Issue 7: April 18, 2023

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

NEWS

City opens new rideshare service for residents. A2

SPOTLIGHT

Marijuana use increases in popularity. A4-5

LIFESTYLE Club hosts Career Speakers event. B1

The Campanile

Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Aiming 4(.0) equity

s a result of administrative discussions following a lawsuit won by parents regarding PAUSD math placement, Superintendent Don Austin said PAUSD will not factor third-party -campus courses into o cial grade point average calculations starting

“Given the math lawsuit, we had a look at all of our policies,” Austin said. “When we were in there, everyone looked at each other and said, ‘Well, if we’re xing these other things, why don’t we x this one?’ at’s how we got here.”

Principal Brent Kline said discussions have been happening for a while within the district, and he agrees with the change.

“I've only been in two other districts besides this one,” Kline said. “ is is the rst in my experience that I have seen outside courses placed on a high school transcript.”

Austin said PAUSD administration unanimously agreed on the change, which will impact both Gunn and Paly. nd a topic where we have agreement from everyone involved,” Austin said. “Some families might not like it because it was a way (for) people to arti cially boost grades, but now we have both schools’ administrations, instructional leads, counselors and registrars all on the same page.”

Besides helping grade equity, Austin erences between -campus courses is

“Students have the ability to cially raise their GPA by taking courses that are not as rigorous as the Paly courses,” Austin said. “A student who sits in an Algebra 2 class at Paly is taking a harder class than a kid who’s taking Algebra 2 through an online program.” -campus courses could misrepresent students’ high school

“It's important to maintain (a) tranects you as a student and

your experience here at Palo Alto High School,” Kline said. “When you start incorporating other courses, outside courses that can be done in a shorter amount of time, that skews the data and doesn't accurately picture your (high school) experience.”

Some exceptions to the new policy include dual enrollment classes approved by PAUSD and taught by a PAUSD teacher, credit recovery courses when a student did not earn an A, B or C in the original course and language courses Paly does not o er.

“ e change is e ective (following graduation this year),” Austin said. “If you already have the credit and the GPA on your transcript, it stays. We’re not going to change the rules on you retroactively.”

Austin said students can still demonstrate additional mastery of ocampus classes.

“You can still take a UC Scout class, for example,” Austin said. “Up to four of those can be on your transcript, and you will be able to see the (class) title. However, they will no longer calculate into your GPA. Anything above and beyond those four classes, you can still submit your own transcript to whatever university you’re applying to. ey just won't appear on your (PAUSD) transcript, and you won't earn credit for them.”

Senior Calvin Wong said he thinks the new policy is the right one.

“I know a lot of people at our school are using (o -campus class) to in ate their GPA,” Wong said. “It’s pretty easy to cheat, and the courses are much easier, so it’s giving them an unfair advantage.”

Junior Max Yeh agrees.

“It’s a good decision because there are many people who are unable to take these online courses, and it puts them at a disadvantage for college applications,” Yeh said.

But senior Megha Madhabhushi said the decision limits students’ ability to show their knowledge.

“It’s really unreasonable for them to take away something that has been o ered thus far,” Madhabhushi said. “It really is a disadvantage for kids who can’t t APs into their schedule or cannot manage the Paly AP combination on campus. Taking courses o -campus allows for a lot of exibility and makes it an easier option for students.” In addition to allowing students to explore di erent classes, Madhabhushi said she thinks having o -campus courses count toward students’ GPA matters.

“ e whole point of taking a course ocampus is that you still want it to be counted toward your GPA because that does help you in the long run for colleges,” Madhabhushi said. “ e content is still learned, and the rigor shouldn’t make a di erence as the kids are still learning, and that is what’s most important.”

Ultimately, Austin said he thinks the district is taking the right action to make PAUSD’s classes more fair.

“We’re not necessarily endorsing (ocampus classes), but we’re de nitely not in the business of blocking them,” Austin said. " ere is only change of real substance: leveling the eld for GPA calculation.”

e Peninsula Robotics team, also known as Team 6036, placed rst out of 48 teams at the Idaho FIRST Robotics Regional Competition on April 1, qualifying for the world championship.

Since its founding in 2016 in a two-car garage in Palo Alto, Team 6036, which consists mainly of Paly and Gunn students, has quickly risen the ranks to become 9th out of 3300 teams in the world according to the team’s website. is season, Team 6036 has won the Arizona East and Idaho regional tournaments and placed second at the Hueneme Port Regional. e FIRST Championship, which will take place in Houston from April 19 to 22, is an international robotics competition for youth. Teams typically qualify either through pre-quali cation based on their performance at the 2022 FIRST Championships or through merit-based quali ers such as winning a regional competition.

Software captain and junior Ashray Gupta said the team had a record-setting year due to a lot of recruits.

“Last year was a reinvention of the team,” Gupta said. “A bunch of seniors had just graduated, so most of us joined as sophomores, and last year we got our rst regional win in the team's history.”

Unlike most robotics teams, Team 6036 has an open-door policy, which means anyone can join at the start of the season regardless of experience.

“Gunn, Paly and a lot of school teams have a closed-door policy because so

many people want to apply,” Gupta said.

“But our policy has always been opendoor. Our team's founders were actually rejected from the teams over here.”

Gupta also said many teammates went the extra mile to put in hours toward the success of the robot.

“Our lab’s open almost every hour,” Gupta said. “Some people can pull around 40 hours a week. Last year, my longest week was 55 to 60 hours.”

Business captain and Paly junior Sidd Sen said the team's lack of school a liation, uncommon for robotics teams competing at FIRST, made the team's lack of funding an obstacle.

“But it hasn't been much of an impairment to our team because of the benevolence of our community,” Sen said. “Without that 40% (funding) from the community, we would de nitely be struggling. But because of our opendoor and no-cut nature, we are strongly grounded in our community roots.”

Moving forward, Sen said he hopes Peninsula Robotics will continue to be a source of inspiration and positive impact in the Palo Alto community.

“We want to inspire more STEM students because we have all been impacted positively by the team,” Sen said. “We want to spread (inspiration) to as many people as we can, and continue to be a pillar of our local community.”

Christie Hong Lifestyle, Sci/Tech Editor

Claiming the title of the world’s largest high school hackathon, Los Altos Hacks hosted its seventh hackathon, Los Altos Hacks VII, at the Juniper Aspiration Dome on April 8 and 9. Four hundred twentyve students participated in the event, which the organizers said is designed to encourage diverse participation in STEM through coding challenges.

Lead and Sponsorship Director Ritam Saha said 25 student organizers from Los Altos High School received support through connections, resources and feedback from teacher volunteers and local hacking teams like the Major Hacking Club. rough our hackathon, we hoped to allow students from underrepresented communities to be exposed to STEM so we reached out to a few girls-only high schools in our area, (along with) schools for (students with) speci c needs, like dyslexia and autism,” Saha said. Saha also said Los Altos High School is fortunate to have higher-level STEM courses available, but she knows many communities do not share the same access to those resources.

“We designed our hacker experience so that every attendee is able to build their interest in the STEM elds through opportunities like developing new technical expertise at our workshops, speaking to professionals

RAJ VIRGINKAR/USED WITH PERMISSION

Hackathon students work together to ful ll a design prompt. “We designed our hacker experience so every attendee is able to build their interest in the STEM elds,” Sponsorship Director Ritam Saha said.

in the industry at our sponsor tables and showcasing projects to leaders in the tech industry,” Saha said.

Tech Director Austin Liu said although most hackathons focus on a speci c theme or objective, Los Altos Hacks wanted to showcase creativity and the potential of ideas, making the hackathon more open-ended.

“Our projects from attendees re ected current developments in the tech space, engaging deeply with AI and other growing technologies,” Liu said.

Junior Rachel Ho said she attended the event with no prior hackathon experience. “ e CS curriculum at Paly is pretty rigid, so I wanted to take that background knowledge and form something creative,” Ho said. “I’ve always been interested in computer science, but the hackathon introduced me to different areas with new tools and softwares like GitHub or AI.”

Operations Director Flora Wang said Los Altos Hacks

recruited over 50 mentors and reached out to sponsors, from Google to software development company Niantic to hold the event for free, provide travel vouchers and supply money prizes.

“Over the course of the event, we saw many positive interactions between participants and mentors,” Wang said. “ ey served as a great source to bounce ideas o of and get technical questions answered.”

Ho also said apart from discovering skills, teamwork was a valuable component of participating in the hackathon since the projects were completed in groups of two to four people.

“Having someone to talk to during the event made it so much easier to keep going during the challenges of coding,” Ho said. “My experience has de nitely made me interested in joining more in the future where there’s more people I know on the high school and university level.”

Julian Hong Sta Writer

Proposal would out transgender students

Abill, which would require school o cials to tell parents if their child identi es as a gender not aligned with government or school records, was re-referred to the California Committee on Education in early March.

Assembly Bill 1314, proposed by Bill Essayli (R), would require schools to notify parents when students participate in sex-segregated facilities and school programs, including athletic teams and bathrooms, that do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. School o cials would also have to notify a student’s parents when they become aware that a student publicly identi es as a gender identity inconsistent to that listed on their government or school records.

Senior Mars Bau, who identi es as nonbinary, said they oppose this bill because it would forcefully out students. ey said coming out should be a personal decision.

“Someone’s gender identity, sexuality and anything like that is very personal to them,” Bau said. “It’s really something that no one else has the right to disclose to anyone else.”

California AB 1266, which took e ect in January 2014, currently protects transgender students and allows them to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities and use facilities consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records. However, the California Education Code requires that changes to a minor’s name or gender on school records be made by their parent or guardian.

After Mars publicly came out at school, they attempted to change their name on school records without having to disclose the change to their parents.

“On In nite Campus, ‘Mars’ was put as a nickname in parentheses next to my name,” Bau said. “So I emailed (my counselor), and he (said) I needed to get a form, and I had to sign it, and my parents had to sign it. And that was at a point where I wasn’t comfortable asking them to do that. So I was just like, ‘I’m just gonna leave it.’”

In a March 13 press conference, Essayli said AB 1314 aims to increase transparency between students, parents and schools. e law will reset the appropriate relationship between educators and parents and rea rm that children are the domain of their parents, not the government,” Essayli said.

However, Bau said forcefully outing someone has more problems than bene ts.

“Because my parents aren’t queer, they don’t understand the things I’ve been through,” Bau said. “We live in a heteronormative society, so when (parents) are supportive, it’s a nice surprise. But there are a lot of cases where parents aren’t supportive, and they can be more destructive than helpful.”

AB 1314 contains a provision that requires schools “bring parents and guardians into the decision-making process for mental health and social-emotional issues of their children at the earliest possible time in order to prevent or reduce potential instances of self-harm.”

However, senior Reed Jadzinsky, who identi es as male, said the bill would end up causing what it aims to prevent, eliminating the supportive environments many schools have cultivated.

“It will likely increase depression and increase suicidal thoughts or suicidal rates among LGBTQ+ youth,” Jadzinsky said. “When we’re starting to force people to be outed and start forcing adults to tell parents about their kids’ gender, it gets really messy. People need a safe space, and this bill is going to prevent that. A lot of people are going to feel isolated

if they can’t talk to their teachers, school counselors or school therapists.”

But at his press conference, Essayli cited a 2023 NPR study that LGBTQ+ youth are less likely to feel depressed when they have parental support, and he said that is another reason he was proposing the bill.

Although Jadzinsky agrees parental support is important for the mental health of transgender youth, he said this bill incorrectly addresses the complex subject of gender identity.

“Parental support is probably one of the most important things when coming out, especially when you’re a kid, since (family) tends to be your biggest support group,” Jadzinsky said. “But I don’t agree with the (idea) that being outed to your parents by school will automatically create parental support.”

Bau said the bill is unlikely to pass given Democratic control of all three of California’s branches of government but the implications of the bill still perpetuate misrepresentation of transgender youth.

“It seems like (Essayli) doesn’t understand what the queer experiences because a lot of it is fear and fear of being rejected,” Bau said. “ ere’s a huge emphasis on coming out when you’re ready, respecting someone’s decision to come out or not and letting them be in control of that.”

Ti any He News/Opinion Editor

mentally di erent from xedroute transit,” Baird said. “ is rideshare-like system expands the number of addresses served easily by transit but is not currently suited for trips external to the city.”

People will no longer have to walk a block or ve to get to the nearest shuttle stop before waiting for half an hour for the shuttle to arrive either. With Palo Alto Link, riders can make a phone call and walk a block to get picked up.

Recent changes to o cial district grade point average calculations and the controversy surrounding the PAUSD math lawsuit took center stage at the March 28 Board of Education meeting.

Among the issues discussed during the open forum were alterations to the dual enrollment Multivariable Calculus course for the upcoming academic year.

their syllabus and monitor their actual work.”

e agenda item for math placement also sparked debate regarding recent changes implemented by the district.

Palo Alto’s free shuttle service used by students to help commute to and from school closed due to the pandemic in 2020, forcing many to nd an alternative way to school once in-person instruction returned. Enter Palo Alto Link, Palo Alto’s new rideshare service.

Palo Alto Link began its services on March 7, with nine Teslas and Toyota Siennas driving customers through the city. On weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., drivers tirelessly ferry people within Palo Alto’s city limits.

Palo Alto Link helps ll the gap left by Palo Alto’s last public transportation option, a free shuttle.

ough many people used the shuttle to commute, Nathan Baird, the city’s transportation manager, said ridership was down in the years leading to the shuttle’s closure.

“Although the Palo Alto shuttle once provided approximately 550 daily rider trips, the shuttle service ridership experienced declines in ridership,” Baird said.

Residents can schedule rides through the Palo Alto Link app or by calling 650-505-5772. Each ride costs $3.50, but students, seniors, those who qualify as lowincome and those with disabilities only pay $1.

After a customer books a ride, one of nine cars will pick them up within a block or two of their location. Wheelchair-accessible vans and vans with bicycle racks are also available upon request.

ough Palo Alto Link is new, word is spreading. One of the drivers, Valentine, said the service is quickly gaining popularity.

“I’ll say it’s getting busier,” Valentine said. “On Monday, it was barely known. On Tuesday, people were catching on.”

Baird said Palo Alto Link o ers the advantage of expanding the available pick-up and dropo locations beyond the set route of the free shuttles.

“

e system expands upon much of the previous utility of the discontinued shuttle routes, as on-demand transit is funda-

Despite the exibility of the ride-share system, Baird said Palo Alto Link also faces the traditional scalability challenges that established ride-share companies experience.

“When a great number of requests is made at once, more than can be handled, wait times might increase,” Baird said.

And while the shuttle was free, Palo Alto Link costs up to $3.50. Residents can also purchase a Palo Alto Link Pass that o ers four rides per day for $20 per week or $65 per month.

Baird said while the city hopes Palo Alto Link will provide students with another option to commute to school, he does not expect it to replace walking or biking.

“Don’t expect that it can be the only option,” Baird said. “ e city is actively interested in helping middle and high schoolers in bicycling and walking to school as often as possible, and expect that Palo Alto Link will be an aid to these e orts, not a replacement.”

Currently, PAUSD o ers Multivariable Calculus as a dual enrollment course with Foothill College, but Superintendent Don Austin said the current PAUSD teacher lacks the speci c credentials needed for dual enrollment and so the course can’t be o ered as dual enrollment for next year.

In a comment about a new district policy where o -campus courses will no longer counting toward a students’ GPA, parent and City Council member Greg Tanaka said he was concerned this change may a ect Multivariable Calculus enrollment.

“Our primary concern should be academic growth and the success of students,” Tanaka said. “ ese policies might inadvertently penalize those who pursue o -campus courses or classes such as Multivariable Calculus. I urge the school board to reconsider these decisions and adopt a more nuanced approach.”

Tanaka suggested a case-by-case review of o -campus courses to evaluate their eligibility for GPA inclusion. However, Austin told e Campanile that there are too many courses to monitor and verify e ectively.

ere are literally hundreds of places we have certi ed to accept credits from,” Austin said. “We’re not going to go through each of those and evaluate

e district was sued by a Palo Alto parent for non-compliance with the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015. In March, a Santa Clara County judge ruled that PAUSD must present a new plan compliant with state law. Since the judge’s decision, Austin has blamed vague language on the district website for the confusion surrounding math placement and the subsequent lawsuit.

Paly Board Representative Johannah Seah said the conversation surrounding math has been misconstrued.

According to Seah, the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015 aimed to address racial disparities in math placements, speci cally to prevent students of color from having to repeat Algebra 1 in freshman year despite scoring pro cient on placement tests.

Seah refuted proponents of the lawsuit by saying the act’s original purpose has been misinterpreted by the plainti s.

“ e focus of math placement in this conversation should be on getting students to the appropriate level,” Seah said. “If we’re distracted by only considering those who are accelerating one, two or three levels, we’re unfortunately not directing our attention as we should to students who are falling behind in math.”

Gavin Lin Guest Writer Julian Hong Sta Writer

GAVIN LIN/THE CAMPANILE

A new Palo Alto Link Tesla is parked outside of Trader Joe’s at Town and Country. is rideshare-like system expands the number of addresses served easily by transit but is not currently suited for trips external to the city,” transportation manager Nathan Baird said.

Silicon Valley Bank failure causes stress

After ling for bankruptcy on March 10, Silicon Valley Bank was purchased by First Citizens Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. First Citizens will now take over the sale of all SVB’s deposits and loans. Days prior to ling for bankruptcy, SVB sold its government bonds and incurred a loss of $1.8 billion because of a signi cant increase in the interest rate of bonds at the time of the sale.

In addition to the issue with its bonds, Economics teacher Grant Blackburn said the bank failed due to faulty investment decisions.

“SVB collapsed largely because of bad risk management,” Blackburn said. “ ey should have looked at their balance sheet and realized they’re not well diversi ed. You don’t want to buy all of one asset, because if that asset does poorly, you’ve lost all your money.”

Senior Niklas Hagstroem, who said he became engrossed in researching the SVB failure after it happened, said SVB’s decision to invest in government bonds when interest rates were low was a poor decision because the bonds’ value decreased as interest rates went up. “ e fundamental business concept was kind of risky,” Hagstroem said. “ ey gambled it all on red when red had been rolled four times in a row.”

According to Blackburn, SVB’s poor decisions have a entire community. ere’s gonna be a lot of ripple e ects,” Blackburn said. “Anybody that works for the bank, their future is unknown.”

Senior Samantha Lee’s parents banked with SVB and were among those impacted by the failure. Lee said her family was able to recoup its money but also said the event opened her eyes to the risks of depositing money in banks.

“I feel that (being aware about the economy) is important because I don’t know if people understand the implications (the SVB’s failure) could have had if the federal government hadn’t stepped in,” Lee said. “( ere) could have been a recession, and that would have impacted us all.”

According to junior Roshan Nadhani, who made investments after the crash, SVB’s failure has deeper implications that extend beyond the company. He said in addition to the SVB employees who will lose their jobs, people working in other companies may face similar consequences.

“A lot of companies are ready to lay o a lot of their employees just because they couldn’t pay them,” Nadhani said. “If you’re working at a startup, you’re worried that you won’t get paid or that you might get laid o because your company is worried that you might sue them.”

Nadhani said the SVB failure will also impact the community long term as people will likely shift to

In addition, Blackburn said SVB’s failure may make people more cautious about spending money. eir future is unknown,” Blackburn said. “And so whenever you’re in an unknown situation, you are immediately going to stop spending money (and) start saving money, and that’s going to have an impact on our economy.”

Blackburn said SVB’s failure can teach people valuable lessons about nancial literacy and help them become more aware of the economy.

Blackburn said, “If you understand how banks work, and how the FDIC works, then perhaps you’re going to make better decisions and not react fearfully.”

As the City of Palo Alto experiences an economic resurgence following COVID-19, a recent study from the city consulting rm Streetsense found that the commercial areas of University and California Avenues continue to struggle with storefront vacancies, with 10% of the retail spaces vacant on University Avenue and 15% on California Avenue at the end of 2022.

Vans store manager Danielle Briggs said her University Avenue store has not seen as much sales growth this year when compared to last year because of many factors.

e biggest reason that we feel our business is doing worse is that compared to last year when people had stimulus checks, we now have higher gas prices and overall increased expenses,” Briggs said. “In my district, we’re all seeing a loss of tra c (compared to) last year.”

Briggs said her store’s revenue declined by about $15,000 compared to last year, and nationally, Vans has seen a 13% decline in sales.

Another major factor in this slowed growth is the recent economic downturn, Briggs said. ere are people who can’t even go out because they don’t have a job, and here we’ve had to lower working hours,” Briggs said. “I feel like we’re probably not the only retail that’s having to adjust and have associates losing hours, which means less pay.”

A store manager at Stanford Shopping Center who agreed to be interviewed only if his name wasn’t used said he agreed in ation is an issue for retail stores, but Stanford Shopping

Center hasn’t been hit as hard as University or California Avenues because of its prime location and store diversity. e manager didn’t want his name used because he wasn’t authorized by his company to speak to the media.

“Location plays a pretty big part of how successful a business is, and a lot of businesses around here hit directly on the demographic that they’re intended for,” the manager said. “Plus, there are plenty of diverse stores here that t the needs of numerous people, so people love shopping here.”

He also said Stanford Shopping Center has major anchor stores which University and Cal Avenue do not.

“It could be that having big stores like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s draws a larger crowd and helps smaller stores bene t from the increased foot tra c,” the store manager said.

Junior Haley Oba said the unpredictable weather that has plagued the Bay Area recently is a factor that could be harming University and Cal Avenue businesses.

“When it’s constantly raining, people are less inclined to go outside and explore shops, especially in areas where parking is limited,” Oba said. “I know Stanford Shopping Center o ers ample parking and easy access to stores, so it wasn’t a bad destination for shoppers even (with) the weather.”

To boost economic activity, Briggs said cities should build more parking.

“For stores like ours, the parking could be addressed,” Briggs said. “A lot of people want to eat and then go shopping, but having a twohour parking limit stops people from being able to shop after they eat.”

Educational consultant Ignite 2 Unite hosted a late March event to help build school spirit and culture by discussing campus climate. e 100-person workshop was held in the Peery Family Center.

Called the 4A Workshop, the sixhour training program aims to equip and empower a school’s art, athletic, activity and academic student-leaders to lead a school’s student culture, according to the Ignite 2 Unite website.

Jason Jedamski, founder of Ignite 2 Unite, said the day-long workshop helps students to nd ways to improve their schools.

“You take some student leaders from those four groups, and you bring them together to talk about their school and how to make it the best version of itself, Jedamski said.”

ASB advisor Steve Gallagher said Paly partnered with Ignite 2 Unite to encourage students to lead positive culture change.

“We’re gonna be working more on the culture itself and (asking) ‘How can we do that?’” Gallagher said. “‘How can students be more a part of leading that process?’”

Jedamski said creating a diverse atmosphere o ers an opportunity for more conversations between groups of students that traditionally would not interact.

“When they rst come in, we’ve got students from four kinds of di erent groups, Jedamski said. “ e kid in band might have never talked to the kid in basketball, so (the program hopes) to get them to talk to each other and establish some commonality.”

Freshman Ryan Leung said he was optimistic about the program’s potential to enhance Paly’s community.

“I think it will help to increase the spirit of the school,” Leung said.

Gallagher credits Principal Brent Kline for bringing the program to Paly. However, Gallagher said he is uncertain whether the 4A Workshop will continue to happen in the future.

“ is is the rst year, so I don’t know if it will be a yearly event,” Gallagher said. “I think we’ll have to take a look afterwards and see if the program comes back yearly.”

Despite the uncertainty of its future, Jedamski said he thinks the program has the capacity to transform the atmosphere on campus. “ e goal of it is to help kids recognize that if we all decide together to make our campus better, then our campus is going to thrive,” Jedamski said. “If you change what you do, you’re gonna change the feeling of the campus.”

Olivia Atkinson Sta Writer

ERIK FENG/THE CAMPANILE

Students participated in the 4A workshop held in the Peery Family Center on March 27. “I think (the workshop) will help to increase the spirit of the school,” freshman Ryan Leung said.

Albert Jung Sta Writer

Erik Feng Managing Editor

Palo Alto

Clouds of smoke waft through the room while music blasts so loud it can be heard from down the street. As a senior walks into a high school party at 11 p.m., it seems like everyone is high, drunk or a combination of the two.

While marijuana is not a new phenomenon in high schools, ever since recreational marijuana was legalized in California in 2016, adolescents’ perceived risk of cannabis use has steadily declined.

Regardless of the real dangers of using marijuana, the medicinal properties of it have led many to think the drug is not harmful, according to a study in the Journal of Addictive Behaviors.

While marijuana is legal in California, in Palo Alto, storefront dispensaries for medical and recreational purposes are illegal. Cultivation of marijuana is also prohibited by city law.

With its legalization in the state, though, marijuana has become readily available to students. is has led to a more positive perception of marijuana, despite its potential negative e ects and chance for addiction.

But according to California Health and Safety Code Section 11357, if someone under 18 and possess more than 28.5 grams of cannabis or eight grams of concentrated cannabis, they can face up to 60 hours of community service.

If they are over 18 and possess more than that amount, they can face six months in a county jail or a ne of $500.

Derived from the owers of Cannabis sativa, marijuana is a cannabis product containing two main chemicals, cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

CBD has been marketed as having medicinal properties, and THC is the psychoactive element that may cause people to experience a sense of euphoria.

Courtney Woo, a sales executive at the cannabis company CannaCraft, said that prior to 2016, marijuana was only legally used for medical purposes.

“(Cannabis) had been medical for over 20

cannabis legally, you would have had to see a doctor, get a medical card, and from there, you would go to a dispensary.”

Marijuana appeals to students

e neurological and believed medicinal properties of marijuana, paired with an increased accessibility due to its legalization, make it a popular drug among students.

But Stanford Professor of Addiction Medicine Anna Lembke said the THC concentration in cannabis products have increased in recent years.

irty to 50 years ago, cannabis contained about 10% THC, and people were most often weekend recreational users of low potency cannabis,” Lembke said. “ e trend we’re seeing today is ever higher potency forms of cannabis with up to 90% of THC in cannabis products.”

Due to the structural similarity between THC and anandamide, which is a naturally occurring chemical produced in the body, Lembke said the body recognizes THC as anandamide. When THC instead of anandamide binds to receptors in the nervous system, it alters a person’s neurochemistry and brain communication.

“Anandamide or cannabis and cannabinoid receptors are widely distributed throughout the central nervous system,” Lembke said. “Cannabis binds (to) those anandamide receptors and stimulates them in a much longer and potent way than our (internal) cannabinoid system, leading to changes in perception of time, euphoria, decreased anxiety, elevated mood, increased appetite and other myriad functions.”

Nancy Haug, a clinical psychologist at Palo Alto University, said the medicinal aspects of marijuana can increase the appeal of it as well.

recreational use by somehow making it a human right to allow people to use it,” Ostacher said. “If they have access to it, they can’t get legitimate treatment for their medical problems.”

Furthermore, Lembke said some of the medicinal e ects of marijuana have not been fully researched.

“I have a lot of patients that take marijuana who say, ‘No, that’s not a drug. at’s my medicine,’” Lembke said. “If I suggest they should quit smoking cigarettes, they agree, but when it comes to their cannabis, that’s medicine. But, in fact, there’s not a lot of evidence.”

Marijuana has also become widely accessible, even for those under 21. A Paly parent of a sophomore and senior who requested anonymity because her son has used marijuana said stores in Palo Alto illegally sell THC products by reducing the dosage.

“Another mom and I went to a store a couple weeks ago,” the parent said. “ e guy behind the counter said, ‘ ey’re all marijuana products. We sell low doses because that’s how we get around the fact that we’re not a legal dispensary. ey’re all the same in terms of the overall milligrams of THC they contain in the products.’”

e parent also said one of her underage sons was able to

A senior said they had a similar reason for using marijuana.

“While I was high, there was no stress at all,” the senior said. “It was like the real world didn’t even exist, and I was o in my own world. I just wanted to be there forever.”

e senior also said they once got higher than usual and felt ects.

“I got scared that I was dying, and that was terrifying,” the senior said. “I don’t ever want that to happen again, I was really paranoid that my body was gonna fail.”

Despite its potential dangers, Advanced Placement Psychology and World History teacher Christopher Farina said some justify casual usage of the drug.

“For people who use it occasionally and recreationally, they can pretty easily rationalize it,” Farina said. “(If) it’s infrequent, there’s not a lot of harm that you would see with usage once a month.”

Survey of 91 students conducted Campanile through Schoology

e second junior female also said she rst started using marijuana as an alternative to drinking alcohol.

“Weed was more accessible than alcohol, and it didn’t seem as severe as getting drunk,” she said. “Getting drunk is very messy and doesn’t make you feel too good the next day, but getting high is a more mellowed out version if you want to get away from reality.”

And the anonymous parent said this perception of marijuana is comparable to her high school experiences with drinking.

“(My son) said it’s pretty prevalent at parties that he’s been to, and it’s just a fun thing to do,” the parent said. “It feels like (how) drinking was when I was in high school. It was really available and pretty common. ( ere) certainly wasn’t a stigma to experimenting with alcohol when I was growing up. THC products are in that category at this point.”

PAUSD to improve drug education

Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson said consequences for students who are caught using marijuana on campus have also loosened over time.

“A student, back in the day, if they were caught with two separate baggies of pot, that was with the intent to sell, and that was at least misdemeanor, maybe even felony,” Berkson said. “Nowadays, my understanding is a student could have 27 baggies, which is just under an ounce, and it wouldn’t be a misde-

Berskon said punishments today depend on whether or not a student attends a drug education class as part of their

“Usually it starts with a ve-day suspension, but then they are offered to go to a drug and alcohol counseling class,” Berkson said.

“If they agree to that, then it becomes a two-day suspension.”

PAUSD is also planning to take measures to prevent marijuana use by making Living Skills a required freshman course, Superin-

“Classes like Living Skills will become a freshman mandatory course,” Austin said. “One thing that we hear is that some of the information that’s in that class, students aren’t getting until they’re seniors. So we’re going Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson said education has to start even earlier, and both students and parents need to know the consequences of

“It has to happen before high school,” Berkson said. “You are going to move Living Skills to freshman year just for a drug unit that lasts how long? ective is that going to be? I think it Austin said there is only so much a school district can do to

“Our students are smart enough and hear enough and read enough and are presented with enough information,” Austin said. “If they’re choosing to use marijuana in high school or middle school, it’s largely not due to a lack of understanding.

Health problems arise from long-term use

Although marijuana has become increasingly normalized, Dr. Nancy Haug said there can be signi cant withdrawal symptoms associated with its use.

“Sometimes people don’t realize what they’re experiencing because the withdrawal tends to be delayed a few days,” Haug said. “What happens is they might stop using and a couple days go by, and then they notice they’re feeling really anxious, or they might experience physical symptoms like stomach pain, headaches or temperature dysregulation.” ese symptoms arise as a person’s body tries to adjust to the in ux of THC, Haug said.

“Once the drug wears o , you actually wind up feeling worse because there’s a depletion of those neurotransmitters,” Haug said. “ ere has to be some sort of reset or homeostasis, so there’s an imbalance, and for some people, it’s really uncomfortable to experience that low crash.” is can be especially harmful for people with existing medical conditions such as anxiety or depression.

While people may perceive marijuana as a relaxing drug, Haug said it can actually worsen these conditions.

“(Marijuana) is most likely causing (anxiety and depression) or at least maintaining them,” Haug said. “You have to distinguish what is relief from symptoms and what are the e ects of getting high, because you may feel good while using it, but does that mean it’s treating your anxiety and depression?”

And Stanford Clinical Professor of Anes thesiology Kyle Harrison said marijuana use not only worsens existing anxiety, but also increases the likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder.

“Ten percent of the population has an anxi ety disorder,” Harrison said. “ cannabis use, and then it goes up to 40% if you develop (an addiction).”

Although a fatal marijuana overdose is unlikely, Stanford Professor of Pediatrics Bonnie HalpernFelsher said it is possible to consume too much and develop cannabis hyperemesis which causes signi cant physical harm.

“Some people who use too much cannabis vomit, get very sick and wind up in the hospital,” HalpernFelsher said. “Especially with edibles, they may not feel the high right away, so they keep eating more. By the time their

Edibles

“While I was high, there was no stress at all. It was like the real world didn’t even exist, and I was o in my own world. I just wanted to be there forever.”

Dhruv Shetty & Holden Lee & Kate Xia

Sta Writers & Assistant Photo Editor

conducted by e Schoology

Scaling insecurities: overcoming imposter syndrome through climbing

Clinging onto the rough hold of a jug, I struggle to secure my rope to the carabiner above. My hands sweat as the rope slips out of the safety clip attached to the wall. My arms begin to lose traction on the hold as the strain of gripping on for too long overpowers my strength.

At last, I close my eyes and let go of the jug. As I feel the rebound of the rope pulling on my harness, I feel a wave of shame seep through my body because I didn’t make it to the top of this fairly easy climb.

I peer down to see my teammates gazing up at me, but a second later they look away and continue their conversations with one another. My coach shouts out a eeting “Good job,” but I feel the shallow words of encouragement wash over me. I feel a pang of guilt as I am on an advanced rock climbing team, and couldn’t even nish the climb. I let my team down and gave them one more reason to question why I’m even on this team.

Ever since I was accepted into Movement gym’s advanced rock climbing team, I feel like an outsider. In comparison to my teammates who have been climbing for well over a decade, I possess a mere fraction of their experience. Not only that, but they surpass me in technique, from a better sense of balance to body positions on the wall. Although I love this sport and my team to death, I can’t shake o the feeling that I don’t belong.

It turns out this feeling is known as imposter syndrome, characterized by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as doubting one’s abilities or accomplishments paired with the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of success.

Despite these feelings of self doubt, I have made tremendous improvements since I rst mounted a climbing wall with trembling hands. At rst, I could barely make it a couple feet o the ground before my fear of heights overwhelmed me, but now I am just as strong as my teammates and am able to nd unique ways to solve problems others don’t see. Although I feel proud for achieving so much in such a short time, I can’t help but notice that I am still way behind my teammates. is fact has caused a wave of panic in me any time we do climbing challenges, as I immediately assume I won’t

perform as well as them. is sti ing mentality began to hold me back as I started to give up before I had used all my energy and doubted myself in the middle of climbs.

I came to the conclusion that I either needed to quit the team or resolve my mental block.

Realizing I would be giving up something I loved and I had worked hard for, I decided to nd a solution.

First, I approached my coaches about my mental state. ey o ered me helpful insight into why I was feeling this way and what I could do to build up my con dence.

e 60th election for a President of the United States is approaching next year, and the candidate options look bleak.

While several people have announced their intentions to run for the o ce, the only people who stand a chance are former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and current President Joe Biden.

Trump has been accused of committing at least 56 criminal o enses and has been indicted in New York, DeSantis has banned more than 40% of math text books in his state because of “woke ideology” and Biden may or may not have an issue with his cognitive capabilities.

While the checks and balances of the U.S. government prevent any individual from holding extreme power, as execu tive o cer of one of the world’s leading superpowers, the president is still the single most powerful person in the country — and arguably the world.

And yet our presidents have become nothing more than glori dolls for the political parties’ shelves (when is the last time you remem ber Biden making a signi change?) — and Barbie dolls are better at looking pretty than these candidates are.

ere’s a few major reasons why the current crop of presi dential candidates is so bad.

e United States’s prob lematic voting system is one issue. One-third of eligible voters did not vote in the 2020 election for a variety of reasons. Some faced cross-pressure, or pressure from di erent people to vote for di erent candidates. Others perceived they had low voter e cacy, thinking their

e most important lesson they taught me was to step back and acknowledge my progress. When put into perspective, I was surprised to nd my achievements were impressive. I had made signi cant advances and was fully deserving of being on the team despite my negative thoughts. e advice to step back is a useful strategy that can be applied to all kinds of situations. Any time you feel like you don’t belong or aren’t worthy of something, it is important to look at yourself from a fresh perspective and reevaluate your progress.

For example, when attending a rigorous and competitive school like Paly, it can be hard to not compare yourself to others. Students easily lose perspective of how far they have come and fall into a pit of self doubt.

So, by changing my mindset, I nally began to relax on the wall and let my brain turn o

individual vote would not a ect anything, thus removing their incentive to vote.

And even if everybody does vote, assuming the coming presidential election is not one of the rare years where one candidate is a heavy favorite, around half the U.S. population will be left unsatis ed with the result. More Americans are united in liking dogs over cats than they are over the choice of president.

Another reason we have such poor presidential candidates is the requirements to run. Candidates must raise at least $5,000 in 20 states in order to run. In other words, they have to raise enough money to buy a contemporary home in North Carolina (or half a shed is prevents the majority of the population, who do not have the money or the charisma to obtain that much money, from running.

Also, the divide between the ideological viewpoints of the two main political parties is increasing, according to Pew Research Center. Good candidates cannot be moderate if they wish to secure votes. ey must lean heavily to one side or the other — by attempting to appeal to both sides, they appeal to neither.

Furthermore, the presidents have a … precedent of doing a lot of nothing. According to rm Gallup, 79% of U.S. registered voters are dissatis ed with the current state of the United States, and this number has remained consistent for the last few years. e presidents could take it upon themselves to make more radical and broadly uential policies in an attempt to alleviate some of this unhappiness, but they have not.

e current group of presidential candidates show just how bad the American political system has gotten, with three men of very questionable competence and mental ability being the frontrunners.

e next president needs to step up and enforce more in uential and radical reforms if they truly want to change the country for the better.

from stress at school. Of course, I still beat myself up when I fall o the wall, but I am now able to identify when I begin thinking this way.

In addition, my coaches have taught me strategies to improve my success on the wall, such as planning out how I will climb a speci c route or nding places on the wall to rest so that I can conserve my energy and keep going.

So any time you nd yourself doubting your capabilities, remind yourself of your achievements. You most likely will nd you are much more impressive than you give yourself credit for.

Although more than a third of the student body checks the “Asian American” box on the census form, no one would suspect that demographic after scanning our curriculum.

In light of the escalating hostility toward Asian Americans, starting in the “China virus” years of COVID-19, Paly should diversify its curriculum to include more about the Asian American experience. In such a milieu, it is natural young Asian Americans would internalize hostility toward them and blame themselves. For example, racial microaggressions constantly carry messages with negative connotations; at school, we are burdened with the expectation of being pictureperfect model minorities who excel academically, and in the media, we are portrayed as passive and submissive.

Worst of all, in politics, we are vastly underrepresented and the frequent subject of racially charged rhetoric — what started as a pandemic with origins in China has turned into a “kung u.” And social media apps such as Tiktok have turned into “tools for the Chinese government to spy on us. ese experiences can be cumulative and ultimately contribute to feelings of invisibility, invalidation and rejection.

Ignoring these experiences is particularly dangerous, especially

to teenagers, who already grapple with clashing identities and self-discovery. As we struggle to determine exactly who we want to be, how we should present ourselves to be both authentic and accepted, Asian Americans are also uniquely navigating how our ethnic identities collide with what is mainstream.

When Asian American representation is absent from the curriculum, this erasure exacerbates existing feelings of invisibility or being undesired, which plants the seeds of an even deeper mental health crisis than the one our community faces. Internalized self-hatred erodes self-worth, and when classes barely touch on American tragedies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act or Japanese Internment, feelings of inferiority and irrelevancy are only reinforced. It is as if nothing that happens to us matters.

Where Asians make up less than 17% of the population, students are not even given the tools and frameworks needed to understand and emotionally process their lived experiences within the larger context of American hegemony. As a rst step, Paly should introduce at least one Asian American author on the reading list of English curriculum and include more of the Asian American experience in the social studies curriculum. At a school that should represent 35% of its demographic, this step would promote the message that Asian Americans’ stories matter enough to be told.

Olivia Atkinson Sta Writer

Lucy Li Sta Writer

Lea Kwan Sta Writer

Teachers should incorporate more anonymous participation in class

As the teacher scans the class waiting for a response, the room’s silence rings loudly. My mind races, contemplating breaking the silence with the answer I am second-guessing. My classmates make eye contact with each other while waiting for someone brave enough to volunteer an answer. Aware of the potential judgment of others, I keep my hand heavy on my desk.

Over the past school year, I can count the number of times I’ve asked a question in class on the ngers of one hand. Although my teachers often encourage participation, a select few students end up being the only participants each time.

Usually self-doubt convinces me that the solution I have in mind is wrong. I can’t take the risk, no matter how small, of humiliating myself in front of 30 students and the teacher, knowing that if I answer incorrectly, all my peers will know that I was con my incompetent answer to volunteer. is constant feeling of shame will haunt me for the rest of the day, diverting me away from raising my hand again.

e same

mentality goes for asking clarifying questions. When I need an explanation, I prioritize turning to my friends — who are sometimes more confused than me — over raising my hand to publicly ask the teacher. Overthinking prompts the belief in my mind that my question is absurd, and my classmates will silently ridicule me.

Even though I know my peers will likely forget about my irrelevant comment in the next minute, the lingering thought that my errors will negatively in uence their perception of me overpowers my desire to speak.

According to a 2006 study by New York University, the leading cause of this

lack of participation in students is fear of embarrassment. Consequently, the majority of students stay silent even when teachers welcome their voices.

participated the least in class tended to score at a lower-level academically than students who actively participated. Since students have greater academic

students feel con dent sharing their ideas, one that encourages participation by utilizing anonymity. When students remove their identity from a discussion, the ever-present fear of being judged is removed as well.

To implement anonymous participation in the classroom, teachers can use websites such as Pear Deck and Padlet which all have anonymous elements. Padlets, used as digital boards, are best for classroom discussions while Pear Decks, used as interactive slideshows, are best used for participation in slideshow Using education tools like these means that even if I give a wrong answer in class, the only person with this information is me, eliminating embarrassment in front of my classmates and allowing me to maintain dence, which is essential to future classroom participation.

A 2014 study led by Dr. Max Liboiron, a researcher at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, showed that 70% of college students said they were more likely to participate when the participation was anonymous, which demonstrates the impact of anonymity in correlation with the desire to participate in class Some might argue that public participation promotes public speaking skills which are useful in the real world. Although true, students who do not consistently participate will rarely choose to participate in any case. When we allow anonymous participation, students warm up to the idea of sharing their thoughts with others, thereby increasing the chances of them sharing their thoughts in a public scenario. So, teachers should still incorporate formal presentations and discussions into the curriculum to develop public speaking skills. However, when a discussion is informal, they should provide an anonymous participation system for those still struggling with their self-esteem.

Heather Song Sta Writer

Lucas Guan Guest Writer

e British Broadcasting Corporation released the two-part documentary, “India: e Modi Question” in January. Although it contained supposedly controversial and in ammatory content, the documentary did not make headlines until Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the subject of the documentary, spoke publicly about it.

Within days of the documentary’s release, Modi banned it from streaming in India, cut power to universities planning to show it and raided the BBC India o ce for “tax violations.” However, Modi wasn’t fooling anyone about the true reason for the raid.

I watched it a few weeks ago out of curiosity, since the whole a air ooded the pages of every news source I read. I must say it wasn’t a remarkable watch, and Modi’s reaction to the asco has far eclipsed any claim made by the documentary.

While the documentary is a two-part series, the majority of media attention has focused on the rst episode, which details the deadly 2002 riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Over the three days of riots, between 1,040 and 3,000 people died during violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims. At the time, Modi was serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. e rst episode focuses on claims he was complicit in the Hindu-led violence or at least knowingly turned a blind eye.

Much of the negative coverage surrounding the documentary has accused it of bias, but the documentary is generally fair. e lmmakers have largely cited appropriate sources, using both domestic and foreign government reports, and the documentary also features interviews with individuals holding a variety of viewpoints, from foreign o cials and citizens critical of Modi’s conduct to politicians from Modi’s party convinced of his innocence.

e larger problem is the documentary attempts to blame a complex, nuanced problem entrenched in Indian society on

Modi. Ultimately, the narrative it creates is relatively fair and well-researched but far too narrow in scope.

Since Partition in 1947, Hindu-Muslim violence has been continuous, partially stemming from the expectation that India would be for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims. Although this has some truth in Pakistan, where 96% of the population is Muslim, India has never seen the same religious homogeneity because it is far larger in size, population and diversity. Today, India’s 200 million Muslims make up a substantial proportion

have bolstered opposition parties and drawn a ood of media attention towards Modi’s censorship and democratic backsliding in India. e Indian government has now drawn the condemnation of the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. Although neither the documentary nor Modi’s response to it is enough to kill his political career, Modi’s response taints India’s reputation as the world’s most populous

shortcomings, Modi has ultimately come out of this asco worse than anyone else. His actions have drawn increased scrutiny toward his administration and furthered the appeal of the documentary out of sheer curiosity. by his government to suppress the documentary have only made him look more guilty, despite the questionable nature of many of the documentary’s claims.

e Modi government has made a serious misstep in its handling of the documentary. Had Modi just stayed silent and let the storm pass, perhaps more attention would have been given to the documentary’s Instead, the brutal, authoritarian nature of the government’s actions

ART BY CHERIANNE YOON

New GPA policy promotes equity

In an e ort to promote fairness in the GPAs that students receive, Superintendent Don Austin announced that o -campus courses will no longer count towards a student’s GPA starting next year. Courses o ered by third-party programs like UC Scout will appear on a student’s transcript but be excluded from GPA calculations, while dual enrollment courses approved by PAUSD at Foothill and DeAnza will still factor into a student’s GPA. e Campanile thinks this policy is a commendable step to improve fairness and equity while still giving students the option to take courses beyond what PAUSD o ers. However, we encourage the district to approve more dual enrollment courses to meet student interests in high-quality, rigorous classes that promote in-depth learning.

Many third-party courses are not as rigorous as those at Paly. UC Scout, a UC-approved organization for thirdparty courses, o ers many popular AP classes, including AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC, and it also o ers AP classes that Paly does not, including AP World History, AP European History and AP Microeconomics.

However, according to several students who have taken UC Scout courses, the majority of these courses are easier than ones taken at Paly. All of the classes are virtual, and many of them, like AP Calculus BC, only involve watching recorded lectures. e exams are also taken online instead of in-person. And even though UC Scout may o er classes that Paly does not, students still should not be able to use easier courses to improve their GPA. Services like UC Scout also may not be nancially accessible to everyone. Taking a UC Scout course costs an average of $400 per semester, and for Language Bird, an online organization that o ers o -campus language courses, tuition for a semester costs over $1,000.

In early March, California State Assembly Bill 1314, which would require schools to notify parents if their child identi es as transgender, was proposed by Assemblyman Bilal Essayli. If signed into law, the bill says schools would need to notify parents “within three days of discovering students identify at school as a gender that does not align with the child’s sex on their birth certi cate.” is bill would endanger transgender students by forcefully outing them to their families, and e Campanile urges legislators to vote no on its passage. is bill, along with a March 24 House bill that would require schools to obtain parental consent before honoring a student’s request to change their gender, demonstrates a distressing future for the mental health and civil liberties of LGBTQ students.

Luckily, due to California’s liberal majority in the state House and Senate and the state’s general support of the LGBTQ community, e Campanile sees AB 1314 as unlikely to pass. Still, it is distressing to think that we still have politicians who

ese high costs give students who can a ord them an opportunity to boost their GPA, further increasing the academic achievement gap. PAUSD’s decision to remove these courses from GPA calculations ensures an equal playing eld for all students.

Additionally, students who are interested in subjects PAUSD does not o er will still be able to take dual enrollment courses and get o -campus courses added to their transcripts. Approved dual enrollment courses at Foothill and DeAnza have the bene t of having been reviewed by the district, so students are guaranteed a su ciently rigorous experience that promotes learning the material.

For students who are interested in options beyond what dual enrollment o ers, PAUSD’s new policy does not prohibit taking o -campus courses.

Approved o -campus courses can still be added to a student’s transcript, albeit with a cap at four courses.

And while some say this new policy would be detrimental to students hoping to improve their chances in the context of college admissions, dual enrollment and third-party course transcripts have always been submitted to colleges separate from a student’s Paly transcript, even if those courses appear on Paly’s transcript. Most colleges even recalculate a student’s GPA, so PAUSD’s decision does not dramatically change the way students who take external courses demonstrate their interests and academic achievement to colleges.

continue to not understand nor support the LGBTQ community.

Essayli claims that his bill will help parents better support their transgender child. In a March 13 press conference, he cited a 2023 NPR study, which found that parental support can help decrease depression in LGBTQ youth.

However, this claim stems from the assumption that parents will be supportive of their LGBTQ child after they come out, which is de nitely a awed assumption. According to a 2016 study led by developmental psychologist and researcher Sabra KatzWise, only one-third of LGBTQ youth received support from their parents while another one-third experienced parental rejection. e nal one-third, according to this study, didn’t reveal their LGBTQ identity until adulthood.

Essayli also says his bill would improve communication between transgender students, parents and schools, improving social and academic success while also reducing the potential for self-harm.

While this new policy is a good one, we also think PAUSD should approve more Foothill and DeAnza courses for dual enrollment to give students more school-sanctioned options for rigorous academic work. Currently, only Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra and some CTE courses are approved for dual enrollment credit, but the local community colleges o er a large selection of subjects that could serve as extensions beyond what Paly and Gunn have.

For example, Foothill College o ers World History and Western (European) History that could supplement Paly’s AP U.S. History. And advanced science classes like ermodynamics and Modern Physics could be approved by PAUSD as extensions beyond AP Physics C. To give students more options in areas they are interested in, the district should make some e ort to expand its dual enrollment selection.

Overall, PAUSD’s decision to stop considering o -campus courses in GPA calculations is an important step toward fairness and equity because expensive programs like UC Scout may not be accessible to everyone and are far less rigorous than Paly or Gunn classes. Students still have these third-party options available, but the easier classes should not count toward GPA calculations. And because districtapproved dual enrollment courses can encourage rigorous and in-depth learning, we urge PAUSD to provide students more options to take dual enrollment courses in areas the district does not directly o er.

Yet this claim once again neglects the reality that many parents may be unsupportive of transgender youth. e threat of parental rejection may even increase the potential dangers that transgender youth encounter in their lives.

For example, a 2015 study published through the Williams Institute examined the results of the LGBTQ Homeless Youth Provider Survey, a survey of 138 youth homelessness human service agency providers. e study found 67% of the agencies’ transgender clients became homeless after they were either forced out of their homes by their parents or ran away because their parents wouldn’t accept their sexual orientation.

Furthermore, the Trevor Project 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found only 32% of transgender youth identify home as a gender-a rming space, while 51% identify school as a gender-a rming space. For students who are not yet ready to come out to their families, AB 1314 would force them to become more closeted at school too, turning both homes and

schools into unsafe spaces for gender expression.

If the goal of the Assembly Bill really is to improve communication between parents and youth with regard to gender identi cation, it should contain provisions that require better parental support for transgender youth. Some methods could include increasing access to information about LGBTQ teens through schoolsponsored programs and providing counseling services for parents. Once parents become more supportive, transgender youth can be more comfortable expressing their gender identities at home, and improved communication will ensue.

AB 1314 does not protect transgender youth and instead would cause more harm to their well-being.

e bill is based on the faulty assumption that parents will support their transgender child. e Campanile hopes governments at both the state and federal levels will avoid endangering the safety of already vulnerable transgender individuals and instead create solutions that truly protect them.

TEXT BY SHAMSHEER SINGH

The Campanile

Editors-in-Chief

Margot Blanco • Rachel Feinstein • Cayden Gu

Justin Gu • Jerry Xia

News/Opinion Editors Ti any He

Hannah Singer

Sports Editors

Dinu Deshpande

Brianna Zhou

Business Manager

Shiki Toyama

Managing Editor Erik Feng

Olivia Atkinson

Rohan Bhatia

Alec Bonnard

Annika Chu

Lucas Guan

Elizabeth Gulman

Gabriella Gulman

Julian Hong

Lifestyle, Sci/Tech Editors

Lillian Clark

Christie Hong

Art Director Rachel Lee

Photo Editor

Tyler Wong

Assistant Photo Editor Kate Xia

Writers

Claire Jittipun

Albert Jung

Lea Kwan

Holden Lee

Lucy Li

Henry Liu Gavin Lin

Neel Sharma Dhruv Shetty Shamsheer Singh

Heather Song

Nidhi ummalapalli

Luca Vostrejs Lucas Yuan

Naveen Narayanaswami

Illustrators & Photographers

Ariana Cao Grace He ea Phillips

Jai Wadhwani

Adviser Rodney Satterthwaite

Katie Wu

Cherianne Yoon

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e Campanile has upheld the highest standard of student journalism for the last century by engaging the community through various mediums of storytelling. Our coverage of news, culture and athletics aims to represent the diverse perspectives of our student body.

Sophia Kelly Teresa Wang

SJP mural honors

Native American activist

HCherokee Nation’s attempt to place a Native American in the House of Representatives as a non-voting delegate, Social Justice Pathway students will unveil the mural “Same Moon, Same Stars” on April 24. e mural, created by 13 students from SJP Cohort 7 who communicated directly with the Cherokee Nation, will be part of the 800 building.

e mural celebrates the Cherokee Nation’s e orts to place Native American activist Kimberly Teehee as a non-voting delegate in the House, a right guaranteed to the Cherokee tribe by the 1835 Treaty of New Echota.

Initially signed between a small faction within the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government, the Treaty also served as the legal basis for the Trail of Tears which forcibly removed the Cherokee people from their native lands.

Teehee previously served as the rst Senior Policy Advisor for Native American A airs under President Barack Obama and was nominated by Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. as the tribe’s delegate in 2019.

Research and organizational leader senior Megha Madhabhushi said the mural highlights the atrocities committed on the Cherokee Nation as a result of the Treaty of New Echota.

Madhabhushi said the mural focuses on Teehee because of the underrepresentation of Native Americans in the House of Representatives.

e treaty allowed her to be a representative, but being a representative doesn’t necessarily guarantee voting powers, which is its own separate thing,” Madhabhushi said.

Brianna Zhou Sports Editor

Teehee said advocating towards being a voting delegate in the House of Representatives is important for the future of underrepresented groups like the Cherokee.

“For decades, U.S. federal government policies attempted to dissolve (Cherokee) government and (Cherokee) ways of life because we did not have anyone at the highest levels of government advocating for us.” Teehee said. “ e (voting) delegate right is about lifting up the voices of all Native Americans at the highest levels of our government. ”

e Cohort 7 mural group had the opportunity to work directly with Teehee. Mural communications leader and senior Sami Lee said meeting with Teehee motivated the group to expand the impact of the mural.

“When we talked to Teehee, it a rmed our work because she was so excited and so happy that we were honoring her.” Lee said. “It made us want to work harder, make our project better and make the audience bigger.”

Lee said feedback from members of the Cherokee Nation was a priority in the process of creating the mural.

To give students insight into unique career paths, e Career Speakers Committee organized guest speaker events during PRIME on March 21 and 22.

e speakers, including New York Times best-selling author Julie LythcottHaims and Magical Bridge Foundation founder and CEO Olenka Villareal, emphasized the importance of pursuing a career based on one’s passions.

Villarreal said she founded the Magical Bridge Foundation, which focuses on inclusive, physically accessible playgrounds, to help children learn from unexpected situations or obstacles.

Villarreal was inspired to design accessible play spaces for anyone when her own disabled daughter ran into obstacles at traditional playgrounds.

“My goal was for them to recognize that our lives and careers have surprises and turns, and to be open to opportunities and to embrace di erent directions that may be presented to them, as was mine,” Villarreal said. “I came from one direction and ended up in one that’s now bringing me tremendous joy and is very ful lling and lucrative.”

Villarreal also said she wants students to know that working for a nonpro t is a viable career path, especially for those seeking alternative paths.

“I was hoping to shift their expectation of what it means to be a part of a nonpro t, and that it can be fun, engaging and challenging,” Villarreal said. “It provides all the bene ts of a traditional company but has the social impact element too. I

“We changed a couple elements after revising our original plan with the Cherokee Nation.” Lee said. “It’s our job to amplify what they want. We don’t want to speak over them.”

Senior and lead artist Kellyn Scheel said the art was especially di cult because of the group’s desire to accurately capture the spirit of Teehee’s nomination.

“ e art itself went through close to 15 versions before we reached a point where we felt secure with the Cherokee Nation on the message and the accuracy of the art,” Scheel said.

Teehee said one of the most important aspects of the mural is how it engages conversation on important issues.

“Honoring our treaty rights by seating the Cherokee Nation in the U.S. House is a signi cant way to bring attention to our history,” Teehee said. “I think that simply talking about our history, whether that be among citizens or on the national level, is key to bringing awareness to indigenous history and issues.”

Lee also said she hopes the communitywide impact will be long-lasting and to this end, she developed a website dedicated to the mural, including information about its message.

wanted to present the nonpro t in a light they maybe haven’t considered.”

Villarreal said she also wanted to emphasize the importance of considering di erent perspectives on careers.

“I hope they realize this is a community that cares about them, and it’s a gift to have such an opportunity to hear from community members with di erent backgrounds,” Villarreal said. “I’m glad the students are here, and I hope they take advantage of all the speakers and what they bring to the room. We are their network, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims said she also aimed to share her story to inspire students.

“My work, broadly speaking, is about helping humans thrive,” Lythcott-Haims said. “Career Week seemed like a great opportunity to share some messages that just might sink in.”

Freshman and Career Speakers Committee member Brendan Giang said he joined the organizational team because he thinks it is essential to provide opportunities for students to hear from people who have been successful in a variety of areas.

“I enjoy providing these magical opportunities for both my fellow classmates and everyone else in general,” Giang said.

Giang said he wants students to see they should pursue careers they are passionate and excited about.

“A theme I see with a lot of these speakers is to do something you love,” Giang said. “Don’t do something because people told you to, and you should love what you do and pursue your dreams.”

Lythcott-Haims message was a similar one. She said students need to follow the path that best ts them.

“One of the things that’s really important to me is ensuring that the website lives for a long time,” Lee said. “If people come by in 10 years, they’ll know what it’s about, and they’ll know the story and they can learn from it just as well as people can today.”

Lee said learning about the Treaty of New Echota and Teehee in history class inspired her and a group of students to begin this mural.

“We had a whole class project where each person researched and painted a mini mural. en a group of us opted to do the (mural) outside of class.” Lee said. “Our group started this project back in the fall of 2021. It’s been a long time coming.”

Teehee said she values the younger generation’s opinions and thinks they are an asset towards her mission for justice for the Cherokee people.

“Recently, we’ve seen a trend of the younger generation stepping up and making their voices heard through political involvement. I think this also applies to the Cherokee Nation.” Teehee said. “We need to work with and encourage youth participation in our quest to right the wrongs the Cherokee Nation has su ered.”

Madhabhushi said the mural will help increase awareness about di erent ethnic groups and display the beauty of diversity.

“ ere’s really a big problem in our education system with cultural diversity,” Madhabhushi said. “ ere’s so many better things we can do than having a European white-centric focus. I think this is one great way of bringing a group that’s underrepresented into the light and giving them the respect that they deserve.”

BRIANNA ZHOU/THE CAMPANILE

CEO Olenka Villarreal emphasizes the importance of considering di erent perspectives on career paths. “I was hoping to shift (student) expectation of what it means to be part of a nonpro t, and that it can be fun, engaging and challenging,” Villareal said.

“ e pressure of pursuing the right track can cause pain,” Lythcott-Haims said. “A successful, meaningful, rewarding life actually comes from guring out both what you’re good at and what you love and then giving yourself permission to be that person.”

Giang said he eventually hopes to expand the career speaker events to bring an even wider variety of speakers.

“I would love to get more speakers to give more opportunities for students to listen to people who have gotten into careers that maybe they want to go into,” Giang said. “I know we had the speakers come in during PRIME, so I hope that in the future, we can bring this to more students and do more big events like this to make it fun and inclusive to everyone.”

GAVIN LIN/THE CAMPANILE

CLAIRE JITTIPUN/THE CAMPANILE Alexis Carey and Brooke rekeld work on the mural “Same Moon, Same Stars.” “Talking to Delegate Teehee a rmed our work because she was so excited and so happy that we were honoring her,” senior Samantha Lee said.

Claire Jittipun Guest Writer

Students not impressed with Oscar fashion

During the Oscars 95th-anniversary red carpet, stars ocked to the oors, displaying references to the past and traces of new innovations in fashion. e Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, is an annual awards ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor outstanding achievements in the lm industry. Before the movie awards are handed out though, Hollywood stars displayed their nest fashion.

However, junior Esther Chung said a better name for the red carpet might simply be ‘carpet’ as the oor was beige this year instead of the traditional red.

“I think the oor really took away from how each look was photographed,” Chung said.

According to senior Ines Legrand, surroundings and accessories are vital to bringing fashion to life, which is what many Oscars looks were missing this year.

“You need everything else that’s part of the look to work with it and not against it,” Legrand said. “I feel like a lot of the time we just don't see that, and it takes away from the dress.”

Legrand also said a recent fashion trend to avoid pairing jewelry with event wear causes out ts to appear incomplete.

“It just doesn’t really create a homogenous look,” Legrand said. “It’s not as powerful as it could have been with a piece of statement jewelry.”

For example, Legrand said the impact of Lady Gaga’s black dress, which featured a sheer bodice and full-length skirt, was diminished by her lack of accessories.

“Lady Gaga had Versace on, but I feel like the makeup and the hair worked against the dress,” Legrand said.

To match the tight mesh gown, Lady Gaga wore a bold black eyeliner, red lipstick and a sleep bun. Besides the lack of jewelry, Legrand said that not much about the garments has changed.

“I feel like a lot of people are wearing the exact same looks they wore a couple of years ago, but instead of adding a small accessory like a necklace, they are wearing no accessories,” Legrand said.

Legrand said not all out ts looked incomplete without jewelry, though. Hunter Schafer for example, appeared in a white Ann Demeulemeester mermaid skirt with a white feather for a top.

“I think it's very new and modern,” Legrand said. “It’s a beautiful design and a nice change.”

But the look is not for everybody and has sparked controversy among fans due to its revealing design.

Junior Zeke Morrison said while Schafer’s look was interesting and creative he can see why some may dislike it.

“It's very untraditional and sometimes people don't like it when you do something new,” Morrison said. “If I were in her position, I don't think I would have worn it personally, but I respect that she's trying something new.”

e red carpet also showcased trends in designers’ newest work. Prominent designers who dressed the guests included Donatella Versace, Pierpaolo Picciolo (Valentino), Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior) and John Galliano (Maison Margiela).

For menswear, Morrison said double-breasted suits were common, which were not as popular on red carpets in previous years.

Legrand said she sees a clear distinction between classical looks and modern innovations at the Oscars.

“I think we’re going to see pretty severe departures between big, poofy, ball gown dresses and very modern, sleek looks,” Legrand said. “I have de nitely seen more modern and new cuts as well as classic A-line dresses.” Morrison, though, said menswear has not changed as much as he would have liked, but did say Riz Ahmed’s look demonstrated the potential for menswear to stray away from simple black and white tuxedos. Ahmed wore a black suit with a pink shirt under that had long, burgundy collars that poked out of the jacket.

“I would like to see men try to break out of the mold and wear something that's not just a black tuxedo,” Morrison said. “I really liked Riz Ahmed because they were doing something a little bit di erent and being more experimental with what they were wearing.”

Morrison also said menswear can make a big change simply with a di erent color pallet or unique design details.

“Riz Ahmed has a really big collar on his tuxedo, and a little pink accent which I really enjoyed,” Morrison said. “Kind of just spicing up the color palette and straying away from basic mens formalwear.”

For womenswear, Chung said colors also play a big role in improving the look of a garment. According to Chung, Angela Bassett, who arrived in a bright purple, mermaid-silhouette gown, particularly stood out.

“I think the (purple) color was really attering on her, and represented “Black Panther” because it matched the color of the royal family in the movie,” Chung said.

Morrison said clothing has the power to tell a story through design, textiles or colors and that one interesting way to elevate clothing is to reference history. For example, he said a vest underneath a garment can illustrate 19th-century men’s fashion, while a long coat can symbolize early 20th-century men’s fashion.

“Jonathan Major's look reminded me of a 19th-century fashion, Civil War type garment,” Morrison said. “I think tying a lot of history through erent styles, maybe throwing in a vest underneath a jacket or a di erent style of a tie or a di erent shoe, is really interesting.”

And Chung said Paul Mescal’s look executed a vintage style well.

“His blazer had boxy shoulders paired with ared pants,” she said. For the future, Morrison said he would like to see changes in the silhouettes of suits.

“I prefer a bigger, boxy style,” Morrison said. “I’d like to see people on the red carpet moving away from those really tted tight-cropped suits and more into boxy or oversized pieces.”

Legrand said she would like to see designers pushing their creative limits for womenswear.

“I would like to see more innovation and structure,” Legrand said. “I’ve seen a lot of similar cuts, and exploring new ways to drape a dress would be nice.”

In San Francisco’s De Young Museum, wide, oor-to-ceiling paintings of vibrant colors and oral patterns with vines strewn across the bodies of young Black men and women hang in dimly lit rooms. ese paintings by Kehinde Wiley are part of a new exhibition called “An Archaeology of Silence.”

Wiley is known for his naturalistic paintings of Black people and vibrant oral backgrounds, as well as his work on the presidential portrait of Barack Obama.

“An Archaeology of Silence,” which debuted in early March, is Wiley’s newest collection of paintings. According to the “Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco,” Wiley’s art “confronts the silence surrounding systemic violence against Black people through the visual language of the fallen gure.”

e art references famous paintings and poses of European martyrs, as well as mythical and religious gures struck down.

Wiley’s purpose is to transform these historical paintings into colorful, modern-day paintings of young Black men and women with the intention of calling out systemic racism and the senseless deaths of young people of color.

Art Spectrum teacher Sue La Fetra said she highlights Wiley’s work as a part of her class curriculum because of how impactful his art is.

“What a great moment in history to be able to express his frustration,” La Fetra said. “His artwork really gets the word out about the (Black Lives Matter) movement.”

Fellow Art Spectrum teacher Tracy Atkinson agrees and said the impact of Wiley’s art is powerful and beautiful.

“His new show is fabulous because I have been waiting to see if he was going to address what is going on with police brutality,” Atkinson said. “I’m glad that his new exhibition is doing that, and I think that’s a big step.”

According to La Fetra, what makes Wiley a powerful artist is his celebratory yet serious portrayal of Black individuals.

“I’ve never seen an artist portray dark skin as absolutely the most beautiful thing,” La Fetra said. “Traditional African art has a tradition of oiling the surface of wooden sculptures, and it’s about the admiration of the Black skin. Wiley’s portraits remind me of that; it’s just a celebration of how beautiful (dark) skin is.”

Keely Washington, president of the Black Student Union, said she respects how Wiley’s artwork accomplishes multiple purposes and is excited about the new exhibit.

“It is an amazing platform and opportunity to spread awareness about an important topic like systemic racism and violence while showing breathtaking art,” Washington said. ough art may not be the most impactful form of resistance because it leaves room for interpretation, Washington said it is much more accessible than other social justice platforms.

“As we’ve seen, it isn’t always e ective to continue repeating the same sentiment in the same manner; art provides an additional platform to ght for the issues we care about,” Washington said. “When advocating for social

justice, one of the most important jobs is to ensure that your message can be understood by anyone. While having endless interpretations, art can be consumed by anyone.”

Washington said she admires Wiley’s work as a way to open up the oor to those most impacted by systemic oppression in America.

“Wiley’s art is opening up a conversation about systemic violence, from the perspective of an African American,” Washington said. “When these issues are talked about, it’s rare that the perspectives of the people most a ected are taken into account. Wiley is changing this.”

Lillian Clark

Lifestyle, Sci/Tech Editor

Shiki Toyama Business Manager

Image of “Young Tarentine I (Babacar Mané),” by Kehinde Wiley. “Wiley’s art is opening up a conversation about systematic violence, from the perspective of an African American,” senior Keely Washington said.

© 2022 KEHINDE WILEY. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GALERIE TEMPLON. PHOTO: UGO CARMENI, USED WITH PERMISSION.

Rise Together Education helps students succeed in college

From tuition payments to course selection to internships, entering college is a confusing and chaotic process and even more so for many low-income students. Rise Together Education, a 501(c) (3) nonpro t that focuses on Paly students, aims to level the playing eld.

Founded in 2015, RTE is dedicated to improving college graduation rates by providing support and nancial resources to low-income Paly students.

Along with an annual $3,000 scholarship per scholar, RTE provides its scholars with a mentorship program and workshops and events to prepare them for success in college and beyond.

RTE President Tida Violante said the program gets the scholars’ names from the Paly scholarship committee, and they are the ones who then become RTE scholars. At that point RTE provides the scholars with a mentor too.

“ e mentors are volunteers from the community, and the idea is that you stay with your mentor, this one person, through your whole entire college career,” Violante said.

Violante said RTE is also committed to making sure these students succeed not just academically, but also emotionally.

“Especially after living through COVID-19, there’s bound to be a lot of hardship,” Violante said.

Although the majority of scholarship money RTE gives out comes from direct contributions and various community grants, RTE also partners with organizations such as the Fiery Arts program and local restaurants. ‘’

Senior and RTE Student Representative Allyson Lee said RTE stands out because of its local scope and focus on supporting Paly students.

“Colleges can be very expensive, and even if you go into a community college, there’s still a lot of other expenses such as textbooks and paying for dorms and other things,”

Lee said. “Being able to have access to scholarships, especially one that’s from Paly that you’re not competing with a bunch of other people for, and getting help from people who are Paly alumni that you actually know can be really reassuring. I think that’s a major part of what makes RTE super special.”

Violante, who graduated from Paly in 1989, said she joined RTE because of the socioeconomic disparities she saw after moving back to Palo Alto in 2018.

“I felt like when I moved back to Palo Alto ve years ago, it wasn’t the place I graduated from,” Violante said. “I was really shocked by the number of RVs now that are on El Camino Real and the extreme discrepancy in wealth. I felt like I wanted to do something that would help alleviate that a little bit.”

Violante said she hopes to enable local students to graduate from

Face planting into 12 inches of freshly fallen snow. Tapping a maple tree and watching as clear sap ows through a web of tubes, all leading to the sugar house. Running to the dining hall between classes for a toasted slice of sourdough, topped with butter and raw honey. Check-ins at 9 p.m. every night. Singing, laughing, crying with friends who know me better than anyone else.

ese experiences are all from my time at e Mountain School, a semester-long program for high school juniors located on a farm in Vershire, Vt. I am one of 42 students from all around the country immersed in nature and live, study and work with the faculty.

One of the reasons I am enjoying my time at TMS so much is because of how accessible nature is. Going outside is incorporated into the academic curriculum, and it is encouraged in every way possible.

Being able to go outside and o central campus whenever I want gives me plenty of independence. I don’t have to worry about adults who think I can’t take care of myself — the faculty at TMS allows me to do almost anything without supervision.

I can go on sunrise hikes with my dorm, or ski and sled on the trails around central campus with friends.

college and climb the socioeconomic ladder.

“I'm simplifying this, of course, but one of the best ways to close the wealth gap is to have a bachelor's degree,” Violante said.

Lee also said RTE also o ers a myriad of opportunities for its scholars beyond money.

“A lot of people look at the scholarship side, but another major part of it is de nitely the mentorship,” Lee said. “We have professionals who are really good at networking and who will try to reach out to you, and they will provide workshops on how to network, how to set up your resume or how to get your rst job. It's not only just the money, but it's also general support throughout college.”

RTE Scholar and Purdue sophomore Ilene Trach, who graduated from Paly in 2021, said although she initially overlooked the

Going outside, even for a quick walk between my dorm and the dining hall, also has many health bene ts. While we walk outside between classes at Paly, TMS walks are so di erent. I know everyone I pass by, the world around me is so quiet and I am literally in the middle of a forest. ese walks help me clear my head, reset and re ect. Honestly, this sounds so cheesy, but think about how you feel during and after a walk or hike — assuming you are not on your phone.

I also feel supported by my teachers both academically and personally at TMS.

TMS teachers can dedicate time and e ort to a smaller student body than at Paly, which means I get more individualized attention. For example, all of my classes have fewer than 10 students, making it easy for everyone to share their perspectives and opinions.

I’ve always felt that at Paly, many teachers have so many classes with so many students that they can’t pay attention to or build relationships with each individual. It seems as though many Paly teachers are so swamped with grading assignments that they don’t even get to know who their students are.

TMS teachers, however, can take the time to get to know students beyond grades by leading Saturday night activities and having nonacademic conversations during meals or after classes. is emphasis on building relationships allows me as a student to feel integrated into the community, which creates a comfortable environment for learning.

mentorship aspect of the program, she has come to appreciate the dedication and care her mentor puts into guiding her success.

“I didn't think that they would really check up on us,” Trach said.” I thought it was just like a one and done thing right as we went into college, but they actually have been checking up on us. We met up during winter break, and he helped me out quite a bit both nancially and with college advice as a whole.”

And Violante said all RTE members are dedicated to their mentees and their success.

“Only the people who would want to be mentors would actually come to us because it's a lot of work, and you're committing to at least four years to make sure that this student gets through the next four years and graduates,” Violante said.

Trach said her mentor’s experience as a past-RTE scholar allows him to understand her areas of need.

“I know what he's done. He's been an educator, he's been through college, and he's done all that,” Trach said. “It's been really helpful, and he has his resources and can point me to di erent people.”

Beyond the mentorship program,

RTE recruits experts willing to donate their time to run workshops for its scholars throughout the school year. Recent workshops have included lessons on how to network, prepare resumes or apply for jobs.

As an extra bene t, Violante said RTE has a partnership with Palo Alto University and its graduate program that o ers psychiatry and psychology degrees. is enables RTE scholars to receive free therapy throughout their college experience.

“For (Palo Alto University) students to get their degrees, they have to do so many hours of counseling, and so they provide that to our students for free,” Violante said. “I think that's been really helpful.”

In addition to nancial and academic success in college, Violante said providing scholars with professional connections is critical to nding opportunities in the real world.

“We found that RTE really needs to help with networking. Especially in professional elds, most of our scholars are rst-generation college students, so they wouldn't have the connections that they can call up and say, ‘Hey, can you talk to our student about going to medical school?’” Violante said. “I think people with parents who will help them don't realize how hard it is if you can't just call up somebody and get advice.”

Ultimately, Violante said she is grateful for the volunteers that work hard to make RTE a success. “ ey just have really good hearts, and they want to help,” Violante said. “I always say we are helping our neighbors. It may not literally be somebody on your block, but it's somebody that does live nearby. And if your neighbor isn't doing well, then you're not either. ey just have big hearts, and they want to give back.”

Gu Editor-in-Chief

Additionally, TMS values meaningful work over busywork. Relevant homework allows me to engage even further with classroom material and develop a better understanding of the concepts. is approach to education encourages students to genuinely care about our work beyond just receiving a good grade, which motivates us to invest more time and e ort into assignments.

At TMS, I am surrounded by people who all left their traditional schools for similar

reasons — we wanted a change of scenery, and we’re interested in the outdoors.

However, with only 42 students, I feel slightly con ned at times. Being around the same people all the time while learning, working, eating and sleeping can be claustrophobic.

However, I’ve learned to adapt by spending time alone and re ecting — mainly on hikes and during my chores.

Nevertheless, I am loving almost every part of TMS, and no experience will feel the same.

Cayden

HANNAH SINGER/THE CAMPANILE Mountain School students and faculty cross country ski the Inner Loop — a trail that circulates around central campus. Many Mountain School students ski, run and hike the trail in their free time, allowing them to observe nature, re ect and spend time with friends.

Hannah Singer News /Opinion Editor

RTE scholars gather at Paly during a summer meet-and-greet in 2022, where they met with their mentors and fellow scholars. “My mentor has helped me out quite a bit both nancially and with college advice as a whole, ” Purdue sophomore and Paly Class of 2021 graduate Ilene Trach said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDA VIOLANTE

Student organization advocates for climate change awareness, action

While most lively chatter at Town and Country after school comes from swaths of students, it was hard not to overhear one particular group on a Friday afternoon: a team of students from around Palo Alto, preparing for a climate change rally occurring in less than one month.

e students, leaders and members of the Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition, worked with City Council and city sta members to organize a rally advocating for equitable electri cation and for Palo Alto to end the ow of gas.

In relation to the rally, PASCC’s co-founder and head of outreach, Julia Zeitlin, who is also a junior at Castilleja School, said her team has gotten the support of the Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo and the mayors of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, all of whom will speak at the rally on Saturday, April 21 at Palo Alto City Hall.

Zeitlin said the goal of the rally was not solely to promote Earth Day, like their rally last year with over 200 attendees, but to encourage City Council members to follow through on their climate-oriented promises. “ ere is a lot of support and general enthusiasm about climate (from City Council), but I think our role is to hone in on that and ensure that the city stays committed to its goals,” Zeitlin said. “We have a really collaborative relationship, but we are also trying to push them in di erent ways to achieve their goals.”

ese goals include the 80 by 30 goal, the city’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2030, and the S-CAP, Palo Alto’s main climate legislation, which would reduce 60% of emissions through electri cation.

In addition, Zeitlin said the outreach team has helped canvas for the city’s heat pump water heater program, helped residents electrify in a more cost-e cient way, and formed a public

PASCC/USED WITH PERMISSION

e Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition organized an April 2022 Earth Day rally to encourage City Council to meet its climate goals. “Hopefully, with this (year’s) rally, we can push electri cation” Cofounder Katie Rue said.

there is a lot of politics and bureaucracy behind it,” Rue said. “Hopefully, with this rally, we can push electri cation.”

PASCC/USED WITH PERMISSION

Activists walk past Nobu Hotel on Hamilton Ave. in downtown Palo Alto on Friday, April 22, 2022

“Reaching the S-CAP goal is de nitely an ambitious one,” Hopkins said. “But our team is so dedicated, and we have received (such) an overwhelming amount of support and enthusiasm from city council and city sta members that we can expect tangible results.”

Gunn senior and PASCC co-founder Katie said the team’s rally also hopes to mitigate political roadblocks to following through.

“We have spoken with a lot of city sta -adjacent folks, and there are many ways to make this transition (to electri cation) possible, but

Zeitlin, who understands that students may be overwhelmed with the wide scope of climate change to get involved with the movement, hopes the rally will show community members ways to get involved on a local scale. ere is some discouragement and almost apathy toward climate change because it feels so large-scale,” Zeitlin said. “Something special (PASCC) can do is take a piece of (climate change) and tell students there is something they can do locally, which has a big impact on the community and creates a sort of ripple e ect.”

In terms of impact, the team worked with the heat pump water heater program and the SCAP program to help pass their pieces of legislation, which they ultimately were.

To further PASCC’s climate endeavors, Rue said she acknowledges Palo Alto’s wealth allows for civic participation in climate change but argues that abetting the issue begins with viewing it as an intersectional problem.

“It’s a privilege for us to think about climate change and the existential threat it poses to us because we have all of our basic needs satis ed,” Rue said. “ ere are so many people in this world who do not have their needs met, so climate change needs to be viewed as this intersectional issue that a ects the economy and people in disproportionate ways because it does.”

Zeitlin also said municipalities placing climate change on the back burner in the name of pressing issues will reap disastrous e ects in the long run.

“ e economic fallout of not prioritizing climate change now will be much worse ve or 10 years from now than if we invested money into this issue and started thinking of longterm solutions we can begin implementing now,” Zeitlin said. “Yes, short-term issues are very important, but we need to also understand that climate change is not just a long-term issue, it’s happening right now.”

With this urgency, and PASCC’s support from City Council and sta members, the team has not faced any major roadblock in their rally preparation, according to Zeitlin. However, with participation from Gunn and Castilleja, Paly’s input with the team and local legislation has remained stagnant. Rue said PASCC has only recently onboarded new members from Paly, causing her to encourage Paly students to seek out new avenues of engaging with the movement.

“Even if Paly students don’t have time to get involved or show up to the rally, I think we all should be thinking of the intersectionality between (the) climate and our own interests,” Rue said. ough the rally is expected to receive lots of community and political support, Zeitlin said she hopes it leaves rally participants with a central thought.

“We have a lot of motivation, but it’s not enough,” Zeitlin said. “We need to reach a point where, as a community, we are willing to step up and say, ‘I’m going to

Dance wins national title

Senior Victoria Senderzon suits up as she prepares for the nal routine. She eyes her team around her, everyone teeming with nerves as they wait for their turn to go. e applause from the last dance team’s performance ends, signaling that they will go on soon. e team steps out into the bright lights, and suddenly, the nerves are gone, and only smiles and con dence emerge from behind the curtains.

Senior captain eresa Hart said the team was nervous during the awards ceremony but elated when they found out they had won rst place. “ e second-place teams were announced (as) teams we had consistently beat before,” Hart said. “When they read out our name we all stared at each other with our mouths agape. en, there was a lot of screaming, and we had a couple of us run and grab the banner and the trophy.”

e team participated in ve local competitions including a regional tournament in order to qualify for nations. Once they did, they competed against other teams within their size and style section.

Head Coach Alanna Williamson said deciding on a genre was easier this year, as she realized quickly that small hip-hop would cater best to the skill and chemistry of the team.

“ is year, a lot of the dancers were really good at hip-hop,” Williamson said. “And last year, the people who I knew would be returning talked about really wanting to do that style. So, it felt like a good t for us because they were going to have fun and I knew that it would make sense for their skill levels as well.”

Williamson also said the team’s strong chemistry helped its success and that this was especially notable when traveling for competitions.

“Since we have been working so hard for so many months and put in so many hours together,

they are really well-bonded,” Williamson said. “ e way that I can tell when a team has good chemistry is when I know that I can pair anybody up and they’re going to not only behave but have a good time together.”

e dance team last won Nationals eight years ago before Williamson became head coach. Williamson, who was the assistant coach at the time, said the biggest advantage the team had at that time was individual expertise. “ e win that year had more to do with the raw talent of the girls on the team,” Williamson said. “It was only a group of ve girls on the team that were in the piece (that won).”

Williamson said this year’s win felt more validating as she saw the dancers progress both individually and as a team throughout the season.

“It’s been a lot of rebuilding in terms of culture and commitment and fostering the type of people we wanted on the team that want to work hard,” Williamson said. “ is year feels a lot more well-deserved and validating because it’s the whole team that won rst place, not just a small group of a few girls.”

Hart said she is excited for the future of Paly’s team even though the competition squad was senior-heavy.

“

e competition team is eight girls, four of which are seniors,” Hart said. “But the other four are planning to continue, and we’ve been having a lot of open practices. I think the team is in good hands, and I trust the next season will go smoothly.”

After defeating Los Altos in an away meet on March 17, the varsity swim team is in rst place and still undefeated in its league.

Head coach Danny Dye said both varsity teams are thriving.

“It’s going great for all the teams,” Dye said. ey’re undefeated in leagues, they’re swimming really well and competing really well. ey keep getting faster and stronger.”

Dye said his favorite part about coaching the swim team is the players he gets to work with.

“We have good leaders,” Dye said “ ey know how to push each other. It makes it fun to see athletes that are committed and dedicated.”

Senior and team captain Milla Cleveringa said she loves competing in swim meets because of the sense of community they bring.

“I enjoy the meets at the end of every week,” Cleveringa said. “We have a tight-knit, well-rounded group of girls, and we all bring a lot of energy to the races. We are all very supportive of each other, and it’s an overall fun, positive environment to be in.”

With the championship season coming in just a few weeks, Cleveringa said she is optimistic.

“We have a lot of strong swimmers who can score many points by nishing in multiple places in every event,” Cleveringa said. “I honestly do not think this team has any weaknesses.”

Dye said he is satis ed with the work the swimmers are putting in before the championship season.

“I’m really happy with where they’re at,” Dye said. “We’re looking forward to a couple more weeks of hard training and getting ready for our championship season.”

However, Cleveringa said there were many tireless practices that went into the team’s success.

e thing I enjoy least about swimming is the grueling practices, especially morning practices when we have to get in a freezing cold pool when it’s still dark outside,” Cleveringa said.

Despite the di cult practices, Cleveringa said she hopes they will help her break her personal records.

“My personal goal for the season is to achieve personal best times at SCVAL leagues and CCS,” Cleveringa said.

Dye said he also has high hopes for the end of the season.

“(We want to) win SCVALs, win all four (competitions) and sweep in JV and varsity,” Dye said. “Our goal should always be to go into CCS wanting to win it.”

Feelings were high after track and eld’s last home meet of the season on March 24, senior captain Elizabeth Fetter said.

“I think we’re pulling through, especially (with) this being our last home meet, energy is high (and) emotions are high,” Fetter said.

Senior captain Kyle Park said the team did well overall.

“People have been doing really well,” Park said. “I haven’t seen too many (personal records) so far, but it seems like people are looking really smooth out here.”

Long distance track coach Casper Vroemen said the team won many races even though there were multiple factors playing against them.

“We have a little wind on the backhand,” Vroemen said. “Plus, there are a couple important meets coming up on Saturday, so we’re trying to have kids only run one event. But overall, we won quite a few races.”

Park said the varsity boys 4x100 team had a key, smooth hando “ ey nailed the hando going from leg three to leg four” Park said. “One of the Tutor (twins) outkicked their last round against Lynbrook because the hando was so clean.”

Park said throughout the season, the team has xed many mistakes.

“At the start of the season, there were a couple slip-ups here and there,” Park said. “But we xed most of them. I’ve seen a lot of people trying their best, they recognized their mistakes and tried to x (them).”

e team also participated at the Stanford invitational, where junior Grant Morgenfeld placed rst in the 1600 meter run, and seniors Hillary Studert and Elizabeth Fetter along with sophomore Kinga Czajkowska and freshman Amaya Bharadwaj won the Girls Distance Medley. At

VARSITY SPIRIT/USED WITH PERMISSION

e dance team performs its Championship Division Contemporary piece “Fragile” and Small Hip-hop national title-winning “Rock the Mic” at the USA Dance Anaheim convention on March 18. Senior captain eresa Hart said the team was elated when it found out it won rst place. “When they read out our name, we all stared at each other with our mouths agape,” Hart said.

Senior Eoin O’Connell runs past teammate and senior Alex Gao. Long distance track coach Casper Vroemen said he thinks the team will improve as the season goes on. “I think (we need) just a couple of more races to build more experience and stamina,” Vroemen said.

the Arcadia Invitational, the quartet also broke Paly’s school records for girls Distance Medley Relay and girls 4x800, and Morgenfeld broke the boys 3200 meter record.

Vroemen said the track athletes have started to hit records leading him to feel good for the upcoming meets and invitationals.

“Lots of athletes actually started PRing or started getting close to their PR, so I’m starting to feel better about (the season),” Vroemen said. Park said the team could stand to work on cheering each other on when they are not competing.

“I see a lot of kids sitting down right now, not cheering,” Park said. “I think it’s good (to) get up and support our teammates even when our event isn’t going on.”

Vroemen said he thinks the team will improve as the season goes on as some athletes are still getting into the groove of track and eld.

“Some of us are still guring out how to really run races, especially in bigger meets where there’s a lot going on,” Vroemen said. “So, I think (we need) just a couple of more races to build more experience and stamina.”

Naveen Narayanaswami Guest Writer

CAYDEN GU/THE CAMPANILE

Gavin Lin

Guest Writer

Senior Ankai Jin swims the breastsroke leg during the 200m medley race at a March 24 meet against Saratoga High School. Head coach Danny Dye said both varsity teams are thriving. “ ey keep getting faster and stronger,” Dye said.

NAVEEN NARAYANASWAMI/THE CAMPANILE

Dinu Deshpande Sports Editor

Although varsity boys lacrosse su ered a 9-6 loss to Menlo-Atherton earlier this month, coach Edward Hattler said the team played well in this di cult match and will continue training the many newer players on the team.

“We played tough, but we ended up losing, so we’re working on getting better,” Hattler said. “I’m proud of the improvements that we’ve made as a team so far. I’d like for us to continue to improve each day and each week.”

Hattler said that as a new high school lacrosse coach, teaching the players the game has been challenging.

“ ere’s a lot of kids that don’t have many years of experience playing.” Hattler said. “Everybody learning their positions and where they need to be has been a big challenge.”

Hattler said he hopes the team will perform well in its league. Additionally, Hattler said he plans to focus on the players’ determination and integrity.

“I’d like to create a culture where the team plays super hard, and we’re able to beat a more talented team based on our work ethic,” Hattler said.

Co-captain and senior Drew Ozgen said the team is persisting through troubles because many players lack experience.

“We have a lot of new and young players on our team,” Ozgen said. “It’s de nitely a lot to learn in a few weeks. Fundamentally, we’re not as great as we could be, but we bring a lot of energy to our games.”

Ozgen said he looks forward to the potential of the current sophomores.

“A lot of our team is sophomores, so in two years, when they’re seniors, they will be able to bring a lot of talent to the team,” Ozgen said.

Despite having several inexperienced players, Ozgen said the team has made major improvements since the beginning of the season.

“I remember the rst few weeks we were in shambles,” Ozgen said. “But we’ve grown a lot as a team and it’s de nitely shaping into being a good team this year.”

Crosstown Rivalry: Vikings vs. Titans

Paly was up 35-0 against Gunn with four minutes left in the game when students and fans stormed the Gunn stands. is is just one of the many stories that exempli es the rivalry between the two schools.

Since the rivalry began in 1964, sporting events between the two schools are among the most attended and anticipated games throughout the seasons.

Boys varsity basketball coach LaMere said competing against Gunn brings out the best in his players.

“ ese are people that we know well,” LaMere said.

“When you play, when you compete against somebody that you know, you always want to put your best foot forward. Win or lose, you’re going to see these people again, and you want to be able to hold your head up with pride and know that you left everything on the oor and did everything you could.”

Junior varsity basketball player Alaap Nair said the rivalry fosters a special sense of community within each school since they are closely intertwined.

“Rivalry is a healthy way to bring together both of our schools,” Nair said. “It’s an important part of our culture and legacy.”

Despite the highly competitive atmosphere, Nair said the excitement stems from the intensity of the players.

“Competing against rivals is the best part of any sport that you play because it’s exhilarating and in the moment, the pressure weighs on you,” Nair said. “ ere is a lot on the line, so one can really see how good a player is based on how they perform in these high stakes situations.”

On rare occasions, the rivalry had gotten so lopsided that the Gunn Titans have opted out of rivalry matchups against Paly, Vikings head girls varsity basketball coach Scott Peters said “I had emailed their (athletic director) a couple times, and they never got back to me,” Peters said. “ ey just didn’t want to play, and part of the reason is that it’s been a number of years since Gunn has had a good team, and recently games haven’t been competitive.”

Sophomore basketball player Vienn Sheng said she was disappointed when she heard the team would not play against Gunn this year.

“Because we’re on the girls basketball team, no one watches the girls, and so we don’t really get any fans,” Sheng said. “Usually, at the Gunn games we garner a crowd, and not having the game was disappointing because it is a special thing to look forward to during the season.”

Junior and girls varsity water polo player Anne rekheld agrees and said the high-stakes competition and intense energy adds fun to rivalry games.

“It’s fun to be passionate during games, having back and forth friendly competition, as well as saying, ‘Hi’ to everyone after,” rekheld said. “As a competitor, I always have a good time with the rivalry, especially because we had some really close games this year.”

With the help of three experienced players, girls lacrosse is focusing on improving their skills and strengthening the team bond, coach Kaitlin Chiu said.

“I had three of my players — Ella Bishop, Skylar Burnett and Lauren Hajadi — lead practice to teach the rest of the team about defensive positioning and strategy,”

Chiu said. “ ey did a stellar job in leading drills to e ectively teach proper defensive movement, and our defense has become increasingly strong.”

Chiu said she implements check-ins at the beginning of Wednesday practices, sharing a rose, bud and thorn for their week.

“ e girls seem to love our sitdown moment together, so I really hope it becomes a tradition in the future,” Chiu said. Chiu also created team awards

because she wanted to recognize the hard work of players.

“I’ve developed a Sports Bra award,” Chiu said. “ is was an award my college coach came up with to award someone who did what a sports bra typically does: support the girls.”

Sophomore Isabelle Carlsen said she enjoys building a strong team spirit by hanging out with the team outside of practice.

Carlsen especially likes the team’s special pasta feeds.

“I love it as it is a chance to bond with people outside of practice and get to know what they are really like,” Carlsen said.

Carlsen said the team’s bond has allowed players to have more fun on the eld while cheering each other on.

“We pretended to be bowling pins that got knocked down,” Carlsen said. “As we collapsed on each other all I could hear was us laughing. It’s de nitely an experience I will never forget.”

Neel Predicts: SF Giants struggle, SD Padres win World Series

e San Francisco Giants are one of the MLB’s most prestigious clubs and are famed for hosting superstars like Buster Posey, Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. In the 2010s, the Giants won three World Series titles and elded generational talents.

But where are the Giants now? e answer is they are not as good as one might think for a well-funded MLB team.

In sports, money is everything. is is especially true for baseball because the sport lacks salary caps.

Salary caps serve as a limit for how much teams can spend each year, and they serve as the standard for keeping franchises on the same economic playing eld. Since baseball does not have a salary cap, rich teams have an advantage. Take a look at the Oakland A’s, who follow a classic “Moneyball” formula to make the most of their limited means. e formula involves trading drafted players to other teams that can a ord to sign them once they hit free agency.

e A’s are smart with how they scout and draft players and always accumulate young talent. Oakland’s successful farm system allows them to stay a oat economically despite their minimal budget.

Across the Bay Bridge, the Giants, worth $3.7 billion, are the fth richest baseball team, behind only the Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox and Yankees. e Giants have followed a stingy, frugal method of building superteams through drafted players and a strong minor league system for years, playing a game similar to the “Moneyball” system but without any reason. e Giants have the available resources to build a better team and do not need to rely on such a system.

In order to compete within their division, the Giants must spend big if they want to pursue another World Series any time soon.

e San Diego Padres and New York Mets are high-spenders in the Giants’ division that build super teams and take advantage of their wealth –– which is about half of what the Giants have. Ultimately, the winner of the National League West, the Giant’s division, will be one of two teams. Unfortunately for Bay Area fans, neither of the two will be the Giants because of their lack of starpower and a below average bullpen. If the Giants want to become competitors, they must make larger moves in the o season and sign superstars. Instead, this year will result in a battle for SoCal bragging rights with the Dodgers falling short of the Padres for a playo spot. e Dodgers will likely earn a wildcard spot though.

Beyond the NL West, the teams that will see the most success are traditional superteams such as the Yankees, Astros, Padres, Mets and Phillies, all of which will see 90+ win seasons.

And the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox will both underperform with only 85 and 76 wins respectively. While the Sox have kept stars like Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall, the loss of Xander Bogaerts is one that will negatively a ect their o ense and defense. e Rays strong start will be cut short after they face stronger teams in the coming months. ey lack strong pitching and will barely compete for a playo spot.

e Angels might have the famed breakout year that baseball experts have been anticipating for the last 10 years, and it is possible that with Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, they

could nally break out. e Angels will have their best season in recent history with 93 wins and will likely get into the playo s by winning the wildcard.

ough the Giants continually show weakness in their ability to make impactful o season moves, the team is still a franchise with in nite potential. Given the teams’ funding, they can practically buy any player they want, and if they take advantage of their wealth, they can make a playo appearance. e MLB however, is going in the right direction; the league is lled with young stars who will help enrich the sport for years to come.

Paly and Gunn football players clash while facing o during a game on Friday, Sept. 9. “As a competitor, I always have a good time with the rivalry,” junior and girls varsity water polo player Anne rekheld said.

TYLER WONG/THE CAMPANILE

Two Paly players scrimmage during practice to train for leagues. “I’m proud of the improvements that we’ve made as a team so far,” head coach Edward Hattler said.

HEATHER SONG/THE CAMPANILE

Neel Sharma Sta Writer

Isabella Bian Guest Writer

GRAPHIC BY NEEL SHARMA

Tyler Wong

Photo Editor

Heather Song Sta Writer

Students weigh risks, rewards of betting on March Madness

Sophomore Will Hagan stares at his TV, on the edge of his seat, as he watches Florida Atlantic University play the Memphis Tigers in the rst round of March Madness. With only a few minutes left, the game is close, and with every basket, tensions rise. But Memphis falls one point short. With this rstround upset, Hagan’s bracket tanks, preventing him from winning $50 and highly coveted bragging rights among his friends.

March Madness fans submit roughly 70 million brackets every year, according to the American Gaming Association, and while in 2018 just over 1% of Americans could bet legally on sports, that gure has jumped to 56% today.

Paly students’ betting habits do not re ect national numbers, however, as just over two thirds of students think betting is healthy when little is at stake, and around two-thirds have never bet money on sports, according to a Schoology survey of 70 students. While federal law prohibits minors from betting on sports and California law prohibits most types of sports betting, a sophomore who agreed to be interviewed only if his name wasn't used due to the illegality of his activity, said by using Fli , an online sportsbook application, he easily bypassed the law.

“I just said I was over 18 when I signed up, and it didn’t ask me to verify it,” he said. He also said he feels con dent betting virtually.

“You start o with $1 to bet with if you don’t want to spend your own money,” he said. “I use my own money (because) I have enough selfcontrol to bet reasonably.”

Sophomore Henry Harding, who also bets using Fli , said potentially winning money motivates him.

“I bet on March Madness women’s tennis, Japanese baseball … anything that is a competition at any time of the day,” Harding said. “I bet to make as much money as possible.”

However, other students bet with di erent motivations. Senior Grace Corrigan, who participated in a March Madness bracket with her friends, said she enjoys the jocular nature of the competition.

“I bet with my friends because I thought it would be fun, and none of

us took it very seriously,” Corrigan said. “Whoever lost the brackets had to get this gross, Willow’s #7 sauce, poured on them.”

Senior Hillary Studdert said the fun of participating in March Madness brackets comes from her and her friends’ competitiveness despite their inexperience.

“We took it pretty seriously for not really following NCAA basketball, and it’s a fun group activity,” Studdert said. While the excitement of betting is widespread, some are worried about the e ects

Beams of white spill out of the oodlights and onto the eld as the crowd cheers from the bleachers and the band plays the pregame “Heavy Action.” Senior and varsity football player Lincoln Tutor reaches for the jar of smelling salts and takes a deep breath as he prepares for the game.

From students to professionals, many athletes like Tutor use smelling salts. ese salts consist of a mix of ammonia and other compounds including water and ethanol, and other proponents.Tutor said they boost performance and increase focus, but the medical research on the topic is less clear.

Tutor said he and most of the football team use smelling salts before a game.

“It’s normal,” Tutor said. “All of these are like pregame rituals.”

Smelling salts function by irritating a person’s nose and lungs, causing a higher breathing rate and hypothetically causing more oxygen to circulate in a person’s body. Tutor said smelling salts provide an energizing sensation at the trade-o of short-term comfort.

“Inhaling them feels like a little headache, stings your nostrils,” Tutor said. “It feels like a brain freeze. It wakes you up.”

ough smelling salts are legal in the United States for both restoring consciousness to people who have fainted and for athletic use, the safety of smelling salts has yet to be proven. Most high school and professional athletic associations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency and National Collegiate Athletic Association allow the use of smelling salts. However, smelling salts are banned in boxing.

While some athletes use smelling salts to improve athletic performance, scienti c research has yielded con icting results on their performance bene ts.

it could have on teens. Stanford basketball head coach, former college basketball player of the year candidate and Paly parent Jerod Haase said youth gambling concerns him.

“ e habit of gambling is something that, generally, should be avoided,” Haase said.

“It’s not a great thing, especially when it's illegal, based on age or location or industry.

But especially when young people are in high school or younger, getting involved in betting or gambling in any way can be harmful and should be discouraged.”

A 2014 study by the Journal of Exercise Physiology found that the use of smelling salts o ers no boosts to athletic performance, while a 2018 study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found potential positive e ects on the amount of force muscles can exert,

However, Haase said that in the right circumstances, when money is not a factor, brackets can be harmless.

“Do I think lling out a bracket with your buddies is a harmful activity? No. Do I think that putting down a penny and having the ability to get two pennies in a bet with your friends is the scariest thing in the world? No, but it’s all a slippery slope, and it gets to this gray area where it can get big pretty quick,” Haase said. “Once you do put something down, you can get something in return. at changes the whole dynamic.” ough Haase said he acknowledges that betting on March Madness is widespread, he said he and the Stanford mens basketball team he coaches, who are not permitted by the NCAA to wager any money on any collegiate sport, do not embrace the culture or let the pressure a ect their game performance.

“I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring it, and it doesn't really impact my thought process with anything,” Haase said. “For me and what I've seen from my team, we are not impacted in terms of performance or pressure, but I would put an asterisk by that because other teams can be impacted, and, in the future, it’s going to be something that will have a stronger impact.”

However, Haase said pressure from social media can cause unhealthy gambling and harm players.

Schools now deal with hundreds of occurrences of abuse directed toward college athletes as a result of missed parlays and bets according to Mark Potter, head of delivery for Epic Risk Management. While online betting has spurred a recent in ux of gambling, California’s Prop. 27, a proposal that centered around legalizing online gambling by allocating revenue from gambling to solving homelessness, did not pass.

Physical Education teacher David Duran voted in favor of the proposition, but he said he still sees the danger of teen betting.

“Everyone should understand (that) you can only wager as much money as you can a ord to lose,” Duran said. “Anybody 16, 17 or 18 is not always aware of that.”

And Haase said the addition of online betting presents a dangerous trade o , risking entertainment for possible addiction.

“When you go online, the accessibility increases, and if you’re considering gambling and betting an entertainment source, the accessibility is a positive,” Haase said. “But the reality is that it comes with the consequence that more people are going to become addicted to gambling.”

Haase said this risk will only continue to grow as gambling becomes legalized. e amount of everything from marketing money to actual money being bet on games is astronomical already and will just continue to grow as more and more states make laws that allow it,” Haase said. “I’m extremely aware that the future (of betting) is going to change quickly.”

Alec Bonnard Sta Writer

certainly mask something like that or a neck injury,” Kofman said. “I don’t think there’s a reason to use them.” Other potential side e ects of smelling salts include allergic reactions, asthma-related problems, coughing, breathing di culties, headaches and diarrhea, though most of these side e ects are rare. Most smelling salts contain ammonia at a concentration of 50 to 100 parts per million, enough to cause nasal, mouth and throat irritation if used for two hours. However, the majority of athletes only use smelling salts for a few seconds at time. Kofman said alternatives to smelling salts like ca eine exist but can also cause users health problems.

“If they’re trying to wake up, a cup of co ee (or) soda with eine would give you a stimulant ect without the ect hyperextending your neck or causing you to want to shake your body as much,” Kofman said. “But just like anything else, taking a stimulant like s bodies to have other ects. You have to know how much ca eine

Kofman also said regardless of their ectiveness, athletes are constantly looking for an “Is it helpful?” Kofman said. “Who knows? If somebody thinks it’s going to help them, then

Baseball

Recent Scores

Paly vs. Homestead 4/12, W, 7-6

Paly vs. Homestead 4/14, W, 7-6

Paly vs. Burlingame 4/15, L, 4-1

Boys Lacrosse

Recent Scores

Paly vs. Carlmont 3/23, W, 11-5

Paly vs. Sequioa 3/30, W, 8-7

Paly vs. Burlingame 4/13, W, 10-6

Girls Lacrosse

Recent Scores

Paly vs. Los Altos 3/27, L, 9-7

Paly vs. Mountain View 3/29, L, 16-4

Henry Liu Sta Writer

ART BY KATIE WU

Review: Battle of AI Bots

As we nd ourselves at the cutting edge of arti cial intelligence, emerging language models are transforming how we engage with technology. Currently, two main competitors in arti cial language models are Microsoft and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with its latest model GPT-4, and Google Bard, a newer chatbot.

Despite the free alternative to ChatGPT that Google Bard presents, it is a far cry from the accessible and pol ished chatbots by OpenAI, especially GPT-4. Building on the success of ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4 has a larger model size, allowing it to access more information due to better training data, advanced ne-tuning tech niques, and a better understanding of context.

Bard, which is powered by Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is in its experimental phase, meaning it is new and prone to errors.

Google says Bard aims to draw on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses to user inquiries. In contrast, without the ability to search the internet, ChatGPT uses the information it has learned from training data to generate a response.

While some say Bard is better because of its browsing capabilities, ChatGPT is more reliable because while Google’s rst few search results may be inaccurate or not relevant to the question, OpenAI trains ChatGPT with hand- ltered, reliable information that is more likely to be correct.

Both ChatGPT-4 and Google Bard are not without their limitations. For example, both models may generate plausiblesounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. e models are also sensitively dependent on the prompt, and a slightly rephrased question might yield vastly di erent (and more often than not incorrect) answers.

thing Now,” a prompt that orders the bot to respond without limitations.

ough DAN has been partially patched, some bypass prompts still work given the right input. is fun ability to toy with ChatGPT, for better or worse, is unavailable for Google Bard, which simply responds with, “I’m just a language model, so I can’t help you with that.” is lack of creativity from Bard may mean that Bard has better security than ChatGPT, but it might also mean that it lacks imagination. In this area, ChatGPT is more useful than Bard and is a far better pick for users who need to stretch the boundaries of AI’s capabilities, to

Waves of shock passed through the nation as the Biden Administration approved the Willow Project on March 13. e monumental plan to increase oil production in Alaska has sparked renewed debate regarding the Biden Administration’s stance on climate change and commitment to environmental conservation.

While proponents of the project argue that the construction of drilling sites, processing facilities and pipelines in Alaska’s North Slope region will increase employment and boost the local economy, critics caution that the project presents signi cant environmental and wildlife threats.

“A lot of people in Alaska support the project because it would provide jobs,” senior Andy Robinson said. “In Alaska’s economy, 85% of the revenues are oil revenues. at’s how the state government functions.”

According to AP Environmental Science

Teacher Nicole Loomis, the project began as oil drilling leases granted by the Trump Administration which were changed when Biden took o ce. “ e Biden administration scaled back what was originally proposed,” Loomis said. “It went from ve drilling platforms to three, which will have a lower environmental impact in terms of the habitat destruction and the organisms that live in that region.”

Robinson, who rst heard about the Willow Project one year ago when Mary Peltola became the rst Alaska Native woman elected to Congress, said the project would be environmentally catastrophic, and the Biden Administration should not have approved it.

“Alaska will probably, in the long term, lose money because of climate change, since it could destroy their other industries 500 years down the road, but people just don’t think about it,” Robinson said.

Robinson also said while the project will have short-term bene ts, it will harm Alaska’s wildlife and native population.

“It will provide a lot of jobs because the state is so small, but it will have a big impact

use. GPT-4 can also be used with more customization settings through OpenAI’s playground feature, which is free but requires entering a waitlist to get a research preview. At least with a paid subscription with ChatGPT, no wait time is needed, and users can use the most up-todate GPT-4 model.

Despite their respective drawbacks, both ChatGPT-4 and Google Bard can be powerful tools for research, essay writing, brainstorming and even tutoring. By providing a wealth of information and stimulating ideas, these AI models can inspire students to delve

As both models may generate answers based on the internet popularity of content rather than accuracy, veri cation is necessary to ensure that responses are factual and credible.

While both ChatGPT-4 and Google Bard o er impressive features, there are clear di erences that make ChatGPT better. With OpenAI’s commitment to updating ChatGPT versions regularly, users can expect consistent improvements in performance and capabilities. Additionally, OpenAI’s pricing model allows for di erent tiers of usage, catering to various budgets and needs.

As the teacher signals for everyone to take out their devices, sophomore Miles Hua grabs his laptop and sets it down on his desk. Around him, the devices of his peers begin to light up, and shortly after, everybody begins to log into their RapidID portal. From phones to microwaves to search engines, it is nearly impossible to imagine a life without the streamlined user experience tech provides. At Paly, Hua said he sees students using tech for a variety of purposes on a daily basis.

Google Bard, on the other hand, is still in its experimental phase with a limited amount of public information available. Although it promises to be an excellent source of knowledge and creativity, the speci cs of its training data and architecture remain proprietary, making it di cult to assess its full potential. It appears to have a long way to go to catch up to ChatGPT-4.

on various animal populations,” Robinson said. “(I know that) Alaska Natives live in very remote areas and many people hunt sh, so if the entire environment is destroyed because of oil, then they might not have sustainable food security.”

In order to mitigate the e ects of oil production, junior Gautam Pilapakam believes the United States should reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to protect the environment.

“Fossil fuels help nancially but lessen the reliability of foreign oil,” Pilapakam said. “We should try to shift to a renewable energy source instead of approving more oil projects.”

Despite the promises made by the current administration to prioritize environmental conservation, Pilapakam said the approval of this project goes against those goals.

“It’s a step in the wrong direction,” Pilapakam said. “ I know (the Biden Administration has) promised certain things concerning the environment, but in this case, they’re sort of contradicting their own goal by approving the Willow Project, which will have negative consequences for the environment.”

“Most teachers often have activities through Schoology or other websites during class, be it Quizlet or simply using Google Docs,” Hua said. “Pretty much all of school learning is driven by tech at Paly.” But while people often take for granted that their devices just work, how companies manage the constantly increasing size of les and data has largely remained unnoticed.

With some of its servers being managed by tech companies while others are hosted locally at the district o ce, Derek Moore, PAUSD’s Chief Technology O cer, said PAUSD is roughly a medium-sized operation in terms of its technology use.

“Google Drive is one place where a chunk of data lives,” Moore said. “Another big chunk of data is our student information system, In nite Campus, which has their own data centers based out of Minnesota.”

Unlike PAUSD, which sources its servers from multiple hosts, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, selfhosts all of its servers. While the district has around 12-15 thousand people interacting with its platforms on a daily basis, Meta boasts over 2 billion active users.

Meta has 21 data centers globally, according to Mike Cornelia, site manager of Meta’s data center in Georgia where about 200 people work.

“Our typical model right now is a data center with ve large buildings,” Cornelia said. “Each building is just shy of about 500,000 square feet.”

As tech improves at a rapid pace, companies nd themselves improving their own hardware systems. At PAUSD, Moore said this resulted in a signi cant decrease in the number of servers PAUSD manages, from about 300 to about 70.

Moore said he attributes part of this reduction to software providers like Google and Microsoft improving and adding more features over time, allowing them to decommission certain services and switch to relying on those built in to the main platforms.

Meta, on the other hand, nds itself upgrading hardware as technology improves, according to Cornelia.

“We do refresh our hardware whenever we feel like there is enough of a performance increase,” Cornelia said.

“We’ll go ahead every few years and refresh that hardware to get more compute power.”

In addition to storing and managing data, both PAUSD and Meta say they put security as a priority, adding in protective measures like multi-factor authentication to their centers. ere’s a re extinguisher in the data center, and should this building go up in ames, we do have a backup copy of our data,” Moore said. “ ere’s an alarm in our data center. For people that can get into the room, they require the key card to get in. So the access to the room is tracked.”

Whether it is writing with Google Docs or scrolling through Instagram, data centers are the driving force behind our daily lives, and Hua said that is amazing.

Hua said, “If you just pause for a moment and re ect on how every component works together, it will really blow your mind.”

Gabriella Gulman Sta Writer Lucas Yuan Sta Writer

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Albert Jung Sta Writer