The student news site of Portola High School

Portola Pilot
The student news site of Portola High School

Portola Pilot
The student news site of Portola High School

Portola Pilot
Catherine Li

Catherine Li, Editor-in-Chief

Catherine Li is an Editor-in-Chief for her third and final year on the Portola Pilot. You can find her working on her paintings at the last minute while drinking badly mixed coffee that will probably make her sick. This year, she’s finally found the verb in Cicero and has retired from thinking about dead French men. Louis Antoine de Saint-Just can still hit her up though, if he wants.

All content by Catherine Li
Captain and senior Leanna Roman hits an overhead serve. “Personally, I love hitting my backhand down the line,” Roman said. “That's like my signature shot.”

Girls Tennis ‘Smashes’ Into New School Year With Sweep Over Irvine High

Sophia Kim and Catherine Li | September 17, 2025
2025 marks the 100th anniversary of “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic exploration of wealth, illusion and the American Dream.

Gatsby’s Centennial: Fitzgerald’s Modern American Epic Endures

Alice Ahn and Catherine Li | May 2, 2025
DECA president Harini Rameshbabu receives her award for collective school-based enterprise. “It's definitely a different environment,” DECA member and freshman Nikita Kulkarni said. “Ms. Dillon usually gives us the guidance we need, but this time, a lot of students just showed up for each other. I think we did pretty solid, even though we missed her presence.”

DECA Students Step Up to State Conference by Leaning on Each Other

Catherine Li, Front Page Editor | March 13, 2025
Color guard member and freshman Leia Speir performs during the flag feature, a piece of the show in which flag line members twirl their flags and dance in synchronization. Speir said that prior to each competition, the team has to go through a long process of hair, makeup and final practices.

Winter Guard Blazes into New Season with ‘Burn’

Ruhi Samudra and Catherine Li | March 10, 2025
Winter guard opens their show ‘Burn’ by passing a scroll through a line of dancers. Before beginning their performance, the team stands in a circle to motivate one another, according to color guard member and senior Leah Sim.

As the festival season rolls around, good mooncakes are imperative to having a successful lunar holiday.

‘Fly Me to the Moon’ with these Lunar New Year Mooncakes

Catherine Li, Front Page Editor | February 7, 2025
Point guard and junior Maddy Nguyen, combo guard and freshman Yuri Ha and shooting guard and sophomore Kelcie Fan kicked off the new girls’ basketball season together. “I love this team because there’s just more chemistry,” Nguyen said. “Just being able to play with them is just a great opportunity for me to be happy, have fun and enjoy my junior year.”

Here are Some Players to Watch Out For as Girls’ Basketball ‘Shoots’ into the New Season

Catherine Li and Kailyn Clark | December 18, 2024
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“Arcane: League of Legends” Falls Short of Perfect in Season Two

Catherine Li, Front Page Editor | December 7, 2024
Link Crew leaders and juniors Chloe Urianton, Sarrinah Inamdar, Saanvi Gangireddy, Chloe Grace Chen, Kenneth Althaqeb and Chloe Im host a Halloween costume party for freshmen. “Among assignments and tests, school has been a lot during junior year,” Urianton said. “I thought Halloween would be a good break amidst all these academic activities. Besides, I wanted to give an impression on the freshmen that high school isn't all just about academics, but also a way to connect with people and find joy through interacting with the community.”

‘Spirits’ Are High With Bulldogs’ Boo-tiful Halloween Costumes

Tamara Bradley and Catherine Li | November 8, 2024
Girls’ volleyball huddle together during their pink out game for breast cancer awareness on Oct. 10. “Sports can act as a network,” head coach and social studies teacher Martasian said. “Sports can at least offer support and communication, like how to draw awareness about some of these things that are much greater and much more important than sports themselves.”

Girls’ Volleyball Celebrates Pink Out Game in Honor of Team Parent

Catherine Li and Aditi Salunkhe | November 4, 2024
During practices for CIF, the girls’ volleyball participates in new activities, according to setter and sophomore Jane Park. For example, the team has been participating in activities where the athletes can have more fun, according to setter, defense specialist and junior Jojo Liu.

Girls Volleyball ‘Sets’ Portola High History with CIF Qualification

Mary Lee and Catherine Li | October 28, 2024
Gage Peterson and Sasha Lo are looking forward to an exciting year as Portola High counselors. “I think they're a great fit for our team,” Assistant Principal Jen Ochsner said. “I just hope that our students continue to feel supported by all of our counseling staff.”

Meet Gage Peterson and Sasha Lo: New Counselors Join the Bulldog Team

Sruti Allani and Catherine Li | October 21, 2024
Setter and sophomore Jane Park jumps for the volleyball during the first set of the game. Park scored multiple points throughout the game through her serves, including the Bulldogs’ final point that won them the fifth set. “The first two sets there were definitely moments where we were playing our normal subs, but then for the most part, I feel like it was a lot of still trying to figure out what we could do to get points,” co-captain, libero and senior Izzy Macasero said. “Once we finally did realize that, that's what helped us get these victorious moments.”

Girls’ Volleyball Wins Hard-Fought Reverse Sweep Against Sage Hill High

Mary Lee and Catherine Li | October 8, 2024
On a rooftop, English teacher and Head Track Coach Cale Kavanaugh’s creativity takes flight as he snips away at a new haircut. “I was in college cutting my best friend’s hair,” Kavanaugh said. “He thought it would be a great idea to cut his hair on our friend’s roof because it would make for an epic picture and help me promote my haircutting business.”

English Teacher Cale Kavanaugh is ‘Shear-ious’ About Haircutting

Tamara Bradley and Catherine Li | October 3, 2024
Casting people of color in media is beneficial in providing representation and telling diverse stories, according to math teacher Jessica Torres. As a first-generation Mexican-American, she feels inspired by Hispanic influencers sharing their stories online and hopes to see future popular media reflect diverse experiences.

Swapping the Roles: Disney Should Continue Casting POC in Live-Action Remakes

Camille Clement and Catherine Li | June 4, 2024
Mares demonstrates his lettering while patrolling the campus. “[Calligraphy] wasn’t like baseball or football,” Mares said. “I just liked it. It’s kind of just one of those things that you can relax with.”

Meet our Campus Control Calligraphy Connoisseur: George Mares

Mia Jong and Catherine Li | June 3, 2024

S4 Episode 04: Turning Pages: Exploring Summer Reads with Three Portola High English Teachers

Tyler Kim, Catherine Li, and Claire Liu | May 29, 2024
JV track captain and senior Amogh Baddam works with his teammate, sophomore Hyoora Lee, during the 4x100 relay to ensure a successful baton pass. “Chemistry is a really overlooked part of a relay,” Baddam said. “You have to be able to anticipate how your partner is going to react to something not going right in a race and what to do if your baton exchange isn’t perfect, which it won’t always be. And I think that’s a huge part of having success as a team because there’s only so much you can do on your own.”

JV Track Captain Amogh Baddam ‘Relays’ His Wisdom to Underclassmen

Catherine Li and Cindy Mei | May 13, 2024
Many contemporary historical films have sparked controversy over how much creative license is too much and in what ways producers can balance both accuracy and art, such as in the film “Napoleon.” “I am a present proponent of creativity and being able to show things in a different way,” history teacher Heidi Martasian said. “But I think I like when the film says something at the start like ‘Hey, this is based on something, but it's not going to be fully accurate.’”

The ‘Reel’ Truth: Filmmakers Should Strive for Historical Accuracy in Cinema

Catherine Li and Ruhi Samudra | April 22, 2024
Recent movie musicals, including “Mean Girls” and “Wonka,” were not properly advertised as musicals, resulting in many audience members being surprised when the actors eventually broke out into song. “There was literally no singing in the trailer and I was very confused as a fan of the musical for Mean Girls,” senior Kody Lin said. “I have friends in theater that didn't know the movie itself was going to be a musical.”

Movie ‘Thespian-age’: Hollywood Should Not Hide Movie Musicals

Sonia Wang and Catherine Li | February 29, 2024
Though BookTok encases a wide range of genres and titles, novels are often recommended more for their aesthetic rather than their content, according to Varsity. Many readers do not approach these books critically and can fall into harmful patterns of romanticization that bleed into real life. “I think that some books are promoted as romances when in fact they're promoting a lot of toxic relationships that people are now perceiving as commonly acceptable,” senior Zara Hommez said. “So I think it's important to draw the line between what is constituted as fiction and what is constituted as reality.”

Novel Sensations: Booktok Fans Should ‘Read Between the Lines’

Mary Lee and Catherine Li | February 23, 2024
U.S. House of Representatives member Mike Levin (CA-49) awards seniors Zonglin Zhang and Terry You (rightmost) for their app, Ember, which aims to help youth feel more open in conversing about mental health. Although Ember is still being refined and not available on the app store yet, it can be viewed on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website, in the U.S. Capitol Building or requested for a demonstration, according to Zhang.

Seniors Terry You and Zonglin Zhang Help Teen Mental Health with Congressional App Challenge Winner ‘Ember’

Catherine Li and Ruhi Samudra | January 19, 2024
Sophomore Suhrith Muvvala and junior Matthew Lin celebrate their first place win in the Ecology event at the awards ceremony of the Wolfpack Invitational. Team A and Team B took first and second place in the event, respectively.

Science Olympiad ‘Writes It and Does It’ at the Wolfpack Invitational

Catherine Li and Ruhi Samudra | December 22, 2023
Cinephile and science teacher Michael Tang spends time with his podcast group, Job Ang, Paul Hsu and Albert Liu. “I believe that I am the Nick Fury of this group,” Tang said. “I assembled this group, and these are people that I've met over the years. I had all these individual chats, so I started this group chat. Not everyone was friends with each other, but now we’ll watch movies together; we’ll hang out with each other.”

An Update: Where is Cinephile and Science Teacher Michael Tang Now?

Catherine Li and Ruhi Samudra | November 1, 2023
Sophomore Cara Lin holds up one of her artworks next to the scene she painted. An experienced plein-air painter, Lin enjoyed meeting with friends and seeing her art improve from last year. “I’m proud of my art having changed,” Lin said. “It’s good that it’s different; I don’t want it to stay the same.”

Beachside Art: Advanced Visual Artists Attend Plein-Air Trip in Little Corona

Catherine Li, Staff Writer | October 9, 2023
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Catherine Li