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“Yes! It was a perfect setting for a proposal. And I love the ring and all it stands for,” writes his fiancé, also a teacher, on her blog to share the news with her students.

On a short rest during a hike at Portola Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz, California mountains, Mr. Giambruno proposed with the family heirloom that he had hidden away all summer.

While wedding plans have yet to be made, we know for certain one detail: Mr. Giambruno will not be the one behind the video camera.

On July 5, Lilith made its way to the Shoreline, and Sarah Mclachlan, the Bangles, Miranda Lambert, Colbie Caillat and Heart did their best to keep the female vocalist vibe alive and current, despite the empty rows in the pavilion. While the place was far from sold out, the true fans for each act where in full force. Heart’s Barracuda brought out the rockers and Miranda Lambert’s The House that Built Me brought tears to the eyes of more than a few country fans. The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs impressed fans with Walk like an Egyptian and Colbie Caillat looked like a ray of sun as she sang her bubblegum pop melodies.

While other acts performed on various stages, Mclachlan’s performance was the standout. Opening with her emotional hit Angel, she satisfied her fans with plenty of old favorites such as Ice Cream, Adia and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and even introduced her new album. She talked to the audience as if she were talking to old friends, explaining the hiatus the let Lilith Fair fall away for the past ten years.

In article in the July 20 Detroit FreePress, she explains how motherhood became her focus and that the rebirth of Lilith was a much needed support for her musically and personally.

While a lot has changed for her, and me thankfully, over the years, this concert experience was just as sweet as I remembered in 1995.

***

Chloe Peters, who will be attending UCLA, shares her graduation story.

My diploma group started preparing for graduation over a month before the actual day. We all knew one another and could be considered casual acquaintances, but weren’t great friends. But during the interval between the Giants game we saw together (with Ms. Kleeman, of course!) in May and that warm afternoon on June 3rd, those casual acquaintances turned into genuine friendships. Days before graduation, Taylor had already picked out candy to bring, Ms. Kleeman baked us fresh cookies, Claire packed a deck of cards, and I bought a new Squeeze Breeze; as we planned, we shared our nervous excitement about college, our summer plans, and some of our favorite memories from our time at MA. Graduation day came quickly, and for the hour we spent sitting in the hot, stuffy gym before marching out to the field, my Squeeze Breeze made me the most popular person in school; we passed it around the bleachers, giving both close friends and those seniors I still had never met a brief respite from the heat. The ceremony itself flew by, even Mr. Zito’s speech, which was surprisingly touching. All too soon we were standing in line to receive our diplomas, shaking Ms. Kleeman’s hand, and sitting back down in our white chairs. It did take a while to hand out all the diplomas, and we may have played a game or two of Go Fish! to pass the time, but then it was over, our tassels had been turned, our caps thrown and retrieved, and everyone was madly scrambling to find friends and family, the experienced ones having pre-arranged a meeting spot on the field. Much of the day is a blur, but it was more emotional than I expected. It was a bittersweet ending; I had four years to get to know the kids in my diploma group, but it was only in the last month that I saw what amazing people they are, and I would have liked to have had the time to build deeper friendships with all of them. So to Taylor, Claire, Carl, Megan, Chris, Tom, and Sophia , thanks for making graduation more special than I could ever have hoped.

Mr. Zito:

“I am going to go bake in the dessert because I hate this weather. 105 degrees is just how I like it. What is this—it’s May!”

Mrs. Caryotakis:

“I am going to the mountains for a week with my family. Then, I will spend my time de-fleaing my cats and doing date night with Mr. Caryotakis.”

Mr. Estrada:

“I am going to spend time with my grandchildren in the LA area. I am also going to Seattle to visit my great-grandniece.”

Mrs. Osborn:

“I am preparing for my trip to Israel and Egypt in December. I need to prepare now, this summer, because once school starts, all of my shopping must be done—completely finished, there is just no time after that!”

Mr. Stuart:

“I am going to spend a lot of time with my wife and newborn baby. Let me just say, there are going to be lots of walks.”

Ms. Mell:

“Let’s see, we are going to England and we are going to drive to Cotswolds then, from there, we are going to drive to Dover. In Dover, we are then going to take a cruise over to Ireland, see Dublin, and then stop in the Channel Islands.”

Mrs. McMills:

“I am teaching a program for advanced student from the Ravenswood School District. Sometimes they are not as prepared as the kids from Hillview and La Entrada for the advanced classes. This program will help they stay advanced. I am also going to Mexico and will probably go back to Bakersfield, my hometown, a few times.

Now that I am in Berlin, the city I have always called my home, I found out that there’s something different. When I was in America I was missing Berlin and my friends over there, as well as my parents and my home. And, even though I am in Berlin again, I keep missing things. But now it is my friends in America, my guest parents, as well as the good Californian weather and the language. In the end I could say, I gained a second home.

But it is not only those things that I miss about America; what I miss more than anything else is about how you people face challenges. Never would anyone in America tell you that what you want to do is not possible.  They wouldn’t tell you that something is too weird, or too crazy for you. Always do people urge you to keep going; they keep up your spirit, they support you in almost everything you are trying to reach for. And while doing that, they always keep being friendly and nice.

In the end it is the American spirit I miss the most. Coming to school in jogging pants, talking to a teacher as you would talk to a friend, trying to support everything that’s new and revolutionary; to me all this is what makes up the American spirit. That indeed is the reason why it was never hard for me to be here, why I never had to argue with anybody, and why everyone I talked to was really friendly and nothing but supportive of me. I think in the end I have to thank M-A and all the people who go to M-A, for being so open-minded and accepting of a completely foreign person who couldn’t even talk English very well. What I experienced here, I will never experience anywhere else, and I think there’s nothing in life that could be even more important than experiencing such a thing as I did at M-A. Not only because of learning a new language and getting to know other cultures, but also because of gaining self-confidence, responsibility, and learning independence. Even though I repeat myself, I can only thank all the people I was in contact with, and tell everybody that there is no such good, important, awesome, crazy, difficult, and intense thing in life, as experiencing a semester like I did at M-A.

We are happy to announce Leah Worthington and Misha Schwartz as our Associated Student Body Co-Presidents for next year.   These are very important positions, as they are the student leaders for the entire school.  We are all proud of the powerful and dynamic group of students who stepped up to lead M-A. We hope you get to know each of them.  Below is a short bio on each of our student officers.

Student participation in this election was not what we hoped it would be, and we encourage more students to participate in the future.   The next election will move to the Live Bear News format to encourage more people to vote.  We believe that we have the right students in the right positions to be effective and to encourage all of our M-A Bears to get involved! We are your representatives and we are dedicated to serving the M-A community!

Leah Worthington has been working on developing M-A’s club scene and serves as a representative on Congresswoman Ann Eshoo’s youth board. She is brilliant, awesome, and open to new ideas.

Misha Schwartz has taken another route to the presidency. She has worked hard in developing community service opportunities for M-A students. She has been key in developing sustainable community service programs. She is also a top-notch student and a great listener.

Treasurers:

Wendy Wang has improved the Student Store and plans to expand the store even more next year.

Tyler Finn is a rising star at M-A. Tyler is the first-ever freshman to join a leadership class. He is passionate, driven and ready to lead.

ASB Secretary:

Nina Loshkajian has assisted with the development and management of M-A’s thriving club scene. She has helped build a new website to disseminate information to club leaders and members.  Nina takes notes and records votes at all ASB Student Council meetings.

Senior class president Evan Weiner is a phenomenal student, leader who was instrumental in the organization and success of M-A’s award-winning Canned Food Drive. He also represents all Sequoia Union High School District students on the Board of Trustees.

Senior class vice president Lusiana Wainguola, or Lucy, as she is known, is a brilliant AVID student and is working hard on her leadership journey. Lusi joined student activities as a sophomore, took a year off, and now is ready to lead the 4th period leadership class and the class of 2011.

Junior class president Sara Orton is a highly effective leader. She has worked hard on staff appreciation projects and has worked closely with the environmental committee to develop and teach climate-change curriculum in the Integrated Science classes.

Junior class co-vice president Kari Newman is a talented and highly effective leader; she also participates in swimming.

Co-vice president Zachary Lipps has been a great leader. He knows how to work in a team at home and at school, since he has 10 brothers and sisters.

Committee Chairs: Leadership is divided into committees. The leaders of these committees act as project managers to accomplish projects, tasks, and events.

Community Service Chair

Shivana Khatod will be in her third year leading the community service committee. This committee started a tutoring program in the Ravenswood School District that has been highly successful. She has also organized fundraisers for the Student Support Fund and AVID.

Julia Sommer is a passionate environmental leader. She is a member of the environmental committee on  Anna Eshoo’s Student Board. She is also a member of M-A’s environmental committee and has been instrumental in teaching climate-change curriculum in the Integrated Science courses.  Julia dreams of building a sustainable garden at M-A and improving composting and recycling programs.

Jenny Chute has been a leader in the Green Movement at M-A. She has also taught climate-change curriculum in the Integrated Science classes. She now wants to use her energy to  educate M-A about the need to conserve and build sustainable projects on campus.

Unity/Academic Support Committee:

Julia Vitale is a dynamic leader. She has spent endless hours tutoring students from the Built to Last program.

Junior Sakalia has proven to be a leader at M-A in the classroom, on the football field, in the hallways, in clubs, and in leadership class.

Presidents:

Paige Solomon has been a successful organizer of middle school visits and assemblies. Page has been the main organizer of the Integrate the 8 event and is also working on organizing Freshman Orientation.

Spencer Gump has assisted in organizing a successful program at the Boys and Girls Club in East Palo Alto.  He has connected our class with future M-A students and helped put together a How to Do High School series for this group.

Committee Chairs:

Briana McGee will be working on cultural events and programs for M-A. She has goals for bringing a cultural leader’s series into the PAC for next semester.

Freshman Transition Committee Chairs are responsible for running the logistics and providing the materials for Freshman Transition.

Meredith Edwards is a great student who is committed to service. She will be working with Freshman Transition trainings and communication with leaders.

Amy Rosenthall is a hard-working sophomore who will be in charge of organizing Freshman Transition materials and information boards in the 9th grade World Studies I classes.

Anna Mayerson is a dynamic leader who will be working on events for the class of 2014.  This includes academic support programs and the Freshman Family Tapas.

Corrinne Nelson will be working on freshman recognition programs and feeder school outreach.

Nils Gilbertson came through with the best pitching performance of his career, shutting down one of the most explosive offensive teams in the country. He used pinpoint control to shut out the lancers in six innings. Saint Francis capitalized on all three of Gilberton’s mistakes as Chris Hoo belted a homer, and Kyle Macey and Dennis Duran hit back-to-back homeruns in the following inning. Patrick Moriarty replaced a tired Nils Gilbertson and sealed the shocking upset over the Lancers. Menlo-Atherton’s head coach said “Nils Gilbertson threw the game of his life. We scratched and clawed to get those nine runs in what is our only win against a WCAL team.”

The Bears notched 16 hits from 10 different players. Wally Hansen went four for four and had two RBI’s. Chace Warren led the team with four RBI’s.

The Lancers, who were ranked in the top 7 in the state prior to the Bears’ shocking win, were distraught following the game.  Although the Menlo-Atherton baseball team was unable to keep their cinderella season alive after losing 10-2 against the Bellarmine Bells on Saturday, their shocking upset over the powerhouse St. Francis lancers will never be forgotten. Jeff Keller said “In both baseball and basketball, I’ve played St. Francis in CCS games. Nothing compares to the intensity of those games, and winning this baseball game shows that M-A has the talent to compete with St. Francis in a number of sports.”

As most kids don’t know, psychology is a very small elective that’s split into two periods: one taking Psych with Ms. Otsuka for a semester, and the other taking Gender Studies with Ms. Galliano at the same time. Ms. Otsuka’s psych class teaches a basic overview of various parts of psychology, most notably the ideas of conformity and listening to authority. Psychology students were given a project in these fields, make an experiment to test people’s willingness to either conform or listen to a supposed authority. Inspiration came from a series of candid camera tapes which showed similar experiments ranging from standing in the elevator backwards to not stepping on any black squares on a checkered floor.

Ms. Otsuka described the experiments as a moment “to step back and observe some aspect of social behavior”. She strongly believes that the experiments are very informative, not for their results, but for the experience of stepping out of social situations and observing, allowing students to formulate their own understanding. She was not looking for a detailed report on the experiment; she was looking for effort and innovation on the part of the student. She sees the experiments as “all simple little things [that] illustrate strong principles”.

In previous years, a wide range of experiments have been conducted, but the most memorable, Ms. Otsuka recounts, was the “how close is too close” experiment. Students would be talking to someone, either friend or acquaintance, and slowly inch their way toward the person watching to see how the person reacted, if they scooted away, or commented.

One of the more unique experiments this year was done by several students revolved around the psyche student Rosa. In a class with her baby’s father, the fake news that she had gone into labor was released. The teacher and a few students in the class all knew the news was fake, but the observed the other students of the class and analyzed their reactions. They hypothesized that the students closer to Rosa and her boyfriend would be more openly emotional in both comments and movements, offering more support and congratulations than those who did not know Rosa.

Other experiments ranged from sitting on a desk in a classroom rather than in the seat to see how many others would follow suit to putting a sign on a slide that it was out of order and seeing how many concerned parents would stop their kids from sliding down. All the experiments were innovative and unique, and Ms. Otsuka was extremely proud of the work her students had turned out.

“It really was just a fantastic experience,” says Nicole Barnes. “Best experiment in all of high school”.