OCTAGON
Country Day students and teachers react to potential U.S. TikTok ban
BY REHAN AFZAL & SID SHUKLA
“Alaw banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
On Jan. 18, TikTok users across the United States opened the app only to be faced with the foregoing message – TikTok, an app with at least 167.5 million users in the U.S., was inaccessible for users throughout the country.
Just 12 hours later, the ban was lifted. This time, the message read: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
The rapid change came as a result of an exec-
utive order signed Jan. 20 which allowed 75 days before any further executive action on the matter.
In February 2023, the U.S. government began scrutinizing TikTok after concerns that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, could share user data with the Chinese government. This led to an escalating series of events, from the 2020 executive order under the Trump Administration that sought to ban the app outright, to the mounting bipar-
tisan efforts to pass bills that could either restrict TikTok or push for its total ban. The bills, like the RESTRICT Act introduced in March 2023, give the U.S government the power to prohibit any software or application that threatens national security. However, the bill has faced criticism, with opponents questioning the broad interpretation of “national security.”
TIKTOK page 3 >>
Parental pressures affects student academic performance and health
BY ANISHA MONDAL & JACOB RABE
Parents are in crisis, according to the latest U.S. Surgeon Advisory Report on “The Mental Health & Well-Being of Parents,” released in 2024.
The report states that nearly 3 in 4 parents worry that their child will struggle with anxiety or depression and 70% worry about exposure to social media — including the pace of technology and ability to prepare their kids for a future that’s increasingly “harder to anticipate.”
The report emphasizes that parents of all backgrounds push their kids to do
CAMPUSCORNER
AUCTION & GALA
The 60th anniversary Diamond Masquerade Auction & Gala is happening on March 15 from 5:30-10:30 p.m. The event will be hosted at the Del Paso Country Club. Tickets are $100 and only 150 are available. The winner of the raffle will recieve $5,000 towards Country Day tuition.
well because they “want to provide their kids with a foundation for happiness and success.” But at what point does parental pressure become too much for high school students?
In a report published by the American Psychological Association on 20,000 American, Canadian and British students, they found that “young people’s perceptions of their parents’ expectations and criticism have increased over the past 32 years and are linked to an increase in their perfectionism.”
Interviews conducted at Sacramento Country Day reveal that this kind of pres-
MOCK TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Country Day Mock Trial team will compete in the California Mock Trial State Championships from March 14-16. The trials will be held at Superior Court Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles.
sure on students is very present at our school.
Kellie Whited — who serves as both the high school science department chair and a mother of two high school children — has noticed how parental expectations influence students.
“I’ve seen students affected by their parents’ pressure,” Whited said. “The various sources of pressure on students is actually something we as a faculty talk about.”
Over the summer, Whited read a book “Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — and What We Can Do About It” by Jennifer Breheny Wallace,
which changed her perception of many aspects of her students’ lives.
“This book was truly impactful and it changed the way I talk to my students because it highlighted ways that my word choice — which I thought was encouraging — could be perceived differently by the student,” Whited said.
Director of College Counseling Alicia Perla finds this same pressure to have a harmful impact on students.
“Students under parental pressure get more stressed than they already are, which can lead to them getting sick and missing
PARENTAL STRESS page 6 >>
INSIDE ISSUE the DR. MALAK ABOU FAOUR FEATURE
Read a feature of Dr. Faour recieving her Ph.D. in January 2025. (PAGE 4)
TIKTOK GOES DARK
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Ava Eberhart
Saheb Gulati
Zema Nasirov
Garrett Xu
COPY EDITORS
Eesha Dhawan
Saheb Gulati
Ryan Xu
NEWS EDITOR
Aaryan Gandhi
FEATURE EDITOR
Eesha Dhawan
SPORTS EDITOR
Andrew Burr
A&E/OPINION EDITOR
Kate Barnes
TECHNOLOGY TEAM
Ava Eberhart, manager
Daniel Holz
Rebecca Lin
Ryan Xu
PHOTO EDITOR
Rehan Afzal
PAGE EDITORS
Rehan Afzal
Andrew Burr
Jesse Dizon
Ava Eberhart
Aaryan Gandhi
Anisha Mondal
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov
Garrett Xu
BUSINESS STAFF
Aaryan Gandhi, manager
SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF
Ava Eberhart, co-editor
Anika Nadgauda, co-editor
REPORTERS
Noor Alameri
Lukas Chung
Ava Levermore
Vivian Li
Parsiny Nijher
Maggie Nuñez-Aguilera
Jacob Rabe
Jack Robinson
Maddy Schank
Sid Shukla
Zachary Vando-Milberger
Andrea Yue
Ryan Xu
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Rehan Afzal, editor
Simon Lindenau
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov
MULTIMEDIA STAFF
Ryan Xu, editor
Andrew Burr
Jesse Dizon
Anika Nadgauda
GRAPHIC ARTISTS
Claire Gemmell
Anika Nadgauda
Zema Nasirov
Gavin Wang
ADVISER
Andrea Todd
The Octagon is the student-run newspaper of Sacramento Country Day high school. The print edition is published eight times a year, and the website is updated regularly. The Octagon is committed to unbiased and comprehensive reporting, serving as a source of reliable information for SCDS students and the school community. The Octagon will publish all timely and relevant news deemed appropriate by the editors-in-chief and adviser. We seek to highlight high-school-related events and spotlight the voices of those with a story to share. Further policies can be found on our website or by scanning the QR code below.
Mock Trial team wins county, third time in a row
BY KATE BARNES
“We’re not like the Chiefs.”
This is what senior co-captain of the Sacramento Country Day Mock Trial team Garrett Xu had to say in response to the team’s performance on Feb. 10, when they won the Sacramento County championships for the third year in a row.
“We actually pulled through on the three-peat. Womp-womp to Patrick Mahomes,” Xu said.
The team’s win against Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep High School (NP3) will send them to the state championships in Los Angeles in March, where they placed fourth last year.
The preliminary rounds of the 46th Annual Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Mock Trial Competition took place over the two weeks prior to the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Feb. 8.
Of the four preliminary trials, Country Day lost one to NP3. The team faced NP3 again during the final championship round, in which Country Day won three ballots to one and 675 points to 649, making them first place out of the 30 teams at the competition.
According to Xu, NP3 was a tough opponent to face.
“I can say with one hundred percent certainty that they’re the best team that we’ve faced this year in county,” he said. “Obviously, the ballots came out for us winning, but they were really good.”
Additionally, several team members won individual awards.
On varsity, these awards were:
• Best Pretrial Attorney: senior co-captain Saheb Gulati
• Best Attorney and Team MVP: senior co-captain Garrett Xu
• Best Witness: juniors Rehan Afzal, Rya Allen and Isaac Reynen
• Best Bailiff: sophomore Matthew Inman
Inman credits his preparedness and cheerful demeanor for raising his scores; however, what he feels best serves him is his initiative.
“Most importantly, I do more than requested. I put in more work than what is expected,” Inman said.
For instance, during the final round against NP3, Inman recalls that he helped take down exhibits of evidence, as they were far away from the attorneys, despite it being uncommon for him to do so as a bailiff.
Xu, who received two individual awards, said he is more proud of the team as a whole than he is of his achievements. Specifically, senior Ava Eberhart and juniors Liam Donohue and Anika Nadgauda — with Eberhart and Donohue as first-time varsity attorneys and Nadgauda returning after a year away from varsity.
“They really pulled off beyond what I expected them to pull off,” Xu said.
Donohue, a defense attorney who was a witness and a bailiff last year, said the change took some adjusting to.
“Initially, it was nerve-wracking. Attorney is a lot harder than bailiff or witness, but I grew into it, and I enjoy it,” he said.
During the semifinal round against St. Francis High School, Donohue made two impeachments against a witness he was cross-examining, essentially catching the witness in a lie.
“It kind of was like a light bulb went off in my head, saying ‘that’s not right.’ So I impeached her,” Donohue said. “That was one of my best trials. It was really fun.”
Leading up to the trial, Donohue faced several challenges that he had to overcome, including his enunciation and the speed of his talking.
“Throughout the year, I worked really hard on that, recording myself going through the direct, just slowing down and enunciating clearly,” he said. “I still have a little bit to go, but I definitely improved a lot in that aspect.”
The junior varsity Mock Trial team also competed at the county competition, taking part in four scored rounds of trial and scoring the highest out of the six total ju-
nior varsity teams present. Several team members were recognized individually as well. These awards were:
• Best Pretrial Attorney: junior Rebecca Lin
• Best Witness: freshman Simran Datta
• Team MVP: freshman Mayuri Kasturi
Defense attorney Kasturi — who originally joined the team to work on her speaking skills and gain some experience on what it was like to be a lawyer — shared her experience as a first-year on the team.
“It’s really fun, and I really like my role. All the seniors are super kind and helpful. The coaches, also, they’re really good coaches, and with their help, you can beat a lot of teams,” she said.
The varsity team’s win comes after they placed fourth out of ten teams at the Invitational Bay Area Bash Mock Trial Tournament on Jan. 11-12 at Hillsdale High School.
Gulati was selected to win the best pretrial attorney at the tournament out of roughly 20 other pretrial attorneys. Unlike the awards at the county competition, which are given to several different people, Gulati was the only one to receive a “Number One” best pretrial attorney award.
Gulati, like Inman and Donohue, highlighted the importance of preparation before his trials.
“If you want to do an excellent job and cover all your bases, then you need to start in advance with memorizing the case facts and thinking through the analytical aspects of the arguments,” he said. “I think that’s one thing that I do, and Country Day pretrial attorneys generally do better than a lot of other teams.”
The junior varsity team was present at Bay Area Bash as well, informally competing against the Hillsdale High School junior varsity Mock Trial team.
Earlier in the season, the varsity and junior varsity teams each had 12 scrimmages against various schools.
New coach Miranda Drolet joined the team at the beginning of the season after previously coaching Elk Grove High School.
“I work with the students on pretty much
ISSUE 5 CORRECTIONS
It is The Octagon’s policy to correct factual errors and to clarify potentially confusing statements. Email us: octagon@scdsstudent.org
Page 12 “Lunar New Year Traditions”: The name of the beast in Chinese mythology was incorrectly referenced. The mythical beast that terrorizes the streets of villages at the end of the year is called Nian, not Yen.
Nian was also incorrectly stated as a dragon. No one mythical beast or animal can fully describe Nian.
Nian Gao, a traditional sweet rice cake, does not prevent Nian's ravage of children and livestock. Rather, firecrackers and the color red do.
any aspect, working on opening and closing statements, working on direct examinations, cross-examinations, objections and the evidence code. It kind of depends,” she said.
Her experience with the Country Day team has been positive so far, and she plans to stay next year.
“I think they’re a really great group of kids,” she said.
The state championships will take place March 14-16 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court Stanley Mosk Courthouse. The varsity team will be competing against other top teams from counties across California for the title of state champion, a title Country Day has never won before.
Before the state championships, coach Rick Lewkowitz said that there are a few things the team needs to improve on.
“We need to work a little bit more on how we cross-examine, and part of that is witness control. Witnesses are not supposed to use up time, but some of them do on some teams, and we need to know how to deal with it a little bit better,” he said.
As far as the team’s chance at winning the state championship, both Lewkowitz and Drolet said that it could go either way.
“I think we have a reasonable shot, but there’s so many things that we don’t necessarily have control of,” Lewkowitz said. “I think they’ll be very strong. But there’s always a number of teams that have a good chance.”
Drolet says the competing teams will be challenging to beat, but “we bring a good challenge as well,” she said.
MAKING A STATEMENT Senior co-captain attorney Ava Eberhart presents opening remarks on behalf of the defendant, played by junior witness Isaac Reynen. PHOTO COURTESY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION
Blood drive collects enough blood units to save 111 lives
BY MADDY SCHANK
On Friday, Feb. 7, Sacramento Country Day School hosted its first blood drive of the 2024-25 school year in the Benvenuti Gymnasium. Running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the drive collected 37 units of blood, enough to save up to 111 lives.
The drive was organized by student coordinators junior Zema Nasirov, freshman Mayuri Kasturi and adviser Kellie Whited — also serving as the high school science department chair — who succeeded the former Physical Education Department Chair Michelle Myers after her retirement last year.
“I cover a lot of the topics that correlate to what Ms. Myers does with health, and so we’ve always worked really closely together,” Whited said. “I’ve helped out here and there for years, and when Ms. Myers needed a replacement, she decided it was me.”
It was also Kasturi’s first year helping with the blood drive, but it was Nasirov’s second.
“My first blood drive, I was a bit nervous. I got there super early,” Nasirov said. “I was very wary, and I wanted to be super present in case they needed my help.”
This time, however, she was more confident.
“It was nice to be the one in the know and help other people get used to what a blood drive was like,” Nasirov said.
Whited worked with the student leaders
to arrange a date for the drive that worked for both the Red Cross and the school, a process that involved coordinating with the Physical Education department and checking the Country Day master calendar, which is the general schedule for the school.
“You kind of get caught up in the spirit of it. It’s such an easy thing to do, and it can be so impactful and help so many people,” Whited said.
A typical donation, which is a pint of whole blood, takes only 10-15 minutes, while a Power Red donation, which provides twice the number of red blood cells, takes about an hour.
After donating, donors rested for 10-15 minutes at a resting area with food and drinks to ensure that they were safe to leave.
According to the Red Cross website, donors must wait at least 8 weeks between whole blood donations and sixteen weeks if they did a Power Red donation.
“It’s often not their first time, and you get to hear a lot of cool stories about why people donate so often,” Nasirov said.
One such donor, chemistry teacher Victoria Conner, has donated several gallons of blood over the years and participated in the February blood drive. She is what the Red Cross calls a “Hero for Babies” because her blood lacks antibodies for CMV and her blood type is O+. This means that it can be given to newborns, making it medically valuable.
“It’s a little thing that I can do that can
literally save lives. Why wouldn’t I do it?” Conner said.
Eligible donors wishing to donate blood can go to redcross.org and enter their zip code to find a blood drive near them. Donors must be at least 16 years old, but donors who are 16 need parental permission to donate.
In the February blood drive, donors were predominantly from the general Sacramento community, and very few students were able to donate. The student leaders aim to advertise the next blood drive, scheduled for May 1, earlier, so Country Day students have the chance to sign up and donate as well.
TikTok: Students hold mixed opinions about TikTok ban
(continued from page 1)
“RESTRICT is also vague and broadly written, and could be interpreted (and has) in various troubling ways,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has voiced strong concerns about the bill’s broader language and the potential for its misuse. However, it has not passed into law.
In contrast, the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which specifically targets foreign-owned mobile applications was signed into law in April 2024, passing 118-50. It specifically targeted apps like TikTok and mandates their divestiture.
In addition to federal legislation, states such as Texas and Montana have moved forward with their own restrictions, citing concerns over data privacy and security risks. Montana has even proposed a statewide ban, citing national security risks and the need to protect users personal information from being accessed by foreign adversaries.
As the U.S. Government continues
to debate the potential TikTok ban, many are concerned about its impact on young users.
“A lot of my interest comes from how the ban would affect young users, particularly in terms of their digital well-being,” said senior Saheb Gulati, an advocate for responsible technology. Gulati views the issue as an opportunity to improve digital well-being.
Gulati’s perspective is shaped by his involvement in Project Liberty, an organization focusing on giving users’ more control over their digital lives.
Project Liberty is working to ensure that people in the U.S. and around the world have a greater say, more options and a stake in the digital space. The organization aims to make platforms safer for young people by giving them more control over their data and the content they encounter.
For sophomore Mayen Wood, TikTok provides an experience unlike other apps with similar interfaces.
“I use my phone a lot more because of Tik Tok,” Wood said. “You have more access to things that you wouldn’t on other apps like Instagram – the feed
just is not as good.”
Despite the fact that she enjoys her time on the app, Wood believes that she’d grow accustomed to a ban if implemented.
“I’d try to open the app, since it’s kind of a muscle memory, but honestly, after two months I’d probably forget about it,” Wood said.
Junior Ashly Omalu even supports restrictions in the interest of student productivity.
“I think students would actually benefit from TikTok being banned. It would add study time for students, because a lot of the time students are focusing on scrolling on the app instead of doing their schoolwork,” Omalu said.
In contrast, junior Riley Ruttan opposes government intervention.
“It would affect my friends because they’re always showing stuff on TikTok to each other,” he said. “Many Country Day students are on TikTok, making videos, and that’s a fun experience. The ban is taking that away from them.”
In 2019, Ruttan decided to download the app after his friends showed him TikTok comedy videos at school. Since then, Ruttan has enjoyed the customized video recommendations and broad variety of information available on the platform. With that in mind, he has also felt another side of being on the app.
“There were times where maybe I spent too much time on it in a single day, and it distracted me from other things that I had to get done. Overall, it’s a much bigger piece of my day than I really realize it is,” Ruttan said.
High school math teacher Jo French Jr. studied sociology in college, and has been teaching for 26 years. He has noticed changes similar to Ruttan’s both inside and outside the classroom.
“I’m not sure how much I can generalize past my classroom, but it does seem that attention spans are getting shorter,” French said. “The need to capture students’ attention with excitement and flair has risen over the years.”
If a total ban in the U.S. does come to pass, Ruttan still believes the effects will be significant.
“TikTok getting banned would especially hurt people that promote their business on the app. Another con is that it would hurt just average people like myself, who use the app for information or funny videos,” Ruttan said.
Gulati recognizes that TikTok is used for entertainment value, not solely social connection. He believes this is one of the reasons it’s so addictive.
“The way we get information has evolved,” Gulati explains. “We tend to look at the comments to gauge whether something we’ve seen is true. But what’s troubling is that both the content we’re seeing and the comments we read aren’t being shown to us based on factual accuracy. They’re being shown based on what you engage with the most.”
Gulati also highlights how this model shapes perception. He believes platforms like TikTok have significant control over ideology.
“It makes the platform that you’re using have a lot of power over determining, as a whole, what users are thinking,” Gulati said.
While concerned about the addictive nature of TikTok and similar platforms, Gulati also recognizes their potential for creativity.
“TikTok has given a voice to so many people who might not have had one before,” he said.
As concerns about the potential TikTok ban persist, advocates like Gulati are calling for greater attention to the impact such decisions may have on young users.
While the future of TikTok remains uncertain, the ongoing discussions about its regulation reflect broader questions about how the nation balances technology, safety and youth engagement in the digital age.
BLOOD WORK The American Red Cross blood drive hosted by Country Day on Feb. 7 collected 37 units of blood. GRAPHICS BY ZEMA NASIROV
MALAK ABOU FAOUR, PH.D.
“Inti shigili, ana nem.”
Sacramento Country Day physics teacher Malak Abou Faour remembers her son, Renno Abou Zaki, ‘33, saying these words, translating from Arabic to, “You work, and I’ll sleep next to you.” It’s a memory Faour said inspired her whenever work became overwhelming.
At that time, in 2020, Faour was balancing the demands of teaching full-time while entering the fourth year of her second doctoral research project in her third country of residence. Her son’s words became a source of reassurance, reminding her that she was not alone in her hard work.
Three years earlier, in 2017, Faour had applied to the doctorate program at Lebanese University in Lebanon.
The greatest motivator for Faour’s work was her father, who had to end his pursuit of a physics degree when he was hired by the Lebanese government.
“His heart and mind was still in physics. So he always wanted me to fulfill his dream and get the physics degree,” Faour said. “And after I got my physics degree, he said, ‘Now it’s time to get your Ph.D.’”
Lebanese University, which had an acceptance rate of under 9%, was her first-choice school. At first, she was not accepted.
“I felt frustrated and lost hope,” Faour said.
At the end of 2018, she applied to the University of Geneva in Switzerland and was accepted, requiring Faour to move to Geneva to begin her doctorate program.
“I started my Ph.D. journey at the University of Geneva, working with a professor and then developing a proposal,” Faour said.
In 2019, Faour started working with Andreas Müller, a professor of Science Education at the University of Geneva, who specializes in physics and science education research.
Müller helped Faour develop her thesis, based on research focused on the sensors inside mobile phones and how the phone could be used as a portable laboratory for scientific research.
Müller also taught Faour how to code. She favored the R programming language and used it for statistical computing and data analysis. R also allowed Faour to perform the statistical analysis required for her Ph.D.
“I had a great professor in Geneva and I still appreciate him today. Those two years in Gene
va taught me a lot,” Faour said.
In 2019, a year into her program at Geneva, Faour received a call from the Lebanese University. She was the only candidate for physics education who was requested to reapply to their Ph.D. program.
“They called me and asked me if I would still want to apply because they felt that they had made a mistake from the previous time I had applied in 2017,” Faour said.
She agreed to reapply with a new research topic: “Integration of Physics and Chemistry in the Lebanese Curricula: Effect of an Elaborated Integrated Sequence of Physics and Chemistry on Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Epistemological Beliefs.”
She was accepted and would have to return home to Lebanon if she chose to attend.
“It was a gain for me,” Faour said. “I proved to myself that I deserve to get into the doctorate school.”
Though attending Lebanese University was enticing due to its location in her homeland and lower cost, Faour would not be able to continue the research she’d spent the past year developing at the University of Geneva. She would have to start fresh with an entirely new topic.
So, Faour decided to continue at the University of Geneva through 2019.
In 2019, the economic crisis in Lebanon was worsening, making it difficult for Faour to access funds from Lebanese banks to pay for her education in Geneva.
“I was supposed to take a sabbatical for a year or two and to travel to Geneva to complete my study,” Faour said. “With my money locked and no salary, it wasn’t possible.”
Faour made the difficult decision to leave Geneva and return to Lebanese University where the offer of admission still stood. She still wishes she could have finished at the University of Geneva.
“Geneva is expensive, and to live there for two years without salary, without savings — that’s impossible,” Faour said.
COVID-19 hit Lebanon in 2020, further worsening the economic crisis and causing widespread shutdowns, making it even more difficult for Faour to carry out her studies.
“Our money savings got locked in the bank, and are still locked till now. We are unable to get money from the bank, from what we have saved all of our life,” she said. “I decided that I needed to find a better future for my kids some-
where else — a more stable place.”
With difficult conditions in her home country, Faour and her family moved to California in 2021 to start a new life.
Since 2013, Faour and her family have had permanent residence cards, commonly known as green cards, through family reunification, a visa for reuniting families across countries. Faour has relatives in the United States.
The move from Lebanon to the United States was difficult for Faour. She missed what she had left behind in Lebanon.
“I suffered a lot away from my family, away from my beloved ones, away from my friends, away from my traditions, away from my culture,” Faour said.
Faour found a job at Country Day on a recruitment platform.
Kellie Whited, high school science department chair, saw the potential of Faour at Country Day from the start.
Faour was interviewed during the COVID-19 quarantine while Country Day was on a hybrid school schedule. She was asked to conduct her interview and sample lesson via Zoom while she was in Lebanon.
Sample lessons are challenging for teachers since they don’t know the students, but it is all the more difficult to do so on Zoom with no face-to-face interaction, Whited said.
“She did an incredible job. Faour was able to make personal connections with the students and encouraged them to freely participate in the lesson,” Whited said. “We knew that she would be all the more amazing teaching in person if she was able to do such a great job over Zoom.”
Faour began teaching high school physics and math at Country Day in 2021.
Meanwhile, Faour decided not to pursue her Ph.D. in the United States as she did not want to have to restart once again. Instead, she continued to work on her degree in Lebanon remotely.
“I thought it would be hard for me to manage, starting from scratch again while doing my job and being in a new culture and environment. It was too tough. Since I had the basis of my dissertation in Lebanon, I decided to continue what I had already started,” Faour said.
In addition to her research and writing, she was required to do field work which consisted of mini projects to apply her Ph.D. work.
Faour said her Ph.D. thesis from the Lebanese University reflects theories she developed as a teacher.
“From my teaching experience, I believe that students are either obsessed with physics because they love physics and math, or they are just doing it to complete the requirement without having interest. So my dissertation has been to try to create a life-based curriculum,” Faour said.
Faour focused on integrating science, specifically physics and chemistry, to show how STEM topics relate to building scientific concepts for students and how they can create real-life applications.
“I built an integrated sequence, and then we applied it in many schools there, and we tried to collect the data and to show how that integrated sequence would affect the education in Lebanon,” Faour said.
As Faour’s doctorate research addressed Lebanese students, she had to apply it to Lebanese schools to conduct her fieldwork.
“I applied that three times — two times during my presence in Lebanon — and I couldn’t get good results. Every single time, the project got interrupted midway,” Faour said.
Faour also had colleagues who she mentored online via Zoom.
“I had to get up many times at midnight just to make sure to attend the video calls — to see what they were doing in class and to make sure they were applying and implementing what I am doing exactly in my dissertation,” Faour
The project took a total of two months to
implement. She had to cut part of the regular class in Lebanon to conduct the research for her project.
Faour would have to receive cooperation from the teachers, which was hard because STEM in Lebanon is not taught the same way as in the United States due to more government control.
“I had to get approval from chemistry, physics and biology teachers, and in addition to that, the administration of the school,” Faour said.
Faour conducted most of her research virtually. In total, she went back to Lebanon three times while teaching at Country Day to oversee her project in person.
“We, the Lebanese, got used to the political and economic instability and the war. So for me, that was fine. That’s Lebanon — take it or leave it,” Faour said.
The persistent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resulted in an invasion of Southern Lebanon, and in November 2024, the United States Department of State issued a travel advisory warning citizens not to go there.
Despite the conflict in Lebanon, Faour still booked a flight on the only airline still flying to her homeland to defend her dissertation.
“Nobody should prevent me from coming,” Faour said.
In 2025, Faour completed her doctorate in Education with an emphasis on the teaching of physics from the Lebanese University at the School of Literature, Humanities and Social Science. It took her six years overall to earn her Ph.D.
Her 430-page dissertation begins with a dedication to her father, who passed away before she earned her degree.
“He always called me ‘doctor’ before I even got involved,” Faour said.
Now, after recently returning from her graduation ceremony in January, Faour remembers how hard it was to balance everything in her personal and work life.
“I had to be a full-time mother and teach my kids, especially when we came here,” she said. “I had lots of pain, especially with my son, because he was not able to speak English, so I had to dedicate a lot of time to helping him. On top of that, I had to clean, cook, etc., and continue to work on my doctorate.”
Faour decided to send her kids to Country Day, not only because it is known as the best STEM school in the Sacramento area, but also because of the community, she said.
“Country Day is a community that is formed of different cultures. I thought that my kids would not look different because everybody’s different here, and they would have strong bonds with all the different partners of the community,” Faour said.
Freshman Mayuri Kasturi is in Faour’s physics class.
“She makes physics fun and she is very excited about teaching. She makes me excited about learning,” Kasturi said.
In addition to teaching full-time at Country Day, Faour is currently teaching at the university level: a physics course on mechanics (Physics 410) at American River College and a lab course in electricity and magnetism (C11) at California State University, Sacramento.
She is already planning her future.
“First, I will have some rest. Second, I would ask myself, ‘What’s next?’ I am somebody who dreams a lot and who has lots of passion to grow up and have a greater education,” Faour said.
One of the drives behind Faour’s work is her two sons, senior Cezar Abou Zaki and Renno.
“I thank Cezar and Renno for understanding my role as a full-time teacher, mother and student. Cezar always told me, ‘I trust you, Mom, you can do it,’” Faour said.
Cezar is proud of his mother’s accomplishments.
“It’s important to me because that’s always been her dream that she’s been working on for over the past six years, and seeing her achieve her dream is such a huge thing for me,” Cezar said.
Porfermlng at Carnoglo Naii
The Crescendo International Music Competition is a youth music competition held annually. The competition consists of two rounds — the auditions, held in November 2024, and the performance, held in January and February 2025 in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The qualifications for the second round are to place in the first, second or third honors categories during the auditions.
Robocca Lln Kal Nlrahara
On Feb. 15, junior Rebecca Lin stepped onto the stage at Carnegie Hall, armed with a week’s preparation and her lucky charm.
The audience for the competition consisted mostly of parents watching their children, so her hope for the audience was simple: for them to not feel like watching the performance was a chore.
This was Lin’s fourth year attending the competition. There were about 10,000 competitors in the second round of the competition.
Lin was not aiming for the grand prize, so she viewed the competition as more of a recital.
“For the actual Carnegie part, I might have just practiced like the week before,” she said. “There wasn’t really a plan. It was just, you know, riding on my hopes and dreams.”
Despite how low-stakes the competition was for Lin, she still brought a lucky charm: a necklace with three birds on it. The necklace is a talisman that she has worn to every exam, recital and competition.
But despite her lucky charm, something went wrong. In the middle of the piece, during a short break, an audience member began clapping.
“I don’t think it interrupted my performance, because for this piece, it happens a lot, so I kind of expected something like that to happen,” Lin said.
“The clapping was in a part where you end the third variation of the theme and go into the fourth one. It wasn’t like it was in the middle. It was kind of when one part stopped and the next one started so it wasn’t a big deal.”
The piece that Lin performed was Liebestraum No. 3, a romantic piece. For her, that means less technique and more emotion.
“You just spill your heart out and play. If you are not entirely in time, it’s not the biggest deal, because it’s a romantic piece,” she said.
Initially it was her parents that pushed her toward the piano. At age 6, when she first started, she viewed playing the piano as a chore. Since then, Lin’s music has developed to involve more emotion.
That shift, from a parent-mandated activity to an expression of emotion, made her enjoy the instrument and drove her to continue playing.
“When you get older, you appreciate music and the way that it lets you express your emotions,” Lin said.
When junior Kai Hirahara performed violin at the Crescendo International Music Competition, he faced a unique challenge: having to play the same piece the audience had just heard.
Hirahara prepared “Praeludium and Allegro” by Fritz Kreisler for his performance. While he originally practiced a 13-minute long piece, he changed his repertoire due to a six-minute limit for the performance.
Hirahara chose the piece due to its tone and difficulty.
“The piece should be easy enough to learn in a month but good enough to sound decent,” Hirahara said.
His first audition for the Crescendo competition took place in Folsom, Calif.
At the audition, Hirahara faced a problem.
“The person right before me played the exact same piece, so I had to play better than them,” Hirahara said.
The same situation happened again at Carnegie Hall.
“I don’t know why they do that. They’re so mean to me! Well, it worked out since I played better than both of the people,” Hirahara said.
This was the first time Hirahara has participated in Crescendo International.
Out of the nine performing violinists, he placed first.
Not only was this his first time performing at Carnegie Hall, but it was also his first time traveling to New York. He spent the Friday before the competition exploring, viewing famous landmarks and eating food.
“New York is great; if you want any type of food, you just have to look for it, and you’ll find it,” Hirahara said.
In the high school orchestra, Hirahara is the leader of the second violin section this school year. Maria Hoyos, orchestra and chamber music teacher, emphasized his contributions to the orchestra.
“He helped other violinists a lot, and I really appreciate that he has committed to the orchestra all these years while having many other commitments,” Hoyos said.
The reason?
“I guess violin makes me a bit more expressive with myself. I just love the sound of it, and making music is always fun,” Hirahara said.
PARENTAL PRESSURE IMPACTS
(continued from page 1)
school. Then they start getting behind in their work which affects their grades and starts the cycle again,” she said.
Perla also recognizes that parents aren’t able to see how much their kids are pushing themselves in school.
“They only see or hear about the students who are taking highly rigorous classes and are super committed outside of school,” she said. “They start looking at their own kids and then put on the pres sure.”
Whited has also noticed how some students pri oritized validation from their parents rather than focusing on learning the material.
“Pressure to do your homework, to study, and to improve is important because it’s a normal part of life,” Whited said. “But, when the grade and the percentage is the only thing that matters, that’s where it can be really damaging to the students’ self-worth and their willingness to rebound.”
Perla agrees that grades aren’t the most import ant part of education. She believes that learning and developing critical thinking skills are vital for succeeding in education.
“You can get good grades without necessarily un derstanding or retaining the material. Good grades help get them in the door for selective schools, but their education and the skills they have developed through their education is what will allow them to be successful,” she said.
On the contrary, high school English teacher Jane Bauman — who worked as Country Day’s college counselor for 10 years — finds grades to be a vital part of a student’s college application.
“Every time I would talk to admissions officers from colleges, they would tell me that the most im portant thing for an applicant to present in their college application is the transcript,” she said.
After focusing on grades, Bauman stresses the importance of pursuing leadership roles and aca demic opportunities for college applications.
“There’s plenty of room for a student to pursue activities that really make them shine, but the first and foremost thing is the academic transcript,” Bauman said.
One of the college admissions officers told Bau man that they’re able to decide whether a student is able to perform well in certain colleges based on the student’s grades and the rigor of their classes.
Octagon moderator Andrea Todd — whose own work-study job was in University of California (UC) admissions — agrees with Bauman’s emphasis on the importance of grades.
“I would argue that grades are the most import ant factor. In some cases it’s the only factor if you are applying to a UC or California state school,” she said.
In high school, Todd was never able to get any thing higher than a B+ in her math courses.
“Today, that string of B-pluses would keep me out of not only my alma mater, UC Berkeley, but likely the other three UCs I had applied to and nearly all of what were my safety schools at the time,” she said.
Todd points out that UC admit rates are currently hovering around 30% and neither that test scores nor recommendations are considered in the appli cation process.
“Yes, there are the Personal Insight Queries (PIQs) where you can shine. But let’s be honest. For most applicants, you either have the grades or you don’t, especially for the state schools — which don’t accept essays,” she said. “For parents like my
STORY BY ANISHA MONDAL AND JACOB
IMPACTS STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH
GRAPHICS BY ANIKA NADGAUDA
that matters. It’s the fact that it’s the college that can get you the degree that you want, at a price you can afford, and that will help you be the person you want to be,’” she said.
According to Roberts-Govan, parents often view their children as a direct reflection of themselves. She believes that parental pressure also stems from parents feeling the need to prove themselves as
“Parents do kind of get that pressure of whether the kid’s doing good or bad, and I think that’s what leads to some of their heightened expectations,” Roberts-Govan said. “It kind of puts them in this space of wanting to appear as if they’re the perfect parents all the time, which is just not possible.”
Dr. Seema Sehgal, a psychiatrist and practitioner for Washington Medical Health Group who specializes in adolescent anxiety and depression, acknowledges that these expectations are well-
“I know parents have good intentions when they push their child to succeed, but parents need to be the calming voice in their children’s lives,” Sehgal
Two Country Day students, who chose to remain anonymous, recognize an additional layer of pressure Country Day’s tuition puts on their academic
“It costs a lot to go to Country Day and my parents want me to make sure that I’m putting their money to good use,” one of them said. “When I get a bad grade, they think that I’m taking it for granted. As a result, they put a lot of pressure on the
That student recalls their parents trying to develop study plans for them to keep their grades high even when these methods didn’t work for them.
“If I was in a public school, I would still have the obligation to do well. But since money is involved, I think my parents monitor what I do more for school because they want to make sure that what they’re chipping in is effective for me,” they said.
On the other hand, the other student’s parents aren’t the ones funding their tuition: their grand-
“Since I don’t see my grandparents that often, I don’t get that daily reminder to do good like most other kids have,” they said. “Sometimes the totality of everything: my friends, the comparisons between us and money overall can compound the
This student still finds the stress significant.
Isolation also plays a large role in the stress parents impose on their kids. In that same study by the U.S. Surgeon Advisory Report, parents also reported experiencing isolation and loneliness at record rates: 65% and 77% of single parents.
In fact, 42% of those parents described feeling “left out” which can heighten their stress of needing to know if their kid will succeed in high school
At the end of the day, Whited stresses the importance of communication between students and
“It’s vital to have these uncomfortable discussions because it helps us understand each other as people, and especially for teenagers as they’re becoming adults,” she said.
RABE;
“Dream
Graduation” by Claire Gemmell
EDITORIAL: Seniors demand senior quotes, caps and gowns
BY EDITORIAL STAFF
Every May through June, there is a two-week period when Instagram is flooded with seemingly nothing but graduation photos. These come from various high schools in Sacramento and beyond: Rio Americano, Jesuit, St. Francis, Christian Brothers, etc. What do they all have in common? Caps and gowns for all students. Want to look in their yearbook? You’ll see senior quotes.
Ask any student what they picture when they think of the word “graduation,” and the majority of them will likely respond with these two exact things.
Even elementary and middle schools even provide caps and gowns for their rising students.
Sacramento Country Day School has neither of these. Students are basically allowed to wear whatever they want, (including a cap and gown if you go out and find one yourself), and there is no uniformity. Why, you may ask? Because Country Day is “different.” This differentiation has been marked by traditions unique to the school, but in recent years, some of these have been taken away.
At this school, we always celebrate each other’s differences, which typically makes people feel more included and comfortable in our community. However, in this case, being different can make graduating students feel alienated from those at other schools.
In some ways, it also diminishes the gravity of graduation. The event is so special that a specific outfit is dedicated to it, which is never used in any other context.
Senior Henry Wilson agrees.
“Our high school graduation is a once-in-a-lifetime milestone — a time to celebrate with all our friends and family around us. Without caps and gowns provided for us, it kind of just feels like just another day, when in reality, it’s something we’ve been looking forward to and working toward pretty much our entire lives,” Wilson said.
According to Wilson, the cap and gown are more than just an outfit; they symbolize everything seniors have worked for. Not participating in this tradition makes graduation feel like it is students’ high school career fizzling out instead of ending with a bang.
Medallion staffer and senior Cara Shin believes the same goes for senior quotes.
“I would love to have senior quotes. It’s a way for everyone to have an individual imprint on the yearbook. It makes it feel more personal,” Shin said.
Incorporating these two traditions would bring students closer together by creating memories that last for a lifetime.
One could argue that changing these two things would go against Country Day tradition. However, this argument holds minimal merit due to the recent removal of Country Day’s most recognizable and greatest tradition: “Roasts and Toasts.”
This tradition involved students choosing to be “roasted” or “toasted” before graduation.
Depending on which option the student chose, teachers would then prepare a skit involving costumes, dancing and music that would either poke fun at the students or simply praise them.
This would only work at a school like Country Day. Because of the small size of the school, students and teachers have a close enough relationship to a point where both parties know each other’s boundaries. Teachers can make jokes without crossing the line.
This quality of the tradition was the exact thing that made it so special. It was the high point of graduation because it was unique.
In the end, it was a complaint from a family member of a student who chose to be roasted that marked the beginning of the end of the tradition. The complaint arose from the mention of an aspect of the student’s personal life that some of their family members were not aware of. After this, the family warned the administration of the potentially harmful nature of “Roasts and Toasts.”
The tradition continued for one more year before being deemed “not professional enough” by the administration after more than a decade, according to sources.
Students had a choice to be roasted by their teachers, and if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
In a typical graduation, about 90% of students opted for a roast instead of a toast. This alone is clearly demonstrative of what the students want.
Teachers would select students for their skits in a draft format, with the idea being that everybody would select a student they knew well enough to a point where they knew what the “line” was so they wouldn’t cross it. On top of this, beforehand, students would be asked if there were any topics that were off-limits.
Though it’s important to adjust traditions to meet social norms, completely scrapping the tradition seems overly soft and, quite frankly, ridiculous. This seems extreme and not the most effective solution, as an adjustment would make more sense than a complete deletion.
Everything considered, even running the skits by students’ advisors to add another layer of protection — assuming the draft system and off-limits topics weren’t protection enough — seems like a much more rational path.
There are some concessions to this, though; let’s give credit where credit is due. The school introduced a new tradition where teachers share short anecdotes about some of their most memorable moments with the students.
Teachers put a great amount of effort into these speeches, and they are the best possible option as long as roasts aren’t allowed. This being said, multiple sources who have experienced both formats of graduation agree that the energy isn’t there in the same way that it used to be.
Senior Milly Wong agrees.
“I think they should bring back ‘Roasts and Toasts,’ at least for the people who want it because they’re entertaining and more fun than the senior anecdotes,” Wong said. “The roasts and toasts might encourage more people from other grades to attend graduation, making it more memorable.”
The school has to choose a side. Either we stick with Country Day tradition — maintaining our lack of caps, gowns and senior quotes while bringing back “Roasts and Toasts” — or we switch to a “normal” graduation.
If bringing back “Roasts and Toasts” simply isn’t possible, implementing these typical traditions would not be difficult if the school chose the latter option.
Our school is so small that each senior already has an entire page dedicated to them in the yearbook, so working in a small text box for a quote would be much easier than it is for nearly every other school.
“There is obviously the concern for the possibility of hidden inappropriate messages, but in reality, a thorough examination of each quote would be a very easy way to implement this,” Shin said.
It is a similar story with caps and gowns. Given our small class sizes, purchasing one batch of caps and gowns wouldn’t be a massive expense for the school. Students could buy a set for themselves or borrow one if they don’t want to bear that expense.
The benefit that our community would get from either introducing caps, gowns and senior quotes or reintroducing “Roasts and Toasts” would be much greater than any dollar value that it may cost.
None of these ideas are complicated to implement, and hopefully, future classes will get to experience them, even if the current one won’t. In the end, graduation is about the graduating students.
ADVICE: Choosing high school friendships worth holding onto
BY ANONYMOUS
This advice column responds to questions shared by Sacramento Country Day students anonymously. To submit, send a question to the Google Form sent out on Feb. 11. Responses are not guaranteed, but all submissions are welcome.
Q: I’ve always known that senioritis affects grades and academics, but no one really talks about how it can affect relationships. I feel like I’m growing out of a lot of the people I’ve always hung out with now that I’m feeling ready to move on to college. It’s a scary feeling. What should I do in the next few months before graduation?
Two months, nine days — that’s how much time you have left as a high school student. Two months before the hallways you’ve walked for years become just a memory, before your routine — your friends, your life you grew so accustomed to — changes in ways you can’t fully predict. And right now, you’re feeling it. Not just academic burnout, but the slow unraveling of your friendships that once felt permanent.
Yes, it is scary, but also realize you’re not meant to hold onto everyone. You don’t have to stay close to every friend you’ve made, and you won’t. Some friendships are built for the moment, not forever — and that’s OK!
But at the same time, don’t let senioritis convince you that none of the friendships you made in high school matter. Some do.
It’s the one or two friends that have always been there for you — the ones you’d call when things go south, the ones you’d cry to at 2 a.m., the ones that’ll make you laugh just by showing up with their unbearably ugly faces.
It’s the friend who gets you both in trouble for laughing in the back of class. The one who somehow convinces you to go for a “quick” food run that inevitably turns into a long detour, leaving you both with an “unexcused tardy” to Mr. Hinojosa’s Advanced Topics English class.
These are the friendships worth keeping. The ones that aren’t just about shared classes or convenience but about real connection.
And no matter how excited you are about college, you’re bound to feel lonely in the beginning. In those moments, don’t forget that these friends you’ve grown up with always have and always will be your support system.
So ask yourself: Who do you want by your side when college gets overwhelming?
And if the answer is obvious, hold onto them. Don’t let them drift away even if the texts become less frequent even if the calls turn into quick check-ins instead of daily conversations. The best friendships don’t require constant effort — they just need intention.
And being intentional with your time is exactly how you should approach the next two months before graduation. Instead of spreading yourself thin trying to hang out with everyone, focus on the ones you truly care about.
Plan those late-night drives (no liquor please), follow through with those road trips you’ve always talked about
in the group chats and go cherish those moments with the time you have left.
And as I’m writing this, I’m reminded of a My Angle by former Editor-in-Chief, Garman Xu ‘23: “Enjoy high school before it’s over,” published in May 2023 — almost two and a half years ago.
“Make sure to appreciate all aspects of the experience and make the most of what you want to accomplish before it all whizzes by in a flash.”
And that’s what I’ll leave you with.
Q: I was close friends with someone who has shown their true self to me over time. For good reasons, I no longer want to be friends with them, but I have no idea how to distance myself from them without seeming like a bad person. What should I do?
Think of your time, energy and emotional capacity like a pie. You only have so many slices to give, and if you keep handing them out to everyone — especially people who don’t appreciate or deserve them — you’ll be left with nothing for yourself or the people who truly matter.
No one is entitled to a piece of your pie just because you were once close. If a friendship is no longer healthy or fulfilling, it’s perfectly OK to stop serving that person a slice.
It’s understandable to be overwhelmed by the fear of seeming like a bad person for cutting your friend off. But protecting your peace doesn’t make you selfish or entitled — it makes you intentional.
Yes, it’s easier said than done. But the truth is, not every friendship is meant to last forever. You’re constantly growing and changing, and so is every other person around you. It’s natural that your values may unalign, and someone’s “true self” turns out to be someone you no longer want in your life.
Distancing yourself doesn’t have to be dramatic or brutal. To start, you can take gradual steps back. Make fewer plans with them, avoid the Quiet Room if that’s where they often study and focus your energy elsewhere — whether that be yourself or your other friends.
If they notice something is odd and ask you about it, don’t avoid this opportunity to be honest with them. Tell them straight up: “I think it’s best that I prioritize different things in my life right now,” or “I don’t feel like our friendship is benefiting either of us anymore.” You don’t owe a long explanation.
And while a “friendship break-up” might make for some interesting gossip at school, it’s best to keep it as private as possible — especially since the other person’s feelings may be hurt.
But even still, it’s not your responsibility to manage their emotions or make them feel better about the situation. Your priority is to be intentional about the people you allow into your life, not maintain friendships out of guilt.
Some people may not understand your decision, and that’s OK. You don’t need validation to prioritize your self-respect. Besides, now you’ll have more slices to share with the people who truly value and respect you.
OCTO-BLOCK
1. How a Student Council member would describe Fridays. 5. Former Country Day Headmaster featured in the Rick Singer article in Vol. 48, Issue
6. Farmers’ _______; a reference book published anually.
“Advisory _______ Time,” held occasionally on Fridays during flex.
Down
“Cutting Contact” by Gavin Wang
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEORGE
Ike George, ’24, joins climbing and intramural soccer club at Cal Poly SLO
BY LUKAS CHUNG
Ike George, ’24, attends California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (SLO) in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He is majoring in chemistry.
Q: Why did you choose to attend Cal Poly SLO?
A: Their teaching philosophy is “learning by doing” — that means there’s a ton of opportunities to interact with what you’re interested in. For example, I emailed a professor, and now I’m a part of a photochemistry lab. I only got in like a week ago, but it’s fascinating stuff. I have no regrets.
Q: What other classes are you taking?
A: I am in Chem 125, a mostly thermochemistry class so far; Calc III, a class that has mainly covered the Taylor series so far; Communication Studies, a class for writing and giving speeches and a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) class, which teaches how to give bystander CPR and basic trauma management. All of these classes besides CPR are required.
As a chemistry major, I’m loving chemistry right now. We’re mostly still doing recap from AP Chemistry, but it’s super fascinating. There’s a lot of labs I’ve been able to do, and we’ve been doing thermochemistry for the past week or so.
I took the CPR class mostly because it looked pretty interesting and it was almost like free credits because I trained as an Emergency Medical Technician.
Q: How are the quality of classes?
A: My professors are great, amazing people, and I really enjoy their classes, but sometimes they are a little weird. I had an ethnic studies professor last quarter who
taught more philosophy than ethnic studies. He talked about the etymology of certain words and how certain meanings had been lost. We spent probably half an hour talking about ‘utopia’ and how it came from the Greek prefix “ou,” which means “doesn’t exist.”
Q: Was it a big change going from Country Day to college?
A: I think Country Day did a great job of preparing me for college academically, but college in general is so different. At Country Day I used to have seven hours of school a day, but now I only have around 16 hours a week.
It’s great because you need that time in class to learn the concepts and interact with the professor, but you also need time where you can work on your homework, where you can study and really nail in the concepts. It’s so different in terms of learning styles and opportunities.
Q: How is the workload different from high school?
A: For my English class, I pretty much have an essay a week, and for calculus, I have like 5 pages of homework. It’s a decent amount of homework, but it’s not exactly proportional to the amount of homework I had in high school.
It’s more self-guided. For chemistry, I have like one hour of homework a week, but I have to do so much more by reading the books, revising my notes and doing the optional stuff on the software we use for chemistry homework and labs. You need to actively make the choice to learn rather than just doing the assigned homework.
Q: How do you like life at your college?
A: At SLO all first-years have to live on campus. Certain majors like my engineer-
ing roommates have to stay on campus next year too.
You meet a lot of people in the kitchen and the dorms, which is really fun. The problem in my dorm is that there’s five guys sharing a medium-sized fridge, so there’s not a lot of room for everybody’s individual ingredients. I thought I would mind living with people more, as I heard a lot of roommate horror stories, but my roommates are great guys.
SLO has terrible food facilities though. We have two dining halls and very scarce options for not-very-tasty food, so I’ve been doing a lot of cooking this quarter.
Q: What’s your favorite part about life at your college?
A: I’m probably in a one-square-mile section of town that has like 7,000 people my age with my interests. That’s one of my favorite parts about college, there’s so much accessibility and stuff you can see. I’m about a 5-minute walk from the nearest dining hall called Vista Grande (VGs), and a 10-minute walk from the athletic compound called The Rec. I can do so much without having to leave campus.
We also have a lot of really great open spaces around us. The university owns like 10,000 acres of land just behind the school, so I’ve been doing a lot of mountain biking out there.
The weather is pretty ideal, although it does rain a fair bit. It’s really beautiful, and there’s hiking over there too. Around town, there’s Bishop Peak and Madonna Peak, and I haven’t hiked to the top of either one yet, although I have climbed a part of Bishop’s Peak, and it was so beautiful.
Q: What clubs are you in?
A: I went to the club fair in the fall, and there were around 400 clubs, maybe more, so there’s something for everyone. I’m a
member of the Cal Poly climbing club, it’s been great. We climbed Bishop’s Peak, and then last quarter we went on a camping trip out in Santa Barbara.
I’m also a part of the intramural soccer club, and we have practices usually twice a week. It’s just a really fun opportunity to get out, kick the ball around and blow off some steam. Our soccer club, named the Nipumu United, is my dorm’s D1 intramural soccer team. Our team made it to the championship game but then lost during the fall quarter.
Q: Do you have any advice for future college students?
A: Meet people. There’s so many people who all have fascinating stories to tell, and you’re stuck in a building with like 700 of these people, so take that opportunity to meet people.
Don’t miss any assignments. But if you do miss an assignment, you have nine weeks to make up for it. For my landscape architecture project last quarter, I forgot I had to turn it in by midnight on Friday, and we had already left for a Santa Barbara trip by then. I had to take the 30% grade hit. We had projects later though, so I recovered, but it was really stressful.
FIVE STAR OR SUBPAR?
Quality of classes: School Spirit: Food: Social Scene: Clubs: Location: Student-Teacher Interactions:
IKE HIKE Ike George hiking and eating with friends, posing in an ambulance and embracing campus life at Cal Poly SLO.
Sacramento just got cheesier – literally. “The Melt,” a new family restaurant opened on Oct. 3, 2024, a few blocks from Sacramento Country Day School, featuring comfort foods such as grilled cheeses, cheeseburgers, cheesy fries and a life-changing chicken sandwich. It’s the perfect spot for a cheesy family dinner.
The restaurant reminds me of an In-N-Out Burger except tidier, cleaner and quieter. When I entered the restaurant, I was greeted by a large, light up sign on the back wall that reads ‘You Melt My Heart.’ The lady at the counter was friendly and we were helped quickly.
REVIEW BY ZACHARY VANDO-MILBERGER;
THREE CHEESE CLASSIC
This
HOT ‘N’ SPICY
This sandwich is hands down the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever tried. The chicken was perfectly cooked with a crispy outside and a tender and juicy inside, the jalapeños were crunchy and the sauce was spicy but not overwhelming.
The chicken itself was not actually spicy; instead, the sauce was the source of spice for this sandwich. This made it so that the delicious chicken could actually be tasted, instead of just felt in the throat, as is
The menu has around 50 options, 10 of those being vegetarian, and included MeltBurgers, followed by Crispy Chicken Sandwiches, then Melted Classics, Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Soup & Salads, Hot Fries, Drinks, Hand-Spun Shakes and Desserts.
The menu has around 50 options, 10 of those being vegetarian, and includes MeltBurgers, Crispy Chicken Sandwiches, Melted Classics, Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Soup & Salads, Hot Fries, Drinks, Hand-Spun Shakes and Desserts.
MELTBURGER
However, despite being marketed as a cheeseburger, there was a shocking lack of cheese on it. For it to really qualify as a cheeseburger, it needed double the cheese. I tried the kids’ version because the adult version came with over 1/3 pound of meat, but the kids’ version still had a lot of meat on it and would probably be enough to feed an adult with a small appetite. It was still a very good burger overall, barring the lack of cheese; tasty, but not really a cheeseburger.
the case for other spicy chicken sandwiches; for example, the medium option from “Angry Chickz,” a hot chicken restaurant.
If you haven’t been to The Melt yet, you are missing out. There are absolutely no downsides to getting this sandwich except that you may become addicted. Go try this immediately after reading the rest of the article. Or better yet, go try it now and read the rest later!
QUESO DE MAYO
This sandwich is a grilled cheese with bacon, avocados, jalapeños and chicken. It comes with pepper jack cheese. It reminded me of a spicy BLTA without the tomato. This was a very delicious bite, with perfectly tender chicken, crunchy jalapenos, ripe avocados and chewy (not burnt and crispy) bacon.
Unlike the three cheese classic, this sandwich was still hot by the time it reached our table, and the cheese was fully “melted.” expected it to be pretty spicy, but it was only mild to moderately spicy, although that is likely to fluctuate with how much jalapeño is actually on the sandwich.
The bread was nicely crunchy, and the rest of the sandwich was perfectly made, but the house special sauce on it was very messy, and there was a lot of it. Everything tasted good, and the avocado was not hot like the rest of the sandwich, which is a good thing because cooked avocados are generally not as good as raw avocados. However, there was not as much bacon as I would have liked (given the sandwich was marketed as featuring bacon). Despite the lack of bacon and overuse of sauce, it was very delicious, and anyone going to “The Melt” for a grilled cheese should definitely try it.
GRAPHICS BY AVA EBERHART; PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MELT
If only I were
Stories by anika nadgauda, graphics by andrew burr
It is a sunny Thursday morning, and junior Ava Dunham is stumbling into her eighth grade English class.
Exhausted from spending the previous night studying for her math test, Dunham can barely keep her eyes open.
As she sinks into her seat, her teacher’s voice fades into a monotonous hum, droning on and on about the book they were reading.
Soon Dunham’s eyelids become heavy, and she dozes off into a nap.
Ava dunham
Walking next to his friends, junior Morgan Hansen apprehensively holds his roller skates by the laces and sits down at a table.
As he begins lacing up his skates, Hansen forewarns his friends that he truly has no balance whatsoever. His friends, thinking he is just being dramatic, drag him across the galaxy-themed carpet and onto the waxed hardwood floors of the roller rink.
Grasping on the side of the walls, he slowly begins making his way around the rink and gains a little bit of confidence.
Thinking he has graduated from needing to use the railing, he pushes off and tries to freestyle skate.
Big mistake.
Realizing he actually has no control over his movement, Hansen begins tumbling and fighting for his
With her head between her elbows she is unaware of her teacher staring her down from the front of the class. Not long after, her peers followed the teacher’s eyesight and looked at the still-slumbering Dunham.
The next thing she knew, a loud thud rings right beside her. In shock, she lifted her head up, only to see her teacher’s piercing gaze from right above her and a large grammar textbook to the left of her.
As her teacher asks if she has gotten her beauty sleep, Dunham watches as peers giggle around her and feels her face getting flush pink. No blusher required.
balance.
About ten seconds later, Hansen lands flat on his face; his friends see him and hurry over to help him up.
Even with four of his friends propping him up, Hansen keeps stumbling and falls yet again.
This time, the entire skating rink is watching.
As if the embarrassment wasn’t enough, he watches helplessly as the DJ cuts the music and announces that she is stepping away to help someone who is struggling to get up.
At that moment, he wishes the ground would just swallow him whole.
It’s a dreary October afternoon, the school day finally ended, and junior Lillian Wang is eager to head home.
Wang meets up with her friends and begins chatting about the dreaded upcoming tests.
Giggling and snickering, she strolls absentmindedly beside her friends and pays no attention to where she is going.
As she approaches room 9, she has completely forgotten about the raised concrete platform ahead. Without looking, Wang keeps walking, unaware of the sud -
Lillian wang
Morgan hansen
den drop in elevation.
Then, disaster strikes.
Mid-sentence, she loses her footing and tumbles to the ground, landing flat on her stomach at the base of the sycamore tree in the high school quad. With her unnecessarily heavy backpack still on her shoulders, Wang continues to stumble as she tries to get back up.
When she finally was able to stand up, Wang is met with the poorly-hidden laughs of her friends and the judging stares of the other students trying to get home.
Wang hunches her shoulders, lowers her head, and walks back to her locker, all while her face is the shade of a tomato.
