“Saane is a very hardworking student and athlete, I’ve seen her grow as a person on and off the court ever since she was a freshman and she has become a great leader.”
These are just some of the words that boyfriend Phillip Galea described Senior Saane Helu as. “A four-year Varsity basketball starter, three-year captain, and two-year Varsity Softball player,” Saane has an impressive athletic resume. Since she was little, Basketball was always her favorite sport to play. She enjoys the thrill of it and teamwork.
Over her years at San Mateo, she felt a sense of community and learned what it meant to be a great leader. One of her credits to her leadership is the athletic leadership class at San Mateo. Saane says, “ It’s been an amazing experience, we’ve highlighted the girls sports this year more than we have in the past, there have been more fans watching the girls athletics this year as a result.” Additionally the class focused on a large portion of media. “The media portion and ability to spotlight less popular sports has been nice and I’ve gained a lot of pride for my sport because of this class.” The Athletic Director and the teacher of the class, Mr Scheller talked about why Saane has been special to work with, “ I really got to know Saane this year and she’s probably one of the most positive athletes I’ve ever been around and she always tries her hardest, I think that epitomizes what the bearcat spirit is all about.”
Outside of athletics at San Mateo, Saane participates actively in Poly Club. ” Poly Day was probably the highlight of my senior year. It was really exciting to show off our culture and a lot of people showed up to watch.” She also highlights a lot of her cultural pride to this club. “ Where I grew up, there weren’t a lot of poly’s there, which caused me to barely acknowledge it. San Mateo has changed that and I’ve been able to acknowledge and learn about my culture more.” In Saane’s freetime, Outside of San Mateo High she is usually doing school work, hanging around with her friends, playing video games, or working at Jamba Juice.
Saane is a great leader and a hard worker but she also enjoys school. In college she plans to major in education. She is interested in both teaching in a school setting, being an administrator in a school district or even being a basketball coach due to her love of the game. In the fall Saane will be attending the University of Nevada Reno.