Meet the 2024 Graduation Speakers
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Jun 6th, 2024
As the senior class inches closer and closer to graduation, many are excited to hear student speeches at the ceremony. Here is a short background and summary of the topic for each speaker for M-A’s Class of 2024.
Jace Furman
Jace Furman is interested in acting and activism. He was President of M-A’s Drama Club this past year and a prominent member of M-A’s theater productions. Read the full article here
Opinion: Every Vote Counts (and Recounts)
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | May 2nd, 2024
On May 1st, Super Tuesday finally concluded for District 16, as Joe Simitian conceded defeat after recounts for Santa Clara and San Mateo turned a stunning tie to a narrow victory for Evan Low, by five votes. To understand why this process took nearly two months, long past the end of other Super Tuesday primaries, we must go back to what was supposed to be the end on April 4th.
An Exact Tie
30,249. Read the full article here
Badminton Lose a Valiant Fight on Senior Night
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Apr 30th, 2024
M-A’s Badminton team lost 9-21 to Aragon on Thursday last week at senior night. While the team lost their last game of the season, they put up a good fight and are looking ahead towards the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Championships.
The night began with a celebration of the 2023-2024 Badminton Team seniors: Andrew Ahn, Rosemary Huang, Alex Chan, Minh Tien Nguyen, Kevin Jiang, Faith Teo, Sam Adelberg, and Nat Barman. Before the matches began, the team congratulated the seniors’ hard work, college acceptances, and wished them well in their future endeavors. Read the full article here
Three Golds, One Silver for M-A Chess Community at SF Championship
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Apr 13th, 2024
M-A exited the Mechanics’ Institute Scholastic Chess Championship in San Francisco on March 30th with a 2nd place ranking team-wide, with senior John Diepenbrock, sophomore and Club President Shawnak Shivakumar, and Sahil Shivakumar winning first place trophies in their respective divisions. This performance is a step up from previous tournaments, and sets a competitive stage for the 2024 M-A Chess Championship planned for mid-May.
On the edge of Golden Gate park in the heart of San Francisco, competitors flocked to the San Francisco County Fair Building for the annual competition. Read the full article here
Opinion: What Killed the California HOME Act?
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Mar 7th, 2024
It has been over two years since California Senate Bill 9 (SB9) became law, promising to “open up opportunities for homeowners to help ease our state’s housing shortage and enable more folks to buy their first home.” In reality, logistical issues and opposition from local governments kept it from doing much at all. California is in a housing crisis, with over 171,000 homeless and the highest median housing prices in the nation. While SB9 is a good law to be able to use to make what little housing it can, without needing new land or the taxpayer’s dime, there are far more impactful ways to solve the crisis, such as more high-density housing and vacancy taxes. Read the full article here
2024 California Senate Primary: What to Know and What to Expect
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Mar 4th, 2024
For M-A voters, the races to pay the most attention to are the US Senate primary, California’s 16th US House district primary, California’s 23rd State Assembly district primary, California’s 13th State Senate district primary, and Proposition One. While all the primaries are important to vote in, the US Senate race is a particularly competitive one, with Los Angeles Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) currently leading by five points, Republican baseball player Steve Garvey and Los Angeles Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) fighting it out for second, and Oakland Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Republican Attorney Eric Early rounding out the roster. Read the full article here
Ethnic Studies Mural Completed and Celebrated
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Feb 9th, 2024
February 6th marked the official reveal of the new Ethnic Studies mural near the G-wing. The school brought out balloons, a podium, plenty of food, and a red and gold ribbon to celebrate the occasion. Three members of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees came to view the mural. Principal Karl Loosekoot, painter and M-A ‘09 alum Jose Castro, and the mural’s designer, junior Celine Chien*, spoke about the mural.
The mural honored M-A’s new Ethnic Studies class, where students designed murals depicting M-A’s “culture, identities, history, struggles, and triumphs” for their 2021 winter final. Read the full article here
Bear Bites: Proper Sandwiches at Proper Foods
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Jan 18th, 2024
Walking along the Springline development on El Camino, an orange awning stands out against the beige wall. Looking closer, the awning reveals dark gray lettering with the words “Proper Food” hanging above. After you enter through the doors, to the left is a wood-patterned wall with rows of pre-made meals. The words surrounding them assure you of their quality.
There are some empty spots on the food shelves––meals gone too soon, too good to last until closing time. Not that the rest would remain uneaten, as seen in other text informing you that charities receive any stragglers they don’t sell on the same day. Read the full article here
The Service Learning Center: Here to do Good, Well
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Dec 14th, 2023
“Teach how to do good, well,” was the summary of the Service Learning Center’s mission in its presentation to M-A’s Shared Decision-Making Site Council. The Service Learning Center (SLC) is M-A’s “hub for service,” as Co-president Emiko Edmunds puts it, and it conducts service days, helps students organize service, and brings together all service clubs at M-A, from Surfriders to Intercambio. Student leaders organize in P-5 with the SLC Staff Director Andrew Stuart to collectively work out where to put their resources, how to advertise service opportunities to the school, and how to best help the M-A Community. Read the full article here
M-A Hosts First Model UN Conference to Great Success
by Brian Hoyle, Jonathan Weeks | M-A Chronicle | Nov 5th, 2023
On October 28th, M-A’s Model UN club hosted the first Menlo-Atherton Model United Nations Conference (MAMUNC). The conference was piloted by both M-A’s club and the Golden State Independent Delegation, which consists of student delegates from schools around the Bay Area. Students gathered in the PAC Cafe for the opening and closing ceremonies to listen to junior and Secretary-General Arden Margulis*, who expressed, “immense pride in what we achieved together.” The rest of the conference was spent debating in reserved G-Wing classrooms. Read the full article here
M-A Partied Like Mardi Gras at Homecoming Dance
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Oct 24th, 2023
M-A was abuzz the night of Saturday, October 14th, with alarms accompanying the music and dancing. This year’s Homecoming dance remained exciting despite a tough loss to Sacred Heart the night prior.
The theme of “New Orleans with a touch of Mardi Gras” was made unmistakable with shimmering purple and yellow streamers lining the walls of the dance floor in the New Gym. Senior Alexa Pina said, “The decorations stuck out to me, and I thought that the dance was super fun.” Read the full article here
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | September 30th, 2023
Third period in I-3 is a mad dash. Keyboards clack as anchors craft a script from a loose sheet of disconnected announcements. Computers and cameras whir to life as lights flash on while the technical director sits at a button-littered station. Students frantically run across the room as segments are altered and scripts are printed. Anchors and specialists enter nervously into the green-screened room where M-A Today! is filmed, cameras rolling on monitor after monitor in the control room. They take their seats, clip on their mics, and the floor director motions for them to look at the camera. Read the full article here.
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | May 29th, 2022
As summer approaches and temperatures start to rise, the M-A campus and classrooms are beginning to feel the heat. Some classrooms at M-A benefit from the modern remedy of air conditioning, but a majority lack it. Why is this the case?
Newer buildings like the G-wing, the I-wing, the F-wing, and the K-wing, all constructed in the last decade, have built-in air conditioning (AC); the rooms that do not have built-in air conditioning are wings A-E, which were made in the 1950s. This means that they can heat up to high 80-degree temperatures, even despite fans and open doors and windows. Read the full article here
Varsity Boys Volleyball Squashes Carlmont Scots
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Apr. 8th, 2022
On Wednesday, M-A’s Varsity Boys Volleyball team faced the Carlmont Scots on the court at M-A. The Bears won all three sets by large margins. This could indicate a turnaround for a team that has so far been trying to find their footing. Read the full article here
Opinion: The 12 Days Woodside Was a Mountain Lion Habitat
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Mar. 13th, 2022
The Woodside Council is here, and it speaks for the mountain lions! The mountain lions, apparently, are very worried about how Senate Bill 9 will affect the neighborhood’s appearance, and support any way to keep Woodside “rural” and exclusive to the very wealthy. Chronicle readers might remember our previous reporting in November on Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), California’s Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency (HOME) Act. The bill allows owners of single family lots to increase the number of housing units they can build on their lot to four. Read the full article here
No Student Goes Hungry: M-A’s Free Meal Program
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Feb. 2nd, 2022
During lunch, the long lines at the G-wing are hard to miss. These lines lead to pizza, sandwiches, burritos, and more food that is free to every M-A student. For many M-A students, school was their main source of breakfast and lunch, but, when the school closed in March of 2020, students no longer had access to this resource. Read the full article here
Unmasked: Are M-A Students Really Wearing Their Masks?
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Jan. 2nd 2022
Since school started back up in August, students are wearing masks for hours at a time, in classrooms as well as outside. With one semester of school complete, how good has the M-A population been at following mask rules? In a survey sent to M-A students and teachers at the end of first semester, respondents were asked for their opinions on masking in classrooms. Read the full article here
Senate Bill 9: What Is It, And House It Going To Affect Us?
by Brian Hoyle | M-A Chronicle | Nov. 7th, 2021
On September 16, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 9 (SB9), which allows some standalone one-unit housing zones to now contain up to four units. Implementing this bill will raise the availability of homes, hopefully lowering their cost. This would allow for more people to be housed near M-A and become students and teachers. Some Californians believe that this measure could help with the ongoing housing crisis, while others think that it will do more harm than good. Read the full article here
Brian Hoyle 