Saratoga News

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Photograph by George Sakkestad

Ed Solomon, class of 1978, was in student government and took part in school musicals at Saratoga High. Since high school, he has written several screenplays.

Hall of Fame

Saratoga High honors former students with induction

By Michele Leung

Their passion could be seen on the wrestling mat, on the performing stage and in the school newspaper. And their zest for what they do today has not diminished.

Former Saratoga High School students John Boswell, now a musician; Ed Solomon, a screenwriter; Patricia Adura-Miranda, a law student; and Uri Ladabaum, a medical researcher shone during high school, and success has followed them in their professional lives. The high school is recognizing this group of all-stars at its inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony at the McAfee PAL Center on April 7.

"All of those individuals were contributors on campus and beyond," Karen Hyde, the assistant principal, said.

The idea to honor past graduates has been brewing for a few years, and the tipping point to go forward came when Adura-Miranda won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. To decide on whom to honor, the school's events commission, a group of students organizing the event, solicited nominations from the community; the suggestions ran the gamut. Several local residents nominated their grown children for being great parents. But parenting skills alone wouldn't cut it. The school was looking for something with more oomph.

"The students came up with a criteria of what is substantial and meaningful," Hyde said. "Everyone as a parent is doing an extraordinary job. But these needed to be spectacular, head and shoulders above everyone else."

Students have been impressed with the caliber of experiences that the foursome has accomplished.

"They've had success on an international scale," said junior Susie Park. "They're perfect candidates for the Hall of Fame."

The students also noticed who gave something back to the high school after becoming successful.

"A lot of graduates have gone on to Stanford and MIT and gotten Ph.D.s, but they didn't help the school," senior Alex Conway said.

It may be a while before there is a second Hall of Fame ceremony. Students may begin looking for deserving honorees in another two to four years; the open date is intentional.

"To do it annually diminishes the honor," Hyde said.

Hyde is in a unique position in that she remembers all four former students. She said what unites them is their appreciation of high school.

"They have to love the high school to be part of the Hall of Fame," she said.

The honorees' love of Saratoga is evident in how they have maintained relationships with people from that period in their lives.

John Boswell

John Boswell, 46, has never stopped embracing music. He began piano lessons when he was 5, and that interest and talent have carried him through his adult life.

He was a fixture in the school's band and orchestra, and music defined a lot of his high school experiences. For a report in German class, Boswell sat down in front of a piano and played a Beethoven sonata. He remembers fondly the musicals he was a part of--Hello Dolly and Oliver. He added that he, along with Ed Solomon and other performance-oriented students, made performing in musicals cool at a time when football was the hottest ticket.

"I did all the shows that I could be in," said Boswell, class of 1978. "I had a blast."

His affiliation with the high school's music department began when he was still a student at Redwood Middle School. By the time he was 13, he was the orchestra's pianist.

Boswell also remembers the rich menu of music classes that isn't available anymore, classes such as composing and arranging for the jazz band.

"I was really lucky at the time," he said. "It's awesome that we had so many opportunities. Without those classes, things may not have turned out the way they did."

Boswell kept up his Saratoga ties after he graduated. He and Solomon were roommates at UCLA. During the 1980s, Boswell, Solomon and other Saratoga alumni with a bent for performing put on two benefits for the school's music department.

Today, he lives in Los Angeles. He continues to make music, writing and performing his original piano compositions. He has already produced seven albums, and an eighth isn't far behind. He likens his art to film score music.

"It's evocative and melodic," he said.

Boswell credits his parents for allowing him to pursue his passion, never pushing him to become a lawyer or a doctor.

"I've been really lucky to do mostly music," he said. "I only had to be a waiter once."

As for the honor at Saratoga next week, it's seeing his old teachers that he is anticipating the most.

"I think it's really cool," he said about being included in the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Ed Solomon

By all accounts, Ed Solomon, 45, has made it big, with several Hollywood blockbusters to his credit. But, Solomon recalls being an insecure teenager when he was in student government, in the theater and on the baseball team. He was the ASB treasurer and is credited as the originator of the school's lip sync contest. Despite his lack of trust in himself, high school is still a source of good memories for him, which he jokingly calls the "best five years of his life."

"When else in your life are the relationships so potent and the highs so high and the lows so low?" asks Solomon, class of 1978.

It's the enduring relationships he forged with teachers that stand out in his mind. He remembers then-music teacher Paul Page as a patient mentor during school drama productions and the late Clint Scrivner as the first teacher who showed him he had serious writing skills. Solomon has remained in touch with Page and former chemistry teacher Les Kishler, now at Los Gatos High School.

"There are two reasons [why I kept in touch]," he said. "They're really decent people, and I'm still trying to argue my grades up."

Solomon is best known for his screenplays Men in Black, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Levity, which he also directed. He is currently working on a screenplay for a movie called Tokyo Suckerpunch, to star Tobey Maguire.

Solomon found professional success early, much to his surprise, he said, and luck was a part of it. In college, he got a job as a joke writer for comedian Jimmie Walker, and later for Garry Shandling. In 1982, he got his break, writing for the Laverne and Shirley television show.

"I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I know I didn't know I could make a living with it," said Boswell, who majored in economics at UCLA as a backup.

Solomon said he's honored to be part of the school's first Hall of Fame celebration. He visited the school three years ago and saw that the campus looked smaller than he remembered it from 30 years ago. He also found familiar faces.

"I saw Karen Hyde," he said. "She had a profound influence on me as a kid and as an individual."

Patricia Adura-Miranda

Patricia Adura-Miranda made a name for herself while still a high school student when she was the only female on the school's wrestling team. During her junior and senior years, she was named the team's captain.

"She was a great captain," said Kirk Abe, who was the assistant coach of the team. "She was the most skilled member of the team. She motivated others."

Abe said she had a work ethic that would make any coach happy--the first one to show up at practice and the last to leave. Abe remembers specifically a wrestling match that was to determine who would represent the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, of which Saratoga was a member, during the Central Coast Section championships. Adura-Miranda was named alternate.

"I thought she did really well," Abe said of the 1997 graduate. "She was disappointed, but she turned a lot of heads. I don't think she ever used the excuse, 'I'm a girl.' She thought of herself as a wrestler."

Abe said Adura-Miranda, now 26, had an impact on the make-up of the wrestling team after she left. While there weren't any females on the team during the most recent season, right after she graduated, a few girls stepped up to try a new sport. "Other girls saw her as a role model," Abe said.

Besides wrestling, Adura-Miranda was in student council and started the school's conflict management program. After Saratoga, Adura-Miranda went on to Stanford University, earning a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's in international policy. Her athletic pursuits led her to the Stanford men's wrestling team. She was much smaller than her teammates, standing 5 feet tall and weighing less than 120 pounds. But being weaker only made her more dogged.

"I learned impeccable positioning," she said in an earlier interview in the Saratoga News. "You must have your back straight, head up and neck straight because otherwise a big guy is going to squash you. I also developed an emotional endurance because I'd spend three hours getting killed in practice."

While it took her four years before she won her first match, she never backed off.

"To win was very character-defining," she said.

Adura-Miranda took that same determined character to the international level, where she competed on the biggest stage of them all, the Olympics. Women's wrestling made its debut in the Athens games in 2004, and Abe, her former coach, recalls trying desperately to catch her match on TV one late night. He was with his in-laws in Redwood City, waiting for wrestling to appear in the night's lineup. However, it seemed that the wrestling clips kept getting pushed back later and later.

"They didn't show too much, just a minute," he said. "I was disappointed I couldn't see much of her, but I was proud of her."

Adura-Miranda won a bronze metal in Athens. Since then, she has gone back to school, pursing a law degree from Yale University, where she is now. She could not be reached for this story.

But she isn't finished with the mat. She recently won a gold medal at the Alexander Medved International in Belarus on March 24 in her weight division, 112.25 lbs.

Her high school coach is pleased that Adura-Miranda has come back to Saratoga for two years during winter break to show the wrestling team moves and techniques.

"She's at the highest pinnacle of wrestling, and she's willing to come back to the high school," Abe said.

Uri Ladabaum

Like the other honorees, Uri Ladabaum was pleasantly surprised to be picked to be part of the Hall of Fame and is thrilled to be returning to his old high school. He hopes to visit with former teachers.

"It's a great honor and nice to be selected," said the graduate of the class of 1983. "It's nice to remember the good years."

Ladabaum, 40, remembers high school as a time to get involved in a variety of extracurricular activities. He was in speech and debate, a member of the badminton and soccer teams and on the staff of the school newspaper, The Falcon, for two years. He was the editor-in-chief during his final year.

"I spent a lot of late nights putting the paper to bed at midnight and driving to get it published in San Jose," he said.

He said he is thankful he acquired fundamental skills that he uses to this day as a medical researcher and teacher at UC-San Francisco, where he is researching gastrointestinal disorders. His writing, math and science skills and an appreciation of reading took root while at Saratoga.

"As I think back, it was a time when you grow and learn quickly and discover the world and yourself," he said. "The basic things you learn in school prove to be important."

Ladabaum, who lives in San Carlos, says it's been awhile since he's gone back to the campus, but he is eager to see the new additions to it, namely the PAL Center. Being recognized for the Hall of Fame ceremony has given Ladabaum an opportunity to reflect.

"I was fortunate to go to a very good school, and it's important as a society to continue to support public school education the best we can," he said.

The Hall of Fame ceremony will be at 5 p.m. on April 7. Saratoga High School is located at 20300 Herriman Ave.