Photos:
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Congressman crosses over
U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, who represents District 15 in California, slides down a zipline that's part of the ropes course at Walden West Center in Saratoga. John Coyle, a construction inspector for Walden West who volunteered for Honda's campaign, challenged Honda to do the ropes course with 30 students. Coyle said he'd donate $35 per student to Walden West if Honda accepted. So on June 1, Honda, along with teachers and 30 sixth-graders from Monroe Middle School in San Jose, climbed a 30-foot ladder to a horizontal log that acted as a bridge between two trees. To cross the log, a person had to hold onto ropes that dangled from a cable above while wearing a harness. The harness was attached to another rope, which extended over a pulley above and to the ground, where another person held onto it. Once a person crossed the log, he or she could slide down the zipline. 'It was fun doing it,' Honda said. He added that the team-building exercise would've been good for the bipartisan Congress.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Memorial Garden
Saratoga High School students, parents and other community members place flowers in the Memorial Garden, a site dedicated on the Saratoga High campus to former students Eleanor Patrick and Nicola Rooke. Rooke, who was 15, and Patrick, who was 16, died in a car accident in September. Students, school officials, parents and community members planned the dedication ceremony, which occurred on May 31. The garden features plants, trees, two benches--one dedicated to each girl--and a drinking fountain. During the ceremony, Principal Kevin Skelly explained that students had chosen that location for the garden, because it was near the athletic field--Patrick and Rooke had both played sports--and the beautiful Saratoga hills, and because the students thought it was a place the girls would've liked. Friends of Patrick and Rooke read poems they'd written, and the school's a cappella choir sang 'You are the New Day' by John David.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
