May 2023

TJTODAY

ABSTRACT

Dressed in a lederhosen, junior Anukrit Sharma dances in German iNite. Sharma found a supportive community in his first year participating in iNite. “The community was so hype the entire time,” Sharma said. “I gained a lot of new friends and also some dance skills.”

STAFF EDITORIAL BOARD

Print and Online Editors-in-Chief

Christina Lu

Robert Stotz

Eric Feng

Aarya Kumar

Grace Sharma

Chris Yoo

Team Leaders

Anya Raval

Lucas Ribero

Keertana Senthilkumar

Laura Zhang

Advisor:

Erinn Harris

tjTODAY is the official newsmagazine of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The staff is deeply committed to a code of journalistic ethics that demands

the exercise of accuracy, good judgment, and impartiality. The content of tjTODAY is determined by the editorial board. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the staff of tjTODAY, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

tjtoday.tjhsst @tjhsst_media

tjtoday_official tjTODAY

PHOTO// S. Jun

by Laura Zhang

Speeding across the finish line to excited cheers, junior Steve Tchana anxiously waits to see if he broke yet another track record. During the indoor and outdoor track seasons, Tchana set multiple new Jefferson records.

Racing Thoughts

to race our hardest. We weren’t just thinking about the record,” Klopson said.

The relay team broke the record again at the state championships meet.

Boys indoor track team breaks long-standing school records

On Feb. 3, Tchana broke the Jefferson record for the 300-meter dash with a time of 36.20 seconds at the district meet. The previous record of 36.54 seconds was set over 25 years ago in 1996.

“I’ve been saying I would break [the 300-meter dash] record as a joke, and then I did it,” Tchana said. “The 300 meter record wasn’t as hard as the other records I’m trying to break, so I kind of expected that one.”

Tchana is carrying his success to the outdoor track season and already broke the outdoor 400-meter record on April 15. His ultimate goal is to run for a college track team.

“This season, I’ve been trying to break the 100 and 200 meter records,” Tchana said. “I probably can’t make recruit times, but hopefully, I’ll become fast enough to walk onto a [team].”

Jefferson’s indoor track season also saw record times from senior Aidan Singer, who broke the school record for the 1000-meter run at the state championships meet on Feb. 24.

“When I broke the 1000-meter record, I was exhilarated,” Singer said. “I had just placed fifth at states to make the all-state team and earn a medal, and I was insanely excited.”

Tchana and Singer were also part of the record-breaking 4x400 meter relay with sophomore Ryan Power and senior Jack Klopson at the regional championships meets.

“[The record] was definitely on our minds, but we really went in just

“When we broke the 4x400 record [at regionals], I was hyped as we had just qualified for the state meet,” Klopson said. “We went even faster at the state meet.”

The relay team’s strong performance came after years of hard work.

“I run every single day, seven days a week. Occasionally, I’ll take a break on Sundays, but I run 50 miles every week,” Klopson said. “We go to the weight room twice a week, and I’ll also do cross-training once in a while.”

Although exhausting at times, Singer finds the physical challenge of running highly rewarding.

“I love every aspect of training and the people in the sport are incredible,” Singer said. “My favorite part is the feeling of pushing my body to the limit after a hard workout.”

Klopson also enjoys less intense, slower-paced runs, which give him the opportunity to converse with friends.

“There’s a lot of easy mileage that takes a long time. It’s at least an hour of running every single day, so you get to talk to your friends while you’re doing the sport, which is a lot of fun,” Klopson said.

Through track, Klopson has learned to persevere throughout everyday difficulties to maintain his routine of running.

“Whether it’s rain or shine, whether you feel like it or not, you have to go out, because it’s all about consistency,” Klopson said. “Running every single day is how you make progress in the sport.”

PHOTO // Legacy Studios

houghts

team breaks

school records

Inside a Runner’s Mind

Pumping his arms for momentum, junior Steve Tchana races at an indoor track meet against Falls Church High School. “I like getting good times and improving and the team vibe,” Tchana said.

Gripping the baton after a smooth handoff from Tchana, senior Jack Klopson takes off in the 4x400 relay at the state championships meet. “This year, I’m running the 800 and 1600, which is definitely a lot more go, go, go,” Klopson said. “You just have to push through.”

Outstretching his arm towards the baton, Tchana runs in the 4x200 relay. “In anything longer than the 200, I get really nervous because I know it’s going to hurt,” Tchana said. “When you start running, you just forget about all that.”

Anchoring the 4x400 relay, senior Aidan Singer sprints to the finish line. “During races, my mind mostly fades, and I’m locked in the race,” Singer said. “There have been many races where I don’t remember most of what happened.”

PHOTO // M. Magnant

PHOTO // M. Magnant

PHOTO // Legacy Studios

Walk down the halls of TJ and feel the sunlight warm your skin as people cluster in the courtyard on your right. You may not give it much thought, but every corner of the building was intentionally designed to create a safe and engaging learning environment.

Jefferson’s 2009 renovation was designed by Ballou Justice Upton Architects.

“What we were trying to do is design a school that was more exciting for the students, with more openness, more connectivity,” Bill Upton, the lead architect on the project, said. “[We wanted] every space [to be] a learning and teaching space. [We also emphasized] connection to the outdoors.”

Making the environment liveable and friendly was also a priority.

“Human beings should be treated like human beings,” Upton said. “Everyone should be able to walk, stand there and say ‘hi’ to their friends when they’re going from upstairs to downstairs.”

Another part of the rationale when designing Jefferson was to incorporate modern concepts and technologies as much as possible, from energy-efficient air conditioning to clean, expansive sightlines.

“People are interested in seeing new concepts and learning," Upton said. "So we [made] sure that we built those things in your school as much as possible.”

by Lucas Riberio and Eric Feng

Architectural drawing of TJ during its design phase, which called for a large, pedestrianized plaza flanking the front of the school. This was later revised as designs changed. Illustration// Balliou Justice Upton Architects

Architects designed Jefferson to support learning and safety

Allowing ample natural light to TJ’s classrooms was a priority in Jefferson’s design. Even classrooms that are not adjacent to an exterior wall will often have a hallway-facing window or skylight.

“Some schools don’t place windows in the classroom because they're afraid of distractions, afraid of security issues, but to me to have a human being locked in a space without any connection to the outside is criminal,” Upton said. “So we tell most of our clients that we will not design a classroom that

doesn't have windows or open spaces unless it's something unusual, a computer lab, restrooms.”

This emphasis on natural light is appreciated by students like senior Aditi Shukla.

"[Jefferson] has had the most [natural light] compared to other schools. It's just a lot nicer," Shukla said."I remember after elementary school, I'd walk out and my eyes [would] hurt because it's so bright versus how weirdly schools are lit usually.”

A TJHSST hallway pre-renovation and post-renovation. “I always love to walk down the library hallway and watch the trees. I just enjoy that horizon,” senior Isha Satapathy said. “It gives me some peace of mind as I'm going from, for instance, my first period to my second.” PHOTO// Balliou Justice Upton Architects

Jefferson’s Internet Cafe spaces were inspired through discussions with focus groups.

PHOTO// Balliou Justice Upton Architects

When TJHSST’s redesign was being planned in 2007-9, it drew inspiration from student focus groups, which were made up of high schoolers at the time. Except in 2007-9, the current cohort of high schoolers was not part of Generation Z, as Jack Moye, also from the Balliou Justice Upton design team, explains.

“The student leadership at the time were millennials, so you were alike in many ways and different in many ways,” Moye said. “We were working with them as a team. We had teachers and students as a part of the input, and we did focus groups.”

Spaces such as the Internet Cafe were born out of a focus group discussion in which students expressed a

need for more spaces along hallways to plug in computers and work.

“They wanted lots of plugins along the hallway,” Moye said. “Because they’d be eating lunch, computer battery life wasn’t very good, and they wanted to use their laptops which probably weighed a couple pounds.”

The contribution of millennials comes as a surprise to senior Isha Satapathy.

“I'm not gonna lie to you, that immediately makes me hate the design,” Satapathy said. “You're telling me all this time I've been enjoying the product of millennial minds? Shame on me.”

However, the focus groups also had various positive impacts beyond internet cafes—they shaped the environ-

ments that give Jefferson its personality.

“The number one thing they wanted is [for] technology not to interfere with the relationship with the teacher,” Moye said. “Whereas we were thinking the lecture needed to go, they said, 'no, the lecture needs to stay'. But [with] some modifications.”

These modifications include collaborative spaces that emphasize face-to-face interaction.

“Technology is something that can add value to the human relationship. I think the key thing that [the focus groups] opened our eyes to, is [using] technology not to replace human contact, but [to] enhance it,” Moye said. “[So we designed] more social collaborative spaces,

places where you can sit comfortably in the hallway, socialize, or have a discussion.”

These spaces, which include commons, as well as wide, airy hallways, have done their job in contributing to the Jefferson environment.

"The commons have been constructed and placed in a manner that makes it very accessible for teachers to collaborate, which is very useful for the plethora of combined humanities courses that we have" Satapathy said, "[They] also allow for community during our leisure periods, for instance, in passing and during lunch."

You may notice wide open spaces and sightlines throughout Jefferson. While aesthetically pleasing, sightlines also help keep the school safe. "We have something that we refer to as CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design)," Upton said. "Which is that people are safer when there's more sightlines, as people that think about causing trouble [become] less likely to do it."

CPTED has even gained prominence internationally.

“There was a group of educators and security people from the country of Turkey, visiting Washington DC and they

said, well, we're worried about safety and what's going on," Upton said. "They asked where they can go to see an example of what they can do to make their schools better and safer. They were told about our school, so they came in so we gave them a tour and showed them all the things I’ve done.” At the same time, the open sightlines mean it can sometimes be difficult for students to find private spaces.

"Whenever I'm very stressed, it seems like the only place that you can really go to have a shut off space is the bathroom," Satapathy said.

Jefferson is designed with wide-open sightlines in mind. "Overall, the sight lines are really good because you're able to stand in hallways and commons areas, look down the hallways and look around," Jefferson principal Ann Bonitatibus said. PHOTO// Lucas Riberio

As with any design proccess, the one behind Jefferson was filled with change. The initial design was tweaked various times with input from student focus groups, administration, teachers, county stakeholders, and more.

One idea for Jefferson in the early stages of planning was a green roof.

“We wanted to have a green roof on the center section of the school, with a park up there, so people could get some air and be outside,” Upton said. “But[the county] said ‘no, we don’t want to do that’ and we had to pull the plug.”

Satapathy believes students should consider reviving ideas like the green roof.

“I don’t understand why this has never been followed up on. I

think plenty of people would be willing to fundraise for a green roof. I would love a green roof. If you had told me that there was an opportunity to create a green roof, do you know how quickly I would jump on that? Do you know how quickly I would advocate to make as many people here as possible fundraise for it?”

The Dome was added relatively late in Jefferson’s design process.

“My understanding of the dome was that that was a last minute addition to the school, where they felt like they wanted a distinct entryway,”

principal Ann Bonitatibus said. “So they just decided ‘let’s build a dome’.”

While the dome may seem underutilized and mostly aesthetic in function, it’s proven to be critical in keeping the school in line with new security norms.

“[The dome] was years ahead of many other FCPS schools in terms of security design,”

Bonitatibus

said. “When we’re talking about school security, you always want a double layer at your front entrance, and most high schools didn’t have that. A lot of [these] schools have had to go back [and] retrofit to create vestibules.”

Either way, the dome remains a flagship symbol of the school, welcoming new freshmen when they arrive at Jefferson for the first time, as sophomore Naveen Amir describes.

“[Jefferson] has a big reputation as the number one school in America, so my expectations were automatically really high from the beginning,” Amir said. “I was really excited to see the building—and the dome [was] really cool, [it’s] innovative [and] overall a great piece of architecture.”

What the Jefferson building might have looked like with a green roof. Although conceptualized in initial plans, the green roof idea never reached the full design stage. ILLUSTRATION//E. Li

The athletic managers put in work behind the scenes for the team

by Chris Yoo

A Manager-ie of duties

Junior team manager Pishoy Elias looks on at the team from the sideline during a lacrosse match at John R. Lewis High School. Elias has been managing the lacrosse team since last season. “I have had a lot of fun being friends with people on the team and becoming part of this really nice community of athletes. I’ve also learned to manage my time better, because although I wasn’t an athlete, now I have been going to the majority of games so I know that it’s much more important,” Elias said.

PHOTO// C. Yoo

They run, they kick, they throw, they win. When we think of sports, the athletes and coaches that are involved in them are the individuals that often come to They run, they kick, they throw, they win. When we think of sports, the athletes and coaches that are involved in them are the individuals that often come to our minds first. But in order for a season to go off without a hitch, work needs to be done behind the scenes. Enter the athletic managers.

The role of a team athletic manager is to help make sure the team’s operation in-game runs as smoothly as possible. In the high-speed high-stress setting of a game, there are many things that need to be completed in order to improve performance, both during the match and in the long run.

“During games for junior varsity and varsity, the athletic managers have to record stats and notes on a lot of things, like shots made or who’s playing. Basically we write down how the players do and from that they figure out how to get better in the future,” junior and boys lacrosse manager Grace Lee said. “I’ll send [the stats] to the coach or sometimes to the players so that they know how they did.”

Being a manager requires basic knowledge of the sport, as well as the ability to effectively communicate and work quickly while being attentive and observant.

“[My initial experience] was a bit tricky because I had to learn the ropes. I wasn’t very fluent in lacrosse at the time when I started because I wasn’t an athlete in that type of way. But in the end

I learned the ins-and-outs of the sport. It took me going to the first couple games, asking the coaches questions, observing the referees call score, looking at the scoreboard, and working with friends,” junior and girls lacrosse manager Pishoy Elias said.

In addition to keeping track during games, the athletic managers also help with planning events for the team.

“I helped organize things like the team senior night. Organizing events for me usually entails meeting up with our athletic director, Mr. Forshay, and figuring out logistics. I would also text the team group chat and ask for their opinions of

certain things. For example, during our senior night we had to base our events on what the team wanted, and I had the help of Mr. Forshay when doing this too,” Elias said.

Sometimes when the game is going on, emotions can flare. The managers aren’t exempt from such feelings, and while they go about doing their assigned tasks, they may become absorbed into the game itself.

“I don’t know how to describe it completely. But obviously we want our team to win. So when we don’t score for a while or the other team scores, we will say ‘Oh, I really hope that we can do better.’ And then when they

score a goal then it’s just pretty happy,” Lee said.

When asked about their experience managing the team, the managers replied that though it could be challenging at times, it was a fun and rewarding time.

“I have had a lot of fun being friends with people on the team and becoming part of this really nice community of athletes. I’ve also learned to sort of manage my time well or better, because although I wasn’t an athlete, then or now I have been going to the majority of games so I know that it’s much more important,” Elias said.

Elias works on keeping the scoresheet updated during a lacross game. “[My initial experience] was a bit tricky because I had to learn the ropes. I wasn’t very fluent in lacrosse at the time when I started because I wasn’t an athlete in that type of way. But in the end I learned the ins-and-outs of the sport. It took me going to the first couple games, asking the coaches questions, observing the referees call score, looking at the scoreboard, and working with friends.,” Elias said. PHOTO// C. Yoo

AI-generated art prompts mixed feelings in the art community

or

algorithmic? artful

by Spencer Zheng

One night, someone somewhere wakes up in a cold sweat. Inspiration has struck them. It’s as if they can almost see the image they want to create. Over the next days or weeks, they painstakingly bring that vision to life the way it has been done throughout history, through traditional art. On another night, someone else wakes up with a similar spark. They open their computer, begin putting together the words to describe their vision, and then give that prompt to an AI to create.

The advent of AI-generated art, which is created by models trained to generate new images based off millions of previously created images, has introduced questions about how to properly label AI-generated art, how copyright applies to that art, and when artists should be asked for permission to use their work. Another looming question concerns how human-created and AI-generated art will coexist, if at all.

On the one hand, AI-generated art may open up the field to ordinary people like never before.

“People who don’t have art skills or don’t have access to making art, if they have access to this computer software, they can create all different types of art,” sophomore Amya Joseph, secretary for the TJ Art Club, said.

ILLUSTRATION// E. Liu

However, Joseph anticipates that AI could pose a threat to the livelihoods of artists themselves, precisely because it opens up the field so much.

“People will see it as, ‘Oh, I don’t need to hire an artist to create this piece for me anymore, I can just go on this program and create it myself.’ So, especially people who have a career in art, they’re probably going to suffer because people are just using AI art now,” Joseph said.

Senior Elina Liu, co-president of the TJ Art Club, sees how AI could potentially increase access to art like never before while lowering demand for artists.

“I know art commissions, when you ask a real person to create them, take a lot of money, so AI art could surpass that,” Liu said.

But Liu also believes that human art

will still have a major place next to AI art besides commissions, because AI art lacks a human touch that artists give their work.

“There’s some element of artist-made art that AI art, I think, can’t really replicate. You don’t know the meaning behind it or the intention behind it, and I think what really completes art is the story behind it, and AI art definitely doesn’t have that,” Liu said.

Sophomore Jessie Huang, the other co-president of the TJ Art Club, thinks that AI can inspire the color palette or composition of a piece, to a degree.

“I think that if you’re practicing art and you need a color palette or some sort of setting, then you can definitely try to use AI to help, but I don’t think that AI should be your only way of generating ideas,” Huang said.

However, art teacher Jayne Matricardi

sees a potential issue with the style set by AI art.

“A lot of AI work does fall into a kind of narrow aesthetic, which makes me nervous because then the more people see it, then the more they’ll get used to that one particular type of aesthetic,” Matricardi said.

According to Liu though, artists and programmers could cooperate to create artistic AI–if only programmers ask.

“My understanding of neural networks is that you have to have training sets, so you have to have initial images,” Liu said. “I think it’s fairly easy to find artists that are actually interested in this expansion of AI art and ask for their consent to use their works, and then I think it’d be great for artists and coders to work together.”

Image obtained from Stable Diffusion with the prompt “teenager at claw machine for stuffed animals”

Image obtained from Midjourney with the prompt “girl playing claw machine for stuffed animals”

Attending the annual TJ Science and Engineering Fair, Tao presents her protein predic tion model. She started the project during RSI and hopes to add to it in the future. protein prediction project was something that I worked on at RSI and actually continued as part of the TJ mentorship program this year. The project falls in very nicely with want to do in the future,” Tao said.

Working Taoward

Regeneron, RSI (Research Science Institute), and Coca-Cola. The list of accomplishments stretches far and wide for senior Lynn Tao. Tao has always been interested in STEM, and TJ expanded that interest.

“Coming to TJ definitely helped nurture that passion through the curriculum and the various extracurricular opportunities and resources that I found. I am really grateful to have been able to explore my passions and collaborate with like-minded peers,” Tao said. While exploring her STEM interests at TJ, Tao became fascinated by the field of computational biology.

“Computational biology

PHOTO // L. Tao

Lecturing to TJ’s Biology Olympiad club, Tao leads an 8th period meeting. Tao hopes to pursue her passion for biology and computer science in the future. “During high school, I have really gotten interested in the intersection between computer science and biology. I can use computer science and artificial intelligence in a way that’s geared towards things in a biological context,” Tao said. her protein predicthe future. “The actually continued nicely with what I

Leaning down, Tao performs a classical Chinese dance. This extracurricular helps Tao balance her rigorous schedule. “Doing a lot of things can definitely lead to a lot of stress, and it’s important not to get burned out and find something you enjoy that can take your mind off of things for at least a little while,” Tao said.

Taoward her Passion

seemed pretty cool because it combines the very dynamic, evolving field of biology with the boundless realm of computer science,” Tao said. “And that means that I can use computer science and artificial intelligence in a way that’s geared towards things in a biological context.”

Using her computational biology skills, Tao has primarily worked on two research projects.

“The first project was about developing an early breast cancer risk detection application. I was inspired to do something by my family’s extensive history of breast cancer, so I worked with a mentor at Yale University to gain more insight and see if there was any innovation I could come up with to advance early detection,” Tao said. “Another project that I worked on last year, at the research science institute was about optimizing this deep learning model for protein interactions, which surrounded proteomics

Lynn Tao balances academics at TJ, working on award-winning Computational Biology projects, and finding time to help her community and relax

and deep learning.”

Outside of her academic work, Tao is also an active member in the community and enjoys a few hobbies in her free time.

“I have a couple of different interests in community service and civic engagement. As a part of the STEM Ambassadors program, I work to bring STEM opportunities and education to younger kids, especially those in underserved communities. I’m also a Habitat hero, which is tied to the Fairfax County Park Authority, and a Rise Against Hunger volunteer where we package meal kits for those in need,” Tao said.

As a result of these scientific and civic contributions, Tao was named to be a Coca-Cola scholar alongside 150 seniors throughout the nation.

“It’s really an incredible honor to be recognized by the Coca-Cola Foundation. I’m so excited to meet and join a

by Aarya Kumar

community of dedicated, talented Scholars nationwide, people who I can share passions and pursuits with as we learn, grow, and benefit society together,” Tao said.

When she is not conducting research or volunteering in her community, Tao spends her time creating amigurumi.

“ I picked up crocheting as a side hobby during quarantine and you can make these little amigurumi. They’re like little stuffed animals, and it’s very relaxing. I could just have Netflix or something playing in the background while I’m making one,” Tao said.

Tao sees high school as a journey exploring new things.

“The end goal shouldn’t be an achievement or an award or an honor, but rather that just comes as a result of working on somethinhat you really like to do,” Tao said.

PHOTO // L. Tao

PHOTO // L. Tao

speak now

in her

eras

Over three hours, ten acts, and 44 songs long, the Eras Tour is one of the most successful and iconic performances to date. Ranging from country to pop to alternative rock to folk, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is setting boundaries and breaking records.

Following her last tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour—also the highest grossing North American tour in history—Swift released four albums: “Lover,” “folklore,” “evermore,” and “Midnights.” The new records bring her discography to ten total studio albums, and spans over five genres.

The Eras Tour follows the release of “Midnights” on Oct. 21, 2022, Swift’s most recent record. With a growing fanbase due to the release of her quarantine albums in addition to “Midnights,” her fans, affectionately named Swifties, faced difficulties purchasing tickets through Ticketmaster.

The first show in Glendale, Arizona held over 69 thousand attendees,

greater than the attendance of the 2023 Super Bowl, which clocked in just under 68 thousand. That’s how many people wanted to see this tour.

Expected to make over $600 million in revenue, it’s no surprise that tIn addition to breaking the record for the highest attended concert for a female artist, previously held by Madonna, Swift broke sales records at nearly every single stadium she is set to play throughout just the North American leg of the tour.

Despite being unable to attend myself, I can confidently say the energy and meticulous planning that goes into every one of Swift’s performances is astonishing. Through videos and pictures, Tiktok and Instagram, and even spoken word, it is clear to me that Swift is one of the top performers of her generation.

Say what you want about her personal life, her records, or the genres she plays. No one can refute the fact that she doesn’t just play songs. She puts

by Grace Sharma

on a show.

Given her many eras, hence the title of the tour, each of the ten acts throughout the three hour performance represents a different era of her career.

And each one is spectacular.

The first song of the show is “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” off of “Lover,” her ninth studio album, which is fitting given the lyrics “It’s been a long time coming.”

Each act following then stands out from the others in unique ways, raging from color pallet to outfit to the stage blocking. A portion of the center stage is composed of blocks that rise and fall during songs to form different shapes, providing an invigorating and exciting show regardless of where in the audience you sit, from front row to the very last seat.

Regardless of when or where you see Swift perform, in person or online, the visuals, vocals, and venue are all sure to blow your mind.

Global superstar Taylor Swift breaks records and sets the stage through her sixth headlining tour, the Eras tour

DRESSING FOR SUCCESS

by Ashley Hwang & Hannah Liu

The School Board should address topics more important to the student body beyond dress code

Plaid pants and slippers roam the halls of Jefferson on a typical school day. Amid the hustle of assessments and schoolwork, pajamas have become a ubiquitous element of our school’s culture, offering a sense of comfort, warmth, and familiarity into our academic settings.

Wearing pajamas to school has become a common trend among Jefferson students, and it makes sense why. After pulling an all-nighter or studying for a long test, students can experience more comfort while taking notes in a lecture, and overall have a better mood while at school.

However, recently proposed changes to the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook (SR&R) included a drafted dress code, which considered banning all forms of pajamas “unless worn during Spirit Week or pajama day.” While this proposal has been removed, it is important to consider regulations surrounding the presence of pajamas at school.

Pajamas at school aren’t relevant for the school board to address when there are more impactful

issues affecting students in the county. For instance, the school board agenda, which initially included the discussion pajamas, also included issues such as harassment and bullying. In the face of these topics, the regulation of pajamas isn’t what actually matters to students. As a whole, the dress code has a minimal impact on school learning environment, and rather detracts from the severity of topics such that affect students on a daily basis.

In addition, if dress codes were to be placed restricting pajamas, the exact rules surrounding it would be unclear. In order for a rule to determine if pajamas can be worn or not, the question “what are pajamas?” would first have to be answered and strictly outlined. Would sweatpants be considered pajamas if a student had worn them to sleep the night before? The biggest fault that lies with restricting pajamas would be that it would be vague and too subjective of a rule. Due to the confusion over what would constitute as pajamas, dress code policy would also be hard to enforce.

ILLUSTRATION//E. Liu

FINALS IN FLUX

by Chris Yoo

The removal of the physics exams creates more problems than it fixes

My head swimming in the seas of torque and flux, I stare at the whiteboard and try to grasp the lesson written on it.

Physics, particularly the AP class, is a notoriously difficult course here at our school, and it all culminates in our cumulative midterm and final exams, exams that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to. So when the physics department announced that they were canceling the midterm and final, I initially thought “sweet, less stress.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe this didn’t help as much as I had initially thought.

I understand why our teachers decided to get rid of the major exams. It was a move to help relieve student workload and stress during busy, test-heavy times of the year. And for the most part, it did just that. There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief from many students in AP Physics classes as we were able to spend more time on major assignments and exams for other classes.

A couple weeks later, another decision was made to compact the second-semester Electricity and Magne-

tism (E&M) course into three units instead of five, making each unit worth a proportionally greater amount of our final grade. This was done in order to avoid a major unit test every two to three weeks and potentially compact the already-packed second semester of the course further. Again, it was a reasonable and fair resolution.

However, the combination of these two events resulted in an unfortunate side effect. E&M is generally the harder portion of the course, and the waiving of the midterm and final combined with having higher weighted E&M tests means that we now have three tests, including just content from the harder half, that have about the same impact on our final grade as a cumulative exam. Initially, the midterm and final exams were worth ten percent of our grade each. Now in the absence of those exams, each of the three E&M units have been bumped up to be worth 15 percent of our total grade, with the unit test being worth more than half of that. This means that each unit test will be worth around nine percent of our final grade, a small bump down from the 10 percent exams. Essentially, the combination of these two changes shifted the material covered in the high-pressure tests from the entire year to just the more difficult half.

This prospect evokes emotions that are a far cry from my original feelings of relief and elation. I believe that in the grand scheme of things, these changes probably won’t harm most people, but I don’t think it will help much either. The prospect of a final exam gives many students with borderline grades the opportunity to go on a last spurt and clutch up a better grade. For those students, it may be harder to raise their grade with the spread-out and difficult tests. They also give many students a reason to study the cumulative material one last time, especially in an AP class before the AP exams. They add pressure, sure, but in an environment and class that is this rigorous, the pressure to perform can be a positive for many students. I see why the decisions were made, but their combination results in another less-than-ideal solution — a solution that transfers the problem but doesn’t truly fix it.

PHOTO//A. Raval

Chemistry We’ve got

High school relationships are a worthwhile investment

Everyone seems to have an opinion on high school relationships — whether they’re worth the effort, if mask kissing is okay, and how much “rizz” people have. With prom having just occurred, and the Spring Fling just around the corner, it may be time to take a holistic view of the subject as a whole.

To start with perhaps the most contended point about high school relationships, PDA or public displays of affection in school can create an uncomfortable environment for many students and staff. Know when it’s appropriate: couples should be considerate of blocking others’ paths, especially in crowded hallways.

However, it might be helpful to consider that some couples don’t have cars, live far from each other, or face other circumstances that limit their ability to meet outside of school, so school may be their only one-on-one in-per-

son time. Seeing couples engaging in PDA may grab your attention and cause discomfort for a second, but that second becomes an otherwise irrelevant part of your day. One way to determine to what extent couple’s should be considerate of a potential audience is to think about PDA between platonic friends. If seeing two friends hug doesn’t weird you out, there shouldn’t be a double standard for couples.

Beyond public perception and venturing into the personal aspect of relationships, in general, dating in high school provides valuable learning experiences. You learn more about other people, understand your own needs better, and develop much needed communication skills over the course of your time together. They also prepare you for the dating world in college and beyond.

Students often raise concerns about limited time and distracting from academic goals. While

your grades might be impacted by a relationship, it’s possible to balance the time commitment they bring with school. Regardless, relationships are arguably a worthwhile investment, even if they come at a cost to academic performance.

Another common excuse is the sentiment that high school relationships aren’t worth it because they’re never meant to last. While it’s true the success rates are low, especially after college, the same can be said of high school friendships: those relationships are still valuable and worth pursuing, even if they fade out with time. At the same time, it doesn’t make sense to look down on others for not being in relationships. There are many valid reasons to not participate in them, as well as barriers posed by parents and other circumstances. At its core, romantic relationships are one of many ways for high schoolers to grow socially and emotionally.

Chemistry

ILLUSTRATION// C. Tran

Math and CS Teacher

McFeelin’ Quinn

the Music

I originally studied applied math and physics in university and then I was doing a lot of computational statistics for the [Department of Defense] Health Affairs branch.

Throughout university and when I was a contractor, I was mentoring and tutoring in Title One schools with the Neighborhood Tutoring Program. That was really fun and I just realized, why don’t I let myself continue having fun.

I really like getting folks excited about the stuff that I’m already excited about. Those lightbulb moments are really fantastic to experience.

I also do some woodworking and 3D art. I did make my fiance’s engagement ring out of TigerWood. We lacquered it. Other things there’s more gestural figures that I prototyped in cardboard; irregular geometric shapes that emulate and mock things we do as humans.

I really enjoy guitar. I write a lot of folk music and instrumental music. “Write what you know.” I just draw from my experiences because I know it will be authentic and true. I’ve written songs that are from experiences that I have learned while teaching.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

PHOTO by Kalagee Mehta REPORTING by Christina Lu and Robert Stotz