Menlo-Atherton High School is one of the biggest schools in the area and is renowned for its rigorous classes, spirited students, and the fun events that many students remember fondly. The Chronicle heard from students and teachers about what they think M-A is known for in our community.
Both students and teachers pointed out how diverse the student body is. Senior Samantha Adelberg said, “We have a very diverse community, which is different from a lot of other schools because we draw from East Palo Alto, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park, which have a lot of middle schools. There are so many different people.”
Karen Pimentel, an Algebra 1 and Geometry teacher at M-A, said, “There are people from all over the country and all over the world, and we do a lot of events that incorporate everybody’s culture to bring people together.”
Chloe Gentile-Montgomery, who teaches Ethnic Studies and U.S. History, said, “M-A is known for being a large and diverse school with very distinct populations that may or may not interact. This comes from the fact that M-A has so many different feeder communities with different economic and racial backgrounds.”
Sophomore Joshua Carriel added, “When transferring from a different school last year to M-A, it definitely felt bigger—there are more resources, and there are varied groups of students that you see.”
Another big part of M-A’s legacy is its school spirit and interest in sports. Senior Rosemary Huang said, “M-A is pretty spirited in terms of sports. We are definitely more sport-oriented than some other nearby schools.”
Sometimes, M-A’s sporting prowess earns itself a reputation. Adelberg said, “People from other schools don’t like M-A because M-A’s sports teams always beat them.”
M-A’s advanced academics and enthusiasm for clubs are another claim to fame. Pimentel said, “Students talk about the rigorous classes M-A offers, like the AP courses, and the different programs and clubs.” Freshman Clara Des Barros added, “M-A is known for being a really big performing arts school.”
Des Barros also noted how when big controversial events happen at M-A, people outside of school talk and hear about it. She said, “People at other schools hear about every single fight here.” She said she heard about the guns found on campus last year even though she was not yet attending M-A.
In the community, M-A has a generally positive reputation that we should be very proud of. Gentile-Montgomery said, “This school holds a lot of status in our community, and people are proud to come from M-A, which people outside of M-A see.” Des Barros added that students who go to other schools say that “M-A is the example school in the community.”
