Meghna Dixit, Sana Karkhanis, Vaishnavi Katukam, Kate Yang
Sports
Editors:
Leah Desai, Ananda Singh, Ethan Yang
Copy Editors:
Giljoon Lee, Ellie Wang
Staff Writers:
Ananya Chaudhary, Anika Bhandarkar, Samika Bhatkar, Jason Chu, Arjun Dhruv, Ethan Eisler, Kathryn Foo, Niveda Hari, Aletheia Ju, Ethan Kellogg, Subin Ko, Manas Kottakota, Jami Lim, Katrina Lin, Erin Liu, Owen Liu, Megha Mummaneni, Sania Nadkarni, Sagnik Nag Chowdhury, Dylan Nguyen, Trisha Sannappanavar, Arshiya Sen, Arushi Singh, Varun Singh, Amberly Sun, Alan Tai, Samuel Teo, Raj Thapliyal, Eshika Tiwari, Archana Venkatesan, Alyssa Yang, Elizabeth Yang, Kaia Yuan, Eric Zhou Advisers:
Vennessa Nava, Julia Satterthwaite, MJE
Mission Statement:
El Estoque will accurately inform our community through well-researched, unbiased and in-depth accounts of stories of the student body and staff, local news and developments and taboo topics prevalent in and near the MVHS realm. By investigating a variety of voices and credible perspectives, we hope to foster active discussion, effect positive change and spread awareness of timely and relevant content. As a trustworthy, consistent and reliable source of information, we strive to be accountable, adaptable and ready to correct and address our mistakes. Constantly striving for improvement, we will uphold integrity and ethics to be respectful and empathetic to one another, our sources and our readers. We will exercise our press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and California Ed Code 48907 while maintaining a community of reporters with a strong passion for our work and journalism as a whole.
COVER | ISABELLE KOK AND STELLA PETZOVA
LETTER FROM THE
EDITORS
To the Class of 2025 —
PHOTO | ETHAN YANG
It is that time of the year — when the blooming spring air carries as much hope for the imminent future as it does regret for the things we never got to do. Some might blame the pollen for our watery eyes, but as we prepare to say our goodbyes, it’s time to put words to the raw emotions. Throughout the past year, you have been setting the example for us to follow as we navigate through the rigorous MVHS environment. We’ve watched as you carefully articulated your ideas for personal statements. We’ve watched as your eyes lit up when talking about the next four years of your life. We’ve watched as your senioritis grew more and more severe.
In this issue, our Sports section celebrates senior athletes on their DIII signing day, and this is just one of the countless ways you have shown us how hard work turns into success. Each step along the way, you’ve shown us how to be students, leaders, friends and siblings. The senior columns in our Opinion section remind us of the endless wisdom and advice we’ve learned from you.
But now, it’s time to leave this school of yours behind and enter a world beyond the familiar breakfast burritos and advisories. Our Features section recaps your time here at MVHS, but also looks toward your plans for this summer and the majors you chose as you enter college.
We want to dedicate this magazine to our outgoing editors, who coached us through every skill we learned as part of this publication. Maybe there won’t be another Caltrain adventure to San Francisco nor a lunchtime escapade to Saratoga Bagels, but we will carry with us every comment you left, every piece of feedback you gave, every joke you made — and we know that the memories you’ve made here at MVHS and El Estoque will follow you as you sail through adulthood and achieve many more successes.
PHOTO | OWEN LIU
PHOTO | DYLAN NGUYEN
Students photograph and take copies of science tests at Model U.N. conference
BY YIXUAN (JOYCE) LI, ZAID NAQVI AND STELLA PETZOVA
For the purpose of maintaining their anonymity, the Model United Nations member involved in the incident and interviewed for this story will be referred to as Student A.
During the South Bay Model United Nations Conference on April 5, several students affiliated with the Model U.N. club snuck into MVHS science classrooms in the lower B building, which are all connected via a back corridor, whose doors were unlocked throughout the conference. They went through teachers’ files, stole copies and took photos of tests used in Biology, AP Biology, AP Physics 1 and AP Environmental Science classes.
Conference presentations were hosted primarily in the science classrooms of the lower B building, with overseers — usually multiple Model U.N. officers — supervising each room. Model U.N. adviser and social studies teacher Pete Pelkey did not monitor the rooms and didn’t see students enter the back corridor. Pelkey explained that he avoided supervising every classroom in the B building in order to not disrupt students’ presentations. He says this approach of supervision has worked in the past, and he doesn’t plan to increase stringency going forward.
Student A, one of the students who entered the back rooms, describes the situation as “spontaneous.” He says that students took advantage of easy accessibility to the tests for personal academic gain. According to him, the group involved was not a tight-knit friend group, but rather “a wide range of students from a diverse set of backgrounds and grade levels.”
“I think it was a thrill to have access to classrooms and to be unsupervised,” Student A said. “The prospect of having access to such lucrative things was the driving force of the incident.”
According to Student A, several members of the club were called into the office and interviewed by administration regarding the incident. Only one officer from MVHS was present at the event. Model U.N. President and senior Charlotte Zhou, although not present at the event, expressed disappointment in the students’ actions, citing their violation of the academic code and detrimental effects on the club’s reputation.
“It’s not a reflection of the club at all,” Zhou said. “From my understanding, our conference was just a catalyst for them to carry out these actions. It’s unfortunate that everyone is referring to this incident as the Model U.N. incident, when, in reality, we have no association with any of their actions. It’s just that they happened to be part of the club and used the club to their advantage.”
scheduled to host next year’s event, and Pelkey says that HHS may host it again the following year if MVHS administration imposes restrictions on Model U.N. activities due to the incident.
“The conference was very successful for the people that participated in it, and to have this incident happen really hurt the club because my officers have worked very hard to make this successful,” Pelkey said. “We don’t want a bad rep to follow the club, because they’ve done a really good job. I’m very pleased with my leadership team.”
Pelkey emphasizes that the SBMUN Conference is a crucial fundraiser for the club. Homestead High School is
Biology and Physiology teacher Lora Lerner, who found out about the incident from administration, believes the club bears responsibility for what happened. She recalls feeling betrayed by the breach of trust.
“It was like a gut punch,” Lerner said. “It feels like somebody broke into my house and was in my personal stuff. It’s a weight to carry, wondering ‘Can I really trust them?’ about every student who I think I might be able to trust. It makes that burden a little bit heavier to know that people would go to those lengths. It wasn’t just out
of convenience, like peeking at the person next to them on a test. It was a very deliberate effort to be dishonest, which is very disappointing.”
Lerner says that many science teachers reuse tests from year to year, so the breach means those tests will need to be rewritten, adding hours of extra work for teachers over the summer.
While doors between science classrooms had been left unlocked so custodians could access rooms easily, teachers weren’t notified by the club that students would be in the rooms over the weekend, so they left file cabinets containing tests unlocked.
leaders and faculty have turned their attention to the broader factors that may have influenced the students’ decisions. Zhou and her fellow Model U.N. officers agree that the students involved should be barred from holding leadership positions in the club, and she believes that they should be removed from the club entirely.
“ IT’S FRUSTRATING BECAUSE WE CAN’T MAKE PEOPLE HAVE INTEGRITY. THE CULTURE HERE AT MVHS IS THAT IT’S OK TO BE DISHONEST IF YOU CAN GET A HIGHER GRADE.
SCIENCE TEACHER
Students are typically not allowed in the lower science building outside of class time, according to Lerner, with the exception of parent-supervised Science Olympiad students. However, security will be increased due to the incident; for example, she says student tutors will no longer be allowed to wander in the back corridor outside of their TA period.
Lerner points out that if this were to happen at a college, the students would be expelled for trespassing. Student A says punishments were varied, but that he “was very fortunate to have the administration be very understanding and not be that harsh in terms of his punishment.”
Administration declined to comment on students’ punishments to preserve their privacy.
As the conversation around consequences continues, some club
However,
Zhou, Student A and Lerner agree that the academic culture of MVHS that prioritizes grades over integrity and learning is the root of the issue.
“It’s frustrating because we can’t make people have integrity,” Lerner said. “The culture here at MVHS is that it’s OK to be dishonest if you can get a higher grade. We as teachers can encourage people by emphasizing, ‘Hey, your integrity actually matters.’
We can try to scare them and say, ‘You’ll get caught eventually,’ even though some won’t.
But in the end, I can’t control people’s integrity, and they’re going to make their own decisions about whether they’re willing to do something dishonest because they think they’re gonna get something out of it.”
Student A believes that the situation reveals deeper flaws in the academic culture of MVHS. In addition to widespread cheating, he points out that recent events like shooting threats reflect similar dishonesty to escape academic effort and pressure.
“MVHS classes are hard, and it’s
generally not easy to do well,” Student A said. “It’s extremely tempting to cheat, because you can study for hours and still do badly on tests. And since cheating is so widespread, the activities that are in the gray zone, like sharing answers between passing periods, are really common. It’s rare to get caught, and there is a really high reward.”
However, Student A claims that, if he could go back and change his actions, he would. He says he was hesitant to enter the science rooms and participate, describing himself as “not a generally dishonest person.”
“I would stay out of those classrooms and not do anything if I could,” Student A said. “This has caused me so much stress, and it’s just been a bad situation. I think I enjoyed my life more before this happened.”
The sudden purchase of McClellan Terrace Apartments presents issues for residents BY
OWEN LIU AND ERIC
ZHOU
Sophomore Harshith Nelluri stands in front of Cupertino’s McClellan Terrace Apartments. Photo | Owen Liu
The student source in this story is anonymous due to potential legal concerns in this ongoing matter and will be referred to as Student A.
Foothill-De Anza Community College reached a tentative deal with Prometheus Real Estate Group to buy the McClellan Terrace Apartments on Tuesday, April 29, with board members unanimously voting in favor of the decision to repurpose the current housing complex into student dormitories. Financed by the approved Measure G bond, the apartment complex sold for $65.6 million, which was passed on March 20, 2020. Due to the current tenants of the McClellan Terrace Apartments almost reaching a maximum capacity of 94 households, the buyer hopes to use California Relocation Assistance Law, passed under California Prop 39, to fund any decisions concerning vacating the premises.
Under the Relocation Plan Proposal of Foothill De-Anza’s contract, FHDA promised to enlist relocation services for the current tenants to ease the transition process by studying the marketplace for affordable housing and funding any services under a budget of $30,000. With the proposal being implemented next year, current tenants are allowed to stay in their apartments until June 30, 2026, and their current leases are also extended to that termination date.
Director of Government Affairs and Public Information Officer of FDHA, Ellen Kamei, explains that the district aims to provide affordable housing within walking distance of Foothill and De Anza College, alongside benefits such as easy access to convenience stores and pharmacies. Kamei adds that Foothill and De Anza Colleges currently have no dormitories or housing complexes, which imposes challenges on low-income families.
of urgent student need, practical feasibility and long-term strategic planning aligned with our mission and Measure G obligations,” Kamei said. “And so many of the graduates of the district become nurses, teachers, community leaders and workers, so we wanted to ensure that we could remove the barrier for them when it comes to housing instability.”
However, to current tenants of the apartment, such as Student A, transitioning from their current residence and its potential implications has been tough. Learning of these changes through local news outlets, Student
A comments that the decision was shocking to the community currently in the apartments. Despite Student A acknowledging that the decision and outcome were fair to the tenants from FHDA’s perspective, he feels that the already tight-knit community will be disrupted.
severing their ties with the MVHS community.
“They would be kicking us out within a year, so halfway through my junior year, I’m going to have to restart my life,” Nelluri said. “I’m gonna have to make new friends. I have to restart my grades and my social life.”
While Kamei, in a written response after the initial interview, agreed that moving residents would be exposed to a certain level of stress and instability, she still feels that the district has taken the 94 families’ situations into consideration.
“ WE WERE NEVER TOLD ABOUT THIS OFFICIALLY UNTIL A NEWSCAST CAME OUT.
“The District is working with a professional relocation services firm to provide personalized support to each household,” Kamei said in an email. “This includes assistance in identifying comparable housing, help with the logistics of moving and ongoing communication throughout the process.”
STUDENT A
“I felt surprised when I learned of this, since we were never told anything of this, but some clues led up to it, such as wanting to transform the main clubhouse into a gym,” Student A said. “This hinted that they could be introducing student tenants. But we were never told about this officially until a newscast came out.”
SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE
“The decision to pursue McClellan Terrace was driven by a combination
Sophomore Harshith Nelluri, another current resident of the complex, agrees with Student A and has similarly filed petitions on the matter. He notes that his personal eviction process has been similar to that of Student A’s — filled with uncertainties, with no formal notice given. After the lease’s termination, Nelluri’s family may move to another apartment and district,
However, Student A and Nelluri still express their disapproval and disappointment at the current situation, believing that, although their education won’t be impacted, other families who have younger children will, as they’ll miss out on the education here at MVHS.
“We moved from Sunnyvale here for education, because that’s what almost every parent wants — they want education here,” Student A said. “I’m still able to finish 11th grade, I can move somewhere else, graduate with all of my credits, everything that’s required. It’s more about looking out for the future generations, people that are maybe in ninth grade right now and will be leaving the middle of high school, which is a problem — it’s unjust in the eyes of the civilians.”
Bay Area residents examine the impacts of the Catholic Church’s new leadership
BY LIZ LIU AND APRAMEYA RUPANAGUNTA
FU URE NEW
As white smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel chimney in Vatican City, Susan Sutton, English and Journalism teacher at Archbishop Riordan High School, knew the lesson she was teaching was no longer important. Sutton’s morning at Archbishop Riordan, a Catholic school in San Francisco, started off like any other school day, but when she heard the announcement of a new pope, she quickly turned on the TV in her classroom and regular classroom activities slowed to a halt.
It irked me to the point where I just didn’t want to be a part of Catholicism. But I learned more about Pope Francis through my school and religion classes. It really brought me back to the church. Pope Francis really did something special for the world that no other pope has done.”
SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE
Cardinal Robert Prevost was selected to be the pope by the College of Cardinals and chose the name Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8. Born in Chicago, Leo’s election to pope marked the first American pope the church has seen in the Catholic Church’s history. Leo was chosen 18 days after the death of Pope Francis, who previously served as the pope for 12 years.
Pope Francis played an integral part in Archbishop Mitty junior Megan Kellogg’s religious journey. Kellogg often felt alienated from the Catholic community since she disagreed with the political views that they had. However, Kellogg’s perception of her faith and Catholicism changed as she familiarized herself with Pope Francis and his teachings.
“Pope Francis made me believe in the church again,” Kellog said. “I didn’t like how Catholic people were treating minorities and queer people.
Kellogg hopes that Leo will continue many of Pope Francis’ policies that focused on social justice issues. She expects that he will also address new issues, such as AI, because of its increasing threat in replacing human workers.
MVHS Junior Margaux Hideliza Mojica also hopes that Leo will continue Pope Francis’ policies, but notes that he seems more conservative.
“He’s more restrictive when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community,” Mojica said. “Personally, struggled with identifying my sexuality and gender, and it would be nice to have a little bit of representation in the Catholic Church. I wouldn’t want myself or anyone to have to pick between being Catholic or part of the LGBTQ+ community because I would like to accept both parts of my identity, rather than shedding one for the other.”
While Hideliza Mojica hopes that Leo will show more support toward marginalized groups, she appreciates his stance on war, as he has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and Gaza. Sutton echoes this sentiment, and has found special appreciation in his American nationality.
“To have a pope that was born here in the U.S. brings me hope because this time in our country is really divisive,” Sutton said. “We’re all citizens of the world. His first words as pope, ‘Peace be with you,’ were emotional for me, because that’s what we all want. We want peace in Gaza. We want peace in Ukraine. We want peace in our own cities and neighborhoods. It gives me
PHOTO BY
In the summer of 2014, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral across social media platforms and inspired over 17 million people to pour a bucket of ice water over their heads to participate in the challenge. Spreading awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and encouraging funding toward The ALS Association, the challenge ultimately raised over $220 million for the association’s research and treatment.
In late March, students from the Mental Illness Needs Discussion Club at the University of South Carolina (USC) reimagined the trend through the #SpeakYourMIND Ice Bucket Challenge, which now focuses on fostering support and advocating for suicide prevention as well as inspiring donations towards Active Minds, a nonprofit dedicated to removing the stigma around mental health for young adults. Currently, over $430,000 has been raised.
“I felt like it would be a fun thing to do with a couple of friends, and I thought it was a pretty fun experience. However, I don’t believe that it contributed to the original cause of the challenge.”
Freshman Krish Kumar
The USC Ice Bucket Challenge seeks to raise awareness around mental health BY GRACE LIN AND AMBERLY SUN
47% of MVHS students have participated in the #SpeakYourMIND Ice Bucket
*According to a survey of 119 people
TAKE OUR SPRING NEWS QUIZ
Test your knowledge of key events this season BY
ZAID NAQVI AND APRAMEYA
2 Conflict
In which town in Kashmir was there a terrorist attack on April 22 that led to rising tensions between India and Pakistan?
Religion
5 Healthcare
The outbreak of which disease was identified in L.A. county on May 7?
Space
In which state did the U.S. F-16 reportedly encounter a UFO?
7 Community
Which religious leader was chosen to lead the Roman Catholic Church on May 8? (Hint: pg. 8)
What festival celebrating local scout groups was held in San Jose’s History Park on May 10?
4
MVHS Assistant Principal Janice Chen was chosen as Principal of which
Cupertino
Who did the Cupertino City Council vote to place on administrative leave on May 2?
Answers:
9 Politics
Which former U.S. President announced their diagnosis of prostate cancer on May 18?
8 Sports
Which tennis star won the Italian Open on May 18?
Infestation
Which Cupertino supermarket was shut down due to a vermin infestation on April 23?
1) Pope Francis; 2) Pahalgam; 3) Lynbrook High School; 4) Pamela Wu; 5) Hepatitis A; 6) Arizona; 7) Scout-a-rama; 8) Carlos Alcaraz; 9) Joe Biden; 10) Whole Foods
Sending off the Class of 2025 as they move upward to college and beyond
BY ETHAN EISLER, KATHRYN FOO, ETHAN KELLOGG, CORINNA KUO, JAMI LIM, ANGELA POON, ALAN TAI AND ALYSSA YANG
SENIOR SOJOURN
Seniors describe their senior trips
BY CORINNA KUO AND JAMI LIM
JESSICA ZHOU
Senior Jessica Zhou labels a night on her senior trip this past spring break as “unreal.” After a long day of adventure in Hawaii, Zhou and her friends closed the day on a beach where she says they had one of the most memorable parts of the trip.
“We were just blasting music, singing along loudly and skipping around, while watching the waves at night,” Zhou said. “It was really fun — I felt kind of like an adult. I felt like I didn't have to worry about how I was perceived.”
Zhou and her friends began planning their trip to Oahu, Hawaii, earlier this year. In addition to staying at a hotel, Zhou’s group decided to spend a few nights at the Aulani Disney resort, where the group enjoyed the lazy
river, water park and Disney-themed atmosphere. Zhou says that the group decided to schedule the trip during the school semester out of an eagerness to go, but believes coming back to school was difficult because of the return to normalcy.
“When we were on the trip, it felt very carefree,” Zhou said. “It really did just feel like we could have been college friends having a reunion. Going back to MVHS, it felt like a little bit of a culture shock because you'll have this freedom, and then it's just taken away. I feel like it was kind of liberating to be away from the Monta Vista lifestyle
and going to school and having responsibilities. It was just very carefree and fun.”
GERAD LEE
53% of MVHS seniors are currently planning a senior trip
*According to a survey of 24 seniors
When senior Gerad Lee and his friends began planning their senior trip, they initially planned to stay within the United States for ease of travel but ultimately decided to seize the opportunity to travel internationally. The group chose to travel to Tokyo, Japan, for its safe environment and interesting landscapes.
“It's one of those experiences where you're not with your parents and you're with your friends,” Lee said. “I think because it was our second semester of senior year, our parents said, ‘Go try new things, because in the future you're going to have to travel and go with your friends too.’
So I feel like it's a really unique experience.”
Although Lee and his friends only started planning the trip two weeks before and it was his first time traveling without his parents, he says he wasn’t too worried because he says his friends are good at planning and he knew they would take care of each other. Not only does he emphasize the high quality and affordable prices of Tokyo’s restaurants and stores, but he says he also
Senior Jessica Zhou and her friends pose for a photo on a beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JESSICA ZHOU | USED WITH PERMISSION
enjoyed the time his group set aside to freely explore the city, rather than plan specific activities.
Since they were only able to spend five days in Tokyo due to traveling during the February break, Lee wishes they had planned the trip for summer break instead, so they could have had an extra week to travel to cities other than Tokyo. From trying new foods, like authentic Japanese sushi, to facing his fear of heights by going to the top of Shibuya Sky, Lee says the trip left a significant impact.
“The trip was really, really fun, and it definitely went over my expectations,”
Lee said. “I thought traveling outside the country would be a good experience, especially with your friends. But it was just so much more than that, and it's gonna stick with me for a long time.”
KEYA CHAKRAVARTY
By the end of her junior year, senior Keya Chakravarty and a group of her friends knew they wanted to go on a senior trip together. However, deciding exactly where they wanted to go took more planning and thought.
planned for Honolulu, Hawaii, as it was one location the six of them agreed on and their parents approved of them going by themselves.
“I'm a bit nervous, but also really excited,” Chakravarty said. “It's our first time by ourselves without any adults. But the excitement outweighs the nervousness of it all.”
Senior Gerad Lee and his friends pose in front of a temple in Tokyo, Japan.
Chakravarty says her friend group has been preparing by compiling a list of activities they want to do, including paragliding and snorkeling, which Chakravarty describes as “iconic” to do in Hawaii. Ultimately, however, she says spending the last few moments of high school with her friends is the main intention of the trip.
“IT WAS REALLY FUN — I FELT KIND OF LIKE AN ADULT. I FELT LIKE I DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HOW I WAS PERCEIVED.
SENIOR JESSICA ZHOU
Chakravarty says they considered a wide variety of locations, including cities in Europe and Southern California. The trip, scheduled to take place immediately after graduation, was ultimately
“We've been friends for a long time, for most of high school,” Chakravarty said. “So we decided that we wanted to get everybody we could from our friend group to come. I’m just looking forward to spending time with my friends, honestly, and being with them
one more time before we all go our separate ways for university.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF GERAD LEE | USED WITH PERMISSION
Senior Jessica Zhou and her friends pose together in Honolulu, Hawaii.
MAJOR
ILLUSTRATIONS|CANVA.COM DECISIONS
was walking around her college campus with her friend when she was approached by a visitor. The visitor asked “What are you majoring in?”
When Liu responded “computer science,” the visitor gave a nod of approval.
The visitor then asked Liu’s friend, who said she was majoring in English, but the visitor dissaproved. Liu was no stranger to judgement like this. In high school, Liu’s dad wanted her to major in computer science, but she applied as an English major and later switched
of college she was often asked questions like “What are you going to do with that?” or “Are you going to be an English teacher?”
External pressure was not the only reason Liu switched from English to computer science. In her English classes, she felt out of place because she believed other students were just trying to sound smart. Liu later took an introductory computer science class, and she found it easier than expected. When she eventually declared her major, she chose computer science, even landing an internship the summer before senior year.
However, during the internship, Liu realized she didn’t actually
PHOTO BY ANDIE LIU
enjoy working as a software engineer. Since the computer science major requirements had been fulfilled by her senior year, she spent the year exploring interests outside of computer science.
“I had already been feeling uncertain about whether computer science would fulfill me,” Liu said. “So I was rethinking my whole thing and having a quarter life crisis, as you will. And so the next semester, I didn't take a single CS class. I was taking comparative literature, Asian American ethnic studies, psychology and Chinese. And that was really fun. This semester I've been doing creative writing like short fiction and poetry, and learning pottery and calligraphy, which have been fun side quests, but I’m still uncertain where it all goes.”
that they're taking from. So thinking about ‘Whether that would work for me?’ Or ‘Is this a good choice for me?’ is important.”
Since senior
Jinyong Um is unsure of what he wants to major in, he is going to Purdue University as an unspecified engineering major. He hopes to find a major that he likes and also pays well as a career.
44
% of MVHS seniors
plan on changing their major in college.
*According to a survey of 25 seniors
“Because you should your life, and you don't owe them anything, even if they're trying to guilt trip you or manipulate you or anything, it's your life. Please live it for yourself.”
“ IF YOUR PARENTS ARE TRYING TO GUILT TRIP YOU OR MANIPULATE YOU OR ANYTHING, IT'S YOUR LIFE. PLEASE LIVE IT FOR YOURSELF. MVHS '21 ALUM ANDIE LIU
MVHS counselor Belinda Olson says that it is common for students’ interests to shift in college. Olson suggests that students should explore courses in college so they can learn if they like the subject or not.
“Keep in mind that you are the only one that has to go through your experience,” Olson said. “As much as other people might have influence, feedback or suggestions, it's their experience
“I’m just going to hope that somewhere in college I just find something randomly that I really like, or if I end up liking one of the core classes,” Um said. “Worse comes to worse, I’ll just end up picking one. But for now, I just picked engineering.”
While Um hasn’t experienced pressure from his family, Liu experienced pressure from her family. She says that one way to deal with parental pressure comes from step four of “How to Disobey Your Tiger Parents, in 14 Easy Steps.” She believes that in the face of pressure, it is good to tell others to back off so one has the time to figure out things by themselves.
“Just do what you want and live your life for yourself,” Liu said.
Although Liu was able to explore many different interests in her senior year of college, she is still sticking with the computer science path because she already has a job from her internship’s return offer. However, she doesn’t see herself staying in computer science forever and wants to pursue creative writing on the side like some other tech workers do. Liu says this reminds her of multiplicity, the state of having multiple truths at the same time, and also John Smith’s book “To the Lighthouse.”
“Something that I learned this year about multiplicity is actually through rereading ‘To the Lighthouse,’” Liu said. “There are so many different angles to you, and there's so many truths at once and they can feel contradictory and conflicting. But that doesn't mean all of it is false or only one is true, because I think it assumes that there's a fixed context and time. I want to emphasize that you don't really have to have a narrative about who you are, just reducing you to this one thing at this one time.”
BEYOND GRADUATION
The MVHS community describes how their high school activities evolve into college
BY ANGELA POON AND ALAN TAI
As senior Katie Lee pushes off the starting block, everything fades away except the sound of her rapid pulse and the blur of the track sliding beneath her feet. Since sixth grade, running has anchored Lee’s everyday life as a source of motivation and connection, ranging from cheering for teammates at meets to conversing with friends postpractice around the Upper Field. The activity has ultimately grown into a community she calls home.
the close community running offers. Lee loves being a part of the track community because she finds it easier to make genuine friends through shared interests.
For Lee, a track athlete committed to Occidental College, pursuing track after graduating from high school was always part of her plan, whether it involved being on a collegiate team or joining a club, because of
“You get to see a lot of people at their lowest and their highest, and you get to know them for them, and not necessarily for show,” Lee said. “You get to see them every day, so being a part of the community is easier.”
the community in high school activities was especially important to him.
58% of MVHS students intend on continuing their current high school activities in college
*According to a survey of 24 seniors
As a Model United Nations member throughout high school, Yang made several close friends, spending time with them at conferences in the Bay Area. However, he says the shift in environment in college can transform the social setting of an activity.
Similarly, Pomona College junior and MVHS ‘22 alum Dylan Yang says
“I think the Model U.N. team in college has a little bit more of a party culture than is allowed in high school — most high schools probably cannot get away with the level of partying that some college extracurriculars can provide,” Yang said. “There’s nothing wrong with the college culture, but it wasn’t really my style. In extracurriculars where it’s not just you studying by yourself but hanging out with other people, the social aspect is important, and the social dynamics aren’t necessarily the same from high school to college.”
As a result of the differing social dynamics, Yang chose to pursue mock trial rather than continue Model U.N., which he discovered at a club fair his freshman year. He recalls being drawn in by the smart, competitive nature of the club members, seeing the activity as a way to further his interests in the political sphere.
Senior Katie Lee holds the baton as she runs a relay race.
PHOTO BY RICH SLADE | USED WITH PERMISSION
Beyond an activity’s community, another key difference both Lee and senior Saanvi Goyal notice between activities in high school and college is the level of commitment and interest, a distinction they’ve observed through conversations with college students. In high school, students might pursue activities solely because they’re good at them or need something to occupy themselves with. But in college, Goyal says that students often continue extracurriculars out of genuine love and dedication. Goyal, who participates in speech and debate at MVHS, says this commitment fundamentally changes how people approach college activities.
PHOTO COURTESY OF POMONA COLLEGE MOCK
TRIAL | USED WITH PERMISSION
“When people are pursuing things in college, it tends to be a lot more genuine, so you have people that are a lot more interested and really invested in what they’re doing,” Goyal said. “Whereas, in high school, it might be more of people trying things out and seeing what they can put on their college application. But by the time people get to college, because they’re really serious about it, the quality of those activities goes up by a lot.”
In the future, Lee aspires to stay involved in track not only as a college athlete, but as a mentor who can offer younger runners the same support and guidance that she has experienced. Specifically, Lee hopes to return to MVHS to coach. As a specialist in the 100 and 200-meter sprints, she hopes to eventually work with the current sprints coach, Isaiah Smith, on a regular basis.
MVHS '22 alum Dylan Yang poses with his mock trial team at the University of California, Berkeley in November 2023.
“ THERE'S A LOT OF OPPORTUNITIES, AND I THINK IT'S HARD TO GO WRONG, SO JUST GO WITH THE FLOW.
MVHS '22 ALUM DYLAN YANG
“He’s there when I’m having mental he’s just always there to work through it and give me the reality check I need,” Lee said. “He’s given me more of the ability to look back on what I just ran and see, ‘How can I make it better?’ And I want to do that for other people, to make them love the sport as well, or to give them the ability to try and run better.”
ILLUSTRATIONS | CANVA.COM
Going forward, Yang hopes to continue pursuing mock trial throughout the rest of his college career. For MVHS seniors hoping to find activities to define themselves in college, Yang says that while they don’t have to throw out the activities and passions they already have, college is a place where they can find new passions and room for growth.
“College is much more varied,” Yang said. “It’s the early stages of college where you’re finding your new community. You’re finding your new extracurriculars that are a good opportunity for selfreflection and identifying what kind of social spaces you want, and what kind of things you want to spend your time doing. There’s a lot of opportunities, and I think it’s hard to go wrong, so just go with the flow.”
5 is the average number of years the senior class has been on Instagram
632 is the average number of followers the senior class has on Instagram
83 is the average Rice Purity score of the senior class
29% of seniors have been to a party with drugs or alcohol
A closer look at social media, sex, substances and school for the class of 2025 from a survey of 72 seniors
BY KATHRYN FOO AND ALYSSA YANG
59% of seniors have had their first real kiss
56% of seniors have been in a relationship
68% of seniors have used AI on an assignment
4 IN S'S
PHOTO | ERIC ZHOU
PHOTO | ERIC ZHOU
PHOTO | KATRINA LIN
CUTTING COSTS
Funding cuts under the Trump Administration limit student research opportunities
BY JONAH CHANG AND RADHIKA DHARMAPURIKAR
The Trump administration froze $1 billion in federal grants to Harvard University following the school’s resistance to Trump’s recent policy demands in March. The grants, cut as a result of Harvard’s supposed failure to fulfill “its obligations to curb and combat antisemitic harassment” in light of increased protests surrounding the Israel-Hamas War, primarily funded technological and medical research for cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases. The administration’s rough handling of research reflects a growing disregard for scientific inquiry in higher levels of government. Not only does it disrupt notable institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by undercutting their credibility and limiting their influence, but it also restricts student opportunities.
important information about HIV research.
Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago and infectious disease physician Jessica Ridgway primarily focuses on HIV prevention, working to dissolve the barriers people face in getting treatment, including financial constraints, mental health challenges and a lack of social support. One of Ridgway’s grants, initially funded by the National Institute of Health, was terminated near the end of March. Her grant was originally spent studying possible treatments for substance use disorder for people living with HIV.
ILLUSTRATION|AMBERLYSUN ANDMELODYLIN
are lots of other institutions and other studies that have lost funding, so it's not a great time for them to be trying to find new work in this area.”
In the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, U.S. research institutions have faced drastic defunding in the administration’s effort to divert resources from providers of “misleading information, risky research, and the promotion of dangerous ideologies." The executive orders that prompted this defunding also erased web pages that included
“It's really setting us back to cut research that's related to HIV at this moment in time,” Ridgway said. “We're at a time in the United States when we have the tools necessary to actually end the HIV epidemic around the world. We're making great strides toward decreasing the rates of new HIV acquisitions, both in the United States and globally.”
Once the grant was terminated, Ridgway’s team was left with inadequate resources. As a result, they were forced to let go of participating study staff and enrolled patients.
“The staff were understandably
Junior Suhani Pahuja joined Interdisciplinary Research and Project Design as a sophomore, inspired to research autoimmune diseases after her younger sister’s diagnosis with Type 1 Diabetes in 2020. Driven by curiosity and passion, Pahuja’s work primarily focuses on the relationship between cancer and epigenetic biomarkers.
“Although the tech industry and AI are expanding at a rapid rate, they can never really replace healthcare without medical research advancements,” Pahuja said. “Without that, we're effectively compromising the country's healthcare system.”
Pahuja was recently accepted into MIT’s Research Science Institute program, where she will be studying biology and biotechnology. RSI is typically free for students. However, in light of recent federal funding cuts, the program had to collect donations from those accepted.
Science curriculum lead and IRPD teacher Kavita Gupta says she dedicates her teaching to helping each student design, implement and scale their own research-based passion
project. Gupta worries funding cuts will stunt scientific progress, ultimately leaving students uncertain about whether or not careers in research will be viable.
“It's so disheartening to hear about funding cuts for something so instrumental in the advancement of knowledge,” Gupta said. “Not having science-based discoveries and ways to move forward and advance in science is simply mind-boggling.”
One of Gupta’s students, IRPD member Anirud Sainarayanan, has dedicated his sophomore year to researching the potential uses of AI for mangrove conservation. According to Sainarayanan, environmental research is undervalued by the Trump administration.
“These cuts are very harmful for the progress of the country,” Sainarayanan said. “I don't like how they're trying to cut research down and make people more uneducated.”
The U.S. has historically been at the forefront of public health research, with two American scientists leading the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020. Furthermore, the U.S. government contributed $32 billion to mRNA research, allowing for a swift response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Ridgway worries that without this proactivity and support for research from the government, scientists will be unprepared for possible future pandemics.
“It's inevitable that eventually there will be another pandemic, and it could be way worse than COVID was,” Ridgway said. “People will die, and they didn't have to die if we had been able to invest in research and being prepared for the spread of infectious diseases.”
global health by funding research in low- and middle-income countries.
“The United States is looked on from around the world as a shining star of research,” Ridgway said. “I can't even begin to name all the advances that we’d lose. I can't say enough how important funding research and investing in research is for the health of Americans, but also just the health of everyone around the world.”
Gupta agrees, believing research is not only at the heart of the U.S.’s economic engine but also instrumental for the well-being of society.
RESEARCH IS AT THE CORE OF HUMANITY. “
“The more patents you have and the more research you do, the more you positively impact human lives,” Gupta said. “Research is at the core of humanity.”
IRPD TEACHER KAVITA GUPTA
Sophomore and Health Student Tutor Aeshna Chatterji hopes to pursue a career in health advocacy, recognizing the universal significance of medical research and wanting to spread awareness.
“You can have a million problems, until you have a health problem, then you have just one problem,” Chatterji said. “No matter who you are, health is the one thing that is universal, and it's the one thing that everybody has.”
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Furthermore, the U.S. government is highly regarded for supporting
The Trump administration released a proposed budget plan for 2026 on May 26, 2025, containing a 26.2% cut to the Department of Health and Human Services as well as eliminating cancer screening and prevention programs at the CDC. Chatterji, aware that cancer screening programs have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment and assist professionals in discovering potential cancer early enough to treat it, was disheartened by the news.
Despite these funding cuts, many researchers are staying resilient. Ridgway recently appealed the termination of her grant and has been reaching out to foundations and private companies for alternative funding.
Although the future of research remains uncertain, Pahuja currently plans to follow a pre-med track in college, striving to continue her studies and pursue various research internships.
“I do not think that progress will stop entirely due to these cuts,” Pahuja said. “The rate at which we can make progress and advancements in the healthcare industry will definitely be diminished. But I think it's definitely recoverable as long as our future presidents and our future leaders are more cognizant of the importance of this funding.”
Gupta encourages professionals and students alike to stay optimistic about the future of research.
“We need researchers, we need technologists. We just need humanity makers,” Gupta said. “The future of research has to be of value for humanity, so don't lose heart. Stick with it.”
TRAVEL UNDER TRUMP
Trump’s immigration policy is impacting MVHS community members’ summer travel plans
BY SUHANA MAHABAL AND ASHA WOJCIECHOWSKI
Two sources in this story are anonymous due to concerns about immigrationstatusandwillbereferred to as Source A and Source B.
As we hunch over our desks, teachers assign an endless stream of final projects and air conditioners hum at full blast, our minds cannot help but be drawn to the promise of freedom and adventure awaiting in the approaching summer. We dream about the friends we’ll meet and the places we’ll go, whether it’s to another country to visit family or an exotic location for sightseeing. However, this summer in particular, a shadow looms over the usual excitement as stories flood the news about the Trump administration’s latest policies on immigration. In the past few months, the Trump administration has taken increasingly aggressive steps to increase the number of deportations from the U.S. and to reduce immigration. The actions have centered around expanding the criteria for deportation and accelerating the process while also slowing the steps to achieving citizenship and tightening the rules for
legal immigrants.
This has been achieved by chipping away at certain protections for illegal immigrants and Biden-era immigration policies, including attempts to lift the protected status of illegal immigrants from countries in crisis and restricting student visas and green card holders, with the threat of immediate removal if they commit a crime.
While federal courts have blocked many of the administration’s more extreme actions, the aggression of Trump’s policy changes on immigration has been alarming to many Americans, including those within our community. In Santa Clara County, 39% of people are immigrants, 60% of children have an immigrant parent and, as of 2021, there are 140,000 undocumented migrants within our community. For students at MVHS, these are more than just numbers — the people included are our family, friends and in some cases, ourselves.
acknowledging her new status as an American citizen hasn’t arrived yet. Due to this, Source A, along with many of her family members who are in the same position, had to cancel this summer’s plan to travel to Canada.
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“We usually travel every two years,” Source A said. “But because of citizenship issues, we might need to go somewhere else. If I were to travel outside the country, there’s no way to prove that I’m a U.S. citizen. But if I say, ‘Oh, I’m not a U.S. citizen yet,’ then, because of my lack of a green card, I would be sent directly to the authorities. If you’re traveling outside of the U.S. and you want to get back in, it’s very bad not to have evidence.”
For Americans without legal citizenship or paperwork, Trump’s actions not only threaten their livelihood, but also block most prospects of international travel. According to a survey of 105 people, 69% of MVHS students say they feel concerned about themselves or their families being impacted by Trump’s actions, and 18% say that their own travel plans have been affected because of this. For MVHS student Source A, the new administration’s actions are hitting especially close to home. Her citizenship ceremony happened just months ago, but the paperwork
Source B is a green card holder and has been a permanent resident of the U.S. for over 10 years. Due to his legal status as a non-citizen, his summer plans to return to his home country and visit family were also deferred due to recent events. Source B’s green card was stolen six months ago, and the process to obtain a new green card could take over two years, likely exacerbated by recent government layoffs.
“I’ve already submitted a lot of money and paperwork,” Source B said. “I’m still going to wait another 24 months for them to decide whether or not to print, which is what complicates everything. For 29 months, in theory, I can’t travel. There are ways to get stamps on my passport and proof that I’m a resident. But when Immigration seems to just have the smallest reason to be suspicious of something, that presents the opportunity that I’m coming back from summer vacation in South Africa and then get sent home. Once that happens, the process of
getting back to the U.S. becomes way more difficult.”
Under the Trump administration’s first term, the processing time for citizenship increased significantly due to increased security checks and stricter policies. More recently, staff cuts at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have contributed to the wait times. This has led to a naturalization backlog; for certain individuals, the administration has completely paused green card applications, including approved refugees. Source B says his own journey to becoming a permanent resident was a harsh one, compounded by racist encounters within the system. When he first used his Zimbabwean passport to apply for a student visa in the U.S., the consulate denied Source B’s request because of his nationality. This initial rejection’s presence of his permanent record made it harder for him to obtain a visa.
“The immigration process is extremely difficult and bureaucratic,” Source B said. “Most of it hinges on either how big the company that you’re coming to work for is or the country that you’re coming from. In countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa, one in every one million green card applications might be awarded. A student in a class I had lived in Israel before, and they were like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. One in five Israelis gets a green card if they apply.’ So that’s always been a thing in America. If you come from a certain country, you’re much more likely to get that opportunity.”
Source A feels disappointed about the increased processing times the Trump administration has implemented because of the weight becoming a U.S. citizen holds. The oath ceremony, often a revered and momentous time for immigrants, has become much harder to finally achieve.
“It’s unfortunate that Trump’s policies are slowing down the citizenship process when that’s the point of living here,” Source A said. “It’s the American standard. You don’t have to become a citizen, but you
lived here for eight years. You’re finally able to gain U.S. citizenship after living here for so many years.”
Trump’s immigration policy also raises concerns for those who have the ability to travel abroad despite the recent deportations. According to Math and Computer Science teacher David Greenstein, who is a U.S. citizen and has traveled to 36 countries and visited all seven continents, Americans already have a poor reputation abroad. He worries that because of Trump’s actions, which the rest of the world largely disagrees with, Americans’ reputations will only deteriorate.
for immigrants.
“I feel incredible empathy for someone who has to go through that,” Source B said. “It’s also ironic because a lot of workers who come would like to go back and then come back and work and contribute and then go home and not be a leech on society, and not have to sneak the family in and live in poor conditions and everything like that, now are forced to stay and do just that.”
69%
of MVHS students
feel concerned about themselves or their families
*According to a survey of 105 students
“I’m afraid that people are not going to like Americans, so I’m going to have a more difficult time on my travels,” Greenstein said. “It was already difficult in some cases, because when you travel from America, they consider you a rich country, so when you go someplace, they charge you differently than they charge other tourists. Now, it’s going to be worse than that.”
According to Source B, this is related to the large influence that the U.S. has on the economies and progress of other countries. He says the American government has a significant impact on nations across the globe, especially through their funding and aid to underdeveloped, third-world countries.
However, for refugees forced to flee the instability of their home countries, moving to the U.S. doesn’t offer a safe haven because of how difficult it is to actually achieve legality, contradicting anti-immigrant conceptions that illegal immigrants should “just come in legally.” Such ideas rise from misinformation and nationalistic feelings, ultimately creating an unwelcoming environment
In our community, the strong immigrant presence can contribute to a sense of safety from Trump’s actions. Source A says that she doesn’t feel that she is as affected in Silicon Valley as she would be elsewhere in the U.S. However, it still raises the question of what we can do if we are U.S. citizens or otherwise in a position to protect members of our community who are more vulnerable to aggressive immigration action.
Greenstein says that we can help by protesting harmful policies and electing people to office who will take steps to counter the ideologies driving anti-immigration legislation. Source B agrees, saying that lobbying politicians for immigration reforms and exercising our voting and freedom of speech rights as American citizens is crucial.
Overall, as MVHS moves into the uncertain summer ahead, our unity as a community is vital to weathering the difficulties to come and ensuring our loved ones are safe. If international travel isn’t an option, you can still enjoy your summer through domestic travel; if you feel threatened, reach out to an immigration lawyer or seek support from the community around you. Ultimately, we must all do our best to stand against the ideologies and policies seeking to hurt and oppress, whether we are an immigrant, a U.S. citizen or a student.
MVHS students and staff discuss the choices of sharing college decisions
BY SIH YU (MELODY) LIN AND ELIZABETH YANG
A m
For many high school seniors at MVHS, the moment they’ve anticipated and prepared for their last four years arrives in the form of an email notification — it’s the building suspense as they silently deliberate, their finger hovering over the bolded email before the portal opens! And there it is: a college decision that could shape their future. Some of them gasp in joy, some quietly process a rejection and others freeze in disbelief or uncertainty. After the initial shock fades, there’s a question that lingers: “Should I tell anyone? Who can I tell?”
dwhy students with other concerns, such as being worried about unfair comparisons, may hesitate to publicize their decisions.
At MVHS, where academic competition is a prevalent contributor to student stress, the college admissions season seems to further the sense of competition around decisions and acceptances. Some students want to keep their college admissions and commitments private. Others want to share since they feel that doing so makes them happier about themselves and their achievements. While senior Adriana Hernandez Aldana doesn’t mind sharing college commitments with friends and family, she also sees
“People who get into top colleges sometimes don’t want to share it,” Aldana said. “It’s either because they’re worried about making other people feel bad if others got rejected from those schools, or sometimes they’re worried people might be jealous and feel resentment.”
According to College and Career Counselor Rogelio Calderon, this hesitation represents a broader trend — as decisions start to flood in throughout spring, the expectation to share and hold conversations about admission decisions becomes increasingly pressing. However, not all students are comfortable with being in the spotlight.
Calderon has seen a variety of sentiments among seniors across the school. As someone who often supports students during their admissions journey, he believes that it’s not as simple as sharing or not sharing college decisions. Rather, he believes the choice to share admission decisions is often influenced by a student’s environment, such as who they often talk with and if other people are willing to share similar college decision experiences.
“What I tend to hear coming out of students’ mouths a little bit more are the rejections,” Calderon said. “I think one reason for this is the commonality. When they hear that other students have also been rejected, it helps them feel like they’re not the only ones. When someone else says, ‘Well, I also got rejected there,’ it kind of gives them a little bit of an ‘Oh, OK, cool, I’m not alone in this,’ feeling. I think that this little bit of that companionship is one reason to share their rejections.”
Due to this pattern, sharing rejections becomes an unexpected act of community. According to Aldana, it’s an honest acknowledgement that they aren’t perfect, and that even if nothing goes to plan, at least they aren’t alone in this sentiment.
On the other hand, sharing acceptances, especially acceptances into more competitive schools, can make some students mistakenly believe sharing results with each other is bragging or insulting others for not having the same accomplishments.
imCalderon explains that for some students, privacy around college decisions comes from deeper insecurities like impostor syndrome.
Senior Billy Levison says that he didn’t feel the need to keep
this acceptance a secret when sharing his college decisions. Levison believes that sharing college decisions is a personal choice, and that it doesn’t necessarily warrant comparison with other students.
“Once I got my decision, I sent it to my main group chat,” Levison says. “I think people could definitely develop doubts about their own ability, or doubts about what other people might think, but I didn’t feel a pressure to hide where I got in.”
However, Levison agrees with both Calderon and Aldana that one’s perception of releasing and sharing college decisions can differ from person to person. He also says that the decision to share acceptances and admission decisions should be a personal choice rather than an expectation.
“There’s definitely a stigma around certain schools, like De Anza,” Levison said. “I get why people might want to hide their decisions, like if you didn’t get into your first pick, or you think other people are judging your school. But personally, I don’t know why there are certain stigmas that surround certain schools. There’s such a big culture around colleges at our school.
Once college acceptance season comes around, everybody’s asking everybody, did you get into a good school or not, so I definitely think people could develop complexes of, oh, ‘The school I got into wasn’t good enough,’ they might think that they could have gotten into a better school. Most of the time though, they still got into a good school.”
While external factors play a role in influencing an individual’s decision in sharing their college decisions, both Levison and Calderon believe that internal comparison is likely what causes students to feel the most insecure about their schools.
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“There’s a phrase, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’” Calderon said. “I really live by that. It’s important to recognize your own goals and your own journey, because you don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors.”
In the end, every student’s path is their own. Whether someone posts a proud acceptance on Instagram, keeps it between family or moves on from a rejection, every reaction is valid and a student’s own personal choice and reflection of their own beliefs.
The name of a college can easily overshadow the hard work, obstacles and even the reasons behind choosing that school specifically.
Not all schools accept students by the same standards — some take students by major, schoolwide priorities or by athletic abilities, all of which differ from student to student.
Being aware of that doesn’t exactly stop the subconscious competition between students. MVHS previously held college signing celebrations yearly during the admissions season before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the tradition was discontinued a couple of years ago due to concerns that it caused more unhealthy competition.
“Sharing your journey can help others to realize they’re not alone,” Aldana said. “But ultimately, I think it’s up to people to decide for themselves on how public or private they want their decisions and choices to be.
People with legal citizenship need to be more proactive in protecting those threatened by the Trump administration’s recent immigration policy
The Student Press Law Center issued a media alert to school publications on April 4, urging them to review anonymity policies, be transparent with interviewees and educate staff on the risks sources and writers may face if their guidelines are ignored. The SPLC felt it was necessary to release this statement following the arrest of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, who co-authored an opinion piece criticizing the university’s response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
In response to the warning, El Estoque updated its anonymity policies to protect sources and writers who may be threatened by the Trump
only appears to be growing, as it has recently begun deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes to El Salvador, blatantly violating the 14th Amendment. The Trump administration has previously attempted to defy the Constitution and target not only undocumented immigrants, but also those with opposing ideologies. The administration’s attempt to strike birthright citizenship reflects this broader trend of defiance in spite of legal resistance.
It’s evident that no one is truly “safe” from the president’s threats, even with supposed protection from schools, making it increasingly critical that student activists take action. Youth advocacy has historically been effective.
students regardless of immigration status, including FUHSD, which sent a notice to staff, parents and students promising “to create a safe, positive and welcoming climate for every student that walks through our doors.”
While the efforts that institutions are making to protect their students are critical, administrations need the support of communities to carry out policies. Now more than ever, it is important that students with legal citizenship recognize their privilege and use it to stand up for those endangered by Trump’s policies.
In addition to the press, other institutions are struggling to counter Trump’s attacks on undocumented immigrants. University leaders have advised threatened students to hire immigration lawyers while studying abroad. Prestigious colleges, including Cornell University and Duke University, are offering support for immigrants living in the area after hearing about ICE arrests around their campuses.
The Trump administration’s agenda shows no signs of slowing. Rather, the scale of the government’s actions
In 2018, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School launched into protests after a school shooting killed 17 in 2018. This movement, called the March for Our Lives, is a primary example of students’ voices being heard. Students were able to rise to the occasion, creating lasting discussion and influencing policy change by engaging with the media and using broadcast journalism to reach the public. Following the protests, state legislators across the country, including 14 Republicangoverned states, began passing laws to restrict gun access.
Still, despite this success, the impact of 2018’s gun control activism later came into question, with some arguing that advocates’ disruptive protests ultimately made little difference. Students may worry they too will be disregarded, believing they would have little power to affect policy, and that the Trump administration would not listen. Additionally, some believe it would be safer for students to stay out of the conflict, fearing they would become vulnerable for opposing the government.
However, public indifference
like this has a historical precedent, where, eventually, everyone becomes vulnerable to new, aggressive legislation as a result of no one speaking out initially. In the words of German pastor Martin Niemöller, “Then they came for me / And there was no one left / To speak out for me.” Restricting journalism, defying the law and targeting minorities represent a dangerous departure from democracy, and it is up to us to uphold it.
For students, this can be done in a variety of ways. Consider investing time in volunteering at organizations like the International Rescue Committee or IRC, a team dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to refugees and aiding civilians in conflict. The U.S. Comittee for Refugees and Immigrants, a similar organization, provides legal protections as well as social and health services to refugees, trafficking survivors and immigrants in all 50 states. Providing financial support and actively volunteering at their events exhibits compassion in the most crucial times.
Most importantly, we need to express solidarity with those struggling as a consequence of Trump’s policies. These struggles may range from apparent, such as financial or careerrelated, or may be quieter, with several living in fear and struggling with mental health.
The simplest way one can contribute is to seek a greater level of understanding when it comes to immigration policies, topics and stories. With education, we can spread further awareness about the issues undocumented immigrants face and avoid succumbing to indifference.
What started with undocumented immigrants quickly expanded to journalists and will soon overwhelm everyone in opposition to the Trump administration. While our personal lives may feel untouched by the presidency, it is important that we extend empathy for those directly affected to ensure we preserve a fair, united community.
LIFE AFTER AMBITION
How I learned to rethink ambition
BY JILLIAN JU
As the year closes out, I’ve found a new form of active avoidance — doomscrolling through college acceptance posts on Instagram. On @2025mvdecisions, I mentally connect baby photos, committed colleges and the names of students I know. But the spiral keeps going — I follow up on mutuals from other schools, anyone with ‘25 in their bio, even my cousins who don’t follow me back.
Every time I don’t instinctively recognize a university logo, I’m reminded of something my mother said: if she doesn’t already know the name of a school, it’s probably not “good enough.” She meant it in a joking way, but as my junior year melts into my senior one, the reality of that judgment is beginning to bleed through: where am I aiming? And is it “good enough” for the people who have been supporting me for so long?
On a day-today basis, I try not to let the idea affect me — I do what I do because I love the work, even if it wouldn’t mean much to an admissions officer. But that dread, fueled by my caustic curiosity on Instagram, is deepening by the hour. If and when underclassmen see a decision post for me, what will they think? Was I hard-working enough, appealing enough, ambitious enough?
On the one hand, we take pride in being considered high achievers, but on the other, that appeal is multiplied by the unrealistic suggestion that we don’t work ridiculously hard for what we display — we love ambition and pretend we don’t.
So when I see people admitted into their dream schools or bragging about the Ivies they’re applying to, I wonder if, beyond hoping and working for more, I should be expecting more, too. I fear that I’ve become so fluent in Asian humility that I’ve undercut my ability to thoroughly, actually believe in myself.
Ironically, it was AP Chinese that had me rethinking my relationship
I REALIZED I WOULD BE HAPPIER WITH ABUNDANCE, WITH OPENLY TRYING TOWARDS SOMETHING I BELIEVE IN.
Ambition pervades MVHS’ sense of achievement, though we rarely frame it that way. All of high school demands effort, but it’s seen as normal for students to apply to selective schools, and it looks even sleeker if the applicant acts like associating with an top university is a given for them.
or success, but rather abundance — being genuinely happy with what you have, and having enough to share with the people around you.
I placed the idea next to my concept of academic ambition. It initially sounded close to settling, the opposite of what striving for more means. But then I thought about how much effort goes into each goal — how easy is it to achieve abundance? And how does that effort compare to what it takes to get into an elite school?
enjoy where they’re headed, literally and otherwise — I hope that in a year, I can confidently say the same.
AS A RUNNER
I’m learning how to endure when times are hard
BY JONAH CHANG
It is 6:30 in the morning. I’m running through a neighborhood, flanked by my teammates. It’s cold, and I’m tired. 6 a.m. has never been a great time to wake up, let alone run. But the morning is peaceful. And I can’t stop smiling, even as we veer off the street and begin the painful climb up what feels like a near-vertical hill. At Monta Vista Cross Country, we call this earlymorning excursion the Dawn Patrol. As we hike up the hill, the morning sky turns a deep blue color, brightening with every step. I’m out of breath, and my legs are heavy. All around me, shoes scrape against the dirt trail. Halfway up, I begin to slow down. The climb feels endless. But I
resist the urge to walk. My breath is visible. The sky is growing purple. I grit my teeth and keep running. My teammates do the same. Before long, we reach the peak of the hill. The rising sun paints the sky orange.
Waking up early in the morning to run 13 miles was not what I saw myself doing two years ago. Instead, I pictured myself playing tennis under the midday sun, fighting down to the wire to win a point while my parents cheered. At the time, running wasn’t even something I enjoyed. It was just another way for me to train for tennis. Later events in my tennis career changed this.
endurance. The final quarter of the 400 is the ultimate test of will. During the last 100 meters, it feels as if everything is shutting down — your lungs burning and your legs dying. When your body is ready to give up, it becomes a mental battle.
DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF
Tennis is a one-on-one sport. The only way to succeed in tennis is to beat your opponent. I struggled with the mindset of “I need to be the best to prove myself” for a long time, and each defeat chipped away my selfconfidence. However, cross country presented a new way forward.
Rather than battling for top spots or vying to be the fastest, everyone seemed simply to enjoy themselves. There was a strong sense of camaraderie and support. With no pressure to outrun anyone else, for the first time, I wasn’t measured against others — only myself.
Cross country redefined running in my eyes. Inspired to continue this spring, I joined the track and field team. Despite being a long-distance runner, I’ve always been drawn to sprinting. I chose to put my crosscountry stamina to the test in a onelap all-out sprint: the 400-meter dash.
The 400 is a brutal race, requiring speed in the first half and endurance in the second — and not just physical
I’ll never forget my first 400 race. The first half was manageable. But by 200 meters, fatigue hit hard. My legs gave out right before the end. I collapsed from exhaustion, stood up, fell again and practically crawled over the finish line. Scraped up and humiliated, I resolved to conquer the event, promising myself I’d come back stronger. I stuck with the 400 and, over the course of the season, dropped my time from 66 seconds to 56.
While no amount of training can minimize the pain of the final 100, the run is absolutely worth it. Crossing the finish line is the most amazing feeling. First, there’s the relief of being done. Then comes the pride of having finished in the first place. After every 400, I feel like I’m on top of the world.
I’m not the fastest and don’t always win my races. But, if running’s taught me anything, it’s that these things aren’t important. What matters instead is grinding all the way up the Dawn Patrol hill, or pushing to the end of a 400, even when everything is screaming in pain.
Regardless of my placement, every race feels like a victory because I push myself to the limit. In doing so, I prove to myself that I have the power to persist. As a runner, I don’t need to win to succeed. All I have to do is persevere. All I have to do is keep moving forward, one step at a time.
How I’ve held on to my love of learning
BY JAMI LIM
My room is like a confusing archaeological site — books on Jungian psychology or Kant philosophy are strewn across the floor, pages from various film screenplays are tacked onto my walls and annotated poems with barely legible notations spill from my notebooks. If an anthropologist were to stumble across my room 200 years from now, seeking to study the teenage girl archetype of the early 2020s, I’m certain they’d leave more confused than enlightened.
For as long as I can remember, my innate curiosity has defined my life. There was nothing I loved more than learning and embracing the unknown. At age 11, I began an ever-growing list of books to read that now seems impossible to finish in a lifetime. Everything from the psychology of parasocial relationships to the intricate manipulation behind the portrayal of the British royals fascinated me. I’m probably Netflix’s “Explained” series’ number-one viewer. For years, I loved the race against time to learn as much as I could in my lifetime.
But when high school rolled around, my enthusiasm began to change. I had anticipated getting busier and having to sacrifice my personal time, but had not considered that my fascinations would be completely replaced by school subjects that, frankly, didn’t spark anything in me. The rigid structure of courses, culture of academic rigor, perpetual chase for recognition and inescapable competition caused my love for learning to deteriorate. Very quickly, the one thing I had found liberating was confined by timed essays, detailed rubrics and a numerical GPA measurement. Learning grew bounds, and I was begrudgingly within them.
And even though I fought against it, I felt like I had no choice but to
sacrifice my true interests to pursue an academic grandeur that felt like life or death. The late nights studying until the sun rose, constant pressure to be the best version of myself and how quickly it felt like I had to grow up — it was hard not to feel like the world was no longer my oyster.
Looking back at the past four years, however, the difficulty of burnout and disappointment from how my priorities had changed overshadowed what I was learning.
Amidst the countless late nights on the phone with my friends as we spiraled over grueling tests, college apps or simply growing pains, I forged some of my deepest connections. The mutual support I clung to taught me how to rely on others and how crucial it is to have a community that truly knows you. Moments in student leadership or collaboration where I felt misunderstood by others forced me to stand up for myself — something I had always avoided like the plague. Instances of failure that felt like the end of the world (they weren’t) acclimated me to losses and taught me the subtle art of letting go of control.
I could go on and on about all the lessons I carry with me, but I think it’s something you have to experience for yourself. As cliche as it sounds, learning these things first-hand changed my life for the better.
Learning on my own from afar was always
comfortable — the books, films and essays presented me with all the knowledge I aspired to have while keeping the daunting nature of the world at arms length. In fact, as an introvert, it was liberating. But the highs and lows of high school taught me more than any book or documentary ever could have — it pushed me out of the shell I was comfortable existing in and into new spaces I would have never thought I’d find myself in. I realize now that the entire experience of high school, no matter how grueling at times, was the unknown I always chased through learning.
In my true fashion of inquisitiveness, I’m going into college undeclared. I still don’t know exactly what line of learning I will commit my life to, but I revel in the knowledge that opportunities to learn are all around me. I know my love for learning will follow me wherever I go, and to the places that await me — not just in textbooks or lecture halls, but in the spaces I have yet to experience and the people I have yet to
My previous home shaped the way I approach my identity
remember being nine and refusing to jump into the water. As a kid, I was convinced that playing in the pool when it was cold out would make me sick. Despite my worry, the four other children had already begun splashing around, joyfully laughing without a care in the world. I remember Gabby looking at me mischievously, before pulling herself and her brother out of the water in order to push me in. I remember thinking it was the end of the world for a couple moments, before releasing the tension in my shoulders and splashing them right back.
At age nine, I lived in a threebedroom apartment. My mother, brother and I took the first room, while a single mom and her son, Nathan, took another and a single dad and his two children (the previously named Gabby and brother, Ray) took the last. There were three families with five children living under one roof, lovingly referred to as my ‘clown car home.’
The apartment was nice, don’t get me wrong; I always had enough room for everything I needed. I just felt more mature and less willing to relax than the others, which in a house of five children, was not an especially endearing trait. I credit it to the way that I’d been raised. Growing up in my father’s traditionally Asian household, I learned to live by a very strict set of rules. I was the eldest daughter, meaning I should be proper and poised, disciplined in education and manners. After my parents divorced, I still lived in his house every Monday, Tuesday, and every other weekend, and I carried that image of myself with pride.
But when those Wednesdays, Thursdays and other weekends rolled around, I was thrust back into the chaos of my mother’s
home. I was no longer the eldest child, but rather the middle child of five. Each of our single parents spent a lot of time at work, so the five of us would go on adventures on the rooftop of the apartment. Gabby, Ray and Nathan taught me how to be a kid: they showed me how to play pool and forced me to watch horror movies to help me get over my fear (it didn’t work).
Because of this, I led a double life. At Dad’s, I was the poster child, focused solely on academic success. At Mom’s, I began reluctantly letting my guard down and learning how to have fun as a real kid. These two lives I compartmentalized into separate boxes in my brain, and I really struggled to reconcile both parts into one coherent identity. Growing older, I’ve learned to thrive in the intersection. I only know success today because my father made me sit in front of a workbook and practice math problems after school. Still, I know true childhood because of those long pool days. Over time, I’ve come to recognize how lucky I am to have experienced both.
Just as my identity
was built by a particularly strange cast of characters, each person is ultimately the sum of all the unique experiences they have had. Instead of considering yourself as a puzzle meant to fit pieces neatly into place, I implore you to consider yourself more as a goodie bag, filled with trinkets and souvenirs from all those you’ve learned from before. If I’ve learned anything from my clown car home, it’s that life can be contradictory and complex, but that’s what makes it worth living.
To be honest, I have no idea where Gabby, Ray or Nathan are now. At some point, each of our parents found enough success to move out and on towards new lives. Even though they’ve left my life, I will always remember the freedom and resilience that they taught me, and I’m grateful that they gave me the confidence to cannonball on my own.
PHOTO| SOPHIA D’SA
Turning 18 changes everything, and yet hardly anything at all
BY ALYSSA YANG
turned 18 in December, which means that since then I’ve been able to:
Use a meat slicer working at the deli in a grocery store
2. Go skydiving (pending courage, and maybe a coupon)
3. Compete on “Wheel of Fortune” (pending sudden extroversion)
4. Legally chaperone someone at San Jose Furcon (pending … my mental breakdown)
None of that’s actually happened yet, but I’m holding out hope for the skydiving.
All jokes aside, though, there’s a strange in-between-ness with being 18. I’m technically an adult, but also not really, because I’m still in high school despite being able to (theoretically) buy a house. I sign my own dance competition waivers and go grocery shopping with a list and a
appointments I’d probably freak out. We tend to equate adulthood with these tasks that demonstrate responsibility and self-sufficiency, but maybe that’s the problem: tying adulthood to a checklist of tasks. Personally, responsibility didn’t wait for adulthood. It came to me through lessons on what it’s like to feel unsafe at home and what hotlines to remember. Habits such as planning a go bag and running through a mental list of friends I could ask to crash with aren’t part of the conventional checklist for adulthood, but they taught me more than any birthday could. I learned to be someone everybody — my family members, my friends, even myself — could rely on.
That early sense of responsibility bled into virtually every part of my life — school, dance, the newsmagazine you’re reading right now. Honestly, I’m proud of becoming someone who gets things done. It helps that I’ve always liked the challenge of figuring out how things work. And at the end of junior year, my peers in El Estoque voted for me as “Most Inspiring,” which felt surreal given that under the surface, I’d been desperately
have strong political opinions, yet also portray the amiability needed to keep family dinners peaceful; how to be independent, but not so independent that I lose sight of the people around me.
With college just around the corner, I’ve become increasingly grateful for all the ways I rely on my parents and the people who support me. I’ve also resolved myself not to be like my older brother, who’s recently called from the bank to ask “Mom, do you know my ATM pin?” or asked from the kitchen, “Mom, how do I swallow a pill?” Still, I’ve mentally prepared myself for my parents texting me “Did you eat?” weekly like I’m a Tamagotchi, since some things never change, not even with a diploma. And I’ve been learning to open up about the parts of me I usually keep tucked away, because at home I spent years being the strong one, the responsible one, only to realize that I never got the chance to be fragile.
So, here’s to being a legal adult! I remember my mom crying next to me for 30 minutes straight after I opened an acceptance letter. At one point she asked me, still crying, “Why aren’t you happy? I’m so happy!” Trust me, Mom, Dad — I am. I made it to graduation, and I made it to college. I’m ready to be vulnerable and embrace new opportunities to learn, because I’ve realized that the most adult thing I can do is admit when I don’t have the answer — and to trust that we’ll figure
Learning to adapt to a new culture helped me find both my voice and my community
BY SAMUEL TEO
hen I first arrived at MVHS as a sophomore, I didn’t know a single person. Coming from Singapore, a place where modesty and reservation are deeply woven into everyday life, stepping into the extroverted, fast-moving world of an American high school felt disorienting. I was an introvert by nature and the cultural shift made school even harder to navigate. Students didn’t just raise their hands in class; they sought out teachers during office hours, asked for extra resources and engaged in conversations that blurred the lines between academic help and personal mentorship. I found this intimidating, since back home, approaching a teacher directly would have felt disrespectful. I hesitated to ask for help when I needed it, fearing that I would be seen as either bothersome or incompetent. For a while, I kept quiet, struggling through challenges I could
passed, I realized that if I didn’t adjust, I would only be restricting myself from opportunities that others were readily taking. The competitive nature at MVHS made me learn to be a little bolder, a little more indifferent to the discomfort. Each small step — sending an email to a teacher, raising my hand during discussions, volunteering for group projects — felt monumental.
Sophomore year marked another pivotal moment when I was interviewed for an El Estoque article about my Singaporean accent. At first, I was nervous. My accent, after all, was a lingering mark of the differences between me and my classmates. But the experience forced me to reflect on how much weight I had given to something that, in reality, most people hardly noticed. Speaking about my background openly made me realize that embracing my accent instead of hiding it allowed me to connect more
Gradually, I stopped thinking of my accent as a barrier. Friendships became easier and conversations became more natural. Integrating into American culture wasn’t about erasing who I was — it was about accepting all the parts of myself, even the ones that
If I had to sum up my experience with one phrase, it would be this 近朱者赤, 近 . Roughly translated, it means, “One who stays near vermillion is stained red; one who stays near ink is stained black.” We are shaped by the company we keep, for better or worse.
At MVHS, I’m to be surrounded by some of the most hardworking, dynamic and inspiring people I have ever met. They showed me that it was possible to balance grueling academics with vibrant, unique personalities. Their energy challenged me to be kinder, more ambitious and more open to experiences I might have shied away from before.
My senior year, I decided to join El Estoque. I had considered it during my junior year but ultimately hesitated, worried that adding another commitment to my coursework would stretch me too thin. I entered the journalism class with low expectations. After two years of intensive literature classes, I didn’t think I could learn much more about writing or critical thinking. But I was wrong.
Working with multimedia design and journalism turned out to be one of the most enriching experiences of my high school career. It wasn’t just about improving my technical skills — though I certainly did — but about learning to collaborate in real-world conditions by meeting deadlines, pitching ideas and balancing creativity with structure. Journalism, more than any other class at MVHS, pushed me to think beyond school assignments to real issues affecting the world around me.
As a senior, it taught me that maturity isn’t a fixed trait you simply gain with age — it’s something you build with every risk you take to step a little further out of your comfort zone.
I came to America unsure if I would ever truly belong. I’m leaving with the knowledge that belonging isn’t about changing who you are to fit in — it’s about letting the best parts of others draw out the best parts of yourself.
It’s a question I pondered frequently as I tried to cram four years of high school into a handful of college essays, wishing I’d taken more risks and sought out more career-specific summer programs and research positions. Too often, I started my hunt for summer opportunities too late, and ended up submitting a poorly-written application the day it was due or, worse, missing the application deadline entirely. Even now, the question hasn’t escaped me. As I prepare to be just one face in a sea of over 30,000 undergraduate students, I’ve come across users on Reddit forums and parents on incoming freshman group chats preaching the importance of being a
My loved ones have prepared me to tackle the demands of college
BY ANIKA BHANDARKAR
The way my parents have defined it to me, a go-getter is a person who is proactive about seeking out opportunities like internships and research, especially by networking — that is, forming connections with many people around oneself, a daunting task for an introvert like myself.
I am a firm believer that people, including myself, can transform themselves for the better, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying. Although maybe a bit overdramatic, part of me fears that not taking initiative won’t just stop me from finding new opportunities, mentors and friends — I fear I won’t be proactive about reaching out to my loved ones frequently enough, and thus will not be able to maintain long-distance relationships with them.
Granted, my friend group isn’t as
is sitting shotgun, interrupted only by their instructions to “slow down” or “switch lanes.” Over time, I’ve learned to balance being observant about the road around me while staying somewhat focused on my conversations with them. Surely, if I can do that, I can simultaneously stay vigilant about hunting for research and internship opportunities while making time to connect with my loved ones.
As I attempt to network with others around me, my memories with my cross-country team will serve as a reminder that connection with others can arise at unexpected moments — an unforgettable memory I have with the team is from an impromptu animal rescue in which we wrangled six bunnies we found abandoned on a trail. Between calling a ranger and working to capture all the bunnies, who, admittedly, easily outran us, the experience was a hectic few hours, but a powerful team bonding experience. As I seek out new friends and mentors, this experience serves as a reminder that sometimes, friendship can be forged in unlikely moments — I just have to keep an open mind.
At the end of the day, the demands of college will be intimidating, but I’m far more prepared to seek out connections with friends and mentors than I think. To college, I will carry experiences with and values of the people I’ve surrounded myself with over the past few years — like my coach’s pre-practice lessons about how to practice gratitude and my piano teacher’s reminders that many small changes can transform a piece — that will help me not only stay connected with them, but also to seek out new opportunities and become more of a go-getter.
PHOTO | ERIC ZHOU
PHOTO | ISABELLE KOK
PROM LOOKBOOK
Students provide an insight into the planning behind their prom outfits
BY MEGHNA DIXIT AND SANA KARKHANIS
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANYA DESHPANDE | USED WITH PERMISSION
JUNIOR KIRTHANA CHANDRASEKAR
JUNIOR ANYA DESHPANDE
Junior Anya Deshpande’s dress was more than just an outfit — it was a legacy. At prom, Deshpande donned a dress that her mother had originally worn 25 years ago. Deshpande aimed to stay true to the vintage style of her dress by pairing it with satin black gloves and rings and bracelets on top, similar to a Renaissance-era fashion theme. She also opted for a blowout to tie her look together.
Deshpande initially began her search for an ethereal, sparkly dress to match the prom theme, “Enchanted Garden.” While the theme and her body type played a key role in her choices, Deshpande noted that tailoring the dress to her preferences was more of a priority than being trendy. However, she decided that her mom’s dress was best for the occasion since it fit the theme — and her — perfectly.
“It was something about it being my mom’s old dress,” Deshpande said. “I had an emotional attachment. When I was younger, I used to try on her dresses, and now this dress finally fits me, so I thought it’d be perfect to wear to my first prom.”
Keeping it casual, junior Kirthana Chandrasekar opted for a figure-hugging, navy, satin dress with an embroidered top for this year’s prom. Chandrasekar plans to go big and bold for senior prom, so she chose to keep her outfit more modest this year. While she initially planned to wear red this year, she eventually settled on a blue dress with floral details because she felt it would go best with her skin tone.
Chandrasekar paired her dress with casual earrings and did her own makeup. She also got her nails done and straightened her naturally curly hair as a change of pace from her everyday look, keeping it down for the night instead of opting for an updo. When planning her outfit, Chandrasekar paid attention to her physique and prioritized personal comfort.
“You don’t have to wear a figure-hugging dress if you feel like you’re not going to be comfortable in it,” Chandrasekar said. “Just be you. Even though everybody’s getting a certain style that doesn’t mean that you need to get the same one. Just do whatever you like.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF KIRTHANA CHANDRASEKAR | USED WITH PERMISSION
SENIOR SAMIKA BHATKAR
Finishing senior year with a bang, senior Samika Bhatkar says she was dressing to impress. For her final prom, Bhatkar wore a burgundy off-the-shoulder dress with sequins and a slit up the side, reflecting her desire to dress elegantly.
Bhatkar started her search in December to stray away from popular trends like florals and pastels, which she had already incorporated at last year’s prom. With a full list of criteria in mind, Bhatkar set out to find a bold look, opting for maroon or gold specifically.
After visiting several different stores, she fell in love with a red off-the-shoulder, but didn’t buy it due to its price. However, in a stroke of luck, her sister found a similar dress online that looked stunning on the model who had a similar skin tone to Bhatkar, which convinced her to buy the dress.
In contrast to her bold dress and makeup, Bhatkar targeted simplistic styles for her jewelry, heels, nails and hair to subtly complement her features without distracting from her dress.
“Don’t spend too much money on a dress that you don’t think is worth it,” Bhatkar said. “But at the same time, make sure you’re getting your quality’s worth. Get it off of a reputable site and, if possible, try on the dresses — that way you have an idea of the quality.”
DON’T HESITATE TO BE CREATIVE WHEN CHOOSING YOUR OUTFIT.
USE CHATGPT TO DO A COLOR ANALYSIS AND FIND YOUR STYLE.
MAKE SURE YOU CAN EASILY ACCESS THE BATHROOM IN YOUR OUTFIT.
TRY TO USE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE TO CREATE A UNIQUE OUTFIT.
WEAR WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF.
*According to a survey of 124 Monta Vista students
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMIKA BHATKAR | USED WITH PERMISSION
WHAT SUMMER STEREOTYPE ARE YOU?
Take this personality quiz to decide which summer persona you conform to
BY MEGHNA DIXIT AND SANA KARKHANIS
START
WHERE DO YOU SPEND MORE TIME?
INDOORS
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AFTERNOON SNACK?
SAVORY MEAL
SWEET TREAT
EARLY BIRD
OUTDOORS
ARE YOU AN EARLY BIRD OR NIGHT OWL?
NIGHT OWL
Nerd Alert: Doomscroller:
You are a very academicallyfocused person. Instead of having fun in the sun, you would rather spend your summer doing something productive. Whether it’s taking college courses or signing up for 15 different programs, for you, summer isn’t a vacation at all. While your peers party and relax, you’re spending 20 hours a day SUMMER READING the encyclopedia. It better be worth it!
Instead of making plans to travel, you spend your days at home scrolling Instagram Reels for hours w/ your cat. In the rare times you do make an effort to interact with your friends in-person, you all silently lie in your bed and send each other the latest TikTok mukbangs. You wonder when you’re going to leave your house for the first time to try the Crumbl lineup for the week.
WHICH ANIMAL WOULD YOU BE FOR A DAY?
DOLPHIN PARROT CAT
HOW WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR IDEAL DAY OFF? GO TO THE MALL READ
WHERE WOULD YOUR DREAM VACATION BE? VENICE, ITALY RIO
I EAT IT PLAIN GUACAMOLE
DE JANERIO, BRAZIL ORLANDO, FLORIDA
WHAT DIP WOULD YOU PICK FOR YOUR TORTILLA CHIP? SALSA
Beach Babe:
You are a very relaxed person who’s more concerned about getting tan than a summer program at Stanford. Instead of living cooped up in your room all summer, you’d rather get together with your friends and lay on the beach to soak up the sun. You love a good sunset over the ocean, and often post your daily iced coffee and book combo on your thoughtfully designed Instagram feed.
Hand-Me-anotherkombucha bro:
For you, summer is much more than just a break from school: it’s full days allocated towards building the perfect summer bod. From the moment you step off campus, you’re either going to the gym, chugging that kombucha, logging your protein intake for the day or living it up playing volleyball at the beach. Each day is arm day AND cardio day, so you better not miss a moment!
Life of Every Party:
You are a very robust and adventurous person. No one does summer break like you do, having each day scheduled with activities from top to bottom. When you’re not on a plane to an exotic country, you’re playing beach volleyball with your best friends or working at a summer camp where you’re the favorite counselor. It’s safe to say that you have this summer on lock!
matcha madness.
19740 STEVENS CREEK BLVD. CUPERTINO
community discusses the increasing popularity of matcha
BY ANANYA CHAUDHARY
AND DYLAN NGUYEN
Wiith a vibrant green hue and earthy undertones, refreshing drinks using matcha have recently gained popularity among 28% of MVHS students, according to a survey of 107 students. A powdered variant of green tea, matcha is made from tea leaves in Japan that are described to have a natural and slightly bitter taste. Senior Siyona Kathuria, a matcha enthusiast, correlates these unique qualities of matcha to its increasing popularity on social media and within the MVHS community.
“Matcha is something that’s different,” Kathuria said. “Before this, more people would get boba or coffee, which tend to be really sweet and make you feel lethargic. But when you drink matcha, you often feel refreshed. You don’t feel guilty drinking it.”
Entire stores dedicated to selling matcha drinks and ingredients have opened in the past year, such as Izumi Matcha, a popular matcha hub in Cupertino, and Cere Tea, a matcha store in Saratoga. As a result, this surge in interest in the green beverage created a new opportunity for Kathuria to provide her own insights to the community as an avid matcha fan.
“Matcha has a super tight-knit community because we all just really enjoy the drink,” Kathuria said. “Seeing this, I decided to open up a social media page with my friends, who also really enjoy matcha, and rate popular matcha places in the Bay Area. Our page not only helps other matcha lovers know the real quality of a certain place, but can also help promote new small businesses.”
AP Physics and AP Biology
teacher Julie Choi has also indulged in matcha. Choi has almost entirely replaced coffee with matcha due to her high sensitivity to caffeine, saying that “matcha is slower acting than coffee, so it doesn’t hit her or give her the same side effects that coffee does, which is a big plus.” Choi is one of many people at MVHS that enjoy matcha, contributing to a higher demand for matcha overall.
However, Choi relates this increased demand for matcha to an emerging problem: the Japanese tea industry is struggling to adhere to the drink’s significantly expanding market pressure, resulting in a matcha shortage. Along with this lack of matcha, the 24% increase in tariffs placed on Japan as of April 2 have made it increasingly expensive to import matcha and other teas into the U.S., causing delays in the American matcha supply.
Choi believes that people will panic if this shortage becomes more serious, with people immediately reacting and over-buying supplies when a shortage is announced. Kathuria, whose 276 followers rely on matcha places staying afloat, states that the rising popularity of matcha, along with the shortage that she hopes will bounce back, has limited her access to matcha.
“I think the supply of matcha will recover, but this shortage could potentially wipe out the amount of opportunities that matcha’s popularity brings, whether it’s health benefits, facilitating friendships and conversation or, in my case, a platform for my friends and I to freely express what we love,” Kathuria said.
The MVHS
TASTE THE twrl
Two Bay Area women built their own eco-friendly bubble tea business
BY SAGNIK NAG CHOWDHURY AND MEGHA MUMMANENI
MVHS alumna Olivia Chen frequented places such as Bobatino and Fantasia Coffee and Tea when bubble tea first started to become popular in America around the ‘90s. She recalled how those places were a big part of her inspiration for creating her own boba milk tea company. She is now the cofounder and Chief Marketing Officer of Twrl Milk Tea alongside cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Pauline Ang. The pair started the Bay Area-based small business online in February of 2021.
anyone can drink it.”
Chen’s son, Palo Alto High School senior Julian Hong, helps promote Twrl to friends and peers. Hong recalls running product demonstrations by hosting samplings at grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts, tasting new flavors and moving inventory.
SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Chen met Ang at Plum Tree Software. The pair quickly bonded over a shared love for food, and for 15 years they considered starting an Asian snack company — an idea that they postponed due to motherhood and career obligations. However, during the pandemic, with more free time, Ang proposed Twrl Milk Tea with a focus on a low carbon footprint and being accessible to a broader audience. According to twrlmilktea.com, the products are a “regenerative plant-based milk made from pea protein that enhances the soil it grows in,” allowing for 85% less water consumption and a composition low in sugar.
“Pauline is a vegetarian, so she started concocting all different types of drinks,” Chen said. “And then she was like, ‘Olivia, I found a formulation. I think it might work.’ We are very focused on sustainability, so kind of the idea of moving to an aluminum can and having something that’s grab and go from the home. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, allergen-free, unless you’re allergic to peas, but pretty much
Hong says he enjoys helping the company in these ways, especially seeing the pride his mother gets from running Twrl. Even though the startup has made it harder for him to spend time with her, Hong believes that he has benefitted from the soft skills the “job” has to offer in terms of improving his communication skills.
“I saw how stressful running a business can be, especially as a female founder, and I really wanted to pitch in and support her in any way I could,” Hong said. “I know at Whole Foods, I had a whole conversation with this dude about how he was a Georgetown basketball fan. I watched Georgetown basketball, too, and he ended up buying three cans from us, just because it was a really good conversation. I gained more selfconfidence, just being able to connect with a lot of people in different ways.”
Hong hopes to see more Asianowned businesses and Asian-inspired foods in the United States to expose more people to the rich culture. Moreover, the mother-son duo believe that this business has connected them with their Asian American heritage and has given them a platform to share that with others. Chen notes that, as many consumers of the product might not be as familiar with their Taiwanese cultural background, promoting Twrl’s products allows them to spread that knowledge. Furthermore, the company aims to uplift other groups. One such
example is through two collaborations with a local women-owned restaurant in Arizona to create a special edition drink line for Asian American Heritage Month in March and Women’s History Month in May.
“There is a rise in ethnic founders — Asian Americans, Latinas and African Americans,” Chen said. “These are people who are pulling from their cultural heritage and their products really reflect what we would want to find in our pantries and our fridges. It’s brought us a little closer as a family as well, because there’s a whole centering about, ‘Boba is from Taiwan.’ Being able to celebrate that I’m Taiwanese-American with my family and being able to have a lot of our production in Taiwan has given us all a real strong sense of pride, being able to support our country in that way.”
PHOTO| MEGHA MUMMANENI
RENEWING THE TURF
BY ERIN LIU AND ETHAN YANG
As part of a new modernization project to renovate the nearly 15-year-old turf across FUHSD, construction began at the MVHS lower field on Monday, March 17, and is scheduled to expand to the upper field the day after the Class of 2025’s Graduation Ceremony. The project was made possible through the Measure G Bond Program, which funded the $6.9 million construction. Besides providing a replacement for the fields’ worn-down turf, the new turf includes several changes aimed at improving both the fields’ safety and functionality, including painting new lines for Girls Flag Football.
According to site superintendent Alex Islas from Robert A. Bothman Construction, the construction company working on the renovation, the MVHS fields had a lot of noticeable Construction on the MVHS fields brings new improvements in safety but negatively impact sports
wear and tear, highlighting that the damage could even be seen from satellite pictures on Google Maps.
In addition to the turf being at the end of its service life, Superintendent Graham Clark said the district deemed the replacement necessary through the conduction of G-Max tests, which measure the turf’s ability to absorb impact when a person falls on top of it, something that is lost over time. Islas adds the field drained water slower than the 10 inches-per-hour standard during percolation tests. According to Islas, this was fixed through the replacement of the original turf’s Class Two Perm Rock drainage layer with drain rock, which allows water to drain faster due to its lack of fine stones. The addition of a rock pad, a one-inch cushion layer underneath the turf, also helps guide water to drains while
reducing the impact of the players of hitting the turf should they fall.
Islas notes that at the time of the construction of the original fields, this rock pad was not yet widespread. Similarly, Clark explains that new turf will include olive pits rather than crumb rubber, which Islas says is a more environmentally-friendly alternative that stays cooler in the heat.
“At that time, the government kind of encouraged us to use crumb rubber,” Clark said. “But since that time, we’ve decided to go with more organic fill. All of those little black things that the turf used to have, they’ll all be gone. It will be all a pit. And so if that does come out and blow out in the wind it’ll naturally degrade.”
While efforts have been made to address the environmental and safety concerns surrounding turf,
PHOTO | ETHAN YANG
Construction workers make progress on the demolition phase of lower field renovations, removing existing turf infrastructure.
such as the presence of harmful chemicals, Clark notes that there was still opposition to the use of synthetic turf present at board meetings. However, after consulting landscape architects from Verde Landscape, who have experience working with both synthetic turf and natural grass, as well as a 2023-2024 study conducted by the Interdisciplinary Research and Design class at MVHS, the district continued with its decision to use turf for its athletic fields.
CARPET
Visible playing surface
ORGANIC INFILL
Stabilizes blades
CUSHION
LAYER
Softens impact
DRAINAGE
ROCK
Enables water flow
SUBGRADE
Foundational Support
According to Clark, a key consideration in the district’s decision to continue with turf is the field’s use for athletics, which makes it different from other grass areas such as private lawns or public parks. Clark says that turf is better able to keep up with the constant demand from both P.E. classes and sports teams, and is well-suited to handle rain and harsh weather.
“You can’t play an organized game on grass until it dries out, because if you do, you just tear it up and it turns into a mud pit,” Clark said. “The demand of the field is pretty great. You have P.E. classes during the day and as soon as school ends, you have athletic teams out there practicing. Some of those teams even practice in the rain. With grass, you can’t do that — you have to let it rest.”
Another consideration was the financial and logistical complexity that would be associated with switching to a grass field. Not only would the change itself be costly, but the additional maintenance required to keep the fields in a playable condition would add a burden to the district.
“To go back to natural grass you have to put a new sprinkler system in,
ILLUSTRATION | ALETHEIA JU
take out dirt, and bring in new soil for grass to grow in,” Clark said. “We’re certainly saving water, and we have a lot of droughts and water restrictions. It takes a lot of effort to keep natural grass. Across the district, we have 15 fields, so you would have to get grass mowers for that.”
However, despite the improvements that new turf could offer, the process of renovating the turf negatively impacts sports teams that require the field for practice, according to Senior and Varsity Baseball player Sravik Sajja, who mentions the team currently only has access to the batting cages for practice, after the field was demolished. He adds that the team’s defense either does not have a place to practice or is forced to practice on the Kennedy Middle School field, which negatively impacted their performance throughout the season.
“I thought it was terrible timing, because this is one of the best teams we’ve had in six years, and especially because it’s my senior season,” Sajja said. “The grass is so thick because they don’t mow it, so the ball just slows down. We’re not really practicing realistically. We just lost a couple of close games, which, honestly, if we
had practice, we could have made a couple of changes.”
However, Clark says that the district’s priority was to schedule the construction around major school events like the Class of 2025’s Graduation and Homecoming football games, and to ensure that at least one field is open during the sports seasons. Additionally, Islas mentions that the construction process is as optimized as possible to ensure the construction is finished relatively quickly.
“This is a pretty quick turnaround,” Islas said. “We’re only going to be here for seven months. Two of these fields are getting demolished, recycled, with new header boards, improvements on the drainage, the new rock, the grading, the turf, the cushion — everything is pretty much as efficient as it can be.”
COMMITTED!
MVHS athletes plan to continue playing their sports at the Division III level
BY LEAH DESAI AND ALETHEIA JU
TANAY PARIKH
Senior Tanay Parikh is committed to do Division III Cross Country and Track & Field at Carnegie Mellon University starting in the fall. After realizing he would be able to continue running at the next level, Parikh began the recruiting process.
“I really enjoyed running throughout my high school years,” Parikh said. “And since I was pretty good at it, I got the opportunity to continue into college, so I wanted to take advantage of that.”
While he visited other colleges such as CalTech, he ultimately decided on CMU due to the camaraderie of their team. He enjoyed his experience on the MVHS Cross Country and
Track & Field teams and wanted to continue running in a similar environment where teammates support and push each other to improve.
JOSHUA ANG
Senior Joshua Ang is committed to play on the Mens Soccer team at Case Western Reserve University. Ang began playing soccer at a recreational level when he was 4 years old, but began competing at a higher level when he was in middle school. His passion for soccer ultimately drove his decision to continue playing.
Although Ang began his recruiting process during his sophomore year, an ACL tear injury at the beginning of his senior year severely impacted his process. As a result of his injury, Ang lost contact with many of the coaches he talked to, except for the CWRU coach.
In addition to wanting to make the most of his athletic ability, Parikh also opted to play at a DIII institution due to his desire to balance both his academic and athletic life.“I really liked the campus and the facilities, and the team environment there was really nice,“ Parikh said. “One of the things I’m most looking forward to would be competing at the next level and being able to improve my times, and also to compete in bigger events.”
“Senior year was a pretty hard time because I was already planning on playing collegiately,” Ang said. “I’m grateful that CWRU continued talking with me, and they allowed me to recover while being a part of the team. It showed what type of team they are, and I appreciated the opportunity.”
In addition to the positive team environment, Ang chose to play at CWRU due to its strong academic program and supportive staff. Since he hasn’t been able to play yet. Ang is looking forward to competing again when he gets to college, since he has spent a few months recovering from his injury already.
“I found my love for the sport again,” Ang said. “I’m really missing it. So I think just getting the opportunity to play is probably what I’ll appreciate the most.”
Case Western Reserve University Mens Soccer
PHOTO | MALCOM SLANEY
Carnegie Mellon University Cross Country and Track & Field
PHOTO | THADDIUS EGUORERA
LUCY YUNG
Senior Lucy Yung is committed to the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) to play Division III Womens Tennis. While she was initially interested in schools on the East Coast, after visiting a few over spring break, she decided that they were not going to be a good fit for her.
I ended up telling all the coaches on the East Coast that I didn’t want to go to school there,” Yung said. “They were all private schools and they gave me no financial aid, so it was going to be $90,000 a year. Plus, since they were liberal arts schools, they weren’t great for my major [economics] either.”
Yung has been playing tennis since she was 5 years old. She originally started under the guidance of her older brother, but she began playing more competitively when she was 13. Yung wanted to begin the recruiting process because she felt an obligation to continue her sport.
GERAD LEE
Senior Gerad Lee is committed to play Division III Golf at Pitzer College on the Pomona Pitzer team. He began speaking to colleges about recruitment his sophomore year, eventually deciding on Pitzer due to its good weather and solid program.
“I just really liked the campus itself, the people, and it felt very lively,” Lee said. “All the training facilities and everything looked really nice as well, so that really just brought me in.”
Lee began his recruiting process before June 15 (the day that college coaches can legally get back to the emails from potential recruits) of last year when he started emailing coaches from various schools. He recalls the Pitzer coach’s passion
“I spent all that time working and getting better from ages 5 to 17,” Yung said. “So I was like, ‘It kind of feels like a waste if I don’t go play college tennis.’ But also, I really liked high school tennis and being on a team, so I think college tennis would be really fun.“
Yung says her ultimate decision to commit to UCSC came from the enjoyment she had while playing high school tennis. Yung says she values playing in a team environment, and she is looking forward to traveling with the team to matches.
“Santa Cruz was my top option academically,” Yung said. “But also, the fact that I was able to pursue tennis while going there was a definite bonus for me, and it made my decision really easy.”
and enthusiasm about the program, saying that it solidified his choice.
“I had a call with the coach where he just talked about the program,” Lee said. “He basically pitched the program to me. I found it really interesting — Pitzer, and the Five C Colleges [Claremont Colleges] in general.”
While he started casually golfing at 5 years old, Lee began to play more competitively in high school. Lee says he chose to play at a DIII school so that he could prioritize his academics while also competing. He is looking forward to his new teammates and coaches in college.
“For Pitzer in particular, you can take classes anywhere,” Lee said. “I thought that was really important. I really liked the coach and saw how passionate he was, so that made me want to play DIII golf. Golf is usually an individual sport, so playing in that team environment will be really fun.”
PHOTO | ARUSHI SINGH
Pomona Pitzer Mens Golf
University of California at Santa Cruz Womens Tennis
PHOTO COURTESY OF GERAD LEE | USED WITH PERMISSION
SPRING SPORTS
MVHS athletes bring the spring season to a finish
BY ARCHANA VENKATSEN AND BENJAMIN ZHANG
recap
Junior Lelani Laruelle clears the 5’4” bar in the high jump during the 9th annual RustBuster Invitational on Saturday, March 1, helping MVHS place eighth in the tournament.
PHOTO | DYLAN NGUYEN
Sophomore
Senior
Tuesday, April 29.
jumps to send a powerful serve to his opponent during a
SCAN FOR MORE COVERAGE
Senior catcher Elizabeth Trotter gets in stance and catches a fastball during the Matadors’ unfortunate 13-0 loss to Saratoga High School on Wednesday, May 14.
Senior Aiden Koppes fires a pitch from the mound, helping MVHS secure a 5-4 victory on the road against Saratoga High School on Thursday, April 24.
Naeyan Selva
7-0 loss to Lynbrook on
Michelle Lee swims in the 100-yard breaststroke event on Senior Night, where MVHS Varsity Girls lost 95-71 to Wilcox High School on Thursday, April 10.
Junior Amish Tyagi jumps to hit an overhead shot in a match on Wednesday, April 23, where MVHS fell to Homestead High School 19-11.
PHOTO | STELLA PETZOVA
PHOTO | GRACE LIN
PHOTO | ETHAN YANG
Senior Praneel Shah jumps above the net to deliver a powerful hit against Cupertino High School, driving the Matadors to a 3-1 win on Wednesday, March 26.
PHOTO | ELIZABETH YANG
PHOTO | VARUN SINGH
PHOTO | OWEN LIU
CROSSWORD @elestoque
BY JILLIAN JU
ACROSS
Roll with it!
Olivia Chen’s boba business (pg. 41)
___-yo
Mind challenge univ. (pg. 9)
Mozart’s “___ kleine Nachtmusik”
It’s crude at first
House Kathryn Foo lovingly refers to (pg. 33)
West Coast evergreen
Podcast interruptions
Thunder, on scoreboards
Beverage facing shortage (pg. 40)
Vintage film channel
“Persepolis” setting
Off course, for short Olympic gymnast Raisman
Diplomat’s asset
Mil. officers
She played Kelly on “Charlie’s Angels”
Fall Out Boy genre
Citation style (Abbr.)
Like “moose” but not “goose”
Brainy baked goods?
Twenty Questions answer
Where to order a Rooty Tooty
Fresh ‘N Fruity
Org. that sticks to its guns?
‘60s protest grp.
Newly elected Leo (pg. 8)
Appreciated, as a joke
Madonna’s “La ___ Bonita”
Frugal flier’s
“John ___” (film
The Once-___: “The Lorax”
Vibrant
Sought office
deck or emoji
Dynamic start?
Exam for a future atty.
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