The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon
The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon
The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon
Allan Feldman

Allan Feldman, Copy Editor

All content by Allan Feldman
The four winning team members hold their prizes alongside Executive Director of the YES program Professor Ernest Ruffin, Jr. (far left). (Naidely Gonzalez-Herrera pictured to the left of students; Diana Suvorova pictured to the right of students)

AVID students win national business competition in U.S. Virgin Islands

By Allan Feldman
December 10, 2021
The Los Altos football team prepares for a snap. The Eagles ultimately lost 56–35 against the Sharks of St. Francis Salesian College Preparatory, capping off their season.

Los Altos football team reflects on season spell

By Allan Feldman, Copy Editor
November 25, 2021
Junior Jared Lascarez hikes the ball in the annual homecoming game, this year against Lynbrook High School under the new Los Altos High School stadium lights. The team won 36–7 and remains undefeated in league play.

Eagles to fight for football league championship title this Friday

By Allan Feldman, Copy Editor
November 3, 2021
A photo of English teacher Arantxa Arriada’s freshman Survey of Composition and Literature class. The new curriculum features a larger focus on free reading, a new unit on student-led book clubs and a revised selection of short stories.

New freshman Survey curriculum aims to increase students’ reading interest

By Allan Feldman
October 26, 2021
The boba drinks from ten different stores, which are ranked on boba, tea flavor and price.

Ten local boba shops’ house milk teas, ranked

By Allan Feldman and Rohan Vaswani
October 15, 2021
"The Book of Unknown Americans" replaces "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the freshman Survey of Composition and Literature courses.

‘The Book of Unknown Americans’ replaces ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from English curriculum

By Allan Feldman
September 18, 2021

[Video] Football head coach talks goals following loss against MVHS

By Allan Feldman and Rohan Vaswani
September 18, 2021

Eagles host Spartans last night in rivalry football game

By Allan Feldman, Rohan Vaswani, Kiran Costa, Aanya Mathias, Rakela Mitchell, Ellie Ji, and Matt Kim
September 11, 2021
Los Altos High School will be offering the SAT for juniors and seniors, as well as the PSAT for sophomores and juniors, on Wednesday, October 13.

LAHS to administer on-campus SAT and PSAT in October

By Allan Feldman
August 25, 2021
Students walk to and from the 600-wing building through a single hallway between the campus pool and 500-wing buildings, and are seen packed together in the student traffic.

LAHS’s ongoing construction brings 600-wing student traffic

By Allan Feldman, Elyssa Kennedy, and Rohan Vaswani
August 16, 2021
As the 2020–21 school year draws to a close, The Talon took a closer look at the issue of academic cheating within Los Altos High School’s virtual halls and investigated how classes have adapted their structures and expectations across the year.

Cheating culture in a year of distance learning

By Nathaniel Joffe, Allan Feldman, and Kathrina Welborn
June 2, 2021
Junior Riley Capuano races in the 4x400-meter relay at Monta Vista High School on Saturday, May 8. At one point earlier this year, SCVAL athletes thought they’d have to settle for watching their peers in other leagues compete in CCS playoffs. However, on Friday, May 14, the SCVAL Board of Managers reversed their decision, allowing certain SCVAL teams, including track and field, to compete in playoffs.

Select sports to participate in CCS following SCVAL decision reversal

By Allan Feldman
May 23, 2021

Back in the game: Girls tennis and cross country

By Allan Feldman, Isaac Tesfaye, and Lauren Chung
April 8, 2021
Senior May Jiang waves to her teammates as she is recognized at the last swim and dive meet of the season. After a close virtual competition against Gunn High School and Homestead High School, the team was able to relax and enjoy their final moments together.

Seniors say goodbye to Season 1 sports

By Allan Feldman, Emily McNally, Barrett Wong, and Allison Bricca
April 2, 2021
Sophomore Fiona Bodkin (left) takes the early lead over Mountain View High School runners and manages to hold onto the front position to come home with a first-place finish. The cross country team had their last meet of the season last Thursday, March 25, at the Baylands Park 5K course in Sunnyvale and took home plenty of wins.

Eagles soar to success as cross country season ends in the hills

By Allan Feldman
March 29, 2021
Los Altos High School will be administering an on-campus SAT exam for upperclassmen on Tuesday, April 27, following a wave of SAT cancellations over the past year. If students wish to register for the exam, they will have until Friday, April 9, to do so.

LAHS to administer on-campus SAT exam next month

By Allan Feldman
March 27, 2021
Freshman Maddy Randall (right) pushes ahead of Mountain View High School runners in the varsity girls race. She finished sixth in her race and 13th overall out of 111 varsity girls.

Cross country kicks off long-awaited season on campus

By Allan Feldman
February 21, 2021
Yesterday, the United States Department of Education named Los Altos High School one of 27 nationwide Green Ribbon Schools for its “promising practices to improve achievement and equity.” The Green Team, a club dedicated to promoting healthy environmental practices, works to implement sustainable practices in LAHS and played a major role in Los Altos’ Green Ribbon School selection.

LAHS introduces new classes for 2021-22 school year

By Allan Feldman and Emily McNally
February 17, 2021

Agroecology

By Allan Feldman
February 17, 2021
Senior Charlie Atkins delivers a TEDx Talk at Los Altos High School during his sophomore year on teen identity, backing his presentation with his philosophical findings. From running to blogging to “Jacuzzi Junctions,” Charlie incorporates his passion for philosophy into his identity and daily life.

Senior Charlie Atkins finds purpose in philosophy

By Allan Feldman, Staff Writer
January 3, 2021
2020 Los Altos High School alumni show us what they've been up to over the past few months, from studying and playing on-campus (top middle) to taking a gap year and working with technology from home (top right). Recruited athletes from the class of 2020 have decided to head down a number of different paths during their first year post-graduation.

Pandemic plans: College sports with the Class of 2020

By Allan Feldman, Rose Liu, and Emily Zhu
November 23, 2020

COVID-19 around the world

By Anika Sikka, Marie Godderis, Allan Feldman, and Elli Lahdesmaki
November 16, 2020
Ben Rubinstein, '20, currently resides over 7,000 miles from home, taking in the sights and culture of Israel during his COVID-19 inspired gap year. Upon his return, he hopes to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut through an aerospace engineering major at Case Western Reserve University, successfully blurring the lines between spaceflight and spirituality.

Ben Rubinstein

By Allan Feldman, Staff Writer
November 8, 2020
The Talon interviewed several Los Altos High School graduates to give you a look into college life, distance learning edition. While some students are learning virtually, others have chosen to defer their first year. Continue reading to learn about how the pandemic has affected these graduates’ decisions.

Post-grad plans during a pandemic

By Natalie Wei, Emily McNally, and Allan Feldman
November 7, 2020
The English Department is currently seeking a replacement for Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" in its freshman Survey of Composition and Literature course.

English Dept. set to remove ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from curriculum

By Allan Feldman
October 18, 2020
Alex Guh-Siesel, '20, is pictured tutoring a student while socially distancing through his growing STEM tutoring program Crimson Guaranteed. After his acceptance into Harvard for this fall, Guh-Siesel ultimately decided to take a gap year during which he plans to add more lab skills to his repertoire and continue exploring his passions.

Alex Guh-Siesel

By Allan Feldman, Staff Writer
October 13, 2020
Staff writers Allan Feldman and Mira Sundar share their perspective on how cancel culture has recently begun to inhibit free exchange.

It’s time to cancel ‘cancel culture’

By Allan Feldman and Mira Sundar
October 12, 2020
The District will implement a new slate system starting next week.

District to implement new slate system

By Allan Feldman
October 9, 2020
New restrictions are challenging the relationship between MVLA and the Mountain View Public Library.

MVLA–MV Public Library program faces new challenges

By Allan Feldman
September 15, 2020
Although EA dominates the sports gaming industry, the company lacks a strong work ethic and fails to innovate their annual releases. If consumers don’t demand higher quality updates each year, EA will remain complacent without significant competitors in the gaming market.

EA Sports: My love-hate relationship

By Allan Feldman
August 30, 2020
With canceled sports and art classes, parents have been scrambling to involve their children in enriching opportunities while they’re stuck at home. With a passion for everything marching band, senior Ella Freda-Eskenazi founded Rhythm In Place to give children of all ages the opportunity to find comfort in music through virtual tutoring sessions, free of charge.

Rhythm In Place makes virtuosos virtually

By Cedric Chan and Allan Feldman
August 30, 2020
English Department Coordinator Margaret Bennett conferences with a student in October 2019.

Bennett assumes role of English Dept. Coordinator; Survey pilot comes to a close

By Allan Feldman
August 22, 2020

Soccer: MLS

By Allan Feldman
August 17, 2020
On a New York subway, a racist remark is hurled at an Asian American passenger.

COVID-19: Don’t blame the victims

By Allan Feldman, Guest Writer
March 28, 2020
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