead just do some nails,” Galang said. “With friends, I would offer them to come over [and do their nails], and it would be a nice bonding experience for us.”
Starting her own business has not only provided Galang with a creative outlet, it also taught her valuable lessons about perseverance.
“After constantly doing the same design for a long period of time and not seeing any improvement, it’s kind of discouraging,” Galang said. “Nails have really opened my eyes to the time and effort that it takes to master something. Even if it’s just running or being an employee in a small business, it takes a long time to master the steps that are put into it.”

Galang has decided to keep nail art as a hobby, occasionally doing it with her close friends.

On the other hand, Brisset’s interest in nail art began after she couldn’t find nail salons that could do the intricate designs she wanted. After establishing her own nail business, Brisset began to attract local customers. She notes that finding a work-life balance was challenging at first.

“I’d work after school and have appointments from like five until ten,” Brisset said. “The most difficult part was finding that sweet spot where I put enough effort into school and into my passion and job.”

Despite these initial challenges, Brisset found that they taught her valuable lessons.

“Doing nails has definitely taught me a lot about scheduling, consistency, keeping your word,” Brisset said. “[I’ve learned] a lot about morals, too, and [upholding] your own personal values and policies.”

In the future, she hopes to host classes to teach others specific techniques that she has mastered over time.

Reporting by Hannah Li.
Photos in courtesy of Julianna Galang and Mai Brissett.

Where the magic happens #roomtour #newspaper #ar

Where the magic happens

#roomtour #newspaper #aragon

A summary of the Don’s Spotify wrapped for the y

A summary of the Don’s Spotify wrapped for the year of 2024. Thank you to everyone who completed the form!

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