A key component of the course is mentorship: Each AAR class is assigned two to three mentors — ranging from district parents to local professors to business owners — who regularly check in on students’ progress. According to AAR teacher Rachael Kaci, this model of mentorship has evolved since the course’s development nine years ago.

“Most students, prior to Covid, were assigned to a mentor one-on-one, but we saw such a variance in how the students relied upon the mentors,” she said. “Now that the mentors come into the classroom, they have the opportunity to watch the progress throughout the year and the student growth.” Under these mentors, students learn critical research skills, such as professionalism and writing. Kaci appreciates how the course challenges students to strengthen their soft skills of time management, communication and adaptability.

“Every single year, every student runs into a hiccup,” she said. “It could be a major one — like last year, I had two students who completely pivoted second semester and redid their project. Or, it could be a minor one, like not having enough respondents on a survey.”

SCRAPP

Despite these challenges, AAR students finish the school year with newfound answers to their research questions or having made an impact on an aspect of their community.

For instance, while walking around campus, students might notice green and blue posters with “Don’t Trash Your Planet” in bolded text plastered on any empty wall.

These posters are part of the Sustainability Campaign to Raise Awareness of Plastic Pollution initiative, begun by Social Justice Pathway juniors Phoebe Mota-Judges, Floyd Neesen and Talya Schube this year. SCRAPP’s goal is to motivate Gunn students to clean up trash from school lunches.

“We just saw the problem was so bad,” Neesen said. “If you take a look at the senior and sophomore (quads after lunch), there’s so much (trash). If you’re walking by, you can’t not notice it.”

The group hopes to combat littering by raising awareness. As part of the sensibility campaign, they have created an Instagram account to post videos and infographics about the detriments of non-reusable plastic and the impact of trash on campus.

Although existing posters in each classroom highlight the different materials that go in compost, landfill and recycling, they don’t include all of the wrappings used by the school cafeteria.

“There are reminders to throw away your trash and waste sorting guides that include the (packaging) that is used in the cafeteria,” Neesen said. “The (existing posters) don’t have the things that they use to wrap sandwiches and burgers. We have those.”

Fueled by their determination to improve Gunn’s sustainability, the SCRAPP team has learned valuable skills, such as networking, adaptability and teamwork. According to Schube, there were challenges when working with a lot of people.

“Trying to work on other people’s time, as well as going through a lot of people, was difficult,” she said.

BuddyBonds

AAR projects also extend beyond Gunn’s boundaries. For instance, juniors Namya Kasturi, Samhita Krishnan and Lia O’Donovan have worked to combat elders’ loneliness in Palo Alto through pen pal assignments this year. In collaboration with Palo Alto Commons, a retirement community, they sent a sign-up form to the home’s residents and are currently waiting to hear back.

From the beginning of the brainstorming process, O’Donovan and her team knew their main goal was to build community.

“We wanted to create intergenerational events between the elderly population and teenagers, and we were hoping to branch out to other schools and care homes to work with,” she said.

For O’Donovan, this project stemmed from her desire to become closer to elderly family members.

“I live far away from my grandparents, so when I get to talk to them, it’s very special,” she said. “I know that I have older neighbors on my street and I feel very connected to them when I get to talk to them a lot. I wanted to form that bond for others.”

Although BuddyBonds originally wanted to organize student groups to go to retirement homes, they had to adapt their idea, as finding a retirement home willing to partner with them was much harder than expected.

“It’s taught me a lot about moving on and how to make a change in a community that isn’t sheltered by a class, because this is something we could have done outside of AAR,” she said. “I learned that it’s the real world.”

Staff mental health

AAR is more than hands-on work, however: Students must also write up their findings in a formal paper. As sophomore Alisa Sonehara begins drafting her research paper, she needs to cite information from other sources while still integrating her own ideas.

Luckily, she has the support of experienced mentors to help analyze and organize her data. She also uses generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, which help check that her writing is clear, concise and, most importantly, accurate. With these resources, Sonehara has been able to delve into staff mental-health supports in PAUSD.

While Sonehara originally planned to research students’ mental health, she ultimately shifted her focus to staff, in light of district staffing shortages and new support initiatives following the pandemic.

“I wanted to see the type of support they are getting because I think there’s a lot of awareness and support for students right now, and there’s a lot more talk about it compared to educators,” she said. “I feel like educators deserve the same attention for mental health, because they matter a lot too.”

Sonehara was surprised to find that improving certain areas of mental health isn’t within the county specialist’s purview.

“For example, in the Healthy Kids Survey, if a teacher’s respondents are saying how they don’t have a good work environment, the mental health specialist isn’t really directed from the district to help improve that — she’s kind of just working on the overall view of the support for mental health,” she said. “That kind of surprised me because I feel like she could do a lot to help (those particular areas) as well.”

According to Kaci, this long-term, hands-on investigation makes AAR unique. With the wealth of professional resources and guidance, she recommends the course to anyone passionate about something and unable to find a class on campus that caters to their interests.

“You’re placed with a mentor or a manager and in a field that’s different from the traditional classroom and still get credits to put on your transcript, so that’s why I like (AAR),” she said. “Don’t shy away if you’re nervous about research — we can help anyone.”

Traditionally, female narratives center around service, obedience and helplessness. The push for a more diverse, equitable and truthful depiction of women has turned a new page in the history of literature.

Representation in literature depends on representation in authorship. According to a 2023 paper by American economist Joel Waldfogel, in the 19th century, only 10% of books in the Library of Congress had authors with female first names. While this measure does not account for female authors who — like George Eliot — used pseudonyms to disguise their gender, the disparity remains stark: The male-dominated field resulted in books that mostly included male perspectives, in which women were only secondary characters.

These pieces of literature are now part of the American literary canon, which comprises the works deemed highest quality and most important, such as “The Great Gatsby” or “1984.” English teacher Paul Dunlap tries to subvert this trend in his classroom by teaching a mix of canonical works and more female-centric novels.

“What I used to call ‘the canon’ was pretty male-centric and women were peripheral characters,” he said. “I think we’re doing a better job inviting people to read stories that put women as central characters.”

This idea is mirrored in American literary historian Cynthia Griffin Wolff’s “A Mirror for Men: Stereotypes of Women in Literature,” in which she explores themes that seem missing from most historical literature, including motherhood and marriage (or the choice not to), private life, loss of beauty and menopause.

Instead, women are only caretakers — mothers, sisters, wives — or love interests. In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” for example, the female characters all fall under either one of these categories and interact with other characters within the confines of these roles.

More multifaceted and truthful depictions of women started appearing on a larger scale in the 1970s. English teacher Tarn Wilson, who is also a published author, notes that during this time period, a major gender shift in the publishing industry paved the way for better representation of women: According to Waldfogel, the number of female-authored books in the Library of Congress reached 18% by 1960.

Since the early 2000s, books aimed at teenagers have changed dramatically, as have their demands, leading to more accurate characterizations of women. The 2000s saw a revival of the science fiction and fantasy genres in young-adult fiction. These novels included strong-willed, powerful female protagonists.

Published in 2008, Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” trilogy features Katniss Everdeen, a young woman, fighting against an oppressive government. “The Hunger Games” trilogy was an instant hit, initiating a trend of dystopian novels in which women save their worlds, such as the “Divergent” trilogy by Veronica Roth and “Shatter Me” series by Tahereh Mafi.

While these series do contain strong romance arcs, they portray women as more than just caretakers or secondary characters. They are now the protagonists of their own story, making hard decisions and showing an array of emotions.

Senior Fiona Li has seen a growing trend of fleshed-out female characters, with titles such as Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple” and Abraham Verghese’s novel “The Covenant of Water” rising to the fore.

“Now, if you look at best-sellers, YA, romance and others, you see a lot of books with female protagonists where it’s based on their life and there’s not as much emphasis on a love story,” Li said.

Diversity in literature allows non-women readers to better understand women’s experiences. American author Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize speech reflects this idea, according to Dunlap.

‘“Tell us what it is to be a woman so that we may know what it is to be a man,’” he said, quoting Morrison’s speech. “We read literature to empathize with other people, and that’s the only way we can learn about others.”

Registered voters can submit their ballots by mail until March 5, or in-person at a vote center or Official Ballot Drop Box from Feb. 24 to March 5. Gunn students who are U.S. citizens and 18 and older must register for the primaries by Feb. 20.

California residents registered with a political party will be able to vote for a presidential candidate affiliated with their party, helping determine who will appear on the nationwide ballot in November. California’s primary takes place on Super Tuesday, in which 14 other states and territories also hold their primary elections. There are 23 people running across all political parties, including former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

Statewide, voters are also electing U.S. senators. Four candidates are running to serve out the rest of former Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term ending in January 2025, and 14 candidates are running for a full six-year term.

More locally, Palo Alto residents are among those voting for U.S. House representative for California’s
16th Congressional District. Current Rep. Anna Eshoo’s retirement has led to an 11-way race, with Palo Alto City Council members Julie Lythcott-Haims and Greg Tanaka running. Both candidates, alongside seven others, participated in a forum sponsored by the Embarcadero Media Foundation and City of Palo Alto on Jan. 31.

Voters will also be considering Proposition 1, which concerns behavioral health services. If passed, the proposition would allow California to sell $6.4 billion in bonds to fund housing for unhoused people with behavioral health challenges. Up to $4.4 billion of that money will be allocated to mental health care and substance abuse treatment facilities. It will also require 30% of the Behavioral Health Services Fund to be allocated to housing intervention programs, and the size of the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission would increase from 16 to 27 voting members.

Civic Engagement and Education Project Club President senior Lizzy Jackson highlighted the main effects that the proposition would have on Californians: namely, decreasing homelessness and drug
addiction.

“It is really important, not just voters, to be educated on it,” she said. “If approved, (it) may directly affect local mental health services, since about $140 million will be taken from counties and given to the state,” he said.

Senior Amrit Joshi has researched and discussed the candidates with his friends, since he is considering voting in this election.

“I think voting is a really important part of American autonomy and becoming an adult,” he said. “We definitely learn to take responsibility for our actions as American citizens.”

Around 50% of eligible voters who are 18 to 29 plan to vote in the November general elections,
according to a December 2023 poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School. U.S.
Government teacher Patricia Holmes urges teenagers to perform their civic duty once they are eligible.

“The biggest cancer to our democracy is apathy, and so young people have to get involved in being part of democracy,” she said. “Democracy is a beautiful, fragile thing that is not guaranteed to us, and I think that we should be aware of that.”

Eligible students can visit to register, or pre-register if they are 16 or 17. Students who are interested in getting involved with voter registration efforts can visit CEEP, a voter-registration and education effort, on Mondays at lunch in C-8.

The Board elected current Vice President Jesse Ladomirak as Board president and current Board member Shana Segal as vice president for next year, as per the Board’s rotating-leadership system. In this system, the vice president becomes president the following year, and the member elected to the Board earliest becomes the new vice president. If two candidates were elected in the same year, the candidate with the larger share of the vote when elected becomes vice president. The Board president’s job is to create the meeting agendas with the Superintendent and the vice president, look over Board-approved committee assignments and talk to attorneys and the media. 

Following the election, Addison Elementary School Principal Jeffrey Downing presented an update on its PAUSD Promise equity goals, including developing better student-centered supports. In order to create an environment that better meets each student’s needs, Addison plans to conduct reading and math interventions and develop monthly life skills and Zones of Regulation, among other measures. 

“Zones of Regulation helps students develop language to describe feelings that they may have,” Downing said. “Naming these feelings and having strategies about how to deal with them helps students learn to self-regulate and minimize behavioral outburst.” 

These life skills will be featured on posters in every classroom and discussed in school assemblies, according to Downing. December’s life skill was generosity. 

The Board also approved two new high school courses for next year: Asian American Literature, proposed by Gunn English teacher Diane Ichikawa, and Advanced Placement Physics 2, proposed by Gunn Science Instructional Lead Laurie Pennington. With the addition of AP Physics 2, Gunn students will now have access to all available AP Physics courses. 

During the discussion, Board President Jesse Ladomirak noted that a lack of advanced humanities classes could compel students to take STEM courses that they don’t enjoy. 

“The reality is all of our students, not just the ones who thrive in STEM, are under an enormous amount of pressure to pack their high school transcripts with AP and honors courses in order to look good on college applications,” she said. “An unintended impact of that imbalance is that many students who enjoy and feel more confident in humanities classes can feel like they have no option but to forgo those classes and instead take more math and science because that’s where the AP and the honors courses are.”

Finally, during Open Forum, Jewish students and parents expressed concerns about antisemitism and exclusion or misrepresentation of Jewish experiences in the soon-to-be-required ethnic studies course. Two PAUSD students, including Paly sophomore Ella Segev, shared their personal experiences.  

“It was only three weeks after Oct. 7,” she said. “I was walking out of my class and some kid came up to me and said to my face ‘F the Jews, free Palestine.’ For the rest of that day, I was in utter shock that an incident like the ones I’ve seen on the news had personally happened to me. I have faced firsthand antisemitism for the first time in my life here at Paly.” 

Parents suggested adapting the ethnic studies course to include more Jewish-American history and urged the Board to give them a more active role in shaping the curriculum. PAUSD parent Linor Levav hopes to work with the Board to find a solution. 

“Along with others in our community, we are committed to working with the Board and administration to ensure the Jews are represented accurately and respected in our classrooms,” she said during the meeting.

The next school-board meeting will be on Jan. 16, 2024.

Patrick grew up in a mixed household: His mom was half-native Alaskan, and his dad was white. Growing up, he wasn’t connected to his native Alaskan side, but he acknowledges that his respect for nature stems from growing up around native Alaskan culture.

“Growing up in a partially native household really shows that kind of direct connection between people and the land,” Patrick said. Patrick’s grandmother, who grew up in the 1930s, lived on the Aleutian Islands — a chain of 50 islands off Alaska’s coast.

During World War II, fearing its citizens would fraternize with the Russian and Japanese governments, the U.S. government moved Patrick’s grandmother to Alaska’s mainland. According to Patrick, his family lost much of his grandmother’s culture after the move.

“My grandmother, because she was one of the only Aleutians in this area, didn’t preserve much of that culture,” Patrick said. “So, growing up, (our family) was more familiar with what was going on (in Alaska), especially in terms of foods and such.”

As Patrick’s children discovered their heritage, he began to connect further with his culture.

“They would ask some questions, and I wouldn’t actually know,” he said. “So then, we would reach out (to organizations).”

Patrick’s children applied for college scholarships through some of these organizations, requiring Patrick to research them. As a result, he learned more about local native Alaskan history and traditions.

These organizations also hold activities for families. Patrick has done weaving and moccasin-making projects with his daughter. Patrick has rekindled his familiarity with his culture through these family experiences.

“I try connecting my own children with their heritage, but Alaska has also been a learning experience for me,” he said.

Influenced by his family, Weinstein showed an interest in airplanes from an early age, playing with Playmobil airplanes and dressing up as a pilot for Halloween — but only in the past year did he decide to take the step of making his childhood dream come true. Last year, while scrolling on YouTube, Weinstein came across a flying video that jumpstarted his determination to become an officially licensed pilot.

The feeling of freedom Weinstein gets from flying makes all the hard work needed to obtain a license worth it. “Looking out the window, the world looks so big,” he said. “And it’s kind of calming, just passing over everyone on the ground.” The machine itself is also an innovation Weinstein finds fascinating. “I’m in awe that we built a machine that can fly,” he said.

Admiring planes, however, is entirely different from flying them. As he works toward obtaining his pilot’s license, Weinstein has found that during flights, a fun plane ride can sometimes turn into a difficult maneuvering situation.

A few weeks ago, he encountered a 350-knot crosswind, which made it harder to land the plane. “I hadn’t had that much experience landing with a crosswind,” he said. “We started turning off the runway a bit and it was a narrow runway.” Thankfully, he was able to straighten the plane in time with the help of his coach. “That was a bit scary in the moment,” he said.

Mentorship has been key in Weinstein’s pursuits. As a student pilot, he is obligated to fly with a licensed pilot, which lowers his stress. “If I do anything wrong — which is bound to happen because everyone makes mistakes — he’s there to correct it,” he said.

Weinstein hopes to one day make use of his pilot license. “I don’t know if I want to be a commercial pilot yet, but that’s something that, (once I) have my license, it’ll be a much easier process,” he said.

He encourages others to pursue aviation if it’s something they’re interested in, even just as hobby. “It is something you should explore because it’s just such a rewarding experience, and I’ve had a lot of fun so far,” he said. “Not that many people have the license, so it makes it pretty special.”

Granted, it can be challenging to identify microaggressions, especially since some of these subtle acts of exclusion have become ingrained in our society and culture. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, a microaggression is “any action or statement regarded as an instance of subtle, often unconscious, prejudice and hence resulting in discrimination against a member of an oppressed group.” Often, microaggressions are stereotypes that people use to demean others. This dynamic is harmful, as it projects a false identity onto others, undermining their true identity. By confirming stereotypes, microaggressions create or reinforce false narratives around different ethnicities and practices.

Microaggressions can follow people to the classroom, impeding their learning. A study from St. Olaf College that looked at the academic repercussions of microaggressions reported that, from the 718 responses it collected, 86.5% of students identified as victims of microaggressions in the classroom. For 65.4% of students, these microaggressions negatively impacted their academics. Microaggressions create a toxic environment, and the high percentage of students who reported adverse effects illustrates their pervasiveness.

Students need a healthy school environment to feel welcome and be successful. Microaggressions are a roadblock to that success, since students are less likely to thrive in unsafe emotional environments. Therefore, it is important to speak out and stop microaggressions. Standing up either directly when an event occurs or after with a trusted adult can alleviate these feelings of discomfort and worthlessness. This choice leads to a more welcoming environment, promoting student health and belonging.

BeyoncĂ© is coming back on stage this summer to bring more iconic performances. After releasing her latest album, “Renaissance,” the singer announced on Feb. 1 that she would be going on her eighth world tour to promote her new music and reunite with fans.

“Renaissance” is Beyoncé’s seventh studio album and celebrates queer culture. Inspired by the history of the underground queer-ballroom scene, she created an album filled with house-music songs in homage to the black queer roots of music. She released “Renaissance” in July of 2022 and revealed it to be the first part of a three-act project that she recorded over the pandemic.
It is filled with 16 songs, most of which are upbeat and feel-good. Two of the songs on the album made it on Billboard’s top 10: “Break My Soul” peaked at number one and “Cuff It” shot to number 10.

She starts her tour for this album in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 10 and will perform throughout Europe until July, when she will start the North American leg of her tour. In total, her tour will last five months, from May to September, and includes performances in 40 cities. BeyoncĂ© will perform locally at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Aug. 30.

Fans are thrilled about this announcement as this is her first tour since 2016 when she performed her album “Lemonade” on her tour “Formation.” Following the “Formation” tour, she went on the “On The Run Tour” with her husband Jay-Z after the release of their joint project, “Everything is Love.” BeyoncĂ© has built a record as a standout performer, and the promise of yet another set of great performances made ticket sales rise.

Through online ticket-selling websites, tickets went on sale on Feb. 23, and were sold using the Verified Fan process. People first signed up to have the chance to participate in an early sale, allowing them to get better seats with the original pricing. Currently, Beyoncé tickets for the Bay Area stadiums range between $200 dollars for nosebleeds and $3,000 for VIP seating.

However expensive seats may be, fans are dedicated to seeing BeyoncĂ© live, promising to show up in numbers. So far, the singer has sold 2.2 million tickets for the “Renaissance” World Tour, earning a spot on The Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart.

Outside Lands: Golden Gate Park

California is a great place to be if one is a music festival lover. Although Coachella is often viewed as the pinnacle of music festivals in the state, there is one festival that often, undeservingly, slips under the radar: Outside Lands.

The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is an annual event that takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park from Aug. 11 to 13. Produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly and Starr Hill Presents, the event is the largest independently owned music festival in the U.S. The music festival is a full-day event, going from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 9:40 p.m. on Sunday.

Throughout the day, attendees can enjoy musical performances, food and drinks and shop Outside Lands merch. The festival also has five different spots to listen to music. The main stage, the “Lands End Stage,” is where the main performers of the night play. Then, throughout the festival, there are smaller stages where other performances occur, such as the “Twin Peaks,” “Sutro” and “Panhandle” stages. There is also the “Soma” tent where people can listen to house and disco music without interruption.

Every year the music festival brings on amazing artists, and this year’s lineup is no different. Big names are performing on the 2023 stage, such as Megan Thee Stallion, Kendrick Lamar and Lana Del Rey. OutsideLands is also a great place to discover new artists. In the long list of well-known artists are performers that might have gone unnoticed in the past year. This year’s festival will also include international artists.

Because of the high-quality performances, tickets to Outside Lands are expensive. There are three types of tickets for a full three days at the festival: the General Admission ticket costs $449, the General Admission+ ticket costs $674 and the VIP ticket costs $1,029. Currently, the General Admission+ and VIP tickets are sold out, but there is still a chance to grab general admission tickets.