What’s next?

Rushing in MVHS alumni share their experiences with Greek Life BY PRANATI KOTAMRAJU AND IRENE TANG

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANIKA DESHPANDE | USED WITH PERMISSION It was a rainy evening, so MVHS alum ‘21 Anika Deshpande and eight other new Delta Gamma members huddled inside Penn State University’s science building to take pictures with the group. Clad in their sparkly purple-pink, white and gold dresses, the colors seemed to reflect off the walls as the laughter echoed throughout the room. Deshpande says this was one of her favorite memories with her sorority sisters.

“I think one nice thing about that was we were all able just to spend time together and really get to know each other,” Deshpande said. “It was really fun getting ready for a homecoming dance and taking pictures with all your friends.”

In joining, Deshpande hoped to find a community among the 30,000 undergraduates who attended her university. Deshpande also joined in hopes of participating in school events that Greek life plays a large role in.

“We have a very specific schoolwide philanthropy called THON,” Deshpande said. “It’s a 46 hour dance marathon to raise money for children with cancer. Greek life is a very big part of THON, and it’s one of the best ways to get involved with it.” On the other hand, MVHS alum ‘13 Siddharth Manoj joined the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega at USC, which he describes as similar to Key Club at MVHS. This fraternity is for individuals who want to perform acts of service both in and out of school. Manoj volunteered as a tutor at an underserved elementary school near USC.

“I specifically tutored this one kid [in fourth grade] who I remember was really struggling when he first [started school],” Manoj said. “He was very rowdy and would not listen to anyone the first time I got there. I was like, ‘OK, this is terrible.’ But then after two or three months, I felt like I was making a difference because he started to

get better at what he was doing. He was actually listening to some of the advice that I was giving him. I think he was slowly learning and picking up on a lot of that.”

MVHS alum ‘21 Christy Feng, who was part of Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Washington initially decided to join a sorority because she wanted to expand her social circle. However, after a period of time Feng decided to leave because she felt that her priorities did not align with other members of her sorority.

“In Monta Vista, everyonewas pushing each other to challenge themselves academically,” Feng said. “I don’t really see that [at the sorority], and in Monta Vista, there’s very much a go-getter attitude about your future and your aspirations. [In the sorority], there was just a different prioritization on other aspects of life, other than academics, which is totally fine. I just prefer a [more] work hard and play hard [mentality].”

Deshpande believes there are misconceptions about sororities as some sororities focus on social aspects more than academics. She says while a lot of people think that the girls in sororities only join for partying, everyone she’s met through her sorority has been “well-rounded and hardworking.”

“There’s a GPA requirement to be in [the sorority and] we have the second highest GPA on campus for sororities and fraternities,” Deshpande said. “You have to fill out an application when you are going through rush and they’ll ask about GPA, community service and [philanthropy]. A lot of people in my sorority are in very difficult majors and still manage to keep a high GPA and do a lot of other extracurriculars too.” According to Feng, being in a sorority also comes with particular obligations, such as maintaining a certain image. In her sorority, all members were prohibited from posting explicit content across all social media platforms. Feng stated that these rules also protected her, since they prevented uncomfortable situations when it came to employers as most jobs check employee’s social media before hiring them. Although Feng found these rules restrictive at times, she believes that it did do more good than harm since they helped portray her in a better light professionally.

In other instances, Deshpande notes that alumni that were part of the sorority would be in positions where they are allowed to reference or hire people, and reached out to members of her sorority to ask if anyone was interested. Delta Gamma’s alumni network grants Deshpande and other members opportunities that would be

much more competitive to get if they weren’t part of the sorority. “One of the main reasons people go to college is not only a degree but the networking opportunities, and I think that being in a sorority opens up your network,” Deshpande said. “We have chapter advisors who are professionals, and they give recommendations for jobs and [other 18% opportunities]. It also helps you be a more well rounded person and a [stronger] candidate because you have to do training on how to [recruit] people and that helps you [become] more well spoken.” of MVHS students Both Manoj and Deshpande encourage students to rush fraternities plan on rushing a sorority and sororities if they are interested, or fraternity in college due to their personal experiences. “Being in a sorority is definitely a According to a survey of 139 people positive experience,” Deshpande said. “I think there’s a lot of stigma around it and oftentimes people dismiss it, [but] if you’re on the fence about it, I would say go through recruitment. If you don’t like it, you’re not tied down to finishing recruitment, which is really nice. I know it sounds cheesy, but you’ll end up where you’re supposed to and for the most part it worked out for [everyone I know].” PHOTO COURTESY OF SIDDHARTH MANOJ | USED WITH PERMISSION

New beginnings New beginnings Exploring alum college adjustment journeys BY KRIPA MAYURESHWAR AND ERIC ZHOU

PHOTO COURTESY OF SERENA LIU | USED WITH PERMISSION In her freshman year at Scripps College — a private women’s college in Claremont, California — MVHS alum ‘20 Serena Liu was one of two Asian people in her Core 1 class — a class focused on “diversifying one’s process of thought and narrative.” As the class discussed “Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong, a book about the Asian-

American experience,

Liu found herself being constantly singled out and asked for her thoughts by her professor due to the fact that she was AsianAmerican herself. Though she believes he had “no ill intentions,” Liu felt the experience was “jarring” and was a contrast to what she experienced at MVHS, where “almost everyone” was Asian so she was never singled out in that manner. “We had affinity groups for certain ethnicities, cultures and religions [at MVHS], [so] I never felt the need to join any of that because I always felt like I was the majority,”

Liu said. “I didn’t feel like I couldn’t find a community. That [was] until I came to college. I saw the demographics and I was like, ‘Wow, there are a lot of white people.’”

Compared to the 80% Asian student body at MVHS, the Scripps’ student body of approximately 1,000 students is 17% Asian. Liu shares that she found solace in meeting other Asian-Americans because her identity helped facilitate networking and friendships.

“[At MVHS, being Asian-American] wasn’t anything special,” Liu said. “But [at Scripps], I definitely went through [the experience] of finding myself and my own identity [because I was] exposed [to] a predominantly white institution.”

Despite Scripps being 50% white, Liu says the minority groups attending the school are much more diverse than at MVHS, especially regarding mindsets. MVHS alum ‘21 Nelson Mu, who attends UC Santa Barbara, agrees that attending college has exposed him to a broad variety of communities. For example, Mu shares that his participation in a labor organizing group, where there are almost no other Asians and the “vast majority” of participants are Latinx, gave him exposure to new ideas. Even among people pursuing the same major, Mu acknowledges that everyone’s path is different, resulting in a less competitive environment.

“[My] college experience is so unique,” Mu said. “Everybody’s pursuit of [their] major is so diverse that it’s difficult to stack yourself up against other people. College is a lot more about improving yourself than it is about doing better than all of your peers.”

MVHS alum ‘21 Eugene Yoon, who currently attends Carnegie Mellon University, echoes Mu’s sentiment,

sharing that he is now able to better enjoy activities he participates in thanks to the absence of overly competitive peers. Yet, he also acknowledges the challenges that come with newfound independence.

“[At] Monta Vista, I was doing things just for the sake of it, and it did not make me happy,” Yoon said. “Being in college, I’m able to do things a little bit out of my own spirit. It’s been helpful for me [in] managing my mental health while enjoying the things that I do. But with that freedom also comes the fear of being irresponsible.”

While adapting to college life, both Liu and Mu initially struggled with time management, citing motivational and productivity challenges. Mu in particular struggled with his workload and was stunned by the pace of the courses: contrary to the slow start of high school, Mu shares that his professors lectured course material on the first day.

With a student body of roughly 26,000 students, Mu considers UCSB a large university. Mu feels that one of the biggest advantages of being at such a large university are the amount of opportunities, especially in terms of clubs and organizations. For example, according to Mu, there are at least six Chinese related clubs at UCSB, as opposed to the single Chinese Honor Society club at MVHS.

However, Yoon, whose school has a population of approximately 14,000 students, explains that smaller college sizes were the deciding factor when he was applying. He believes that obtaining a high level of education i s correlated with cultivating studentteacher relationships, and CMU’s smaller size has allowed him to connect with professors on a “more personal basis,” which he feels has “greatly impacted how [he] learned.”

Liu agrees that smaller schools are great for networking and connecting with professors but believes that smaller schools can impair one’s social life by fostering clique culture. “If you are not vibing with someone at a big school, you always have the option to just find someone completely new and it’ll be fine,” Liu said. “But at a small school, if you don’t vibe with someone, you can’t just cut off ties that easily [because] finding a new group is a lot harder.”

Despite some of the difficulties she experienced at college, Liu shares that her time away from MVHS has ultimately helped her understand that MVHS students struggle due to high standards. Thus, Liu advises that students should not prioritize academic success at the expense of their well-being and self-worth.

“I feel like college applications really force people to reevaluate their self worth, which I think is so unhealthy,” Liu said. “But everyone at Monta Vista [should] be proud of what they’ve done. [College is the] start of something new. It’s not the end, it’s [the beginning].”

PHOTO COURTESY OF EUGENE YOON | USED WITH PERMISSION

Getting with the program Getting with the program MVHS alum recount their experiences in specialized programs MVHS alum recount their experiences in specialized programs BY SOPHIA MA AND TRISHA SANNAPPANAVAR BY SOPHIA MA AND TRISHA SANNAPPANAVAR

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEO NISHINO | USED WITH PERMISSION Studying abroad significantly lighter workload than at The color pink filled his MVHS. vision as the springtime “You realize how advanced MVHS’s sakura blossoms bloomed level is,” Nishino said. “You guys are in Kyoto, Japan. Among crazy smart and that’s the thing. You the conversations of [also] realize how diverse MVHS is Japanese pedestrians, the despite it being in America [because] vastly different languages you learn a lot. [In Japan], I might be in a of English, Spanish, class talking about cultural encounters Vietnamese and Japanese — they might be talking about China dialects spoken by his friends as if you’ve never heard about China and roommates surrounded or never talked to anyone Chinese, him. Walking in the crisp air with but I’ve kind of done that every day [in a group of international and Cupertino]. I mean, heck, I’ve been to

Japanese students, MVHS alum their house, to their parents’ houses

‘21 Neo Nishino felt the moment and talked with their parents.” was surreal. Although Nishino is the “black cat Although Nishino currently living abroad,” he doesn’t feel like he attends Ritsumeikan University has left his life in Cupertino behind. in Osaka, Japan, studying abroad Instead, he has set himself on “a in an English-based international different set of rails” that has led him program for a Community and to a new country and future that better

Regional Policy Sciences Major, it aligns with the life he has always was never his plan. Despite holding imagined. While living in Japan comes dual citizenship, Nishino has lived with its challenges, Nishino has been a majority of his life in the U.S., only able to do things that others “just see residing in Japan for a single year in an anime” — such as attending in fourth grade. Given the cheaper night festivals, going to temples and tuition and opportunities to connect participating in club activities. Since with his culture and find work in Japan, living abroad, Nishino has realized Nishino decided that this was the best that he will always be responsible for path for him to take. his Japanese culture, but his home will

Other than the fact that “a good always be the Bay Area. population” is Asian, Nishino noticed “Because you live in Cupertino and that compared to Cupertino, studying you go to MVHS, you don’t realize in Osaka is “a 180 degree difference,” how rare your gift is — of speaking two specifically noting that Japan is languages and knowing what America a country that could “fit inside of and other places [are] like,” Nishino California” with a train system that said. “You realize that you’re a needle could take in the haystack him virtually anywhere in the country. SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE and people will look for that and they In terms of his will pay a lot school, Nishino of money for notes that Ritsumeikan has a larger that … You’ll come to learn that you’re campus, food that is both cheaper different [and] you’ll come to value and better-tasting than MVHS’s and a your life a lot more. ”

During the fall of her freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MVHS alum ‘20 Audrey Cui applied for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). While she was initially hesitant, Cui applied after recalling something she had heard in her high school English class — men apply when they meet 60% of the job requirements, while women only tend to apply after meeting 100% of the requirements.

At UROP, Cui says she had the opportunity to collaborate and contribute to real research. An example of the research she worked on is relighting light sources in images.

“We did this by generating pairs of fake images with different lighting conditions to train a model that does image-to image-translation,” Cui said. “This model learns how to ‘translate’ an image under certain lighting into the same scene but with another lighting condition.”

Furthermore, UROP allowed Cui to explore her interests in a community of people who she respected, including her mentor David Bau, an older grad student who had worked as a software engineer before getting a PhD. Cui believes Bau is a “really wise person” and guided her throughout her research and was there for her with his “happy go lucky personality.”

However, there are times in research where Cui is unable to rely on others and has to deal with challenges. Cui recalls a time when a research paper she worked on for 20 hours was rejected from publication. Though she says the initial rejection was detrimental to her mental health and drove

her into a wall of burnout and a lack of motivation, Cui ultimately learned to separate herself from work and academics. Her change in mindset allowed her to be more comfortable and take time for herself. “At the end of AT THE END OF the day, if you get into MIT, that’s THE DAY, JUST DO WHAT YOU great,” Cui said. “If you don’t get into MIT, at least you ENJOY AND MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY. spent your time doing what you enjoy and care MVHS ALUM ‘20 about. Probably, [furthering yourself AUDREY CUI as a person] more than MIT would. I think it’s great that MIT definitely has the resources to help you develop these passions further, but to be honest, other schools do as well. At the end of the day, just do what you enjoy and make yourself happy.”

*According to a survey of 135 people (some selected multiple options)

PHOTO COURTESY OF AUDREY CUI | USED WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO COURTESY OF OISHEE MISRA | USED WITH PERMISSION Moving in Exploring how former MVHS students experience dorm culture BY ALAN TAI

The moment MVHS alum ‘20 Yoanna Lee moved into her dorm at Franklin & Marshall College, she was greeted with an immediate 72-hour quarantine. She remembers that many COVID restrictions were in place, such as food being delivered to her door and only leaving her dorm to use the bathroom.

“My mom flew all the way from [Philadelphia] to help me get there and unload,” Lee said. “She was going to buy me dinner, but they said [that she] had to leave. My mom [was] crying for hours from the window saying bye, and it was really heartbreaking.”

While COVID restrictions have died down, Lee’s experience reflects the independence and change that students face while going to college, especially in dorms. MVHS alum ‘21 Oishee Misra highlights how she spent less time in her dorm than she normally would at home.

“In college, your schedule is a lot more malleable because you get to pick when your classes are,” Misra said. “Typically, there are a lot more breaks in between classes, and you can have late night classes.

The biggest change for me was figuring out what I wanted to do [during] those empty spaces in between my classes. Because of that, I ended up spending a lot less time in my dorm than I would [have spent] at home in my room.” MVHS alum ‘22 Leela Srinivas echoes Misra’s feelings regarding her newfound independence, as she quickly realized she lacked the necessities she would typically expect at home.

“When my parents left, I was crying from moment to moment, and I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t have tissues,’” Srinivas said. “What am I supposed to do?”

Misra shares that living in dorms exposed her to a unique environment. Rooms in resident halls often house two to four people, and multiple rooms are connected to a shared bathroom, with amenities like kitchens and study spaces nearby. Some colleges like Misra’s also offer on-campus apartments.

This communal living helped facilitate a social environment for Misra amid her newly gained independence.

“This was my first time living with other people, and I actually really enjoyed it,” Misra said. “I didn’t think I would because I’m pretty introverted, and I don’t like being around people all the time. But I feel like when you go to college, everything is new. You don’t know anyone, so it really helps [to live] with other people. A lot of the time, your first friends at college are your roommates.”

Dorms also have resident advisors (RAs), or other students that help enhance dorm culture and increase bonding. Lee’s college house elects people to a parliament to host dorm events, similar to how Leadership at MVHS hosts on-campus events.

“One thing we do is sundaes on Sundays,” Lee said. “They always get ice cream for us on Sundays at 9 p.m. The whole dorm goes downstairs, and we’re all eating ice cream.”

MVHS alum ‘21 Harini Aru believes that dorm events are a key part of getting to know others, but a lack of effort from her RA made it difficult for her to bond with her roommates.

“I know some RAs were really proactive and organized a lot of

floor events, and that created a lot of bonding among people living on the same floor,” Aru said. “A lot of [my friends] became really close friends with other people on their floor. Our RA didn’t put [in] that much effort. For me [and my roommates] personally, we would smile and say hi, but we were just roommates in the end. I found a lot more of my friends through my classes and going to events outside.”

Srinivas shares an experience similar to Aru’s, saying that most of her relationships formed outside her dorm.

“The time spent in your dorm [compared to] the time spent at home is wildly different,” Srinivas said. “You can basically spend all of your time outside of your dorm if you want to, which is pretty different, especially growing up in Cupertino, where everything is 10 minutes away by car. I’m more likely to make friends in classes or clubs since [those are where I’ve mainly been].”

MVHS alum ‘21 Patrick Nguyen describes that sometimes, other factors affect alum’s abilities to become friends with people in their dorms.

“We lived with an RA, and he was really annoying,” Ngyuen said. “He didn’t clean anything. Sometimes people will just be screaming and stomping around while other people will actually be respectful of your boundaries. [One of my friend’s] roommates was failing [class] and they started freaking out and throwing stuff around the dorm. Some of [my friends] actually did end up moving out because it was such a hostile environment.” To avoid causing issues for roommates, Nguyen suggests that before coming to college, MVHS students should learn basic skills like doing laundry and cleaning up after themselves. He also recommends that students create an environment in their dorm that will foster productive learning. For Lee, personalizing her dorm created a safe space she felt best in.

“Be excited and get creative with how you’re going to decorate your room,” Lee said. “Your dorm room is going to be the place that you come home to rest. Even though you’re going to live

there temporarily, [still] make it the place where you feel like you’ll be happy, because there aren’t a lot of places on campus that can do that. You have to create your own safe space.” Misra also agrees with the sentiment MAKE IT THE PLACE of finding ways to put worries aside. WHERE YOU FEEL LIKE While the transition to college might be stressful, Misra says her initial YOU’LL BE HAPPY, worries regarding moving and losing BECAUSE THERE AREN’T valuable friendships diminished with time. A LOT OF PLACES ON “Honestly, when you get to college, CAMPUS THAT CAN all of that [worry] kind of fades away,” Misra said. “It’ll work out. Dorm life DO THAT. YOU HAVE is one of the most exciting things TO CREATE YOUR OWN about college. There’s something very special about the friendships SAFE SPACE. you make at college — [it’s] a once in MVHS ALUM ‘20 a lifetime thing. You’ll get to stay in a place with so many other people in YOANNA LEE a walkable community where your whole life will be on this little campus, and I think it’s just a very special thing.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF YOANNA LEE | USED WITH PERMISSION

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Coming to terms with the individual impact we have on combating climate change

Bike to school instead of driving. which perhaps stirs up a feeling of through: we expect Apple to continue Eat less meat. Turn off the lights powerlessness. investing in green technology and when we leave the room. Don’t As individuals, there are some ways our senators to read our letters and use plastic utensils. we can contribute to the fight against advocate for climate friendly bills.

In the last century, the Earth’s climate change on a larger scale. We Realizing this, we again return to a temperature has increased by 2 can choose to support companies feeling of powerlessness — a lack of degrees Fahrenheit due to human that have made commitments to agency that means acknowledging behavior. If this trend continues, there fighting climate that our efforts will be catastrophic consequences — some of which are already emerging change: Apple has invested STAFF EDITORIAL will never amount to what we hope — such as major heat waves and $4.7 billion they will. flooding, mostly impacting lower into green OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE How are we socioeconomic communities and technology and EDITORIAL BOARD supposed to deal magnifying the effects of the income Nike intends with this? gap. As unintentional contributors to run on 100% renewable energy by Unless we have some loophole that to the cause, we often embed small 2025. We can also harness the power can somehow magnify our individual practices in our lives to try to help of grassroots democracy to create impacts to a tangible extent, we alleviate the impacts of a devastating change by writing letters to our state just have to validate this feeling of situation. representatives and senators asking powerlessness and, more importantly,

But our mild inconveniences are them to support environmentally realize that there’s nothing wrong with outweighed by the monetary profits friendly bills. it. We are just one person in a world big companies reap through choosing However, our individual of almost eight billion — our power to to invalidate or simply ignore climate contributions to a collective make change is limited. Accepting that change. According to The Guardian, entity rely on someone biking to school will not solve climate since 1988, 100 companies have else to follow change is one step toward realizing caused 70% of the world’s industrial that we as individuals should not have greenhouse gas emissions, and to bear the responsibility of the health more than half of those emissions can of our planet alone. be traced to just 25 corporations. But this shouldn’t be an excuse

When compared to for inaction. The worst these 25 corporations, thing we can do for the our efforts appear fight against climate minimal, outweighed change is give up hope, and essentially because we would be negated. How much not only conceding the of an impact does possibility for saving choosing to bike our planet, but also have when Taylor essentially exacerbating Swift has used her climate change by private jet 170 times choosing not to take in 2022, with flight action against it. Instead, emissions 1,184 times we have to recognize that higher than the average our role in the solution is person? Looking at these minimized, and as long as we statistics, it may feel like continue practicing climatethere’s nothing we can friendly habits, that’s the do as individuals to most we can and should fight climate change, expect from ourselves.