Volume 54, Issue 7, May 31, 2024

LETTER FROM THE

Jami Lim

elESTOQUE

EDITORS

To the Class of 2024 —

You did it.

As you prepare to walk out of MVHS for the last time, we can’t help but look back at everything you taught us. You’ve taught us how to learn, joining our late-night FaceTime calls to cram for AP tests. You’ve taught us how to love, flooring us with dances and talking us through vicious heartbreaks. And most importantly, you’ve taught us how to believe — in ourselves, in our community, in the world — through the perseverance and unwavering hope it takes to conquer four years of high school despite being scarred by a pandemic.

There are too many uncertainties in the world for us to count, and our News section makes this clear — we are confronted with everything from global conflicts to local opioid crises. Yet we are certain of one thing: you’ve emerged stronger and more prepared. Our Features package looks to where you will head next, and we can only foresee each and every one of you making an indelible mark on the world.

Even as you blow out the candles on this chapter of your life, the air is still warm with the memories that you’ve shaped. We are forever touched by the spirit you brought to our rallies, the weekends you spent driving us to Main Street for $8 dessert, the prom that we spent in the night fog on a boat that contained nothing but our dreams. We want to seize these fleeting moments in time, and it’s all thanks to you.

There is no one else that we would have rather had as our Class of 2024. You did it.

Alyssa Yang

Alan Tai

Ananya Chaudhary

Samika Bhaktar Kathryn Foo

College protesters intensify discourse on the IsraelHamas war

Three

Students and administrators share their opinions on the

UNIVERSAL UNREST

College protesters intensify discourse on the IsraelHamas war

BY GILJOON LEE, LILLIAN WANG AND ALYSSA YANG

to two Stanford University affiliates as Stanford A and Stanford B, respectively.

Students at Columbia University set up an encampment in protest of the Israel-Hamas war on April 17, the same day that Columbia University president Nemat Shafik testified at a Congressional Committee Hearing in Washington, D.C. about antisemitism at Columbia. Shafik called police to end the encampment on April 18, resulting in the arrests of over 100 students for trespassing — a decision that sparked national media attention and a flare of similar encampments on college campuses across the country.

Stanford University restarted its encampment on April 25 in the White Plaza, where Stanford students had previously organized a 120-day sitin protest against the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 20, 2023. Stanford A, an affiliate of Stanford University and an organizer for the protests, emphasizes divestment, a common demand in campus protests, as the end goal of the encampment. Stanford students are demanding that the university cut its ties to companies funding Israel,

apartheid in South Africa, and that one was successful in making Stanford divest from the apartheid,” Stanford B, another Stanford affiliate, said. “Seeing that, we were like, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ In the beginning, it was just like five people, and slowly more students came in and were asking questions and wanted to see what it was about. So then we started to grow as a community, and it quickly became what mobilized students into joining the new protest.”

“

WE DON’T DO THIS FOR THE MEDIA ATTENTION. WE JUST HOPE THAT PEOPLE STOP LOOKING AT US AND START LOOKING AT GAZA.

the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 35,000 as of May 22, over 15,000 of which are women and children. Tracking and announcing updates to these statistics are central to check-ins led by students at the Stanford encampment. Each day’s schedule also devotes time to sharing stories, watching documentaries and engaging in discussions.

STANFORD STUDENT

STANFORD A

Students protesting at Stanford see the institution as complicit in genocide due to its investments and ties to Israeli-affiliated companies. They opted to enclose their encampment using rope and posters with proPalestian messages to create a People’s University for Palestine — a space where students can study and

“We don’t do this for the media attention,” Stanford A said. “We never have, and we never will. We just hope that people stop looking at us and start looking at Gaza. It is very intentional that most of the news outlets that you see now are covering universities and not covering the ongoing genocide. What we try to make sure of is that we center ourselves in Gaza every single time we do this, every single day of this conversation.”

PHOTO | GILJOON LEE

nevertheless hindered conversation around the conflict. Mizrahi finds that many of her peers have become less open-minded in their stances on the war, which has impacted her relationships as a Jewish student who identifies with Israel and has Israeli family members.

“I’ve had friends of many years, who I consider to be close friends, unfollow me without a word, or just stop speaking to me,” Mizrahi said. “It’s very frustrating because I feel that I’m open-minded enough to sit down and have a conversation and have respect for the other person regardless of how different their views are from mine. It’s sad that we can’t all have that mindset and that respect for each other.”

Mizrahi recalls seeing students in UW’s encampment being harassed for wearing the Star of David. In another incident, protesters vandalized UW’s Husky Union Building by writing proPalestinian slogans on the walls and damaging student artwork on display, including drawing an inverted black triangle, a Nazi concentration camp badge, on a Jewish student’s artwork.

“Demonstrating and using your First Amendment right to free speech is not inherently antisemitic,” Mizrahi said. “And that’s not exactly what I

conflict. The issue is screaming at Jewish students that they should go back to where they came from — that is absolutely antisemitic.”

However, both Stanford A and Stanford B describe the encampment at Stanford as a welcoming space for everyone, as they say it condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of discrimination and hate. Alongside Palestinian folk

dance performances and memorials for Palestinian casualties, student organizers have also hosted cultural events such as a Passover Seder, a Jewish ritual feast. Stanford B views the general label of antisemitism on the student protests as a tool used to shut down the students’ actions and to deflect from the conflict in Gaza.

“At the end of the day, it is not antisemitic to ask for a free Palestine, to ask to stop killing babies and to stop killing people in general,” Stanford B said. “We have people coming in

Pro-Palestine protesters at Stanford set up an encampment on White Plaza, covering the outer border with handmade posters and signs.

PHOTO | GILJOON LEE

Stanford students and community members create protest art projects to advocate for divestment.

PHOTO | GILJOON LEE

every day trying to take pictures and doxxing students and trying to pick up the names of students so they can get them in trouble. I personally have been called a terrorist for wearing the headscarf and for being Muslim. We have had all sorts of harassment from Zionists just for fighting for this movement when we have done nothing to them.”

Lawmakers and university officials across the nation have struggled to differentiate political activism and antisemitism. Student protesters, including Stanford A and Stanford B, distinguish antisemitism, prejudice against Jewish people, from antiZionism — opposition to Israel’s national ideology, which lays claim to Palestine as Jewish people’s ancestral homeland. Others, such as the World Jewish Congress, argue that antiZionism forces Jewish people to denounce an integral part of their ethnic identity. They say that criticisms of Israel often mask antisemitic stereotypes of Jewish individuals.

Though protests at both Stanford and UW have not escalated to the point where students have trouble going to class, Mizrahi says the encampment and rallies leave many Jewish students, including herself, afraid that violence will break out on campus targeting them. She points to chants for “Intifada,” an Arabic word for uprising and rebellions generally used to refer to Palestinian uprisings against Israeli control, and used by protesters to promote activism supporting the Palestinian resistance. Historically, both the First and Second Intifadas in Israel and Palestinian territories were periods of violent protests with significant casualties.

Intifada to happen in the U.S. and on a college campus is very scary,” Mizrahi said. “All of my classes are near where the encampment is currently. Some days it is scary to walk through it, and I have been yelled at and harassed when I do display my Jewish identity.”

In a statement released May 7, Stanford officials said that though the First Amendment protects the majority of speech, the university will take action regarding constitutionally unprotected speech or behavior that violates others’ rights. Officials also condemned the encampment, citing not only violations of the university’s policies on overnight camping and appropriate use of White Plaza, but also stating that by design, the encampment does not encourage discussion — it only shuts out people who disagree with the protesters.

Stanford officials also encouraged students to attend discussions convened by the university rather than protesting and engaging with protesters, which have escalated to disproportionate retaliatory force at other college campuses. As of May 7, Stanford is in the process of identifying students participating in the encampment to be disciplined. Regardless, Stanford A and Stanford B say that protesters will continue to fight until their demands are met.

I DON’T BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE’S OPINION CAN BE REDUCED TO A SLOGAN OR A CHANT. MAYA MIZRAHI “

MVHS ‘23 ALUM

“I have known people to be affected by various Intifadas, and to call for an

“We’re antiadministration,” Stanford A said.

“We always have been. We always will be. We hate that this has been co-opted as a narrative of free speech because that’s not what this is. We’re not saying that you should support us because we have a right to do this even if you disagree with us. We are saying that you should support us because we are doing the right thing.”

On May 17, UW officials and representatives from the encampment

on campus reached an agreement for the encampment to disband. Mizrahi has been working with the UW chapter of Students Supporting Israel, an international Zionist student organization, to set up tables to engage other students in discussion on the conflict. She says they aren’t trying to counterprotest, but protesters have nevertheless approached them to yell pro-Palestinian slogans. She hopes to eventually foster an environment where students who are involved in either side of the conflict and who are hurting can talk to each other.

“I don’t believe that everyone’s opinion can be reduced to a slogan or a chant,” Mizrahi said. “And I would really like to find out what they actually think and then go from there. What we’re seeing right now is a lot of outside actors coming in and dividing the conversation even more. It’s making it harder for us, the people who are involved, to have conversations with each other. So ultimately, my goal is to have open communication — to even start talking about what might be a good solution. But I just think we’re very far away from that right now, unfortunately.”

A sign on the outskirts of the encampment depicts a lifesize image of Stanford University’s president, Richard Saller, as having bloody hands.

PHOTO | GILJOON LEE

THE JUICE LOOSE! THE JUICE LOOSE! IS IS

Students and teachers discuss OJ Simpson’s trial and recent death BY NIVEDA HARI AND MEGHA

MUMMANENI

PHOTO BY ALDEN JEWELL | CC BY 2.0.

“T “T

he juice is loose!”

Fans cheered as exfootball star O.J. Simpson and former NFL player Al Cowlings drove along the Los Angeles freeway in a low-speed car chase, pursued by the LAPD, which had called for the surrender of Simpson earlier that morning.

Orenthal James Simpson, also known as O.J. Simpson, was born on July 9, 1947, and passed away in Las Vegas on April 10, 2024, at the age of 76, due to complications with cancer. After playing college football at the University of Southern California, Simpson was primarily a running back for the Buffalo Bills between 1969 and 1977. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979.

In 1973, he won the Associated Press MVP award, making history by being the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. However, his reputation changed when, on June 12, 1994, Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were found stabbed to death outside Brown’s condominium. Simpson quickly became the prime suspect.

English teacher Shozo Shimazaki had different perceptions of Simpson at separate periods of Simspon’s murder trial — which began on Jan. 24, 1994 — mentioning the different phases of his career, from being a football player to acting in commercials. The trial changed how he viewed Simpson as a person. Initially, Shimazaki was a major fan of Simpson, however, his admiration of the star changed at the height of the trial.

“It’s clear his claim to fame was through football,” Shimazaki said. “At the time, I was collecting sports cards, and I got a rookie Simpson, so it was sort of a prized possession of my collection. But I feel like he dropped, so there was this fall from grace story as well. Then the image of him went from holding a Heisman trophy to hiding in the back of a Ford Bronco.”

Upon being asked to turn himself in, Simpson led the police on a twohour car chase in his friend’s white Bronco on June 17, 1994, after which

he was arrested and charged with the murders of Brown and Goldman.

Kennedy Middle School English teacher Cory Greene recalls that during his second year of college, he was watching the 1994 NBA finals in Tahoe when the TV cut to show the infamous car chase. He adds that despite watching the trial, he didn’t have much of an opinion on the case itself but did on the result of Simpson being acquitted, especially due to the intense racial backlash.

“People like to break it down by race because he was African American,” Greene said. “But what I always think about that is that it wasn’t a trial about an African American person. That was a trial of a rich person. And when you’re a rich person, and you can afford the best lawyers in America, you’ve got a really good shot of getting away with murder.”

“ “

Shimazaki agrees with Greene’s sentiments, saying that he never thought of Simpson as a model for any social justice movement surrounding race. However, back then, with the Rodney King beating and riots happening during May of 1992 in the LA region, he understands how some may have clung to the idea of race in Simpson’s case.

was asked to try on a bloody glove thought to have belonged to the killer of Brown and Goldman. The glove, which the defense team argued was planted by Police Detective Mark Furhman at Simpson’s estate, appeared to be too small for him, and remained a key symbol for his case. This was a significant piece of evidence that eventually resulted in the trial declaring O.J. Simpson as not guilty.

Being a fan of Simpson before the trial, Shimazaki believed that the constant news around Simpson tired Shimazaki out, mentioning that the recurring theme was that Simpson couldn’t have a normal life. With the conflicting perspectives of whether or not people thought Simpson was guilty, Shimazaki says that he ultimately lost interest in all things related to Simpson, comparing it to a “broken record.”

Kennedy ENGLISH TEACHER WHEN YOU’RE A RICH PERSON, AND YOU CAN AFFORD THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA, YOU’VE GOT A REALLY GOOD SHOT OF GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER.

CORY GREENE

Kavoori notes the influence of his death, mentioning his football career and how the trial was brought back into the spotlight. She is content that the case was able to create some significant discussion around issues like racism and wrongful police intervention, even if some of those matters weren’t of the utmost relevance in Simpson’s case.

As a member of Mock Trial Club, senior Vedavi Kavoori says this is a popular case referenced in the club because the trial is a good example of theory and theme, which refer to the argument of a case and the short oneliner that encompasses the theory in a catchy, memorable method. In Simpson’s case, the one-liner was “if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” a phrase coined by defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, when Simpson

“O.J. Simpson was not the last case where racism came into play — it’s just the most televised,” Kavoori said. “The unfortunate reality is that it happens all the time and we just don’t know about it. Law and trial are portrayed as being fair and just, but in the society that we live in, it’s not. That’s just the simple reality.”

A LIFE-SAVING SPRAY

Taking a look into essential information on Narcan and its role in combating opioid overdoses

BY GILJOON LEE AND STELLA PETZOVA

NARCAN

Naloxone, sold as Narcan, is a medication designed to rapidly reverse the efects of an opioid overdose. Anybody can safely administer it. It is generally sold as a nasal spray.

DANGERS

• More than 75% of all drug overdoses are caused by opioids

• Killed more than 80,000 people in 2021

• 6 out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl

SYMPTOMS

• Small pupils

• Loss of consciousness

• Slow, shallow breathing

• Choking, gurgling noises

• Limp body

• Pale, cold or clammy skin

REVERSING

Identify the symptoms

To administer the Narcan nasal spray, tilt the person’s head back and insert the nozzle into one nostril. Firmly press the plunger

Call emergency services Narcan usually takes 2-3 minutes to work

Prescription: morphine, codeine, fentanyl, Vicodin, Oxycontin Illegal: heroin

AB 1841

have heard of Narcan

This bill would require California Community Colleges and California State Universities to notify students of the location of fentanyl testing strips and opioid reversal medication on campus. Existing law requires universities to distribute dosages of opioid reversal medication.

*According to a survey of 127 people

39% of MVHS students

13% of MVHS students know how to administer Narcan

*According to a survey of 119 people

AT SCHOOL

Narcan has been available in the ofce since Oct. 2022. Members of the MVHS administration, such as assistant principals, health clerks and district nurses are trained to administer Narcan.

41% of seniors would attend MVHS again, if given the choice

47% of seniors have used Chat GPT on an assignment

84 is the average Rice Purity score of the senior class

SENIORS

A closer look at the class of 2024 from a survey of 121 seniors BY AASHI VENKAT AND SONIA VERMA

32% of seniors have had their first kiss

9% of seniors have lost their virginity

20% of seniors have been drunk before

15% of seniors have been high before

68% of seniors have pulled an all-nighter

51% of seniors get 7+ hours of sleep each night

45% of seniors have played a sport at MVHS

634 is the average number of followers the senior

39% of seniors have an alternate instagram account meant for close friends, aka a “spam” or “finsta” account

LAST HOORAH

MVHS seniors discuss the new opportunities they pursued this year

BY LAUREN CHUU AND SOPHIA D’SA

OLIVIA GAO

Starting the job hunt at the beginning of second semester with the hope of gaining work experience to put on her resume, senior Olivia Gao initially wanted to work at a boba shop. However, after not hearing back from any of the shops she applied to, Gao’s friend, who worked at Chuck E. Cheese, encouraged her to apply there instead. Gao currently works there as a cashier, where she mans the front desk, gives kids entry stamps and trades in prizes for tickets. She says she only recognized how much

effort it takes to earn her own money after she started working.

“One hundred dollars represents a certain amount of hours of your life,” Gao said. “What we do is we trade hours of our lives for money. That was kind of eye-opening because growing up, my parents always provided me with everything. So I never really thought about it. But now, when I think about it, it’s so much hard work just to earn a little money.”

While it did take some time to adjust to her position, Gao appreciates

the advice she receives on how to accomplish tasks efficiently from her coworkers, who she says are mainly high school students wanting work experience. As a result, Gao is eager to find a job when she goes to college in hopes of meeting new people and adapting to an unfamiliar environment.

“I do want to find a job if the college has some kind of jobs provided or some little restaurant nearby,” Gao said. “You learn so much from it because it’s real life. In school, you’re in this bubble, but when you actually work, you’re exposed to so many different people and so many experiences that you can’t get from school. I think that’s just as important as getting a good education.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF OLIVIA GAO | USED WITH PERMISSION

INIYAA SURESH

Finding herself with more free time in second semester, senior Iniyaa Suresh decided to apply for her first job: serving food and working the cash register at Chipotle. Not only has she always been a fan of Chipotle’s food, she also appreciates the flexible work hours and convenient location near her house. As a result, she thought it would be the perfect place to gain some work experience and broaden her horizons.

“We grow up in a bubble in Cupertino where we focus on some things such as academics, but we don’t really prioritize people skills as much,” Suresh said. “I really wanted to have a new perspective and be able to open my eyes to that diverse set of experiences rather than just having a very homogenous set of experiences.”

Even when her job gets tough, Suresh keeps in mind her goal of

PHOTO | LILLIAN WANG

developing her customer service skills. She does her best to put on a smile for customers even when she’s feeling tired or down, and she views the more demanding customers as opportunities to work on her patience, rather than reasons to get annoyed. Ultimately, she finds her work rewarding and enjoyable, especially because of the support she receives from her coworkers. Although flexible hours mean she works with different people each time, she says they have always been willing to give her advice and help out on busy days or when she can’t take a shift.

“All of us are from different backgrounds and all different ages, but we’ve come to a mutual understanding that no matter who it is, we’re always willing to help,” Suresh said. “Even if you don’t know them, if they’re in need, you step up.”

SHIVEN BHATT

Senior Shiven Bhatt auditioned for Andaaz, MVHS’ Bollywood fusion dance team, on a whim after participating in the Homecoming boys’ dance in September. As the year progressed, he realized that it was a bigger time commitment than he anticipated. However, since he had more free time than he had in his sophomore and junior years, he chose to continue with it.

Ultimately, Bhatt says the experience was memorable. Even though he sometimes found it stressful to memorize choreography just days before performances, he enjoyed learning and performing the dances. He also says he found a special sense of community in Andaaz.

“The team was very wholesome and tight-knit, and it was more of a family rather than just an extracurricular

activity,” Bhatt said. “The environment was very positive. I know it’s cliche, but the most important thing is the friends we’ve made along the way.”

Although committing to a new extracurricular activity can be daunting, for those who have the time to try it out in high school, Bhatt says it’s worth the leap of faith. For him, joining a dance team was rewarding because he’s not sure if he’ll have time to continue it in college.

“Even if you don’t think you’re good at dancing or you don’t know if you’re going to have a good experience, just the process of trying new things will be beneficial in understanding where you are and what your interests are,” Bhatt said. “And if you do end up making the team, having that experience is great because you make a lot of new friends and good memories along the way.”

PHOTO | LILLIAN WANG

PHOTO COURTESY OF INIYAA SURESH | USED WITH PERMISSION

MVHS seniors share life skills they aspire to build for college and beyond

BY JASON CHU AND KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL

LIFE READY? ADAPTING

Senior Samuel Yao is preparing for a unique experience following his graduation from MVHS: he plans to attend Northeastern University’s London campus for a year with students who are studying computer science and business before attending the Boston campus.

For Yao, adapting to new environments is a skill he has developed by involving himself in different activities and clubs, such as DECA. Yao says that this skill was one of the main reasons why he made the decision to commit to Northeastern. Yao, as he is excited at the prospect of both visiting various parts of

Europe in addition to the Northeastern campus, and also meeting a diverse range of people. In addition, Yao also feels uncertainity in how the new environment will treat him.

“I’m a little worried for this upcoming year because not only is it my first year in college, which is a completely new environment from high school, but also because I’ve never been to Europe before, so I’ll be experiencing a new type of culture,” Yao said. “I’m definitely stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that I feel like I wouldn’t have done if I wasn’t given this opportunity.”

DRIVING

Senior Jewell Ralston aspires to get her driver’s license soon, a process that she has found complicated. Last month, although she didn’t pass her first driver’s test, her permit expired before she could try again, and she now has to redo the process to renew her license.

She is currently trying to find a time to get her permit in the midst of her busy schedule, which contains softball practice and her part-time job as a cashier at Chicken Meets Rice. Ralston says that when she gets her license, she can get her own car, and she would prefer to drive herself rather than having her parents drive her.

Primarily, her focus on driving is motivated by her need to drive to her job, where she will soon transition to working full-time after she graduates from MVHS. She also desires to drive both her friends and family around when needed to offer a helping hand, part of her process of taking on more responsibilities.

“I feel like it’s a necessity,” Ralston said. “For most people, it’s a first step to independence, because getting your license is something you can do before you’re 18. Most people need this skill — it’s just critical.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMUEL YAO | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEWELL RALSTON | USED WITH PERMISSION

SPENDING

As a part-time worker at Happy Lemon, senior Grace Wang makes around $300 every two weeks. However, she ends up spending most of this between paychecks on various items: food, drinks, clothes, makeup, skincare items and food for her cats. In the future, especially during college when she has more independence, Wang hopes to reduce her spending in order to have enough money for other, more important purposes.

“I have a steady source of income right now, and I don’t necessarily need to worry about saving money or anything like that,” Wang said. “I know I’m going to get more money coming in as I work every two weeks, but as I go into college, I don’t know if I want to get a job during the first semester,

so I definitely will need to be tracking my expenses and making sure that I’m spending thoughtfully.”

Wang plans to be more mindful of her spending by choosing cheaper options when possible in order to practice her saving habits. Despite that, for now, she allows herself to spend her money without much reservation as she sees her earnings as “fun money” which can be spent on more impuslive purchases.

“I feel like as I move into adulthood, I can’t be running out of money in between paychecks and I need to be saving for the future,” Wang said. “I need to be saving for houses and worrying about my bills — things I don’t have to worry about right now.”

TIME MANAGEMENT

As she moves on to college, senior Swetha Vimalkumar finds it is more important than ever to build time management skills without having her parents to hold her accountable. Vimalkumar says that her throughout her high school journey, she has found it challenging to manage her time. Additionally, she notes that she has been less motivated to set goals to remedy this issue due to senioritis, and looks forward to be more proactive in college.

A solution she found was keeping her room organized, which she says is the key to maintaining her productivity. She also plans to utilize Notion, a software that helps with keeping track of tasks through to-do lists and scheduling. According to Notion’s website, Notion “provides a single space where you can think, write and plan” and even engage in collaboration with others.

“I have Notion, but I don’t think I

use it much — I think I would start using that to plan out what I want to do with each section of my day,” Vimalkumar said. “I’m dividing my day based on my work and my priorities. And then after that, I can have some free time so I don’t get burnt out.”

Ultimately, Vimalkumar acknowledges that this skill will be a crucial one amid the changes she faces in college, accompanying the newfound independence and greater responsibilities. She believes that these changes are inevitable and universal for all incoming college freshmen.

“You’ll be living far away from home,” Vimalkumar said. “You don’t have your parents and will have to learn to adapt to a new lifestyle. Some people are switching states halfway across the U.S., so I feel like they’ll have to adapt quickly.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF GRACE WANG | USED WITH

PHOTO COURTESY OF SWETHA VIMALKUMAR | USED WITH PERMISSION

TO THE NEXT FOUR

YEARS

Friends rooming together in college discuss their plans

BY TARYN LAM

VATSEL SRIVASTAVA & KRISHNA NATHAN

Seniors Vatsel Srivastava and Krishna Nathan met in middle school and bonded over their shared love of cricket. For them, the sport was a breath of fresh air from school, and they enjoyed the friendly competition of the game. As their passion for the sport grew, they joined other friends and began MVHS’ cricket club.

“I think at first our friendship was entirely within cricket,” Nathan said. “Even now I have a few friends where our friendship was entirely due to cricket and that’s the only thing that connects us but as time passed and

I got to know Vatsel, I realized there’s a lot of other things that connected us. Biking was one of those things, and actually, Vatsel started getting interested in chess, and I’ve been playing competitive chess for a long time so we connected through that.”

As Srivastava and Nathan prepare to embark on their college journey, they are excited to be attending the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign together. Both Srivastava and Nathan note that attending college will give them a newfound sense of independence, which they

both look forward to.

“Now I kind of have to come home at a certain time and I don’t really have as much room to make my own decisions and go out,” Nathan said. “Over there, I can explore a lot of new things. I’d have a lot of control over my decisions and how I want to spend my time.”

Srivastava echoes Nathan’s sentiment and is excited to explore the area around his college, mainly Chicago. He explains that attending college in a different state will allow him to meet new people.

“Illinois is snowy, it’s icy and it’s completely different,” Srivastava said. “It’s also kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it’s two hours away from Chicago. I feel like if I went to a college in California, I’d meet people from this area. But there, I’ll meet people from Illinois and the rest of the country.”

The two friends say they are both ready for the new experiences that come with attending college. Overall, Srivastava describes Nathan as an “honest friend” and he enjoys their conversations. Nathan agrees and is excited to room with his long-time friend.

“I definitely heard when you become a roommate with someone, it’s past the stage of friendship,” Nathan said. “You get to know a lot of things about them that you didn’t know before. So I’m just excited to see how our friendship will evolve in college.”

PHOTO | TARYN LAM

At the start of their senior year, friends Nithya Appannagaari and Ananya Jilla began a weekly Wednesday tradition of going to Paris Baguette or Panera to study. Due to Appannagaari’s robotics schedule and Jilla’s debate schedule, the two studied at a cafe before attending their respective meetings.

“We would always spend time together after school and I think that was pretty cute,” Jilla said. “It was always a time to debrief and to hear a weekly update.”

Appannagaari and Jilla became friends in their World Studies class during sophomore year. At the end of the year, after collaborating on a group project, the two cemented their friendship with two other friends, creating a tight-knit group of four. The group spent the summer together, making new memories and since then, the group has been on trips to San Francisco and Berkeley.

Now, as Appannagaari and Jilla prepare to leave for college, they are both excited to be attending college together at the University of California Berkeley. Both friends are excited about the new experiences but still worry about various aspects of attending a different environment.

“One thing that I am scared of is not being able to meet new people,” Appannagaari said. “We’ve been here for so long, for almost the past 17 years. A lot of the friends I have or friends that I’ve made, I’ve known since elementary school all the way up until now. So it’s been almost 10 years of not having to make new friends and then all of a sudden having to do that again. I’m going to be stepping out of my comfort zone.”

After receiving their acceptance letters and realizing that they would be attending college together, Appannagaari and Jilla began discussing plans of rooming together and how they hoped to navigate friendships in college. In the beginning, the two were unsure whether or not they wanted to room together. Appannagaari explains that this is because they believed that finding

ANANYA JILLA & NITHYA APPANNAGAARI

new roommates would encourage them to make new friends. However, the two eventually decided to room together.

“It definitely relieves a lot of pressure off me because we’re both really happy that we got into the same college knowing that we’d have at least one really close friend while going into a new place,” Appannagaari said. “Eventually, I feel like both of us realized that we do need each other as roommates, especially because everything’s really new. We can recognize when one of us may not be in a mood to talk or if someone has a really low social battery or things like that. So I think having someone there who knows that about you and is able to still support you even when you’re not in the best state of mind is pretty nice.”

Prior to attending college, Appannagaari and Jilla continue to celebrate the small things. From texting each other about clubs they want to join to finding new restaurants near the UC Berkeley campus, the two are excited about their rapidly approaching college experience. One of Appannagaari and Jilla’s favorite things to bond over is their similar

music taste — more specifically their love for Kendrick Lamar.

“One thing that I think is pretty cute between me and Ananya is that our music taste is exactly the same so whenever there’s a new song that drops, we’re the first person to tell each other and we send reaction videos of each other listening to the new song,” Appannagaari said. “Our dorm room plans definitely involve Kendrick.”

Though Appannagaari and Jilla aren’t going to college with their friend group of four, they have plans to keep in touch.

“I’m most excited to call our friends from home when they’re so far away,” Appannagaari said. “It’s definitely something that will be really fun because the four of us have decided that we’re going to FaceTime each other at least once a week. [Me and Ananya], being together and showing the funny sides of each other when we’re in a new place can be fun. It’ll be fun to see people in new environments and another side of Ananya but also being able to share that with my other friends too. It’s going to be pretty exciting.”

PHOTO | TARYN LAM

I’m learning to reconcile leaving my family for college

When I was in kindergarten, whenever my dad dropped me of at school without saying goodbye, I would start crying the moment he left and would not stop until my poor teacher wrangled him back to say “bye” to me. When I was in fifth grade, I embarked on my first overnight trip without my parents for Science Camp, and I cried for nearly all of the first night because I missed my family.

Yes, I cried a lot. I still do. And I anticipate more nights of waking up in college with a tear-soaked pillow and pufy eyes when I remember I’m on the opposite side of the country from my family.

Before my senior year, I let the days of home-cooked meals and feud-filled family vacations pass uncounted. Now, it’s hard to stop counting down the time I have left. It’s hard to believe that in just three months, I’ll be moving 2,830 miles away from home for college — three months left that I can walk upstairs and sleep in my mom’s bed, watch movies with my dad while he falls asleep on the couch or wander into my sister’s room to talk to her whenever I feel like it.

“I’m scared that when I leave for college, parts of me will stay behind at home in Cupertino, tucked away in the pockets of jackets my mom bought for me, pasted in our Christmas family pictures my parents decorate our walls with, hidden underneath the table where we play Mahjong on Friday nights. Yet more than anything, I’m terrified that the opposite will happen: that I’ll learn to live without my family, and that I’ll learn to love the independence I’ll gain more than the intimacy I’ll lose.

All the rituals of independence I

have performed so far, from sleepovers at a friend’s house to an international summer program, have not been enough to prepare me for what seems like a final parting. Because for the next four years, I’ll only be able to visit home during holiday breaks, and that’s before my summers are filled with programs, activities and internships. And, after I graduate college and find a job, I’ll only be able to visit once or twice a year, if I’m lucky. Will I notice when Liz finally grows taller than me or when my parents’ hair turns gray? The possibility that I will slowly become more unfamiliar with my family is frightening, to say the least.

“my phone wallpaper. The lessons I’ve learned and the habits I’ve developed can also be traced back to them: I’ll think of Liz every morning as I try to imitate her 30-step skincare routine, I’ll think of my dad every afternoon as I navigate his alma mater’s campus and I’ll think of my mom every night when I hear her voice in my head telling me to sleep earlier.

Soon, my parents will drop me of in front of my college dorm, just like they did on my first day of kindergarten. I hope my dad learned his lesson 13 years ago, because if he tries to leave without saying goodbye again, I will cry.

While a part of me wants to stall time and preserve each memory I make during the little time I have left here with my family, I know I can’t. It’s supposed to hurt. It’s supposed to feel like I’m letting go and losing parts of myself because I am. I can’t think, feel and live the same way forever, and I know that going to college is a new chapter in my life. Instead of leaving those memories locked in the past, I’ll carry them with me as I continue forward. I’ll keep my family close through the constant reminders they’re always by my side — the FaceTime calls and the pictures on

To be honest, regardless of what happens, I’ll probably cry anyway.

I’m so lucky to have a family I’ve cried over so much. I’m so grateful to have so many fond memories to reminisce about. And I’m so excited to continue to stay close to my family — even if we’re 2,830 miles apart.

It took me longer than most to say my first words. In fact, it took so long that my father believed I was simply incapable of talking. Today, anyone who knows me is blessed (or cursed, depending on how you see it) to know that’s no longer true. Months after my dad expressed his concern, I said my first word and put his mind at ease. However, this ease was swiftly interrupted by my desire to never shut up, and my father often jokes that I never closed my mouth after it first opened.

“Yet for a brief moment in time, my mouth closed again, and my father was once again fearful that his daughter would never speak. This happened towards the end of eighth grade and was a byproduct of my mental health deteriorating in the years after my mother passed away. The COVID-19 lockdown only caused my mental health to get worse, and I soon found myself growing distant from my loved ones as I tried to patch the growing void of loneliness inside my mind. This caused damage to a majority of my friendships, and I entered high school familiar with this newfound loneliness and way of life. To make it worse, my first year of high school was completely online, which further isolated me from my peers.

Thus, as freshman year entered full swing, I found myself craving friends. Unfortunately, my old friends would take days to respond, and I couldn’t blame them — after all, I had done the same thing. So, I opted to make friends with anyone who would talk to me, entering toxic and emotionally draining friendships because I preferred being mistreated over being alone. As a result, my mental health was ruined by the end of freshman year, and my mouth remained shut towards my loved ones, opening only for simple greetings or small talk.

My father was understandably frustrated by this and scheduled me to meet with a psychiatrist. After this meeting, I was almost immediately put on Zoloft, a medication commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. Although taking medication did not magically void me of all my problems, it caused my anxiety and shame to slowly melt away. I still felt awful, but I was able to open up and regain the bubbly personality that I had throughout my elementary and middle school years. Thus, even though I was still socially awkward as we returned to school after the lockdown, I felt slightly more confident in my ability to make friends and fill the void of loneliness.

I’ve only grown more outgoing and made more friends as the years went on, and although I have still not been spared from all toxic friendships, I now choose to distance myself from people who drain me.

“Having toxic friends depleted my energy, silenced my voice and made me realize that my voice, time and energy are among my most valuable belongings — thus, those who cannot respect them are unworthy of being in my life. While it has been difcult to separate myself from those who hurt me, doing so has significantly improved my mental health, and I’m grateful to have a group of friends who truly love and support me.

Most importantly, I found myself. I still take medication for my anxiety and depression, but I have grown far less reliant on it as I began finding hobbies

and building communities that make me genuinely happy. I joined various student publications — which further incentivized me to value and use my voice — and I also began allocating Friday evenings to unwind with a movie, and this has finally placed my mind at ease. As a result, I have begun using my voice without shame, unabashedly being the kid whose mouth never quite closed after I spoke for the first time.

Today, if you were to ask any of my classmates about me, they’d probably say that I talk. A lot. I talk so much that they may refer to me as a “foghorn” with “a big fat mouth” (and they wouldn’t be wrong). However, my journey with speaking has taught me that having a voice is a gift — I hold onto it in the same way one may clutch an expensive necklace or prized pair of shoes, and I speak because I am proud. I am proud to have regained my voice after months of silence, I am proud to be where I am, and I am proud to be loved by people who understand me. As I graduate to leave my family and friends, I find comfort in knowing my voice will extend across state lines to keep in touch with my loved ones, preserving

How I learned to speak again

Learning how to overcome my sentimentality and live in the present

Iknow for a fact that I’m a nostalgic person. Ask anybody I know (heck, ask me) and they’ll tell you I’m the sappiest person they know. Not only does this mean that my cringe factor, unfortunately, exponentially increases when I’m feeling sentimental, but also that I tend to live in the past.

If you encounter me these days, chances are that I’m reminiscing on old memories with friends, talking about how sad I am that we’re leaving. As my high school graduation date draws nearer, so does my sense of apprehension surrounding it. I find myself dreading the knowledge that the end of the year is coming.

I think especially when you’re a second-semester senior, you start counting lasts: the last time you’ll ever take a chemistry test, the last time you’ll ever late-night cram for APs, the last time you’ll ever edit a story for El Estoque. Life becomes a veritable list of “lasts” that become sadder with each one you come across, and the realization that your high school experience will be done and over within a few short weeks comes into startling clarity.

After all, this is a situation we will never be in again. At what point in my life will I again be in a classroom with 30 people I’ve grown up with for the last decade, going to the same classes and essentially living the same lives? When’s the next time I’ll be able to immediately strike up a conversation with my new table group because although we’re not exactly friends, we still have the sort of intrinsic camaraderie that only comes from years of knowing one another?

have but time — I’m coming to realize how strange it all sounds. I still have weeks until graduation, yet here I am lamenting all the things I’ll miss when I’m in college. Although it sounds stupid in retrospect, I’m mourning something that hasn’t even happened yet, instead of focusing on enjoying the time I still have. It’s the same with my feelings about living here in the Bay.

“This may be an unpopular opinion, but I love Cupertino. Yes, it’s home to an empire of test prep centers and a host of grade-grubbing parents more opportunistic than the moms on College Confidential. Yes, there’ve been sleepless nights spent studying (and frankly crying) over my chemistry class.

“It was bittersweet for me to think about it then, and it is still bittersweet for me to think about it now. But as I’ve spent time thinking about this — after all, what do second-semester seniors

But there was also the night before my AP Psychology exam when my friends and I lay on the floor calling out every stage of Freud’s psychosexual theory, with Korean fried chicken glaze sticky on our fingers in some sort of giggly, chicken-induced study delirium. There’s the boba shop that we went to so often I could rattle of my order half-asleep — passionfruit green tea, half ice, 30% sugar, with lychee jelly and boba, in case you’re wondering — and the car rides where my friends made me laugh so hard my stomach ached and tears pooled in my eyes. I’ve made friends and memories that I know will last a lifetime and met such amazing teachers and classmates.

Cupertino is a city that means so

much to me. It’ll be hard for me to leave come August, to know that I’m leaving all these experiences behind. But I don’t want Cupertino and my experience at MVHS to become something to compare my college experience to like some sort of omnipotent, malcontent ghost, or to spend college chasing the same highs I felt in high school (pun not intended). But the only other option is to just accept that my time at MVHS is ending; which is exactly what I don’t want to happen. Yet what I’m coming to realize is that it’s the inherent finality of all experiences that makes them precious. It sounds so obvious, and everyone says it, but it’s hard to internalize until you experience it yourself.

I treasure my high school experience because I know it’s finite. I’ve only realized how many aspects of MVHS I’ve underappreciated because I know I’m about to graduate. I cherish my remaining time with my friends and classmates because I know we may not see each other for a long time. The finality of our experiences is a good thing; it shouldn’t be something I’m running from.

In the end (and I acknowledge the irony of the word choice), I want to learn to appreciate the moments as they come in the present – not feel

Forgoing the forbidden fruit

We need to stop romanticizing drinking and drugs and open up conversation so teenagers know how to approach it appropriately in the future

As children, we were told not to go for the cookie jar, not to draw on the walls and not to eat dirt. Yet we did it anyway. There’s always been something alluring about being told what not to do and doing it anyway. As teenagers, what we can and can’t do has changed from childhood, and we yearn for more control and independence. This feeling is often achieved through doing things we’ve been denied for so long now that we have the freedom to do so.

Across the U.S., it’s not uncommon to drink underage,

with a study by the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse revealing that about a third of underage Americans have had at least one drink. The older we get, the more tempting substances start to seem.

Factors such as peer pressure also play into this, where teens may feel like they need to lean into these activities in order to connect with their peers and feel accepted. As MVHS teenagers move on to college and begin to engage in partying culture more, these activities may feel like the only way to keep up with others and find community — it potentially heightens their social status and broadens their social circles.

These activities are then likened to the forbidden fruit romanticized in the media. Forbidden fruit is something that is desired even more because it’s not allowed. According to a survey of 145 MVHS students, across campus, 68% of MVHS students share the impression that drinking or doing drugs is romanticized. The media often reinforces positive portrayals of teenagers engaging in drinking

or substance use, with alcohol being correlated with a glamorous lifestyle. Drinking appears to be a privilege of adulthood that makes users feel mature. Despite the number one cause of adolescents trying substances being exposure to other kids using them, the urge to commit these crimes is everywhere — teenagers are more likely to see an ad for alcohol than a public service announcement discouraging it. One drinking scene is shown on TV every 22 minutes, with one illicit drug scene every 112 minutes.

Over a third of these portray alcohol use as comedic, while the negative side is only shown 23% of the time.

To ensure students don’t go to college with misguided mindsets surrounding these substances, we need to establish comfortability around open conversations about alcohol or drugs. As teens become increasingly curious about these activities, by creating a safe space where they can talk about them with parents or teachers, we are ensuring that they don’t attempt these by satiating teens’ curiosity and removing the allure. By talking directly with teenagers, this also helps create trust and mutual respect. If we treat the subject as something teenagers can be comfortable about approaching in conversation, we can educate them and teach them about boundaries and dangers.

Once we graduate and go off to our various universities, access to substances increases drastically with about 50% of undergraduates in the U.S. saying they could acquire alcohol if they wanted to. If students don’t know how to use it responsibly, it’s

easy to get hurt. Scenarios such as drugging drinks are becoming more common, and will continue to happen if teenagers aren’t educated on how to avoid those situations. Without the knowledge needed to navigate these situations safely, youths are more vulnerable.

Although activities like drinking and drugs are less common among MVHS students because of the uniquely academic-focused environment, it is still present in private settings and something we need to keep in mind when considering future plans. Activities like drinking are considered taboo to talk about, but they shouldn’t be. By avoiding painting them as forbidden fruit, we are preparing students for a future where they’ll face these things in less safe environments. Without someone to talk to, teenagers are susceptible to the danger of the forbidden fruit, something we need to change.

“You’re

nervous because you care”

How I conquered my performance anxiety

BY ANIKA BHANDARKAR

Standing on the starting line is, and always has been, an incredibly vulnerable experience. It is in the heartbeats between “on your mark” and the blast of the starting gun that I am forced to take a long, hard look at myself — to scrutinize the months of training that have led me to this starting line and to be honest with myself about whether that training has been consistent enough. These moments are the ones when I have always been the most anxious, forcing myself to act confident and breathe more deeply, hands tapping incessantly at my sides all the while.

In past years, I have made futile attempts to push away the fluttering butterflies in my stomach by focusing on my goal time for each race. But the more I thought about the time on the clock, the more my hands shook and my thoughts spun out of control. On multiple occasions, I found myself shutting down because of my nerves, unable to stop thinking, “What if I don’t set a personal record?” and “What if I get a stomach cramp?” and all the other what-ifs.

Despite my love for running, my anxiety did not dissipate during these races. I was constantly worrying about whether I was on track to run a personal record and whether I was hitting the splits — the times I wanted to run each mile in — I had planned for earlier. I knew it was normal to get nervous before a competition, because even the best athletes do. But at the same time, my pre-race nerves were escalating into anxiety, which was afecting my performance and, more importantly, my love for running.

Halfway through my freshman year, I approached my coach about this problem, looking to change

my mentality before races. Instead of immediately providing me with techniques to soothe my nerves on the starting line, he gave me a piece of advice that has since resonated with me every time I am racing: “You’re nervous because you care.”

That short phrase was all it took to reframe the way I viewed my nervousness: to not only validate the fact that I was getting nervous, but to help reframe my anxiety as a positive thing. Since then, I have continued to comfort myself on the starting line by repeating that phrase, which has helped me take my mind of the “whatifs” that used to run rampant through my head and keep me focused on the present instead.

loved running and that my passion did not have to disappear whenever I raced. Finding joy on race day — by doing my hair with my friends on the way to the meet, reminding myself to smile on the start line and, most importantly to me, finding one thing to be proud of after every race have all helped me take the pressure o myself on the start line.

race itself, I found that not focusing on the times I wanted to run brought me far more

happiness than thinking about my splits ever did. Since then, my prerace goals have been far less rigid — instead of choosing a time-based goal, I set goals that are more focused on how I execute a race and do not depend on the pace at which I am running. Instead of striving to run my final mile of a 3200-meter race in under 5:40 or the third lap of a 1600-meter race in 80 seconds, I now try to make a surge on the fifth lap or look up and commit to chasing down the person ahead of me halfway through the race. Focusing on the execution rather than the times, allows me to be a lot happier after races. Finding joy during races has been a crucial part of lessening

The ULTIMATE college debt

Understanding financial plans for college helps relieve feelings of immigrant guilt

BY MEGGIE CHEN AND SARAH LIU

In just a few months, we will be attending the same expensive college on the other side of the country.

Even though our parents can technically aford it, college is still a big investment for both us and our parents’ wallets. Part of it is we live in an area where financial aid isn’t the easiest to get because salaries are higher in the Bay Area. But putting aside the fact that not every family in Cupertino can aford that type of expense, even if a family can aford to pay a student’s college tuition, that doesn’t mean that the family should or can easily do it.

We recognize that we’re fortunate that we are even in a situation where our parents can aford to pay our college tuition in the first place, and we won’t have to pay student loans — debts that many Americans continue to carry decades after they finish their education. Yet this process leaves us with another type of debt, and perhaps an even longer-lasting one. With our parents paying this astronomical amount of money, there’s a sense of duty that comes with it: immigrant guilt, a feeling of emotional debt that can be a part of the second-generation immigrant experience.

Our parents make a sacrifice to send us to college — yet another in the endless list. They could be sacrificing elaborate summer vacations or earlier retirement ages, centering their financial planning around being able to pay our college fees. In return, we feel like we have to pay back this laundry list of items for raising us and giving us this chance. While college is supposed to be a time for exploration and growth, it’s hard to do that when every class we sign up for carries a reminder of its hefty price tag.

It may seem more fitting to pursue a major that leads to the more lucrative career your parents desire for you, and it’s harder to take classes just for the sake of enjoyment rather than being major-focused when it’s possible you could save your parents the money of another year’s tuition if you just

graduated earlier.

And that’s the problem — the “might” or “could” that permeates every thought. The uncertainty that shrouds our family’s financial decisions is what makes us more hesitant or guilty about making decisions for our sake rather than our parents’ sake.

It’s kind of our parents to try and spare us the thoughts of financial worry. And while, in some respects, it is nice to bury our heads in the sand, it is hard to feel certain or stable when we can’t get a transparent look into our financial situations.

“More than anything, uncertainty about our financial situation is what exacerbates the guilt surrounding these decisions, because our tuition becomes a responsibility on our parents to figure out. By understanding how our own college tuition is being handled, we can come to our own conclusions about how much money we’re willing to let our parents spend. This puts the decisions at least partly back in our own hands, allowing us to share the burden and alleviating some of the guilt and pressure that come from the decision.

Understanding family finances and how they’re being handled allows us to make informed decisions that will better benefit our future, rather than just our short-term happiness. For example, having these discussions with parents can help students learn skills important to building a strong foundation of financial literacy — skills that will be key to making responsible decisions when they later become financially independent. Yes, these conversations about paying for higher education can be uncomfortable, but families should discuss the trade-ofs and opportunities related to paying for college sooner rather than later. The

four to six-week delays in obtaining financial aid applications from FAFSA this year serve as a reminder that there can be major hiccups in obtaining financial aid, so it’s important to have those conversations with families early.

Ultimately, it’s important to recognize that every family’s financial situation is unique. The best course of action we can take is to communicate with our families about what each family can and can’t aford for college; to set clear and shared expectations about each family’s financial situation and what each family is willing or able to pay, whether you’ll take out any loans and any amounts expected to be paid back. If you would be willing to take out student loans for a more expensive college, get multiple opinions from your parents, a college counselor and other trusted adults to make a reasonable financial plan.

Having a concrete plan of action of our own definitely helps with the guilt we feel. Knowing that our parents are secure in their finances or that we will be paying them back for a specific amount of tuition helps us feel more secure in choosing classes or majors that may not be considered traditionally lucrative. It alleviates the hesitance that could fuel our decisionmaking otherwise.

At MVHS, the end goal of our years of cofee-fueled study sessions is that coveted college acceptance letter. We often plan how to get into our dream colleges and not what will happen after we receive that acceptance letter. Creating a reliable financial plan to pay for college and having those difcult conversations about family finances are just as important a part of the college process as applications, admissions and deadlines.

BREAKS, NOT BURDENS

Students and administrators share their opinions on the no-homework policy for school breaks

BY ELLIE WANG AND ASHA WOJCIECHOWSKI

It is the Friday before spring break, and across campus, the section of the agenda on the whiteboard in most classrooms reserved for announcing homework or tests boasts a smiley face and a short message: “Enjoy your break!” Seeing such messages before school breaks is an experience many MVHS students can relate to, although having no homework during a school week is a rare occurrence. For sophomore Anya Deshpande, the lack of homework or tests around school breaks is welcome.

“Not having homework over break has helped me a lot,” Deshpande said. “I need to sleep. Also, during break especially, a lot of people schedule family vacations or have extracurricular activities happening.

So it’s helpful to just worry about that instead of worrying about school.”

This lack of homework on breaks is not just a happy coincidence; before the COVID-19 pandemic, Monta Vista teachers agreed upon a collective commitment that encouraged them to, within the best of their abilities, refrain from giving assignments over breaks. MVHS Principal Ben Clausnitzer describes collective commitments as agreements where staf join together on a topic that a school district or principal may not have mandate power over and agree to uphold it.

Clausnitzer explains that the primary goal of this particular agreement was to ensure that students could truly rest over break without looming stressors, like upcoming exams or homework assignments, which is what

staf agreed to try and uphold by not assigning homework over breaks. Despite this, he recognizes how some courses have more content to cover, and it may be difcult for teachers to avoid putting pressure on students to make progress over school breaks.

“The spirit of the collective commitments was to give no homework that a student would be required to do by the Monday they come back,” Clausnitzer said. “But I think people recognize that there’s realities like AP testing happening right after spring break, so it’s a commitment to try to get students to be able to have the break to themselves.”

Deshpande says that while most teachers don’t directly assign homework for breaks, some treat the break as extra time for ongoing

“

projects or assignments. For instance, she mentions having an essay assigned three weeks before spring break due on the Monday right after spring break. Despite having this assignment, most of her other classes didn’t assign anything, and she was still able to use the time to study for AP testing as she had originally planned.

“My teachers are usually really good about not assigning homework over breaks,” Deshpande said. “I think we should also utilize the time that we have over break to work on projects, but even if I don’t finish my work, the teachers tell me that I can just work on it when I come back to school.”

In contrast, within the two years freshman Yinuo Tian lived in China, she was always assigned a significant homework load over school breaks. Tian says that she only later realized that the absence of work at MVHS was due to a specific agreement among teachers, as, similar to Deshpande, she noticed that some of her teachers do not always abide by it. While she says that this agreement has decreased the stress she faces on breaks, Tian understands why some teachers would want to bend the rule.

reminds us, ‘OK, we still have school, and we still need to remember the material. Don’t let my guard down because I might get nailed with a test when I go back.’”

FRESHMAN

YINUO TIAN

Ultimately, Clausnitzer says that whether or not teachers assign work over breaks is not up to him. The collective commitment is based on consensus and does not have clear guidelines that teachers are obligated to adhere to — according to him, it is the “spirit” of the agreement that teachers should follow, which includes doing what they can so that students are less stressed over

breaks. Clausnitzer says that students and teachers should work together to agree upon any assignments over breaks, and in the event that he receives a report about a teacher not following the commitment, that the best he can do is to communicate with the teacher about the commitment’s purpose.

“As an organization, we try to plan our collective commitment so that it benefits our students,” Clausnitzer said. “We recognize with our colleagues that the organization is for the good of everyone involved, including our students. Our Monta Vista students are ambitious — and there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious — but we want our students to do it in a healthy way.”

“Even if there are some teachers breaking the rule, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing,” Tian said. “I can see why teachers may not like this policy because it might not fit the pace of their curriculum. Just a little bit of homework

A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

Students shouldn't feel pressured to take on so many academic activities over the summer

BY SUHANA MAHABAL

In the movies, high schoolers seem to have summers filled with picturesque trips to the beach, wild parties and skinny dipping in crystalclear lakes. But at MVHS, it’s a very different experience: as summer draws near, the conversations begin to shift from seniors worrying over college applications in the fall to underclassmen and juniors griping about their summer plans and upcoming internship application deadlines.

Instead of gossiping about their next vacation or their next pool party, students gossip about what summer programs they’re applying to, jobs they’re looking for and the best college-level internships for their upcoming careers. All of this brings up the question: when did high schoolers start feeling like they needed to do these intense activities over the summer rather than having fun?

In recent years, summer programs and internships for high schoolers have become increasingly popular. As top 20 colleges become harder to get into, competition gets fierce among MVHS students aiming for their dream universities, with high schoolers attempting to catch up to these declining acceptance rates by filling up their resumes.

Competitive summer programs like California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science or Yale Young Global Scholars receive thousands of eager applicants looking to spend their summer at a college campus to add another line to their

already-packed resumes. Without the weight of classes, homework and school sports, summer is the most opportune time to rack up activities. However, doing so often compromises the fun or excitement that comes with a summer without worry.

This isn’t to say summer programs and internships aren’t excellent in many ways. Summer programs allow students the opportunity to befriend kids from other backgrounds and areas of the country, and some programs offer the chance to explore college campuses and interact with world-renowned professors and field leaders. Internships deliver real-world experiences and connect students with experienced professionals.

84% of MVHS students have felt pressured to do summer programs or internships

*According to a survey of 150 people

For the students who genuinely want to take on these challenges and feel motivated to do so, it is an incredible experience few are lucky enough to get. But for the students who feel pressured into spending what often becomes thousands of dollars for these programs, they’ll be spending a summer doing something their heart isn’t fully in. Later on, these students may feel regret for not being able to have the summers of fun and relaxation the movies depicted. Because these

extracurriculars and experiences are so often painted as the best way to get into college and everyone else seems to be doing them, not participating in them feels like a risk that will compromise a student’s college applications.

We’re only in high school once. It’s four short years we’ll never get back — four years of freedom and the ability to try new things in a safe environment with the comfort of our parents’ support. In a few years, the majority of us will be working full-time jobs and won’t have summer vacations at all. Although summer programs and internships are enticing for resume-building, if it’s not something someone is 100% up for, it’s essentially wasting our summer away.

A lot of the pressure to go to summer programs or look for internships comes from people talking about the insane extracurriculars they did to get into the top universities in the world. It begins to feel like there

are fixed paths to getting into these schools: do this internship or go to this summer program. But resumebuilding and finding fulfillment from our extracurriculars do not have to be mutually exclusive. There are ways to instill both passion and excitement into our lives through summer activities. You don’t have to buy into what your parents or your college counselor want you to do or what they believe your summer should look like. Beyond that, attending a certain college’s program doesn’t help admission chances. A lot of the time, these programs are simply to generate revenue for colleges and act as summer camps for academically gifted students.

“

summer program doesn’t guarantee admission into a Top 20 university either — with admissions being so ridiculous and acceptance rates dropping every year, it’s becoming more difficult regardless.

SO GOOF OFF WITH YOUR FRIENDS. HAVE FUN.

AFTER ALL, YOU’RE ONLY A TEENAGER ONCE.

It’s OK to have fun during the summer. It’s OK to go to amusement parks, run through the waves at the beach and spend lazy afternoons at the mall. The whole point of summer break is to relax after an exhausting school year — something MVHS’ competitive culture intensifies. So goof off with

With MVHS being one of the top high schools in the country and sending hundreds of kids to prestigious schools across the world, there’s a lot of pressure for students to follow in alumni’s footsteps and complete insane amounts of activities to match up. Right now, 84% of MVHS students feel pressured to complete summer programs or internships over the summer. In the past, 78% of MVHS students have felt ashamed about not doing summer programs or internships.

As summer draws near and we begin to stress about our upcoming plans and if they’re enough, remember that while summer programs and internships are incredible opportunities that few are lucky enough to have, they are also not the end-all-be-all. We’re only teenagers once — there are so many more opportunities in our lives and we should remember this is the only time in our lives we’ll have this freedom. This is the last time we can experiment, make mistakes and have fun — it’s our last chance to just be kids. Doing a

you’re

only a teenager once.

PHOTOS AND GRAPHICS | SUHANA MAHABAL

CHATTING COMMUNITIES

Parent networks play both a positive and negative role in MVHS high school culture

BY APRIL WANG

Parent chats and networks, from organized WeChat and WhatsApp groups to parents simply talking to other parents online, are a common part of MVHS’s student culture. Senior Jennifer Long recalls her parents sharing advice they learn from other parents almost daily. She notes that parents tend to share about classes, college, various school or extracurricular teachers, school news and more. According to Long, she is very open to accepting that advice, having used it to help plan for college.

“My parents share about tutoring and classes, teachers, schools, application processes, everything I need to know to be college ready,” Long said.

As someone who often views advice from these networks, parent Nichole Jian also finds them extremely useful, especially because parents don’t always know how to approach helping their children or have access to resources like private counselors.

“I don’t have professionals helping, but I’m trying to see what’s best for my kid,” Jian said.

“

essay-writing tips from other parents with her daughter. Her usage of the information waned as her children got older and found their own path, but at the start of high school, it provided a good baseline idea of how to approach school.

Guidance Counselor Clay Stiver also notes that many families in the MVHS community are immigrant families who don’t necessarily have experience with the American schooling system. Both Stiver and Jian notice that the process of college applications can be stressful because of the unfamiliarity, and having a source of advice and information reduces that worry. However, Stiver observes that much of this information can be inaccurate when it comes to specific high school or college requirements or career opportunities. He cites the false ideas that volunteer hours are required for graduation or that non-STEM students will have extreme difficulty finding future success as examples of the pitfalls of parent networks.

SENIOR JENNIFER LONG

“Everything is so tough and you have to find a path.”

According to Jian, parent communities were a huge resource when it came to finding counselors and extracurriculars. Jian would also share class recommendations or

“I think there’s a lot of value in getting feedback from other parents and stuf,” Stiver said. “But I have to dispel a lot of rumors. Maybe that’s feedback for us that we need to reach out to the parent community more.”

Long also points out that these chats and forums can foster toxicity when

parents share personal information about their kids, such as what colleges they’re accepted into or what achievements they’ve earned. She recalls seeing parents asking for help, such as tutoring, that inadvertently exposed students’ struggles to others, and personally feeling pressure to match up to her parents’ expectations compared to other students.

“Even if they don’t have an intention of doing it, there’s an underlying tone that conveys to the child that ‘I need to do better,’ and it generates a lot of mental stress,” Long said.

Stiver also notes that students might face expectations that aren’t real requirements or even important to colleges, such as the aforementioned volunteer hours or taking unnecessarily difcult classes. He points out that much of the information is based on personal experiences and that each student has individualized needs.

“It’s not hurtful information – it’s all just very opinion-related,” Stiver said. “Like, saying ‘This course is really hard or easy,’ that just depends on who the student is, right? Everyone’s going to have a diferent experience.”

Jian agrees, pointing out from her experience that not all the information she found worked for her children and what they wanted out of their high school experience. However, Long and Jian both emphasize that having a parent community is still a resource that has helped them navigate school as a student and parent, coming from a place of positivity and camaraderie.

“From the students and parents, they’re helping the younger ones, and they have this culture every year,” Jian said. “I really appreciate that they share this so generously and help other kids.”

rethinking how to teach

‘like watr for chocolat’

The World Studies curriculum needs to address the intersectionality in ‘Like Water for Chocolate’

BY DAHLIA SCHILLING

In the World Studies classroom at MVHS, students hide giggles at sensual descriptions and scenes in “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel. The novel is taught during a history unit focusing on revolutions around the world, including the Mexican Revolution, the same period in which the events of the book take place.

“Like Water for Chocolate” is part of the magical realism genre, in which magical or supernatural elements are incorporated into a real-world setting. Popularized by Latin American authors from the 1950s to the 1970s, the genre is home to Latin American bestseller “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez and international classics such as“Beloved” by Toni Morrison and “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafa. While “Like Water for Chocolate” is part of the magical realism canon, it ultimately plays into the problematic stereotypical portrayals of Latinas, and intentionally paints these characters as “inherently promiscuous,” “dramatic,” “fiery” or “hot-headed.” Aside from being emotional, the main character Tita is repeatedly portrayed as a curvy woman with sexual descriptions of her generous breasts. Tita’s sister Gertrude joins a brothel,

playing into hypersexual stereotypes, but she also fights in the revolution and subverts stereotypical gender roles. Both Tita and Gertrude play into many cultural expectations and stereotypical portrayals, yet they also subvert them in some instances. Thus, to truly understand their motives, readers must discard the stereotypical narrative and predominantly consider their intersectionality.

77%

of MVHS students

who took World Studies said the stereotypes present in the book were not adressed

*According to a survey of 44 people

The book is similar to Zora’s Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” which is taught in both American Literature courses and has been both criticized and praised for its portrayal of gender and race. Similar to “Like Water for Chocolate,” Hurston’s portrayal of the protagonist, Janie, navigates the intersectionality of her identity as a Black woman. Both of these books explore women of color’s selfactualization, and desire for sex.

To understand the complexities of such books, students must be equipped with knowledge of race and gender stereotypes and be prepared to approach sexual encounters in the books with maturity. They also must be able to identify the role cultural traditions play in characters’ motivations. This becomes especially important in books where characters represent marginalized communities, such as Black and Latina women, as they have been historically

hypersexualized.

While MVHS does have a diverse literature curriculum, there is always room for improvement. “Like Water for Chocolate” fits the needs of both the history and literature subject matters of the World Studies unit, but stereotypes and intersectionality must be part of the conversation. “Like Water for Chocolate” has the potential to teach students to think critically about the intersectionality of gender and race before taking an American Literature course their junior year, but to do so, teachers must teach in-depth and critical lessons on how to navigate the complex use and subversion of stereotypes.

Teaching a racially and culturally nuanced book without equipping students with the proper tools only proves to be harmful. The World Studies curriculum must either begin to incorporate critical lenses — such as the ones introduced in Honors American Literature — to fully understand “Like Water for Chocolate” or remove the book from the curriculum altogether to stop perpetuating stereotypes that impact the Latino community at MVHS.

Summer, break! give me a (Reprise)

I am most conscious of the passage of time near the end of the school year.

BY SONIA VERMA

The end of the school year prompts reflections on adjusting to change

Maybe it’s the blue sky, the warm breeze or the way time creeps closer and closer to the middle of the calendar year when it feels like it has barely begun.

The closing of the school year always brings a sort of existential dread, yet I also find myself reflecting on how I have changed as a person.

I used to spend a lot of time alone.

I would eat lunch at the same places,

Forming relationships with my peers felt pointless — too much of an investment for something that felt so temporary.

I’d have to start over again in college anyway, so what was the point?

do my homework in the same order and run the same route daily.

Having a consistent routine and seeing the same people every day made time stand still — as if that was solely what the world was and how it would always be.

On the one hand, being alone helped me better listen to my inner thoughts,

allowing me to grow more comfortable in myself as a person.

On the other hand, my world was so small that a single upset would unbalance the perfect order I had created.

Since then I’ve learned that —

— change is inevitable.

The ability to adapt to change is just as important as the ability to form a routine.

And making friends who truly care about you

It’s better to adjust to life’s ups and downs instead of trying to force it into our notion of how it should be.

Change is still scary — but it’s better to think about it like building upon the life you’ve already lived, rather than starting over completely.

And now I know that I can look forward to the future while still treasuring the familiar, reliable relationships I have made in the past.

— just like how the season shifts from winter to spring and then to summer every year —

makes handling change so much easier.

So let’s embrace change as it comes.

Students and staff rethink the purpose of villains in media

BY LILLIAN WANG

While watching HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” English teacher Jessica Kaufman recalls enjoying the progression of one of the series’ most controversial figures: Jaime Lannister, who entered the series in season one with an unapologetically villainous bang. From committing incest to defenestrating a 10-year-old from a tower, Kaufman sums up his actions as “pretty screwed up” at the beginning. However, in the context of the story, the scenes felt striking and purposefully twisted, befitting her vision of a well-written villain character.

“I do appreciate the discomfort,” Kaufman said. “Villains don’t have to be scary, but they have to make you uncomfortable for some reason. I think that villains should have depth and not

be flat characters that are just like, ‘Oh, you’re evil for the sake of being evil’ — there’s some dimension to them, and a relatability in that dimension, on some level, to humans.”

According to author Robert McKee in his book, “Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting,” a protagonist can only be as “intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them.”

Starting with the Epic of Gilgamesh — often regarded as the earliest known piece of literature in the world — heroes and their antitheses have played out and expanded on these roles. Despite the evolution of villains between then and now, junior Cyrus Mazdeh finds that their purpose in each story remains straightforward.

“The role of the villain, it’s a few things,” Mazdeh said. “Entertainment — who would watch a movie without a villain? It’s boring. The next reason is, I think they try to use a villain to make the main character look good, and there needs to be a roadblock in the story and a climax, but movies and TV shows really need to focus on the villain. They need to give them enough time so they become their own character.”

Mazdeh notes that realism isn’t essential to his appreciation of villain characters. Conversely, complexity does matter. To explain the diference, he recalls the fictional antagonist Bowser in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” who raises an army of Koopas to raze Princess Peach’s kingdom, as one instance of an unrealistic yet compelling villain, humanized by his

struggles with unrequited love. Pure evil villains entertain Mazdeh, but he and Kaufman agree that the lack of emotional relatability hinders their ability to care for such characters.

Each year, seniors in Kaufman’s Mythology class study Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” a novel Kaufman describes as “hugely reflective of Victorian repression and fears and xenophobia.”

“The whole unit in Myth that we do is about how monsters and villains reflect the fears of society or some of the taboo subjects that we should talk about, but don’t, because we’re repressed,” Kaufman said. “Villains tend to embody those things and allow us to look at them in a socially acceptable manner. But I think in order to do that, they have to be somewhat relatable. If they’re completely alienating, then you don’t care.”

Like Kaufman and Mazdeh, junior Trisha Akhare finds moral complexity intriguing in fictional characters, especially since most of the films she watches do not revolve around clearcut heroes and villains. One exception is the live action “Maleficent,” which Akhare enjoyed because it humanized the classic “Sleeping Beauty” villain and enabled her to understand and empathize with Maleficent’s motivations.

“Generally, villains are really overexaggerated,” Akhare said. “They convey the message in an easy to digest way. I think the benefit of overexaggeration is that it’s better when people have to actually think about the message of the piece of media.”

However, Akhare finds that the use of shock value to achieve this message can become excessive, especially if its only purpose is to make the film “gritty and dark.” For instance, Akhare disapproves of rape scenes as they are often directed by men, executed insensitively and neither add to the plot nor further discussion of the topic. To Akhare, such scenes are never necessary to develop a character, no matter how villainous they are.

“In film, it’s easy to make it evident what the characters’ inner desires and thoughts are, and that is what makes good storytelling, not just showing their bad actions,” Akhare said. “The topics, like discussing the idea of it, does bring the plot forward, but I don’t think depicting it makes it more impactful. I don’t think media should be expected to carry a message through violence or depictions of violence.”

Likewise, Kaufman believes

gratuitous depictions of violence and evil are a cop-out for creating complex villain characters. To Kaufman, Jaime Lannister’s initial villainy set the stage for his later development, often hailed as one of the most satisfying redemption arcs in media.

However, many later screenwriting choices in “Game of Thrones” veered into what she views as meaningless violence, altogether leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

Akhare also notes that villains often resemble negative stereotypes associated with marginalized groups. For instance, she recalls reading an article on how past Disney villains have been queer coded (Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” was based on drag queens) or perpetuate ethnic stereotypes (evil characters such as Jafar, Shan-Yu and Mother Gothel tend to sufer from exaggerated ethnic physical features), while Disney heroes and protagonists tend to be elegant and white. Akhare explains that these tropes send a clear message to their audiences, afecting young children in particular.

“America prides itself on everyone being equal, but then they see these things and it’s worse when there’s an undercurrent of racism more than outright,” Akhare said. “Because then these children will carry these beliefs that their race is inherently bad, and they won’t even know until they get the chance to dismantle it, which sometimes is never.”

The characterization of Count Dracula references topics considered

ARTS & ENT

taboo when “Dracula” was first published in 1897, including female sexuality, homosexuality and race. Kaufman explains that an important takeaway from the “Dracula” unit in Mythology is that villains and monsters in fiction are fundamentally an outlet for human fear. This role can enable negative stereotyping, as with historical Disney villains taking on the racist stereotypes of the times, but as readers examine characters like Count Dracula, villains can also provoke deeper conversation about what society deems evil.

“There’s a psychology behind villain characters that causes us to question on a deeper level, even if it’s subconsciously, what we’re actually afraid of,” Kaufman said. “When you get scared of something, especially repeatedly, or something bothers you, you shy away from it. But then at the same time, you also think, ‘Why do I shy away from that?’ Monsters reflect our culture at the moment in time that they are created, and the moment in time you study it, and the moment in time that we relate to them.”

THE INDIE IN-BETWEEN

Students and staff share what indie music means to them

BY JILLIAN JU

When they were younger, English teacher Mark Carpenter spent a lot of time thumbing through secondhand records and CDs in record stores around Los Angeles and Long Beach. Unlike the modern streaming age, discovering new and independent artists back then was “sometimes a bit of a hunt,” but to Carpenter, the searches ultimately paid off when they would discover tracks that strongly resonated with them.

“It was weird electronic music like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher,” Carpenter said. “I didn’t know how you could make sounds that just felt so alien — it was interesting. And in artists like The Mountain Goats, for the first 20 years, it was just a guy and an acoustic guitar. Every song’s sound is the same, but the lyrics just speak to me, like, ‘Oh wow, these songs are for me exactly.’”

“

hours in the car when driving around Alaska, appreciating the way the music fit into the background instead of imposing itself in the foreground.

“I feel like a lot of typical rap or typical pop is really intense, where I feel like indie rock or R&B is a bit more mellow,”

INDIE MUSIC IS MEANT TO BE FOCUSING ON THE IN-BETWEEN. IT’S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN RELATE TO — NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE LIKE ARIANA GRANDE. RISHI SALVI

Independent music, or “indie” for short, gained popularity in the 1980s. While the term originally signified that the music had been released through an independent label, “indie” is also used to describe more subjective characteristics of music, such as the use of certain instruments or emotions.

SOPHOMORE

To sophomore Rishi Salvi, indie music is defined by a more relaxed feeling, especially in contrast to mainstream music, which he believes might lean towards being “earworms” instead of genuine art. He recalls listening to the indie band Arctic Monkeys for

Salvi said. “It’s more personal in the sense that it’s targeted to be more vulnerable — it’s not an industry thing. It’s targeted to a person. That’s something I enjoy.”

Salvi found himself resonating with the relatability of indie music, particularly the personalized feeling of the lyrics. While he grew up listening to mainstream pop, the genre eventually began to disengage him, as he felt that the emotions in the songs lacked nuance.

“Indie is a lot more personal,” Salvi said. “I feel that in a pop song, a typical mainstream song, it’s targeted to be the best a person can be, and it’s supposed to be your highest point. But most people aren’t at their highest point, and most people aren’t at their lowest points. They’re somewhere in between, and indie music is meant to be focusing on the in-between. It’s something that you can relate to — not everyone is going to be like Ariana Grande.”

Carpenter agrees with Salvi’s perspective, citing emotional resonance as another reason indie music can be appealing to people. Along with the appeal of the music

itself, they find that potent lyrics can draw them closer to the song.

“There’s that deep, personal connection of feeling like you already know a song the first time you hear it,” Carpenter said. “And then there’s that other connection that drives this other side of my music taste, where I didn’t know they could do that. I didn’t know people and musical instruments and computers and tape decks and turntables could make those sounds. That’s cool, too.”

Carpenter references the song “Cubs in Five” by The Mountain Goats, whose lyrics cynically describe unlikely events — such as that “the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league” — and juxtapose that unlikeliness with the idea that “I will love you again / I will love you like I used to.” Not only was it the first song by The Mountain Goats they had ever heard, but their father was also a loyal Cubs fan, adding another layer of connection.

“Is this just the dork’s version of Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’?” Carpenter said. “But no — there’s this optimism of these massive improbabilities that you just believe in with your whole heart. That spoke to me.”

72% of MVHS students have listened to indie music

*According to a survey of 142 students

In contrast, senior Yannis Chen focuses more on the technical aspect of music when searching for new songs to listen to. Chen, who enjoys artists like Jessie Jo Stark and Niia, believes that while she associates “indie” with the type of music she listened to when she first got into indie, the same word could have different meanings to different people.

“There’s a lot of sadness and really long album titles,” Chen said. “I feel like it’s the teenage stereotype of a bunch of emotions that are thrown together instead of having a more refined sound. But it’s hard to characterize.”

Chen elaborates that the vagueness of the term makes discussions surrounding indie music difficult, and Carpenter adds that the more abstract definition of “indie” isn’t useful for effectively describing music. To Carpenter, while it used to refer to the artist’s record label, the mainstream connotation of the term has rendered it more imprecise than ever.

“I think ‘indie’ was a more useful label when it distinguished a major record label from an independent record label,” Carpenter said. “I know in the late 90s, a lot of mainstream artists found themselves with very bare bones support, if any, from their

labels, making the distinction less meaningful there. And now, with distribution widened up so much, I think it’s even less important.”

Salvi believes that relying heavily on genre labels to find new music can be prohibitive, even if it’s a label as vague as “indie.” He encourages people to explore different genres and not restrict themselves to any specific label, especially when different genres can share similar sounds and ideas.

Carpenter agrees that using “indie” as a restrictive label is unnecessary, especially when the core appeal of the music has nothing to do with the status of the artist’s record label. Rather, it has more to do with the emotions with which the artists approach their music, and that can be a powerful force in both mainstream and independent sounds.

“It’s a kind of DIY ethos, this idea of making it without patrons, making it with passion,” Carpenter said. “And the thing is, I don’t think that’s necessarily untrue about major artists. Music is great, and people who love it and are passionate about it make the world go round, whatever it is.”

“There are some artists that don’t get at much attention as mainstream music does, despite them having just as much or more talent. That aspect appeals to me since it shows that you don’t need to be a big name to create music.”

JUNIOR RYAN LIU ILLUSTRATION | ISABELLE KOK

2D body, 1D personality

Female

anime characters are sexualized and dimensionless in a male-dominated genre

BY SHANNON YU

The moment Melisa Lu set foot in Lynbrook High School as an English teacher, she knew she was going to love her job. As a child, Lu found school to be an unengaging, tedious chore. She often wished she could be back in the comfort of her home, doing something that actually made her happy: watching anime. Now, she had a specific goal in mind: to implement diverse media, such as anime, into her themeanalysis curriculum, giving students an opportunity to enjoy the learning process in a way she had never gotten the chance to.

As much as Lu loves and appreciates anime, she admits there are times when anime is hard to watch. She has often found herself extremely disgusted by the sexualization of female characters, especially through interactions with male characters. Lu describes herself as almost jaded about it. Now, when she does see fan service — sexual material intentionally added to please the audience — Lu says she simply rolls her eyes or stops watching the anime entirely.

“Female characters tend to get less screen time or else they get power-ups of-screen,” Lu said. “It’s thoughtlessly reducing female characters to only their love for a male character or their role as a love interest, either equal to or overpowering their role as a hero. These tend to be very big defining traits of female characters that aren’t as prominently seen in the male characters.”

MVHS English teacher Shozo Shimazaki says sexualization dehumanizes girls and women. Shimazaki has a teenage daughter of his own and worries that anime may indoctrinate audiences with stereotypes about certain genders,

implicitly sending the message that the male perspective is more important than the female one.

“I have brought this up with my daughter, too,” Shimazaki said. “A lot of anime imagery objectifies certain body parts of women. There are these moments, like in ‘Demon Slayer,’ where there is a scene about a character who does objectify women from that character’s point of view. It’s not necessary — it’s inappropriate and very malecentered in point of view. That part of it, as a father, I don’t like.”

“

Sexualization appeals more to a male audience, especially younger men and boys.”

IT’S THOUGHTLESSLY REDUCING FEMALE CHARACTERS TO ONLY THEIR LOVE FOR A MALE CHARACTER OR THEIR ROLE AS A LOVE INTEREST.

FHS ENGLISH TEACHER MELISA LU

Sophomore Christopher Lamfalusi has also noticed many instances where female characters are portrayed as “horny” and in need of protection, whereas males are depicted as “manly studs.” Having started his anime journey watching “Naruto” at an elementary school sleepover, Lamfulusi has become increasingly familiar with the disproportionate female bodies and skimpy clothing that he explains are practically trademarks of many anime.

“It’s to appeal to their audience,” Lamfalusi said. “Young boys are like, ‘Oh wow, it’s a guy with a ton of girls around them’ because that is a stereotype of what a guy wants.

Lamfalusi is most familiar with shonen anime, which he says is a style of anime that caters to a young male demographic with action-packed fight scenes and harrowing adventures. On the other hand, shoujo anime is a genre made for a female audience. Often mistaken for the slice-oflife genre, shoujo mainly focuses on young girls’ journeys through growing up, forming relationships and exploring the emotions of heterosexual romance. Lu considers modern shoujo to be an interesting type of anime to watch and analyze, as writers and illustrators of shoujo are typically female, just like the characters they create.

“Over time, as discussion and discourse about female representation, portrayals, roles, relationships and romance have evolved, they’ve expanded a lot more,” Lu said. “You will still have shonen and shoujo that are focused on romance, with a love interest or female characters who are weak and trying to get stronger, but there has been a lot more variation, a lot more awareness and intentionality, about how we’re constructing these narratives.”

One factor Lu feels contributes to the overarching male domination of

anime is women’s complex role in Japanese history. In particular, Lu points to geisha — women and young girls who would serve and entertain men, performing traditional Japanese arts and hosting in teahouses. Sometimes, the girls were forced to perform sexual services for clients in the form of indentured servitude and were considered by many to be prostitutes. Lu notes the similarities between geisha women trapped in the patriarchal society of Japan and female anime characters, who only exist within narratives created predominantly by males.

Lamfalusi muses that to many people watching anime, the objectification of women likely goes unnoticed or dismissed as a simple quirk of the show. After he realized how ubiquitous it is, Lamfalusi now sees sexualization and objectification as grotesque. He hopes to see a change in the anime industry soon.

To Lu, “My Hero Academia” is a relevant case study of sexualized female characters due to the creator’s art style. She finds that Kohei Horikoshi, the writer and illustrator of the manga version of “My Hero Academia,” commonly draws female characters with a primary focus on their butts, hips or breasts, objectifying them. However, Lu says such depictions are nothing she hasn’t seen before and mentions that even through layers of sexualization, it is possible to find a silver lining. Lu mentions that in certain cases in “My Hero Academia,” as well as in other anime, she is able to overlook an anime’s sexualized character design provided the characters harness their appearances in an empowering way, whether through strength, confidence or ability to achieve their goals.

“I very much appreciate when female characters are owning their sexuality,” Lu said. “They use it as a form of power in their sense of self, in their identity. There is a diference between being sexual and being sexualized.”

Lolicon

is a genre of fctional media that portrays young girls in an erotic or sexual manner

1991

Sailor Moon, one of the most iconic miniskirtwearing female characters, debuted

Statistic from Library of Congress

Hey!

Most female anime characters are so disproportionate that if they were real, they would not be able to walk. Many would likely be anorexic.

Defnition from Urban Dictionary

Statistic from Daily Mail

retro ACTIVITY

MVHS students share their experiences with old models of media

BY ISABELLE KOK AND BENJAMIN ZHANG

for the record

Filled with an ever-growing pile of vinyl in printed cardstock sleeves, freshman Aprameya Rupanagunta’s living room coffee table is home to many records. Rupanagunta has found a new appreciation for music through these vinyls, citing Taylor Swift’s “folklore” as her favorite.

“I love it — I listen to it all day, every day,” Rupanagunta said. “The songs are obviously great, so buying the album in a physical form is such a cool thing. It brings a nice quality to it.”

According to Rupanagunta, listening to vinyl has given her family an opportunity to sit together and build memories over music. She says that her parents have been especially interested in building a collection of classical Indian music records from their youth, including records by playback singer Kishore Kumar.

“A special thing about record players is that a huge demographic is interested in them,” Rupanagunta said. “Our generation is interested in record players because it’s trending online, but my parents love it because they grew up with it — it’s

tangible memories

Junior Juliana Therese Bañes received her Polaroid camera as an 11th birthday gift from her mother. Bañes’ Polaroid is the Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 Instant Camera in smokey white, which she uses on outings with her friends to print and distribute film copies of their memories together.

“It’s cute for room decor and you can actually hang it up, unlike phone photos,” Bañes said. “I love the vintage vibe. Quality-wise, a phone camera is better, but it’s cute to keep a physical copy of the photo.”

To Bañes, Polaroid cameras are a pricey investment — excluding the price of the camera itself, each

package of 10 pieces of instant film can cost up to $20. However, Bañes says she made the purchase worth it by capturing some of her favorite memories tangibly through her Polaroid photos.

“Before I moved to California, my friend and I met on the last day of school — we were both moving that summer,” Bañes said. “I have so many Polaroids from that day, and it’s nostalgic to look back on.”

When sophomore Sahana Suresh first took her dad’s red Canon Powershot camera to science camp in fifth grade, the camera didn’t instantly capture her heart. She vividly recalls finding the photos old and grainy, falling short next to modern smartphone photography. However, after a few years of experimentation with photography, she discovered that digital photography offers unique aspects that can’t be found elsewhere.

“I think there’s a charm with using a digital camera that’s different from just using your smartphone,” Suresh said. “Using a digital camera makes me feel more mindful when taking a picture,

snap to it

whereas when I use my iPhone, I just start clicking a bunch of buttons.”

Suresh admits that there are certain abilities digital cameras lack in comparison to smartphone cameras, such as inflexibility in camera settings. However, she explains that digital cameras’ flaws may actually be their greatest strength.

“I love how nostalgic it feels,” Suresh said. “I can just remember times with my family as we’re gathering around the computer and looking at old pictures. When I’m older and I’m looking back through the pictures, I can kind of see what I saw in my eyes at that moment.”

MVHS reacts to the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef

DISS-GRACED

BY JILLIAN JU AND BENJAMIN ZHANG

Drake officially released “Push Ups” on streaming platforms on April 19, focusing on Lamar’s lack of artistic control due to his profit split with the record label he was then signed to. Notably, this is the first track where Drake brings up Whitney Alford, Lamar’s fiancee. Alford would later become a focal point within the beef, but “Push Ups” was the track that ignited the conflict and brought it out into the open.

On the same day that Lamar released “6:16 in LA,” Drake dropped “Family Matters,” where he shoots back with new allegations about Lamar’s family, including that he abuses his fiancee and is raising her illegitimate child. The track ends with the line “the picture you painted ain’t what it seem, you’re dead” to imply that Lamar’s moral superiority over him is nothing but a facade.

“TAYLOR MADE FREESTYLE” “Push Ups” “FAMILY MATTERS”

“meet

“LIKE THAT” “euphoria” “6:16 in LA” “not like us”

“Not Like Us” is Lamar’s final response as of May 22, a victory lap of razor-sharp accusations and catchy lines. Lamar hones in on every accusation he’s posed, from Drake’s pedophilic tendencies to his exploitative relationship with Black culture. The chorus, where Lamar repeats “they not like us,” encapsulates Lamar’s accusations — that Drake is an outsider and unlike him in every way possible.

“

“Usually in diss tracks, the artists don’t talk too much about their personal life. But in this beef, we’re discovering things about the artists that we never even knew about.”

of MVHS students side with Drake of MVHS students side with Kendrick Lamar

*According to a survey of 94 students

SCAN FOR FULL TIMELINE

the grahams”

“THE HEART PT. 6” 89%

JUNIOR JUSTIN YAUNG

CROSSWORD CRAZE: SUMMER EDITION

Play this crossword to get ready for summer

BY LILY JIANG

ACROSS: DOWN:

6. Where this year’s Summer Olympics will be held

7. Calvin Harris’ 2014 hit song

8. Often found at a pool party

9. Found on palm trees

10. What you use to protect yourself from UV rays

11. What you eat on a hot day

1. What you build at the beach

2. You would see a lot of fish if you did this activity

3. Will sometimes have jokes on the stick

4. Teen “ ” Movie, a popular 2010s film starring Ross Lynch

5. Green on the outside, red on the inside

SCAN FOR WORD BANK

SENIOR SUPPORT

MVHS athletes reflect on the mentorship they

BY ANIKA BHANDARKAR

Freshman Kara Wong’s favorite part about being on the Dance Team is its culture — she says all the dancers, regardless of whether they are upperclassmen or underclassmen, interact with each other. Wong notes that attending the same school as her teammates, in contrast to her experiences on a studio dance team, allows for a deeper connection within the team.

“Everyone can relate to each other because we all have similar lifestyles,” Wong said. “Our team culture isn’t fake, and everyone understands everyone, so it’s really easy to communicate with my teammates.”

The tight-knit culture of the Dance Team and interactions between grades have allowed Wong to receive valuable advice from not only her coaches but older teammates as well. She notes that this advice has changed the way she competes at dance competitions and brings her a more fulfilling experience.

“The best advice I’ve received was from my captain,” Wong said. “She told me to be in the moment and not think too far ahead about the outcome and to just think about the best I can do in the present. I used to think about the outcome and winning titles more than my execution. But now I think about the execution rather than the outcome, which has made my performance better. I’ve learned to not

have received from older teammates

count on winning something to bring me happiness.”

JUNIOR DARREN LIN

Similarly, sophomore Agasthya Kothuri, who has participated on the Varsity Track and Field team for two years, has also experienced a form of mentorship through his friendship with junior Darren Lin, who is a Varsity jumper on the Track and Field team. After joining the team his freshman year late because his participation on the soccer team overlapped with the beginning of the track and

field season, Kothuri recalls being encouraged by Lin to participate in the triple jump and long jump after initially being unsure about what events he wanted to join.

Since then, Lin has guided Kothuri through practices and competitions.

“

“I didn’t know any of the logistical things about track,” Kothuri said. “So it was such a hard thing to participate in track without messing things up. Darren guided me through how to warm up before meets and encouraged me to be on time to practice, to do my drills properly and to not goof of during practice.”

The most impactful lesson Kothuri has learned from Lin has been discipline, which is something that he admires in Lin. To him, discipline means coming to practice with a clear goal in mind and focusing on achieving that goal without getting distracted. He recalls being inspired by Lin’s consistency in attending practices — both mandatory and optional ones — despite Lin juggling a difcult course load.

Through countless practices, Lin has helped Kothuri work on his form while jumping, particularly in Kothuri’s second phase of the triple jump, also known as the “step” phase, in order to help him cover more distance in that phase. The moment Kothuri set a personal record in the triple jump at the 2024 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Championships and, according to Lin, “finally fixed his form,” was an impactful moment for Lin. Despite the two jumpers competing against each other during track and field meets, Lin has not experienced any conflict between mentoring Kothuri and competing against him, mentioning that he “doesn’t take it personally” if Kothuri jumps farther than him. Similarly to Kothuri, Wong has also found that having many upperclassmen mentors has motivated her to want to keep dancing through all four years of high school. Having many supportive upperclassmen on her team has

FRESHMAN KARA WONG

inspired her to one day take on the role of a mentor when she becomes a junior.

“A lot of the juniors have been very open to me and I feel like that’s really helpful because I get to learn about the team and also about the people,” Wong said.

“partially because students feel less pressure to listen to older students than their coach, and subsequently have more freedom. Ultimately, mentoring Kothuri has become a way Lin finds fulfillment in his sport beyond his own performance.

“I try to help Agasthya improve because the sport isn’t just about getting better yourself,” Lin said. “It’s also about seeing other people around you also achieve what they want to achieve.”

“They already know a lot about dance, so I hope that when I’m a junior or senior, I can do that too, so people my age can have the same experiences.”

FRESHMAN KARA WONG

Kothuri, Lin and Wong all agree that the relationship between an athlete and their mentor is far less formal than an athlete and coach dynamic, and Kothuri notes that his relationship with Lin feels more like a friendship. Lin believes that athletes’ relationships with older students generally have a better connection than with coaches,

A deep dive into the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

BY DYLAN NGUYEN AND MIHIR VISHWARUPE

Breakdancing will make its debut this summer. What started as part of the New York Bronx hip hop culture of the 1970s has now spread its influence around the world.

*According

GLOBAL GAME

Students share their experiences with international travel sports

BY ANANDA SINGH AND VARUN SINGH

When she was younger, junior Lotus Wu would sit in front of the TV and admire the Chinese dancers performing on shows and at festivals, which began her passion for dance. Through her mother, Wu met well-known Chinese dancer Feng Ye, who eventually became a vital part of her training for Chinese dance. Being under Ye’s guidance for many years exposed Wu to opportunities to further connect with Chinese culture by traveling to China for The C Dream dance program. Although the programs had a period of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year was its first year restarting, and Wu’s studio was eager to return.

“Since the program’s goal is to teach American Chinese kids more about Chinese culture and the dance style, being in China itself was like a full-circle moment,” Wu said. “The teachers and the vibes were filled with more Chinese culture, and everyone’s attitude changed because it was a more professional feeling rather than being in a studio.”

The exposure to Chinese culture is what ultimately left a lasting impression on Wu, as she was able to connect with her roots and deepen her dance journey. She emphasizes how the authenticity of learning Chinese dance in China became a highlight of her time.

people who I grew up watching on TV and known for their Chinese dance come to teach us was really inspiring.”

Similar to Wu’s experiences with more professional teaching in China, several agencies scouted sophomore Chandril Banerjee to play in soccer tournaments in Barcelona.

He recalls playing against the Barcelona Academy team, which added to his training and his hopes of becoming a professional soccer player in Europe.

“

“I learned a lot about the game technically and tactically,” Banerjee said. “The coaches require different things from their players during practice and knowing these things makes it easier for me to become more well-rounded.”

IT BROADENED MY HORIZONS AND HELPED SHOW ME WHAT WAS OUT THERE.

SOPHOMORE

Since his grandparents lived in Canada, sophomore and hockey player Christopher Lamfalusi found it convenient to play there, similarly mentioning that the experience immersed him into a fresh environment. Through his time there, it helped him connect with many new players, more than only gaining expertise about the sport.

EVERYONE’S ATTITUDE CHANGED BECAUSE IT WAS MORE PROFESSIONAL FEELING. LOTUS WU

Banerjee also mentions the challenges that come up when being in a new environment with foreign players. He explains how the environment exposed him to unique playing styles that he had to adapt to, opening his eyes to more about the sport.

CHRIS LAMFALUSI

“We used to just learn in our own studios and then perform in Houston and other places,” Wu said. “Being in a real studio with master classes with

“The adjustment period took some time and was difficult,” Banerjee said. “I just trained to learn from the players I was playing with and mimic what they were doing.”

JUNIOR

“I found all of the Canadian players to be really good, as one might expect, but they were also all really welcoming and kind to me,” Lamfalusi said. “They struck me as people who really loved just playing the sport.”

On a bigger note, Lamfalusi reflects on the valuable connections he made with multiple players, highlighting how an international travel sport expanded his perspective by connecting him with peers from different backgrounds.

“It broadened my horizons and helped show me what is out there,” Lamfalusi said. “One of the greatest parts of playing a travel sport is that you get to see kids from all kinds of different places.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAHNDRIL BANERJEE | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER LAMFALUSI | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO BY JINGJING LIU | USED WITH PERMISSION

SPRING SPORTS RECAP

A recap of the spring sports season

BY ANANYA CHAUDHARY AND MICHELLE ZHENG

In a Quadruple Meet on April 11, junior Rishi Bhagatwala (top right) won sixth place out of 20 competitors in the Varsity Boys 100-meter dash and achieved a personal record of 11.91 seconds. MVHS hosted the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) trials for the El Camino division on Wednesday, April 24. Sophomore Zoe Laruelle (bottom right) and junior Rajeswari Kenyan (bottom left) finished the Varsity Girls 100-meter Hurdles with times of 18.90 and 18.91 seconds respectively. Both finished in the top eight and qualified for SCVAL finals.

On its senior night, Varsity Baseball suffered a 14-3 defeat to Milpitas High School. The Matadors put up a good fight in the first few innings. However, the fourth inning marked the team’s spiral into four consecutive losses, with MVHS gaining no additional runs against MHS. The Matadors had an overall record of 8-19 and a league record of 2-13.

Varsity Softball lost 17-1 against Cupertino High School on Tuesday, May 7. Despite MVHS scoring one run in the fourth inning, CHS dominated with a total of 17 runs. As MVHS failed to score more runs in the fifth inning, CHS mercied MVHS. The team’s record was 1-11 with a 1-10 league record.

PHOTO | AIDAN RUAN

PHOTO | JASON CHU

PHOTO | STELLA PETZOVA

PHOTO | KAIA YUAN

Freshman Jonathan Chen and the rest of MVHS Varsity Boys Golf beat Cupertino High School 207-216 on Thursday, March 21 at Moffett Park. Although MVHS did not qualify for the Central Coast Section (CCS) Regional Two Boys Golf Championships, junior Ethan Lien secured a spot as an individual competitor after placing second overall with a score of 70. Lien placed fourth overall in CCS Championships with a score of 67, qualifying for NorCal Regionals.

The Matadors lost 25-5 to Lynbrook High School on Tuesday, March 26. Sophomore and Varsity 2 player Ryan Wong (right) paired up with junior Harshvardhan Patil (left) to compete in one of the three Boys Doubles matches.

MVHS Varsity Badminton defeated Fremont High School 29-1 in its first game of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Despite it being senior and Varsity Girls Doubles player Sruthi Venkatesan’s first time playing doubles with her partner, senior Arshia Rikhi, they still dominated the game, winning both sets 21-10 and 21-13.

In its last home swim meet of the season, both Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys defeated Mountain View High School 10763 and 96-70 respectively. The team ended the meet with members delivering speeches to seniors. The Swim team had an exceptional season, with 12 members qualifying for the Central Coast Section (CCS) Swimming Championships and five qualifying for NorCal Regionals.

After finishing as the No. 1 seed in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division II playoffs, Varsity Boys Volleyball got a bye for the first round. Then, it advanced to the finals with flawless 3-0 victories and was crowned the CCS Division II Champions after defeating Aragon High School. However on Saturday, May 18, MVHS played in the NorCal Division III Championships and fell to Leigh High School 3-2, finishing second in the NorCal Regionals.

PHOTO | KENNETH GAN

PHOTO | MANAS KOTTAKOTA

PHOTO | DYLAN NGUYEN

PHOTO | MEGHA MUMMANENI

PHOTO | MEGHA MUMMANENI

PHOTO | ETHAN YANG

PLATINUM SPONSORS: Krish Dev, Vrinda Dsa, May Ju and Yi Li

GOLD SPONSORS: Felix Ruan and Yanchun Xu

SILVER SPONSORS: Abhijit Mahabal, Ying Tan, Bob Yang and Michael Zhao