Verde Magazine

Palo Alto High School’s varsity football program is facing significant changes after a 0-10 season. 

Edward Tonga is replacing Dave DeGeronimo as the head coach. Tonga, a former Paly football defense coordinator and linebacker coach, as well as a Paly special education teacher, has decades of experience in coaching and playing football.

These changes come after a turbulent season that included controversy surrounding assistant coach Jason Fung, who was placed on administrative leave after an altercation with a Sacred Heart Preparatory player during an away game. The team also struggled on the field, prompting a focus on bonds between players and coaches as much as performance.

Tonga emphasized that the lessons from last season extend beyond wins and losses. “We need to build from the top down,” he said. “It’s important that we as coaches are being something that they can emulate as far as student-athletes. That means good connection and communication between the coaches. If we do that right at the top, I think it will help the players.”

Tonga was optimistic about the next season, praising his coaching staff and expressing confidence in player potential. “Some of these players have been just waiting to show their ability. Under this coaching staff, we have the right set of men to get them where they need to be,” he said.

Dave DeGeronimo, a physical education teacher at Greene Middle School and the Paly football head coach for three years, was released by the school administration on January 16, 2026.

The Palo Alto Vikings will start their 2026 season in a home game against Leigh High School on Aug. 28.

Photo: Justin Chen

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In the Portuguese novel “The Alchemist,” a boy named Santiago, while on a quest to find lost treasure, meets a powerful alchemist who guides him on his personal journey. Meanwhile, in the Wellness Center, Palo Alto High School English teacher Bekki Casalco helps students create their own personal journey.

“We’re having them [students] identify people that are mentors or a support system in their lives, just like a hero,” Casalco said. “At the end of the activity, they have created a hero’s journey of their own: what their end goal is, who they hope to become, what tools they are using when times get hard, and who are they seeking guidance or support from?”

This year, Casalco is pioneering a different approach for her freshman English class by connecting social and emotional issues from the books they read, like “The Alchemist,” to real life scenarios.

Casalco collaborates with the Wellness Center in planning lessons to create meaningful and relatable experiences for her students.

“Although some stories can be in a different time period, the situations they face when they are transitioning from childhood to adulthood are all familiar and real,” Casalco said. “In one activity, we gave [students] a list of what the mental health resources were, and they got to choose which resource applied to each hypothetical situation.”

During the 2024-2025 school year, 83% of public schools in the United States offered individual-based mental health intervention, such as one-on-one counseling, according to the U.S. Department of Education. However, since coming to Paly at the beginning of the semester, Casalco noticed a lack of students taking advantage of mental health resources, prompting her to take matters into her own hands.

“[Not many] students actually go to the [Wellness] Center after orientation,” Casalco said. “So if we were working toward removing the stigma of wellness, then we must use the opportunity to connect students with our content and the resources on campus.”

Photo: Lilo Sayag

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