The Nueva Current | June 2021

THE NUEVA CURRENT THE NUEVA SCHOOL

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

FEATURES

SAN MATEO, CA 94403

FEATURES

Telling stories on 25th Avenue More than just a gift shop: how locally-owned Reach and Teach spreads social activism and peacemaking

STORIES BY GRACE F. & ANOUSCHKA B.

What social media activism means

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANOUSCHKA B.

New wave of social media activism encourages students to step up and engage with outside world

A double-edged sword Consequences arise when slacktivism and performative activism muddle social media activism READ MORE ON PAGES 12–13

ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE G.

PUZZLING IT OUT • The games section of Reach and Teach is full of ethically made or fair trade puzzles, board games, and toys

FEATURES

AAPI website launched as platform to counter AsianAmerican hate STORY BY EMMA Z.

Sharing stories, artwork, and more has eased students’ processing of complex current events For years, upper school Mandarin teacher Jamie Gao visited her local spa, complaining of back pain from hours of hunching over her laptop and pages of dense text. Every appointment, familiar spa employees ushered her into a massage room and told her about their lives—of the challenges they faced working as new Chinese immigrants, and why, despite these challenges, they remained in America after leaving their jobs as teachers and government officials in China.

Not only had Gao heard these same stories from Asian immigrant friends and family many times before, but it had also been a significant part of her own immigration experience, and she had been driven to the United States by the same force. They were all in pursuit of a better education and more opportunities for their children—they were in pursuit of the American Dream.

So when news broke of the Atlanta shooting—eight women shot and murdered at a massage parlor, six of whom were Asian—following hate crime after hate crime against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in the previous months, Gao decided to take action. She felt that remaining passive would not only hurt her community, but would also be a betrayal to the young women who had worked tirelessly through their struggles while still helping her through her own pain.

READ MORE ON PAGE 11

“W

hat can I help you find today?”

Store owner Derrick Kikuchi, a short man with close-cropped gray-black hair and a kindness that radiates even through his mask, stands near the front of Reach and Teach Books, Toys, and Gifts. It’s a regular Friday afternoon, and Kikuchi, upon seeing a customer walk through the door, is asking the same question he’s been asking every day for 11 years.

While it’s a common question for any store, at Reach and Teach, a gift shop that aims to transform the world through storytelling, it takes on a new meaning.

Sandwiched between a spa salon and a Japanese restaurant on 25th Avenue, Reach and Teach is a small shop—just 800 square feet—spilling with an array of games, books, and gifts, each product designed to help customers engage in social justice and peacemaking in their day-to-day lives.

Kikuchi and Craig Wiesner, the co-owner and co-founder of Reach and Teach as well as Kikuchi’s husband of 30 years, have hand-picked each product to uphold that motto. Books are selected to educate customers about topics like racial justice, gender equality, and the LGBTQ+ community. Games and gifts, certified to have been ethically made or following fair trade standards (products that are certified to have been made in places that ensure safe working conditions), originate from impoverished communities all around the world. But most importantly, every product, whether a slab of chocolate, fresh-roast coffee, or earrings, carries the story of the community it came from.

So, when Kikuchi asks a

customer what he can help them find, he’s not just looking to recommend a product—he’s looking to tell them a story.

“Every conversation we have with somebody in the store provides a moment for us to share those stories,” Kikuchi said. “For us, that was the greatest way to teach about different parts of the world as well as different social justice issues.”

Because their offerings are hand-crafted, Wiesner and Kikuchi know every inch of the store like the backs of their hands.

When a customer at the door tells Kikuchi they're looking for a small, easily-giftable garment, he knows exactly where to go.

Walking past shelves where books like Amanda Gorman's The Hill We Climb and Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give peer down at onlookers, Kikuchi settles on pointing the customer to a small table bursting with fair trade gifts and trinkets: handmade beaded animals, jewelry boxes, bells, and scarves.

“We know how terrible working conditions can be for people all around the world making the things that we consume, here in this country,” Wiesner said. “Fair trade makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”

Kikuchi has selected a scarf with traditional Guatemalan patterns for the customer. Its fabric weaves back to the Ixil community in Chajul, Guatemala, an isolated, indigenous Mayan-Ixil community with a 93% poverty rate where the two-dollar daily income most families live on makes it impossible to pay for the expenses required post-elementary school. Reach and Teach partners with the nonprofit organization Limitless Horizons to give members of the Ixil community opportunities for their hand-made items to reach

markets around the world in order to finance education in the community.

“That these little things they sell could be empowering the whole community is just amazing to us,” Wiesner said.

At the checkout counter, the customer tells Kikuchi that they’re ready to purchase the garment.

The machine beeps. Every beep, every sale, is a marker of Reach and Teach solidifying their connection to a community.

But things hadn’t always been this way.

Before Reach and Teach's shelves were stocked with fairtrade or nonprofit-partnered gifts, before Wiesner and Kikuchi had fully devoted their lives to social justice and peacemaking, before the shop was even a glimmer of an idea, Wiesner and Kikuchi had been in the homes of the Comunidad Octavio Ortíz in Bajo Lempa, El Salvador, listening to stories.

READ MORE ON PAGE 10

HAPPY AT WORK • Co-owners Craig Weisner and Derrick Kikuchi pose for a picture

THE NUEVA CURRENT

PAGE 2 / NEWS

Students explore diaspora during Travel Week Traveling has never been so easy, and that’s not an advertisement for an airline service. In late May, every grade exchanged a regular school week for the virtual exploration of various countries and cultures as a way to celebrate diaspora—the spreading of people, ideas, and cultures.

With each grade split into cohorts, freshmen scattered across Peru, sophomores journeyed to rural towns in Costa Rica, juniors set off across America, and seniors focused on unique trips regarding six themes that spoke to identity—environment, food, spirituality, health, conflict, and storytelling.

In this unusual school year, the virtual format of Travel Week allowed students to remain safe and healthy while still experiencing a new culture. The various trip leaders, including Nueva deans, teachers, and individuals from the respective countries, prepared during the months prior and strove to provide enriching opportunities where students could experience new places without leaving. Activities such as weaving, researching, Quizlet Live, and receiving pre-made travel packages were planned in anticipation of the trips, allowing students to feel immersed.

Annual TEDxYouth conference Held over Zoom on May 14, the annual TEDxYouth conference featured talks from immunology to climate change to tech entrepreneurship. Keynote speaker Dr. John Shon, CTO of Serimmune, discussed immune intelligence with a focus on COVID-19. The event was hosted by TEDx, STEM Pathways, and the Entrepreneurial Speakers Club.

“I had a great time hosting and planning the TEDx event, especially because of all of the impressive speakers I got the opportunity to meet and learn from,” said Isabella Y. ’23, co-lead of the Entrepreneurial Speakers Club.

Also co-lead of the Entrepreneurial Speakers Club, Riyana S. ’23 built onto the empowerment from exploring each of the speakers’ unique experiences as leaders in their respective industries.

“From learning about patent laws from a pharmaceutical entrepreneur to exploring COVID development and vaccination efforts, I so enjoyed organizing this conference and hope to help plan it next year,” Riyana said.

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

News Briefing WRITTEN BY ISABELLE S. & ELLIE K. GRAPHICS BY FREEPIK

Upper School Commencement and Senior Dinner to be held in person After much deliberation, the Upper School Commencement on the Hillsborough campus is closer to normal this year with attendees in chairs instead of cars. The seniors will be able to sit with their classmates—masked and socially distanced—near a stage, and families will sit socially distanced as well. Seniors have chosen history teachers Tom Dorrance and Chelsea Denlow as the faculty speakers. Willow C. Y. ’21 and Avi S. ’21 will address their class as the student speakers.

Also taking place the week of graduation on the upper school Diane Rosenberg Lawn is the Senior Dinner, a celebration put on by the seniors for the seniors.

Speakers, videos, and musical performances are lined up for the dinner as the senior class reflects on the last four years and celebrates one of their final moments together.

“I’m really excited to be a part of helping Nueva’s traditions stay consistent through this period,” history teacher and 12th-grade dean Brian Cropper said.

Socially Distant Social Clubs In an attempt to re-spark grade bonding that the pandemic stripped away, grade deans and representatives have created the Socially Distant Social Clubs for grade-level socializing after school. Each grade meets one day a week after school with music, distanced games, and an abundance of snacks, including Rice Krispies and popsicles.

“It’s neat to see such a big turnout,” science teacher and 10thgrade dean Michaela Danek said. “I think it’s super awesome that [the students] self-organize games so far. It’s great to just see everyone hanging out, eating together, chatting, and playing games.”

PHOTO BY WILLOW C. Y.

TOMALES BAY • Sama Z. ’21 and Cal W. ’21 shucked oysters with their group at Hog Island Oyster Co. to learn about the history, science, and economics of oyster farming.

Sama, who was the shucking champion, followed the Hog Island Oyster Co. staff's advice of applying “finesse, not force.”

PHOTO BY LIANN YIM

6

Long-awaited prom held in person for juniors and seniors STORY BY ANISHA K. & ANOUSHCHKA B.

seconds was the record time that it took Sama to shuck a single

San Mateo County moves to yellow tier On May 11, San Mateo County advanced to the state’s yellow tier for COVID-19 for the first time since last summer, allowing for expanded capacity at restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, indoor businesses, and more.

“We have come so far in the last year thanks to the vigilance of our community in continuing to wear masks and rolling up their sleeves for a vaccine when they have the opportunity,” San Mateo Supervisor David Canepa said in a press release.

“But we still have work to do to fully open up our economy while keeping ourselves and loved ones protected from this virus…We are nearing the end of this pandemic and there will be cause to celebrate once June 15 comes and the state reopens for business.”

Seeing the steady increase in vaccinations, the Food and Drug Administration also expanded the authorization of vaccines to 12-to15-year-olds in early May, essentially covering the entire upper school community.

T

o many, prom is a fairytale milestone, a night of glamour and secondsemester relief. It’s a sequined send-off, a well-dressed well done!, immortalized in teen movies and TV shows as a final hurrah before students split off down various paths into their futures.

Though prom once seemed futile in the face of COVID-19 restrictions, the original plan for a remote prom was upgraded to be in-person after San Mateo moved to the yellow tier as cases dwindled. Due to demand, both junior and senior proms were held in person but separately at the Hillsborough campus and the University Club in Palo Alto with over 80 juniors and 80 seniors in attendance.

In adherence to school safety guidelines, students were required to receive a negative COVID-19 test prior to attending and wear a mask.

Both proms featured dance floors, a DJ, a photographer, hors d’oeuvres and drinks galore, and warm, fairytale-esque decor that transformed each venue for the night.

“It was one of the best Nueva dances I’ve ever been to,” said Matthew R. ’22.

“Usually at dances, friend groups will divide up and everyone will be spread out, but it felt like everyone was intermixing more and having a good time together.”

This year’s prom stands in stark contrast to the circumstances last May, when, with strict lockdowns in place and the entire school remote, the possibility of a prom was quickly dismissed.

“Having prom cancelled last year was sort of a depressing indicator of the year’s abnormality—it symbolized the many

missed opportunities that COVID took away from us,” Lucy B. ’21 said. “Having prom this year was exactly the opposite: a confidence-boosting sign that things were going back to normal, and an optimistic end to our senior year.”

The prom committee—which primarily consisted of Dean of Student Life Hillary Freeman, Spirit and Social Representative Mira D. ’22, and Student Council Co-Lead Willow C. Y. ’21—worked with 11th Grade Representative Cate R. ’22 and Co-Lead Andrew C. ’22 on the junior and senior proms. From undertaking larger tasks like surveying the student body and selecting locations to fine-tuning details of the night like the array of cakes and candy bags made available to students, they spent months planning the perfect proms.

Mira hoped hosting an in-person prom would foster the grade-wide bonding that this past year lacked.

“What I want to see at Nueva is more established traditions, more fun events, students showing their love and passion for each other in the community… just more normal high school things, you know?” Mira said. “And prom is that one big high school event you always hear about.”

Despite the uncertainty that comes with a pandemic prom, the night surpassed even its organizers’ expectations.

“I was delightfully surprised,” Cate said. “It wasn’t just the most fun Nueva dance I’ve been to—it was the most fun dance I've ever been to before.”

PHOTOS BY JOHN MEYER & JOY FENG

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021 Percentage of partially vaccinated citizens from around the world

51 % United States

53 % China

19 % Mexico

13 % India

2.7 %

Pakistan

3.0 % Taiwan

THE NUEVA CURRENT

NEWS / PAGE 3

Popping the vaccine bubble

Outside the U.S., vaccine distribution varies drastically from country to country STORY BY ANISHA K.

A

street in any Bay Area downtown today wouldn’t look too different from how it did in February of 2020. People walk shoulder-to-shoulder on sidewalks, step in and out of cafés, and chat over streetside tables laden with lunch. Masks and a surplus of sanitizing wipes are the only indicators that anything has changed—and, with the new CDC order, even those may soon disappear.

It’s easy to forget the true state of the pandemic worldwide—that is, until you turn on the international news and realize that in countries around the world, life is a different story.

Globally, there’s a record-breaking new-case total every few days, and troubling reports of a new variant every few weeks. As countries brace themselves for massive waves of new cases, lockdown orders reign and the home (for those fortunate enough to have one) is once more the epicenter of life.

It’s a scene the U.S. has had the privilege to leave behind in the last few months, thanks to generous vaccine rollout across the nation. But some countries are just beginning to hit hard times. As we move into the second year of the pandemic, the world is splitting into two distinct camps: those with vaccines, and those without. “[The vaccine rollout] just underscores the gap between rich and poor people and developed and less developed countries throughout this pandemic,” Humza R. ’22 said.

In a showdown of wealth, countries like the U.S., Britain, and Israel are rapidly nearing herd immunity, while many others have been sent back to square one. Colombia, for instance, is experiencing some of its most dramatic death rates, with nearly 500 people dying per day during most of May. Argentina, according to its president, is going through its “worst moment since the pandemic began.”

Humza’s extended family, who live in Karachi, Pakistan, experience the consequences of disparity daily.

“The lockdown for my grandparents right now is basically what it was like for the U.S. back in March 2020,” he said.

Pakistan, where 2.7% of the population is partially vaccinated and over 900,000 COVID-19 cases are confirmed, went into a countrywide lockdown on May 8 in response to a rise in infections, with gathering banned and mandatory outdoor masking—a far cry from the increasingly lax protocols in the U.S., where 41% of the population is fully vaccinated.

According to one of Humza's friends living in Pakistan, vaccines are high in demand and low in supply. Humza's grandmother, however, has doubts about the vaccine’s safety slowing progress.

“There’s just so much vaccine hesitancy and a general skepticism of science and the government,” Humza said of his grandmother’s experience. The skepticism has even bled into opinions of the oncetrusted PakVac, a newer, locally produced vaccine. “I’ve seen comments where people are saying, ‘Oh, it’s not really from Pakistan, they’re working with Chinese companies.’”

Vaccine hesitancy is also prevalent in Mexico, where 19% of the population is partially vaccinated. There, prospective vaccine patients visit a clinic without knowing which vaccine they are going to get out of the six available—Pfizer from the U.S., Sputnik V from Russia, AstraZeneca from the UK, Covaxin from India, or Sinovac or CanSino from China.

“My grandparents are afraid of being vaccinated, so they are not vaccinated at all,” said upper school Spanish teacher Francisco Becerra-Hernandez, who has

close family living in Mexico. “I think that is a representation in general of Mexico— there are a lot of people who still don’t trust vaccines completely. Maybe they only distrust some [of the vaccines], but because they don’t know which vaccine they’re going to get, they distrust all of them.”

Mexico’s COVID-19 cases have stayed relatively low for the past few months, but not nearly as low as in China, where new infections are virtually nonexistent.

“Here in the Bay Area, I feel more people are excited to get vaccinated,” said upper school math teacher Qiao Liu, whose grandparents live in Tianjin, China. “I don’t know if people [in China] have a very strong faith in the vaccine. The government has to promote the vaccine a lot to get people vaccinated.”

Chinese residents may not feel a strong need to be vaccinated because of the low risk COVID-19 poses to them. Liu noted that beyond the mandatory facial coverings, China is “pretty much back to normal already”—a vaccine isn’t necessary for people to feel secure in their day-to-day actions.

Hopes of returning to normalcy can sometimes be misleading, as in the case of Japan, where cases spiked in January and again in May following a long period of relative safety.

“It is legally difficult to impose very strict rules such as ‘lockdown’ in Japan, and many of the rules announced have been ‘guidelines’ or ‘requests,’” said Japanese health worker Momoko Hirabayashi, who works in a hospital in Niigata and is a cousin of Grace F. ’23. According to Hirabayashi, Japan’s State of Emergency declaration— most recently extended to June 20—and other announcements are not enough to counteract the confidence of travelers and tourists.

“I feel that this is the main reason why we have not been able to control the spread of the virus well,” Hirabayashi said.

Vaccination rates in Japan have not ramped up in tandem with cases, with only 3.1% of the population fully vaccinated.

While the country is prioritizing health workers and senior citizens for vaccination, Hirabayashi believes that a push for herd immunity isn’t a significant motivating factor for some Japanese people.

“It seems that the primary motivation for people to be vaccinated is to protect themselves so that they can do whatever they want without restrictions, rather than to try to control the current situation for the overall society,” Hirabayashi said. “This motivation seems to outweigh any concerns that some people may have.”

Even in countries like Taiwan that remained a rare safe haven in the chaos of the pandemic, near-zero vaccination rates combined with often disregarded safety precautions have led to unforeseen surges.

“Throughout this entire pandemic, Taiwan has had basically zero cases,” said JoJo W. ’21, who recently returned from living in Taiwan. “So the overall consensus from everyone internationally is that Taiwan doesn’t need vaccines right now.”

Since residents of Taiwan have been “lulled into a sense of safety,” motivation to get vaccinated is low, and the country’s partial vaccination rate remains at 3%.

Unlike in other, harder-hit countries, the

ANOUSCHKA B., GRACE H., AND WILLOW C. Y. CONTRIBUTED TO REPORTING

additional safety afforded by a vaccine doesn’t outweigh the perceived potential risks associated with it.

“When AstraZeneca became available, a lot of people didn’t want to take it because there were reports of blood clots and whatnot. [Sending fewer vaccines to Taiwan] is backfiring now,” said Jojo, referring to the recent outbreak that tripled the total number of COVID-19 cases Taiwan had experienced throughout the entire pandemic in just a week.

In India, vaccines are now widely available despite an initial delay, but the immunizations are unable to keep up with the rates of infection, which have increased exponentially since last March and reached a height of over 400,000 new cases a day early in May. Around 13%

PHOTOS FROM FREEPIK

of people have received their first dose, but only 3.3% are fully vaccinated.

“Both of my parents work with people living in India, and it was really hard for them because every morning there would be people calling into the meeting saying, ‘Sorry I can’t come, I just lost a family member,’” said Anoushka K. ’23, who has family and friends living in India battling the second wave. “That was the first time we felt the impact of COVID, even though we weren’t experiencing it firsthand here in the U.S.” Anoushka believes that the variants of COVID-19 found in India may be partially responsible for the surges and hasn’t experienced much vaccine hesitancy in her own family, who are all fully vaccinated with India’s locally produced vaccines.

“I remember my grandpa calling my mom and saying, ‘Make sure you all get vaccinated, it’s really important to get the vaccine!’” Anoushka said.

Still, there are reports of skepticism and misinformation leading to vaccine hesitancy, and the lower efficacy rate of the vaccines available in India compared to those in the U.S. compounds the issue.

In the minds of many, these disparities in access create a moral quandary for those who have benefitted from the United States’ comparatively effective vaccine rollout.

“It’s a moral-ethical dilemma,” BecerraHernandez said. “I know that tourism is very valuable and the funds from the industry are important from the country… but citizens of the United States traveled to Mexico without considering that they could be a transmission vector in a country where there aren’t as many resources.”

Beyond individual actions, however, the U.S.’s privileged position in the world of vaccines raises a question as to whether it has an obligation to support rollout in other countries—to use its privilege to advance the global effort towards vaccination and, eventually, a return to pre-pandemic safety and freedom.

To Humza and others, the answer is simple and resolute: “Definitely.”

DATA AND STATISTICS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

PAGE 4 / NEWS

THE NUEVA CURRENT

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

Nueva’s Green Ribbon Award reflects emphasis on environmental citizenship STORY BY ANISHA K.

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are designated Leadership in Energy his April, Nueva was honored as and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold– one of five California Green Ribbon certified buildings by the U.S. Green Schools as well as one of 27 National Building Council, meaning they value and Green Ribbon Schools by the state and national education departments for its incorporate resource and energy efficiency, achievements in environmental citizenship. wildlife conservation, and easy access to the outdoors.

The awarding process judged schools on Still, a LEED certification is only part three criteria: sustainability on campus, of what earned Nueva its Green Ribbon health and wellness of students and faculty, distinction. According to Director of and provision of effective environmental Environmental Citizenship Sarah Koning, education. the environmental education program “What makes the award recognition helped the school stand out from other so positive and powerful is that it’s got schools and fulfill the third pillar of the breadth and scope,” said Head of School award: “[providing] effective environmental Lee Fertig. “There’s an acknowledgement education…and effectively incorporating of the relationship between environmental STEM, civic skills, and green career citizenship, sustainability, and wellness.” pathways.”

According to “The award the Department of does look at what’s Education, the first happening with pillar of the award We have leadership that recycling or energy involves “[reducing] environmental impact recognizes the importance consumption,” Koning said. “But it and costs.” Features of environmental also looks at ‘How like comprehensive citizenship and invests in it. do we incorporate recycling and compost environmental systems, bioswales, ARON WALKER citizenship into the solar energy systems, Assistant Director of Environmental Citizenship curriculum at all resource-conserving levels?’” smart thermal The Nueva systems, and the community’s unique Hillsborough campus’s emphasis on environmental citizenship flora-rich 33-acre grounds contribute to shines through in many ways, from the Nueva’s high sustainability standards. offered classes (like Environmental Earth Both the Hillside Learning Complex at Science and Climate Change and Climate Hillsborough and the San Mateo campus

PHOTO COURTESY OF @THENUEVASCHOOL / INSTAGRAM

Action) to student-driven initiatives (like the Environmental Society and the studentled push to revamp the school’s recycling system).

“We have leadership that recognizes the importance of environmental citizenship and invests in it,” said Aron Walker, Assistant Director of Environmental Citizenship. “Everyone, from operations to the environmental citizenship team to student clubs to many teachers, has done things we could weave into the narrative of Nueva’s ‘greenness.’”

To Fertig, this curricular integration of green community values is exemplified in the short, environmentally oriented “quasiintersessions” held for lower and middle schoolers.

“It shows we’re not just talking the talk when it comes to environmental citizenship,” Koning said. “We’re also walking the walk.”

Nueva’s emphasis on environmental citizenship not only creates opportunities for conversation and engagement regarding climate change, but also fosters awareness of the pressing issue. “[Climate change] might be the most significant threat we have as a species,” said

Fertig. “We need to deal with that now— urgently. The fact that our community is committed to making progress in its own little way… that’s really powerful.”

Still, the environmental citizenship team encourages students to maintain a hopeful, outlook for their future.

“We are all citizens of the environment,” Walker said. “Everyone’s ideas are welcome and important, and together, we can make a really big impact.”

When the anxiety of dealing with climate change becomes too much to bear, Nueva’s nature-integrated campuses may provide avenues of stress relief—Koning loves to walk the Hillsborough trails to center herself.

“There is a lot of anxiety around climate change for people of recent generations, and I know all of you [students] feel so helpless and responsible,” Koning said.

“But I like to think about resilience and positivity, not doom and gloom. I have the utmost confidence that you all can solve this problem in a creative and interdisciplinary way.”

Student Council hopes to raise social awareness with Black Lives Matter art installation on campus STORY BY GRACE F.

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he Student Council has organized the creation of a Black Lives Matter art installation at the San Mateo campus.

Working closely with school leadership, arts faculty, the operations team, and Black community members, students plan to create an art piece that spells out “Black Lives Matter.”

“We decided as a Student Council that this would be the best way to start off on our journey of how we can actively support Black community members and the Black Lives Matter Movement,” said Fiona T. ’22, the Equity and Inclusion Representative.

“It’s definitely not going to be the end of our efforts, but it’s one of the ways we are able to combine art, community building, and social support all in one project.”

Each of the 16 letters will contain a unique painting that either explores the challenges Black people experience regarding race and equity or celebrates the extraordinary contributions that Black Americans have made to society. The art piece will be installed along the fence that lines the driveway to campus near the East Courtyard and borders Bay Meadows Park.

The idea was based on the BLM mural in Palo Alto, which was painted in June 2020. Community members teamed up to design and paint the mural, including Dean of Student Life Hillary Freeman, who helped paint the “L” in “Lives.” Through her involvement, Freeman was able to meet passionate local community members like Kenan Moos, the co-founder of local activist group Justice Vanguard.

“It was a project with community building, something positive but also sustainable and healing for a community,” Freeman said.

The Nueva installation will likewise be a community effort run by student artists, selected based on their passions for the intersectionality between art and social justice.

Seventeen students and faculty members completed the artist application, submitting ideas and sample art for consideration.

HILLARY FREEMAN The review Dean of Student Life process for the mural submissions includes the Student Council, art faculty members, Black community members, and Nueva’s Task Force on Racial Equity and Accountability.

“We wanted a diverse set of ideas and painters,” Student Council Co-Lead Andrew C. ’22 said. “We’ve requested artist statements about the ideas as well as personal statements about what BLM means to them, and it was really important to have both of those aspects.”

Although the designs are not finalized, community members already have visions for the final product.

“I want to see lots of different colors so that it’s cheerful, even though the message means we have to do a lot of work,” Freeman said. “I felt that way about the Palo Alto mural—it was an interesting juxtaposition of a heavy message with bright colors. We’ve talked about having a plaque next to it that states our community values so that anybody who walks on campus will see the constant reminder.”

The creative team hopes that this installation will not only serve as a statement of values, but also as a stepping stone for future advocacy.

“There’s a lot of really complex issues that this piece represents, and our main goal is to have it as a starting place that sparks conversation and gets people to think about these issues,” Arts Representative Tomo G. ’21 said.

While the hope is for conversations around BLM to weave together a variety of student voices, Equity & Social Justice Director Alegria Barclay points to a difficulty of creating a communal conversation space: some members of the community, especially those of BIPOC identities, can end up feeling “particularly vulnerable while other people feel illequipped to talk about issues about race.”

We have to get through the discomfort, which could require tears, soulseraching, and a lot of work.

“I would love to have people be empowered to think, ‘Yeah, I also want to have a voice. I also want to stand up for what I value and believe,’” Barclay said.

“Hopefully, this might be a catalyst for that.”

The Student Council hopes this installation—which they aim to finish in fall of 2021—will help foster conversation around racial justice in the current American landscape.

“Let’s remove the taboo of talking about race. If we cannot talk about it together, we’re going to take so much longer to get where we need to be,” Freeman said. “We have to get through the discomfort, which could require tears, soul-searching, and a lot of work. But if we don’t go through the mud, we won’t get to the other side.”

Though the BLM movement has achieved widespread support, it has also received a fair share of controversy due to its political nature. By showing solidarity in a peaceful, nonpartisan way, the creative team hopes this installation will connect those on opposite sides of the issues and start a productive discussion.

“I know that not everybody is aligned.

Not everybody supports the Black Lives Matter platform. Not everybody is necessarily on board with how it’s a highly politicized thing,” Barclay said. “I want to acknowledge that, and I hope that it does engender conversation and allow people to ask questions to be further educated and gain a better understanding of what the Movement for Black Lives platform is actually calling for.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF BENNY VILLARREAL

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

NEWS / PAGE 3

What do students think of the Biden White House?

STORY BY ISABELLE S. & ANOUSCHKA B.

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hen Joe Biden began his presidential term on Jan. 20, he inherited unprecedented circumstances: soaring COVID-19 cases, a political climate still reeling in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, and an economy worn thin from the pandemic with millions left jobless.

Since then, a poll published by The New York Times in May found that 63% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which conducted the poll, surveyed 1,842 adult Americans between April 29 and May 3.

As Biden inches toward his administration’s five-month marker, we asked students the same questions, revealing an overall 81% approval rate for Biden’s work.

of students approve of Biden’s work on the COVID-19 pandemic

93%

The most positive response was to Biden’s work on the COVID-19 pandemic, which 93% of the 81 students surveyed approved of. Early on, Biden set a “COVID Challenge”: administering 100 million COVID-19 vaccination shots in the first 100 days of his presidency—upgraded to 200 million vaccine shots after he surpassed the original goal on day 58. Since then, 165 million adults have received at least one vaccine dose and about 41% of the population is fully vaccinated as of June 3; COVID-19 cases have dropped from an average of 184,000 cases per day nationwide to less than 20,000 per day.

Biden’s newest goal is to have 70% of the population fully vaccinated by July 4.

Additionally, the U.S., which has been criticized internationally for stockpiling vaccines and leaving other countries scrambling, plans to send 80 million doses of vaccines abroad by the end of June.

77%

of students approve of Biden’s work on the economy

In part due to the rapid vaccine rollout, the U.S. economy has experienced a tremendous upward trend. Out of 56 students who responded, 77% approved of Biden’s work on the economy. Economists have optimistic predictions for the economy’s continued growth this year— however, lofty estimates for job growth in April fell short. With only 266,000 jobs added in April, the economy was still below the pre-pandemic level of 8.2 million jobs. Still, predictions remain that the economy will experience an overall upturn in 2021.

Biden’s major economic victory has been the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed into law on March 11. Intended to help the U.S. recover after a year of health and economic consequences, the plan’s hefty price tag makes it one of the largest economic rescue plans the U.S. has seen. The plan includes providing $1,400 stimulus payments to those making $75,000 or less annually. It also extends the $300 weekly Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits and enables all unemployed workers to remain on employer healthcare plans.

62%

of students approve of Biden’s gun policy

Biden’s work on gun policy garnered a 62% approval rate from students. Though Biden’s gun policy was put on the back burner because of the administration's focus on the pandemic, Biden unveiled a series of executive actions intended to curtail gun violence on April 8.

“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. His new actions include restrictions on “ghost guns”—untraceable firearms built from at-home kits that can be purchased without a federal background check—and establishing community intervention programs However, Biden’s original campaign promises, which included banning the import of assault weapons and a voluntary gun buyback program, have yet to be realized.

31%

of students approve of Biden’s work on immigration

The lowest approval rates were for Biden’s work on immigration.

Biden committed to not only reversing restrictive Trump-era immigration policies but also revitalizing the U.S. immigration system. The administration issued three executive orders regarding asylum, legal immigration, and family reunification at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The asylum mandate reviewed the Migrant Protection Protocols, a controversial program former President Donald Trump enacted in January 2019 that pushed 65,000 asylum seekers back to Mexico to await court hearings.

Biden’s second executive order targets legal immigration and the “public charge” rule, where immigrants to the U.S. may be denied permission to enter the country due to disabilities or lack of economic resources. On March 9, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the invalidation of the “public charge” rule.

Furthering his agenda in keeping families together, Biden created a task force, led by DHS Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

On his first day in office, Biden sent an immigration reform bill to lawmakers offering an eight-year pathway to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million people residing in the country unlawfully and permanent protection for immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Also on his first day in office, Biden overturned the travel ban Trump issued in 2017 that restricted travelers from primarily Muslim and African countries.

In hopes of modernizing the U.S. immigration system, Biden endorsed and sent the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 bill to Congress. This legislation would secure the border, provide more opportunities for immigrants to earn citizenship, protect workers while still stimulating the economy, and prioritize keeping families together.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARLO ALLEGRI / REUTERS

POLL BY AP-NORC

Joe Biden Approval Rates Conducted April 29-May 3 with 1,842 adults age 18 and older nationwide

56%

of students approve of Biden’s work on healthcare

Biden’s work on healthcare garnered a 56% approval rate from the 63 student respondents. In his first 10 days as president, Biden issued around a dozen executive orders pertaining to health care, including reviewing and targeting policies Trump established that restricted and reduced the affordability of health care coverage.

Key pillars of Biden’s healthcare roadmap include fortifying the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice, reducing health care costs, and streamlining the health care system.

Biden, planning to insure more than 97% of Americans, signed an executive order on Jan. 28 directing the federal government to open a special enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15 for Affordable Care Act exchanges that serve 36 states, designed to boost coverage for uninsured Americans.

Additionally, the Biden administration proposed regulations on April 14 governing the Title X Family Planning Program, eliminating Trump’s previous “gag rule,” which restricted federal funding for abortion counseling as well as bans on abortion services. By revoking the policy, Biden plans to ensure access to equitable family services, especially for low-income citizens.

42%

of students approve of Biden’s foreign policy

Approval rates dipped below 50% for Biden’s foreign policy.

Early in his presidency, Biden announced an approach for foreign policy that would prioritize diplomacy and human rights. Members of the Democratic Party, however, have criticized his stances as not progressive enough, particularly concerning the Middle East.

Biden’s most controversial foreign policy action is his involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The backlash is largely in response to Biden not demanding an immediate ceasefire and instead affirming his support for Israel, which several congress members say ignores Palestinian rights. After over a week of Israaeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Biden broke his silence on the matter and expressed support for a ceasefire.

ILLUSTRATION BY ANOUSCHKA B. DATA AND INFORMATION FROM AL JAZEERA, AP NEWS, CNBC, JOEBIDEN.COM, NBC NEWS, REUTERS, THE NEW YORK TIMES, AND WHITEHOUSE.GOV

71%

of adults approve of Biden’s work on the COVID-19 pandemic

57%

of adults approve of Biden’s work on the economy

48%

of adults approve of Biden’s gun policy

43%

of adults approve of Biden’s work on immigration

62%

of adults approve of Biden’s work on healthcare

54%

of adults approve of Biden’s foreign policy

PAGE 6 / CULTURE

THE NUEVA CURRENT

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

Shadow and Bone delivers enchanting upgrade to Leigh Bardugo’s novels From dull trilogy to bingeworthy show, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone didn’t disappoint PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX

STORY BY SERENA S.

W

hether it was the Divergent movies or the Percy Jackson film franchise, book-to-screen adaptations are seemingly cursed with bad luck. The prevalence of twisted plots, excluded key scenes, and completely different characters than described in the books led me to be a bit apprehensive—yet extremely interested— when first hearing about Leigh Bardugo’s best-selling Grishaverse novels becoming Netflix’s recent fantasy series Shadow and Bone. I was eager to see how producer Eric Heisserer would portray the fictional, convoluted world of the Grisha (humans with unique abilities to alter creation).

However, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone was one of the first bookto-television adaptations that appeased the reader in me and transformed a boring novel trilogy into the exciting, action-packed, and bingeable television series. Others seem to agree—the show has received an overwhelmingly positive response and spent its first 12 days in Netflix’s Top 10 after its premiere on April 23, 2021.

Set in a Russia-inspired country called Ravka, Shadow and Bone follows

protagonist Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) and best friend Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux) on their journey from young orphans to soldiers in the first army.

Separating the east and west halves of Ravka is the “Shadow Fold,” a lethal strip of terrain that only few survive while crossing. When Mal gets assigned on a mission across the Fold, Alina follows and, in a near-death experience, she unexpectedly discovers her long-awaited power as the “Sun Summoner”— the only one with the abilities to destroy the Fold once and for all.

Honestly, I found the Shadow and Bone book series to be dull and uninteresting.

Not only did the story drag on, but Alina bothered me because of her constant self-doubt. Although the books took me forever to finish, I decided to watch the Netflix adaptation because the characters from Bardugo’s other bestselling duology, Six of Crows—which I greatly enjoyed—also make appearances throughout the show.

Although the Shadow and Bone books themselves were underwhelming, I felt that the television rendering was so successful because of the book’s

straightforward plot, which translates well to the screen. Though Alina’s storyline in the show closely follows the novels, there are still key differences which, unlike many other adaptations, were ambitiously well done.

The biggest differences from the original Shadow and Bone book series are the two additional simultaneously running storylines.

Featuring characters from Six of Crows in the second storyline, mastermind conartist Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), spy Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), and sharpshooter Jesper Fahey (Kit Young) spend the season on a mission to kidnap Alina for the grand prize of one million kruge (the currency of Ketterdam, the city where this trio of criminals are from). In the third storyline, initial enemies Nina Zenik (Danielle Galligan) and Matthias Helvar (Calahan Skogman) work together to survive the wilderness after a storm sinks their boat.

While the diverging stories and merging of characters from varying series could create confusion, these side plotlines instead set up promising futures for potential seasons to come including more cross-storyline character interactions.

Another large shift from the books is Alina’s ethnicity. From just the first episode, we can see how Alina is othered in Ravka—getting called a “half-breed” and “rice-eater” at the orphanage—because she is part Shu (a nation bordering Ravka), whereas in the books, she is fully Ravkan. The original Alina from the books felt like a one-dimensional character unnecessarily preoccupied with insecurity, but making Alina half-Shu

added another layer to her character that helped explain her perpetual uncertainty.

The show wrestles with appalling yet relatable realities and demonstrates the impacts of those hardships on Alina and the broader Grishaverse.

The adaptation also hits upon many principal elements within the characters themselves. Though Kaz has an aversion to touch and rarely displays his emotions, the chemistry between him and Inej made palpable through prolonged eye contact and short conversation remains from the books. Mal’s character is immensely more likable in the show as well, illustrating how utterly central his and Alina's relationship is to the show. Unlike his bitter characterization in the books, the Mal in the show supports Alina through her transition to Grisha, honestly making me question my stance on romantically preferring Alina with the other male main character, the Darkling (Ben Barnes).

Netflix’s Shadow and Bone takes a tedious and arduous novel trilogy with complicated world-building and mythology and successfully streamlines it into a binge-worthy fantasy series that keeps you on edge. While the foundation of the story remains true to the novels, there were many improvements to both Alina and Mal’s character arcs and the intersection of two other storylines from Six of Crows made the Netflix series significantly more engaging. Many, including myself, are excited that the series is renewed for a season two, and the cliffhanger definitely left me begging for more.

ONIGILLY brings Japanese flavors to the Bay Area The "fast food" chain puts a modern twist on traditional onigiris for a healthy option STORY AND PHOTOS BY AMANDA W.

P

acked in a seaweed-wrapped bundle of rice lies a flavor and texture bomb of healthy, fresh ingredients. With each bite, the partially-milled brown rice cradles the chewiness, saltiness, or creaminess of the 19 various fillings (including vegan and gluten-free options).

These “gourmet rice balls,” as ONIGILLY markets them, were proliferated throughout the Bay Area by Koji Kanematsu, a Japanese immigrant who came to the United States in 2006.

Though onigiri, a triangular Japanese rice ball, is popular in Japan, Kanematsu could not find any in the U.S., despite the abundance of sushi.

Upon visiting an elementary school, Kanematsu noticed the nutrient-lacking meals students consumed. With this in mind, Kanematsu established ONIGILLY, providing portable, nutritious meals to adults and children alike.

What started as a food truck in San Francisco has now expanded to six locations all around the bay. As of June 2021, two locations have temporarily closed for pandemic reasons.

ONIGILLY on Kearny St., the original, permanent store in the bustling Financial District, remained open, serving the

hand-held pockets of delight for all.

Their menu is extensive, with options for almost everyone. The Bento Set with three triangular onigiri, offers a selection of three flavors, with a plethora of sides.

The nattō onigiri—vegan and gluten free—is a fermented soybean filling, a dish that is often eaten on its own. The terracotta beans pull apart in stringy webs, similar to an unsolidified Rice Krispy treat. They are nutty, sticky, and slightly bitter pearls—certainly a love or hate taste—complemented by fresh spring onions that have been mixed in. The chewiness and flavor are supported by the lightly salted brown rice—a deviation from traditionally-used white rice. The seaweed, though sometimes tough to bite through, is a no-mess, hand-held method of eating the onigiri, as it prevents the starchy rice from sticking to your fingers.

Salmon, however, is a much safer option compared to the nattō, flavorwise. The relatively plain-baked salmon

taste is unmistakable. It has an added creaminess, much like a tuna salad, likely due to the shio koji sauce mixed in, countering the slight fishiness with a hint of sweetness. The salmon is finely shredded to a softer texture to pair with the beadier rice, which complement each other in an ideal ratio in every bite.

Unagi, freshwater eel, was the final filling that I tried. The unagi was traditionally prepared, with a sweet, soy glaze. The fatty fish is the best pairing with the more plain rice and seaweed.

The fish is broiled to a flaky, buttery perfection. The sweet sauce—reminiscent of an American barbecue sauce—hugs each small chunk of eel, balancing the skin’s fattiness.

The sauce punches the rice with extra flavor, as all the ingredients meld together in the seaweedwrapped pocket. For those who enjoy a sweet and savory combination, the unagi onigiri will strike the perfect balance.

Though the rice balls were the star of the show, the side dishes held up to expectations. The chicken karaage was a stand-out side. The crispy breading coated each piece of bite-sized chicken, contrasting the meat’s juiciness. Though slightly lacking in flavor, the execution of breading and meat was exquisite. The second accompaniment was tamagoyaki, a sweet egg omelette. The bouncy block was too sweet for my personal taste, but provided a balance to the other savory dishes. The onigiri were also paired with takuan, a yellow pickled daikon radish.

Both the egg and radish were a bright addition, drawing your eyes into the food. The daikon, though a bit bland, was crunchy all the way—as opposed to the softer centers of pickled cucumbers. The edamame rounded out the set. Though relatively unriveting, it was executed well—lightly salted, perfectly boiled—to create a soft, green pod.

ONIGILLY creates a texture museum in your mouth, with stickiness, chewiness, sweetness, crunchiness, and almost every other imaginable feel food could create.

With every potential cravable flavor, there is sure to be an onigiri to fit your health needs and cravings.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

CULTURE / PAGE 7

Lessons from the kitchen

As we begin to leave quarantine, home cooking remains a tether to my family STORY & PHOTOS BY WILLOW C. Y.

T

he first thing to know about my working space is that it’s right next to the kitchen—and in our open floor plan, that means my desk is practically atop the stove. For the longest time, I despised the smell of oil and soy sauce and peppers and sesame that would waft through and wholly saturate the air, even with the hood fans whirring.

I’ve always been sensitive to the sticky cling of cooking onto my clothes and hair; the pandemic’s rendering of eating strictly to the home made it all the more frequent and acute.

But, as the pandemic melted the days into weeks into months like the world’s most deadly molasses (for those of us fortunate to be able to be safe amidst the volatility), I began appreciating—no, relishing—the spatter of oil and the caresses of spice wisping through the fans of our house. I couldn’t say if this change of heart was a product of a true, burgeoning love for the Maillard reaction or simply desensitization; what I do know, however, is that my attitudes were vastly influenced by the rotating meal schedule our family put into place: every week, my brother and I would each make three meals while my parents would each make four. (Breakfasts, for all their “most important meal” PR, were not counted.) With the structure of a set meal schedule, I became enamored of, or rather rediscovered an elementary-school passion for, home cooking and loved experimenting, from repurposing leftovers to spending hours on elaborate, gourmet meals. Before the pandemic, our family was always in and out of the house, never taking meals together and always rushing from soccer to volleyball to meetings to school—rarely, if ever, sitting down to a dinner. When we did, it was in front of a TV; while I have nothing against eating in front of a particularly good episode of Bojack Horseman or Invincible, the problem arises when it’s the only family time we spent with each other. At the risk of giving my parents the triumphant satisfaction of having raised a child properly socialized, the shared family meals were opportunities for us to connect meaningfully as a family.

As we move out of the pandemic, as we get vaccinated, and as the state and nation slowly lift their mask mandates (no matter now you may feel about it), we run the risk of moving backwards, reverting back to the disconnected humdrum of family life as-it-was. Of course, the cooking of the pandemic was in no way flawless—I don’t even think I can count the amount of times I or someone else had forgotten that it was our turn to make dinner—but there were a few primary lessons that I’d like keep as school and work call us away again from our homes.

A relaxing, unobtrusive, noexpectations-held hobby is actually a good thing.

This certainly isn’t a novel realization or one unique to cooking, but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. The repetitive

1.

motions of chopping or stirring or even completing a recipe I knew by heart were calming and grounding, particularly in a year of tension and stress from the pandemic and the tribulations of 12th grade. I’d never taken the time to do a real hobby where there was no ulterior motive of gaining a skill to use for a future job or for class—taking the time to do something just for the sake of it was strange and ironically probably more useful than anything I’d done in the past.

Cooking alone is fun, but cooking with others is, clichédly, even more so. Whenever I would begin cooking, I’d send a note to a large group chat with my friends and hop on a Zoom with them, talking while chopping vegetables and prepping or just listening while frying and cooking.

Even if, like me, your sleep schedule is awful, prepping pork belly for the next day’s dinner at 4 a.m. while on a Zoom call with friends is infinitely better than doing so alone while falling down a YouTube hole.

Same goes for eating said food, especially if it’s horrendous food. While eating on a Zoom with friends is most likely not the best way to consume a meal, sitting at the dinner table with my family became the setting for some of the most valuable moments of quarantine. My family, religious Chopped and Cutthroat Kitchen watchers, would joke about the food and plating in overdramatic critiques; we would talk seriously about recent events in the news or in the family; and we would just sit and hold light conversations about our day. The dinner table became a real space for or even a monument to being a family like it never had before. (It certainly helped that we had

2.

3.

BOOK HEAVEN • Christopher's Books in San Francisco is "a gem"

Brilliant bookstores Four superb Bay Area bookstores you should take a browse through WRITTEN BY KADEN K.

B

ookstores are magical. Stepping through their doorways is like flipping open the cover of a good book—it takes you to another world. Independent bookstores especially are like this—little pockets of story in the world. And as going out becomes more conceivable, we can begin to rediscover our independent bookstores again. Below are four fantastic bookstores spread across the Bay Area.

1 Linden Tree Books Los Altos

Located in downtown Los Altos, this children’s bookstore feels like home. From the decorative books flying across the ceiling, to the stuffed bear Florence who can be found in the windowsill, Linden Tree is a perfect haven, where despite everything being open and easy to navigate, you can always hide away and get lost in a book.

Linden Tree is also very active in its community, hosting virtual or socially distanced events such as author visits and storytimes. They even have private appointments, where you can reserve the bookstore for some COVID-safe browsing.

2 Books Inc.

Multiple Locations

Always laden with good books, Books Inc. is an independent chain with 10 locations around the Bay Area.

For all of the addresses and the hundreds of employees it has, Books Inc. still feels like a bookstore hidden away from the rest of the world, with piles of books for you to get lost in. Books Inc. also hosts events such as virtual book launches, author discussions, and more.

3 Kepler’s Books & Magazines Menlo Park

many failed meals—be it from burning, over boiling, or just awful flavor profile—that threw us into laughter.)

I’ve never been a fan of the idea of the “family dinner”—it always seemed strangely anti-teenager, pro-obligatory-family-bonds. But, for good or for bad, I believe I’ve become more and more of a supporter.

Who else would, in equal parts, praise and critique my homemade ratatouille or chocolate pudding?

Who else would try my first attempts at some strange, new recipe with ingredients I’d never even heard of?

Over the course of falling in love with cooking again and providing meals for my family and adjusting to dinner table conversation, I realized that this, perhaps, was one part of quarantine I wanted to keep.

And while the oiliness of the kitchen still permeates the air, it seems that I don’t mind so much anymore.

COOKING UP A STORM • Willow C. Y. ’21 serves up a plate of her homemade ratatouille

How could I not talk about Kepler’s? Kepler’s exudes both modern casualness and the sense of entrancing wonder found in all bookstores. Having been saved by the community of Menlo Park from going out of business in 2005, Kepler’s has a strong community and story, as evidenced by its relationship with Kepler’s Literary Organization, a non-profit dedicated to enriching literature and culture. With events from book launches to social justice talks to literary classes, this vibrant bookstore is a community pillar.

4 Christopher’s Books San Francisco

Christopher’s Books is a gem of an independent corner bookstore. While small, the brick and mortar shop presents a fantastic selection of books and enthusiastic staff! Christopher’s has a speciality in travel and local interest, but all sorts of delightful stories are hidden happily in their shelves.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEPHEN JACKSON

THE NUEVA CURRENT

PAGE 8 / CULTURE

Making memorable music

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 PHOTO BY WILLOW C. Y.

Junior's journey as drummer, guitarist, and music producer STORY BY ANOUSCHKA B.

T

ap. Tap. Tap. Eli S. ’22 pressed down on the drum pedal, testing out the beat thrumming in his mind. He sat on the sticky leather drum throne in his friend’s music room, drumming to the improvised notes emanating from his friend’s guitar.

It was the summer of 2017, and, after participating in the School of Rock music camp, Eli spent the remaining days of his summer the same way he would spend many future summers: jamming and improvising with friends he’d met through music programs and classes.

“It probably didn’t sound the best,” Eli admitted with a laugh. And yet, that wasn’t what ended up mattering.

It was the feeling of making music with someone else, of finding harmony between the beat of drums and the strumming of a guitar, that would stick with him.

“It felt like we were so in sync—like we just totally understood what each other was doing,” he recalled. “It got me hooked on the feeling of playing with other people.”

From then on, that’s what music became to Eli: not just a personal passion, but also a way to connect with others.

Eli’s journey began one fateful day when he was 7 years old. Before then, he’d dabbled in piano—courtesy of his parents—but it had been like throwing undercooked pasta at a wall: it never stuck.

But that day, things changed. Walking along the Santa Monica boardwalk, he saw a busker playing an African drum, and it was love ELI S. ’22 at first sight: “I just knew I really wanted to do that,” Eli said.

He was thrilled when he received a full drum set for his eighth birthday.

“Everything—guitar and producing and stuff—just came out of that,” Eli said.

Eli took up the guitar in seventh grade, and, after taking Nueva’s Music Production class in eighth grade (he has taken it every

year since), he began producing his own music.

Nueva’s Groove Workshop class, which he’s taken every semester since eighth grade as well, was also instrumental in his growth for a different reason: it was a space where he met the “awesome musicians” that he would maintain connections with for the rest of high school.

“That class has by far been the best part of high school for me,” Eli said. “I just love the energy and the feeling of being in touch with another person.”

Along with that sense of connection, his love for performing forms the backbone of his passion for music.

“I don’t really get that nervous,” Eli said.

“I just love performing in front of other people—it gives you a rush, and it’s cool to know that other people are listening to you.”

Eli has participated in various live showcases; whether it’s the Coffeehouse or a Groove Workshop concert, he can always be seen in the thick of the performance, setting the groove of a song on the drums or creating an addictive melody with the electric guitar.

Hallway performances are a personal favorite of his. In the blur of classes and students milling about, the music Eli and his bandmates play creates an atmosphere abuzz with energy.

When school closed last year, those performances were forced to end.

And while teachers and students have created virtual replacements, only being able to play to the walls of his home has been a difficult shift for Eli. “Playing with other people is what

I just love the energy and the feeling of being in touch with another person.

makes drums fun for me,” Eli said. “I try to practice [at home] but it’s a little hard to be motivated when there's no school performance on the horizon or people I’m playing with.”

Although the pandemic has dissipated the magnetic group atmosphere Eli thrives in, there is one silver lining: it has pushed Eli to be more creative in his music. He escaped the initial influx of lockdown boredom by listening to music that ended up inspiring his own songs.

“I love to listen to songs and try and emulate techniques that I like when I hear them,” he said.

Eli’s biggest influences include Polyphia, Vulfpeck, and Woozy, as well as classics like Led Zeppelin and Green Day. Their slick, inventive guitar riffs that ripple through songs as smoothly as waves, powerful beats, and haunting basslines often manifest in Eli's own work.

Eli’s process for creating music is constantly changing. Sometimes, he’ll fiddle around with his guitar, record that, and then upload it to Ableton (the software he uses to make music); other times, he’ll open a blank track and try to create a chord progression digitally. From there, crafting the song is like making a layer-cake.

“It gets kind of boring, and it’s also very difficult,” he said. “But that’s what makes a good song.”

Despite its grueling nature, Eli's love for music production has put him on the path to his newest project: creating an album. “[Making an album] seems really hard and it’s something that I don’t think I can do—so I wanted to try and do it,” Eli said.

And he doesn’t just want to make any album and say he’s “done the job”—he wants to be truly proud of the songs he creates.

“The best songs are the songs that make you feel like a really cool version of yourself,” Eli said. “That's honestly my criteria for how good my song is.”

Music floods Eli with the indescribable

feeling of doing something he loves, and he hopes that the album will spread that joy to others.

“I want people to be like, ‘Yeah, I’d put this on a Spotify playlist, I'd run this on repeat because it makes me feel good,’” he said. “I want people to be like, ‘Whoa, a 17-yearold did this?’”

Art installation celebrates cultural diaspora during AAPI heritage month Inspired by common root, school community reflects on individual cultures and heritage STORY & PHOTO BY EMMA Z.

A row of decorated ginger root casts lines a model of the Yangtze river displayed in the sunlit East Courtyard outside the Café. The installation, organized by art teacher May Wilson’s Art and Fabrication class, is a tribute to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and celebrates AAPI diaspora. It reflects on the different uses of ginger—a plant originally from Southeast Asia that has been spread and used around the world as an integral piece in culinary and medicinal traditions.

Each ginger cast—born out of clay carefully poured into plaster molds by the hands of dedicated students—tells a story through the additions that have been molded onto it or the word that is inscribed into it. Students in the class were asked to use the form of the ginger to portray a way in which it’s used in their own heritage, while the rest of the students and faculty were offered the opportunity to contribute a word that they associate with ginger, along with a brief artist statement for context.

Each sentence-long artist statement is featured on a shipping tag that is attached to each ginger, and the river harbors over 130 stories in total upon its shores. Each represents the heritage of individual

students and faculty and, as a whole, it celebrates not just AAPI heritage, but also the cultural diaspora of the community.

The installation will be displayed through the end of the school year for students to read and admire.

However, as many stories behind some artist statements remain untold due to the length restriction of the shipping labels, some students and faculty have shared context for their artist statements—these are their stories.

MICHALEA DANEK: Zázvorový čaj means

ginger tea in Czech. My family is Czech, and I don’t know that it’s a very Czech thing to drink, per se, but it’s something that my mom likes to drink in the evening so I have these memories of her chopping up ginger and putting it in boiling water. When I was younger I would just watch from a distance but when I got older I tried it and it’s a very pleasant drink—some people find ginger to be stimulating, but I find it to be relaxing.

Now I’ll have it sometimes with honey and lemon—it’s always a comforting thing to drink.

KAITLYN K. ’24: I used my ginger cast to

create a hanging child’s mobile, with 小笼 包 [xiǎolóngbāo dumplings] as the baubles on the mobile. The mobile represents family and generational tradition. Since I’m Chinese, I’ve been raised with ginger as an ingredient commonly used in food. The dumplings on the mobile represent how food, and by proxy ginger, connects families in Chinese culture. My family particularly puts an emphasis on how we must all sit together at the dinner table every night. Food is what brings us together, and ginger is a symbol of that.

JONATHON T. ’22: Ginger has always

been a part of my life, but after a few Google searches and some conversations with my mom and my Lola [grandma], I learned that ginger is more ubiquitous than I previously thought. For example, luya means ginger in Tagalog and it's included in some of the most popular Filipino dishes such as Tinola Manok and Arroz Caldo. For my word, I chose buhay (“life” in Tagalog) because I feel that it not only represents ginger’s many “lifegiving” and medicinal properties, but also how ginger has been an integral part of my life, even if I hadn’t always realized it.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

THE NUEVA CURRENT

FEATURES / PAGE 9

Bidding farewell

Celebrating the legacy of leaving faculty and staff members STORY BY ELLIE K.

DAVION Fleming

BRIAN Cropper

JO

Newman

DAVION FLEMING has held many roles in his five years at Nueva, including associate director of admissions, assistant college counselor, grade dean, and advisor— though admissions has his heart.

“He’s guided all of us Mavericks through high school with such care, thoughtfulness, and humor,” Maya C. ’21 said.

Fleming leaves Nueva with “fondness and warmth” as he transitions into becoming the director of admissions at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.

BRIAN CROPPER hopes to leave behind a legacy in both of his roles—history teacher and 12th-grade dean.

“Hopefully my mark is in the history curriculum, hopefully it’s in the trips I've been running, and hopefully it’s in the integrated space and all the little things that get left behind,” Cropper said.

Even when he departs to teach at Sacred Heart Preparatory this fall, Cropper knows he will stay in touch with Nueva.

“I’ve always had a relationship with this place and I don’t see that going anywhere,” Cropper said.

JENNIFER Neubauer

JASMIN Miller

JO NEWMAN was at the upper school right from the start: her seven years of teaching Spanish began when the upper school was just two days old. Nueva has taught her many things, including that “collaboration always, always, always results in far better outcomes.”

This year, Newman will travel to Spain to walk El Camino de Santiago and visit her family on a sabbatical.

ARON

EMILY

Robertson

KEVIN Quinn

EMILY ROBERTSON transitioned from the middle school to the upper school, where she taught history, for her third and final year.

“One of my biggest takeaways from studying the humanities is the importance of striving in the human experience,” Robertson said. “Whether we are striving for intellectual growth or a more beloved community, to me, Nueva is a place that exemplifies striving as a source of collective humanity.”

Robertson plans to pursue a master’s degree in English and teach at Chadwick International in Songdo, South Korea in the fall.

KEVIN QUINN spent two years in the English department, where he taught ninth-grade English, American Literature, and senior Shakespeare seminars—though his personal favorite will always be teaching Shakespeare's King Lear.

Eugenia X. ’21, who was taught by Quinn for her senior Shakespeare elective, remarked on his “incredibly infectious” enthusiasm.

Next year, Quinn will be teaching English at Marin Academy in San Rafael.

Walker

COLTRANE Hunt

EMILY Sliman

LAUREL

Donnenwirth

LAUREL DONNENWIRTH is currently an upper school administrative assistant who is affectionately called “Lo” by students like Calder B. ’23, who valued her presence at Nueva.

“Laurel made the start to each day better,” Calder said. “Seeing her behind the front desk and exchanging a ‘how are you’ every morning was always the boost of energy and happiness that I needed.”

Calder is confident that Donnenwirth “has great things waiting for her in her future.”

JENNIFER NEUBAUER spent four years as an English teacher, an experience she greatly treasures as she transitions to working at Peninsula Bridge next year.

“It has been a perpetually inspiring and invigorating experience working with Nueva students and colleagues,” said Neubauer.

Neubauer inspires her students in turn.

“Jen has completely changed how I view writing,” said Mira D. ’22, who met Neubauer in eighth grade. She reminisced about how Neubauer brought fun and excitement both inside and outside the classroom.

Though JASMIN MILLER’s second and final year as an associate English teacher was mainly remote, she deeply values the relationships she built with her students.

“I have loved the experience of teaching at Nueva,” she said. “Not only are the students very bright, perceptive, and creative, but they are also very kind and generous people.”

Miller will teach at another independent school in Palo Alto, and holds her students in her heart as “those kids who persuaded [her] that high school teaching is one of the best jobs in the world.”

ARON WALKER is a Nueva alum, a founding faculty member at the upper school, and is now finishing his sixth year at Nueva.

He first taught science before going on a break for two years and returning to assume the position of assistant director of environmental citizenship.

Maya, one of Walker’s advisees, noted his daily “unbridled enthusiasm” and “genuine interest” in even the smallest activities—something that lit up even her worst of days.

Walker will move to Los Angeles to attend graduate school.

After two years as a tennis coach and math teacher, COLTRANE HUNT will be moving on to the College Preparatory School in Oakland.

Hunt expressed his gratitude for the brilliance and compassion of the school’s teachers, students, and parents.

“There’s an irresistible spirit of possibility here at Nueva that fills each day with wonderment and adventure,” he said. “It’s been a huge honor to have been a part of something so special—and so radiant!”

EMILY SLIMAN spent one year teaching math at the upper school. Though Sliman wishes she could have interacted with her students in person, she still loved being a part of the Nueva community.

“Nueva is so accepting and kind,” Sliman said. “I have enjoyed watching how the students and adults interact with each other.”

After 14 years away from home, Sliman prepares to move closer to her family in Atlanta and work at the Atlanta International School.

GRAPHIC FROM FREEPIK

Fitting into the workplace Students offer wisdom from summer job experiences STORY BY SAMI K.

W

ith the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, summer employment can be an ideal opportunity for students to experience the real world without a long-term commitment.

Outside Nueva’s internship program, which offers both paid and unpaid opportunities, many students have found jobs on their own.

Catherine C. ’21 worked the past three summers at both a summer program at her middle school and a theatre camp she attended as a kid. The opportunity arose when her former middle school teachers reached out to her seeking help for their summer programs.

“It’s always nice to work in an environment you’re already familiar with, but don’t be discouraged if one door closes,” Catherine said. “There are plenty of opportunities out there in some really random places.”

Although Catherine was familiar with the program as a former participant, working there offered new experiences and lessons: she learned how to be a counselor to people who might otherwise be her peers, and how to work with adults.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions and form really good relationships with whomever else you’re working with so you have each other’s backs,” Catherine advised.

Daniel B. ’21 had a similar experience at his summer job. As a counselor at the bike camp Wheelkids, which he attended as a kid, he spent the summer biking with friends. However, having friends didn’t make the job smooth sailing, as it was a different process to work with managers.

Over time, Daniel understood that there was a certain art to communicating with the seasoned coaches, and he often volunteered to clean up which allowed him to optimize his time later.

“Make yourself available to do what needs to be done sooner because then you’ll have the freedom to do what you want to do later,” Daniel said.

Quinn A. ’21 worked at Hudson Airport Retail, where he was the youngest employee and all of his coworkers were much older.

“They were all very respectful and never condescending,” Quinn said.

At Hudson Airport Retail, he found a rhythm in the well-trodden routine of breaks, cashiering, and shelving magazines and travel essentials.

Working in a major box store can, however, have its downsides.

“The thing about working in a big retail business is that you’re just part of a machine,” said Arielle C. ’22, who worked at Target last summer and wished there was a training program to help her onboard. “To learn, it’s always better to have someone that’s designated to take care of you because sometimes I would get bounced around between people and they wouldn’t remember what I knew or they wouldn’t know.”

Arielle was grateful to other employees, who taught her how to better do her job and respond to different work situations. The lack of a training program required her to find the training another way: through persistently questioning her coworkers.

“Ask questions. Ask so many questions,” she said. “Making a mistake at a big retail store when there’s no training means that you have to be annoying as hell to get that training.”

PAGE 10 / FEATURES

THE NUEVA CURRENT

Telling stories on 25th Avenue More than just a gift shop: how locally-owned Reach and Teach spreads social activism STORY, PICTURES, AND ILLUSTRATION BY ANOUSCHKA B.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

I

t had been hot the first day they arrived there in April 2000. Heatwaves wafted through the village, enshrouding the small, brick buildings in a dusty haze.

The Comunidad Octavio Ortíz was a close-knit community, sewn together by the memories of sorrow and suffering from the genocidal Salvadoran Civil War that clung to them like a shadow.

Now, in the year 2000, settled on a piece of government-allotted land, they were trying to rebuild their lives out of the ashes of their old ones. The conditions were difficult and resources sparse. That first evening, the family Wiesner was staying with cooked one chicken—which would feed their entire household for the next five days.

Wiesner and Kikuchi spent their time learning about the people there. One night, gathered in his family’s home, Wiesner heard their stories of the Civil War. The mother of the house had been raped by soldiers. Her husband had been tortured.

The American soldiers that had been ordered to intervene during the Civil War had participated in both.

“Yet I’m sitting there—I’m a former American soldier—and they have no animosity toward us, they have nothing but love for us,” Wiesner said. “They’re giving us their best place to sleep, they’re giving us their best food, and they’re telling us their stories—why? Because they want us to take those stories home and make sure other people get them.”

Wiesner and Kikuchi returned changed. They would never forget the generosity of those people, their open hospitality even in the face of a history between their community and the U.S. fraught with tension.

“We knew that our lives needed to be on a different trajectory, that we needed to look at the world differently,” Wiesner said.

Back in California, they dove into social activism work: border justice along the California-Mexico frontier and speaking out about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Then the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks disrupted the fabric of everyone’s daily lives. During the early years of the U.S. War on Terror, Kikuchi and Wiesner joined an interfaith delegation to Afghanistan where, just like in El

Salvador, they listened to the stories from overflow. the communities they visited.

“We felt like it was time to grow up and Sitting in the ruins near Kabul, Wiesner get out of the house,” Wiesner said. heard two parents recount the story of On July 15, 2010, Reach and Teach their 8-year-old son, who had almost lost sprang up on 144 W. 25th Ave. his arms and legs to a cluster munition, Eleven years later, Wiesner and Kikuchi when he noticed movement out of the still remember every one of the thousands corner of his eye. Wiesner squinted. of stories they heard. Their experiences Emerging from the hazy distance was a in El Salvador and Afghanistan were woman, holding a tray of cookies and tea. invaluable in sculpting the store into what Wiesner could hardly believe his eyes: it is today. there, in a crumbling community where “[Our time] there influenced the stench of grief and devastation was the importance of storytelling and palpable, was a woman experiential learning,” going out of her way to Kikuchi said. “That’s bring her best gifts to a what caused us not guest. to create a traditional That moment would We had a friend who learning company, but stick with him for the rest one in which anything used to say that the can become a story.” of his life.

Listening to hundreds Bits and pieces of shortest distance of individuals whose lives their time there are between a friend had fallen apart faster also present in the than the blink of an eye, small—but important— and an enemy is a Wiesner and Kikuchi saw store details that serve story, and I really the power of storytelling as a reminder of the as a form of advocacy. generous hospitality believe that.

“We had a friend they received despite who used to say that the devastations each DERRICK KIKUCHI the shortest distance community faced.

Co-Owner, Reach and Teach between a friend and In memory of the an enemy is a story, and woman who brought I really believe that,” them tea and cookies, Kikuchi said. “The ability Wiesner and Kikuchi to change the world comes from the set up a communal tea set (although it authority of a person’s own story.” has been put on hiatus because of the Wiesner and Kikuchi presented those pandemic) near the entrance of Reach stories everywhere they could. and Teach. Every day, they steeped a fresh One afternoon, after speaking at batch of Rooibos tea, sending plumes of the Palo Alto High School in 2003, they smoke and a pleasant aroma into the air. experienced an unusual end to their “We invite each person that comes in to presentation. They were heading back to help themselves to a cup of tea,” Wiesner their car when a high school boy stopped said. “It’s a little bit of sweetness, a little them. He thanked them and proceeded to bit of hospitality, which is something that say, “I don’t know what you two do for a we learned in Afghanistan.” living, but whatever it is, you should stop.

On the shelf next to the tea is a basket This is what you need to be doing. This is of chocolates tracing back to a memory how kids like me need to learn about the of El Salvador (also on current pandemic world.” hiatus).

They knew he was right. The idea of “How they turned that one chicken into Reach and Teach, though, didn’t come something that fed us for five days was immediately. Wiesner and Kikuchi about abundance,” Wiesner said. “That’s had devoted themselves to nonprofit why we give everybody who comes here organizations when Kikuchi created the a piece of chocolate—we want to make game “CIVIO”: a blend of classics Yu-Gipeople feel a sense of abundance when Oh! and Magic: The Gathering, but applied they come into the store, that there really to civil rights. is no scarcity.”

It was their first retail product. From Little details like that make Reach and there, Reach and Teach developed like a Teach the haven Wiesner and Kikuchi pearl starting from the first grain of sand. always dreamed of: both a full-fledged Kikuchi and Wiesner began surrounding store and a home.

CIVIO with other products, adding more Equity & Social Justice Director Alegria and more until their garage threatened to Barclay, who has been shopping at Reach

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

and Teach for five years, loves the inexplicable sense of “warmth” bursting from the store.

“The owners are amazing—they’re the kindest, loveliest people—and I think they really created a space that’s not just a store but a community hub,” Barclay said. “They know everybody, they’ve been here a long time, and they’re really committed to the whole community.”

A store like Reach and Teach, Barclay says, “isn’t just a store.” But the rise of online shopping and sprawling retail stores has stamped out the flavorful quirks, personality, and community once commonly present in stores.

“When you support a small business that has committed itself to the community, you’re spending money on more than just the item you buy—you’re spending money on supporting the community,” Barclay said. “If we lost a store like Reach and Teach, we’d be losing a lot more than just the products that it offers.”

Reach and Teach was almost lost in the isolation of the pandemic.

The initial lockdown lull that settled over Reach and Teach was the store’s worst nightmare with no promise of waking up.

Wiesner and Kikuchi found themselves knee-deep in impending disaster: with no more in-person customers, their sales were down by 80% and their income was scant, hardly enough to cover their rent.

The life vest that stopped them from sinking into bankruptcy was expanding their book collection to an online bookstore. Whereas customers could only buy what was physically in-stock before, now, by giving their entire book collection a digital shelf, they could offer customers an Amazon-esque appeal.

As soon as customers could hop on the book bandwagon, sales skyrocketed. In only a few months, they had sold more books than they normally sold in a year.

While their online bookstore still flourishes, the customer interactions that are the bread and butter of Reach and Teach have returned now with in-store shopping.

Wiesner and Kikuchi can go back to asking customers, “What can I help you find today?” The stories behind each product can once again be told. The domino effect Reach and Teach products create can continue.

“I’m hoping that we’re able to get stories out into the world about other communities and places and inherently create peacemakers by the stories that they tell,” Kikuchi said. “Every time we tell a story and then they tell somebody else, it just keeps getting further and further out—so the things that people are able to buy, or even just see at Reach and Teach become a carrier for that story, and therefore a carrier for change.”

The first domino might tip through someone pointing out a bracelet on another’s wrist or asking where a charm dangling from a keychain is from. There’s no telling how far the chain will go, but every product has the ability to start the ripple.

“We like to be a reminder that you, that each person, has the ability to make a huge difference by how they interact with the world, by how they shop, by the decisions they make,” Kikuchi said. “You may not be 18 yet, you may not be able to vote in an election, but every time you buy something, every time you don’t buy something, you’re voting.”

At the front of Reach and Teach, there’s a jangle. Kikuchi looks up. The customer who bought the Guatemalan scarf is exiting the store, their gift clasped safely under their arm.

The door closes.

A story leaves along with the customer, waiting to be heard by the world.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

FEATURES / PAGE 11

AAPI website launched as platform to counter Asian-American hate Sharing stories, artwork, and more has eased students’ processing of complex current events STORY BY EMMA Z.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

A

n email from her colleague and fellow upper school Mandarin teacher Min Larson—sent also to middle school Mandarin teacher Weixia Han and middle and upper school Mandarin teacher Ting Zhang—revealed to Gao that she was not alone in her emotions. All three teachers felt equally infuriated and wanted to do something for their students, whom they wanted to guide through processing such complex topics and news.

“In class, my students and I had been reading, writing, and discussing the events that were taking place,” Han said. “I could see that these current events were affecting them quite substantially, and I could tell they had a lot to share and speak on.”

The anti-AAPI-hate website that the teachers created is meant to provide a platform for just that. The flexibility and freedom of the website in the types of submission that it accepts was implemented to allow students to process events at their own pace, while inviting them to express their thoughts and emotions to and alongside a larger community outside of their classrooms.

The website serves as a platform for all student creations regarding AAPI hate in any medium, encouraging not only the sharing of knowledge regarding AAPI history but also that of individual experiences and understanding. The team of teachers felt that this created a community where students could feel seen and heard—a major way in which they could support the cause.

“The students are our future, and have the ability and opportunity to make our world a better place,” Han said. “We truly believe that giving [them] this type of platform, time, and space, is how we as teachers can contribute to that.”

Han’s student Emi Y. ’26 has been shocked by the recent hate crimes, in part because they resonate with her on a personal level—she worries about her grandparents, who take daily walks around their neighborhood.

“Knowing that there are people out there who would just attack them for no reason is really wrong to me,” Emi said.

“I wanted to do something that would hopefully make people listen more and spread awareness about what’s going on.”

Emi created a piece of digital artwork for the website, reflecting the reality of AAPI hate in contrast to the filtered content that she feels the media has been choosing to convey. She worked while reflecting on the conversations she has had with her parents over dinner and with her classmates and teachers during school, and integrated what she learned into her artwork to share with other people.

“I think that being informed and sharing knowledge with others—especially regarding sensitive topics—is really important,” Emi said. “If we keep our feelings all bottled up inside ourselves instead of expressing them, it can be very easy to burst.”

Audrey Z. ’26, one of Emi's classmates, also submitted a digital art piece to the website. Although she felt extremely vulnerable in sharing her work, she felt

obligated to use the platform she was provided with.

“I think it was probably hard for everybody in the classroom to contribute something to the website because it’s not fun to talk about these things, and it’s definitely not fun to express [those feelings],” Audrey said. “But I feel that right now, more than ever, it is necessary.”

With deep emotions comes deep reflection. What many students feel they’ve gotten from the process of creating work for the anti-AAPI hate cause is time and space to process their own experiences and the way that they’ve lived through events and experiences that are heard on the radio or read on the news.

Steven H. ’22 wrote a poem for the website titled “Outsider,” which “aims to illustrate the irony of labelling others as outsiders,” attempting to encapsulate his reflections in five short lines of verse.

“When I was writing this poem I thought a lot about my own American identity. I feel like there has always been a sort of disconnect between what we learn at school and what I feel personally,” Steven said. “Just being able to tie together academic concepts like perpetual foreigner and my own experience of feeling like an outsider in a lot of ways helped me better understand the narrative of otherness that pervades both my personal life and my academic life, and it has given me some clarity.”

Steven isn’t alone in feeling that writing the website provided him some sense of clarity; Adam K. ’24 also felt that while reflecting on his experiences. He

ART FOR ADVOCACY • Emi Y. '26 created this illustration for the website described learning a lot about himself and his elementary school classmates, who mocked his “Chinese eyes.” Adam was glad that there was a safe space in which he could share his story.

“I think that the website highlights the community of Nueva, and brings people together,” Adam said. “I definitely felt a sense of community in my Mandarin class having worked on this website, which is really important to me.”

Fostering such a sense of community was the focus for the four Mandarin teachers when creating the website—their hope was that students would not only feel acknowledgement of their experiences, but also realize that they are not alone.

“We want people to see that it’s a community with the same experiences, feelings, and suffering,” Larson said, “so that they can feel supported, hopeful, and empowered.”

The four teachers and students all encourage students to submit work to the website, and they hope that by raising awareness and sharing experiences from the heart, they can empower people to make a difference.

“I hope this website is only the beginning,” Audrey said.

THE WEBSITE CAN BE FOUND AT HTTPS://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/NUEVASCHOOL.ORG/STAND-TOGETHER-ANTI-AAPI-HATE

Exploring ADHD learning accommodations at Nueva Students dealing with ADHD talk struggles and accommodations STORY & ILLUSTRATION BY ANISHA K.

U

nless you’re superhuman, you’ve probably struggled with distraction.

You start pondering deep existential questions during a history lecture and, suddenly, you’ve missed the entirety of the French Revolution and an in-class work period. Hopefully, though, a last-minute cram session takes care of the problem.

Now imagine this—you try desperately to maintain focus in class but somehow just can’t, and you’ve started your assignments but can’t bring yourself to finish. Or worse, you’ve finished them, but forget to turn them in. These are just some of the challenges Nueva students with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, face. And with remote learning, where opportunities for distraction abound and school seems distant, it’s only gotten harder to manage.

“I feel like I’ve always been the forgetful friend, the scattered friend, the impulsive one who’s just a little off.

But I didn’t realize that was ADHD until literally this year,” said Kate J. ’24, who was diagnosed in January. “Looking back on my school evaluations, it makes so much sense. Everything aligns with it.”

Mirielle W. ’21 was also diagnosed in high school, which is considered late diagnosis—according to the CDC, the

average ADHD child is diagnosed at 7 years old. As a graduating senior, Mirielle has been looking for college learning accommodations.

Mirielle has found public universities require more “bureaucracy” before providing accommodations like dispensation to type essays on computers rather than hand-writing them.

“At Nueva, a lot of that stuff is built in,” Mirielle said. “Even if you didn’t have accommodations, you could just type on the computer and that would be accepted.”

An Almquist, the Upper School Learning Specialist, calls this unique aspect of Nueva’s learning environment “universal learning.”

“Even though an accommodation might not be explicitly stated, it’s something that teachers implement all the time to help students achieve success,” Almquist said, referring to the small class sizes, opportunities to break down large assignments, and WRC audiobooks.

For students who do have learning differences, Almquist helps create tailored learning plans that go far beyond standard accommodations—like helping Wong research accommodations for college.

Almquist synthesizes information about a student into a comprehensive

report, then meets with the Student Study Team, which includes the student, their parents, and faculty, to formalize a plan. “[I ask questions like] what would help you stay focused? Is it routines? Breaking down longer-term assignments? Setting goals?” Almquist said. “In essence, I try to find out how students learn best, and I try to get an understanding of how they process information, how they retain it.”

Beyond the support from formalized systems, Hope H. ’22, who experiences ADHD as an offshoot of anxiety and is a point guard on the varsity girls basketball team, has found solace in practices.

“I went to Chris and I went to my advisor and I was like, ‘I’m dying without sports because I’m doing nothing,’” Hope said. “[Playing sports] gives me a sense of productivity and snaps me out of the cycle of procrastination.”

Taking the initiative to self-advocate, however, can be difficult for others.

“I get scared of reaching out to teachers,” Kate said. Despite having an accommodation plan, she expressed only being able to follow it with one of her teachers—because they reached out to her.

Especially at a school like Nueva, high-achieving students can sometimes mask the inconveniences of their ADHD. “It can be hard to say, ‘Yeah, I actually need those accommodations,’” Mirielle said. “Just because I'm not visibly struggling doesn’t mean I don’t need them.”

The switch to remote learning has exacerbated some problems—like difficulty

keeping distraction at bay—while eliminating others. Recording lessons, getting digital copies of class material, or using time previously allotted for commuting may be easier virtually.

Still, some problems persist.

“I have my medications and my learning plan, but I am struggling right now and I don't know what to do,” Kate said. “All my assignments are consistently two days late. I don’t know why. I finished them much before, I just don’t turn them in until they’re late.”

Even accommodations aren’t always the perfect solution to the problems students face.

“Asking for help makes me feel guilty because teachers are so receptive,” Hope said. “And the most stressful part is, for me, sometimes an extension doesn’t help.

If you give me more time, I’m still going to be doing it last-minute.”

Though the problems ADHD poses can seem insurmountable, Almquist encourages students to “self-advocate for their accommodations.”

“In the end,” Almquist said, “everything we do is for our students to learn how to be lifelong learners.”

PAGE 12 / FEATURES

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

THE NUEVA CURRE

#WOKE STORIES BY GRACE F. & ANOUSCHKA B.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM MEANS New wave of social media activism encourages students to step up and engage with social justice issues W

hen Miki Y. ’22 downloaded TikTok, she learned far more than just the dances.

It was the summer of 2020, and after Black Lives Matter protests took to the streets of countries all over the world, her For You page was filled with activists speaking out against racial injustice and glimpses of protests in action. The live, raw footage taught Miki about the movement in a way nothing else could.

“Having access to so many different opinions was a really great resource for me to be able to learn and see footage that other media wouldn’t be sharing,” Miki said.

On Instagram, Miki transformed what she learned into action. She shared information via Instagram Stories, signed as many petitions as she could, and engaged in conversations regarding racial inequality in America. “[I was] just doing my part in sharing the issues that I was passionate about with other people, which hopefully would inspire them to do the same,” she said.

That’s exactly the premise for social media activism (or often just “#activism”)—that a mass ripple effect can ignite change.

As technology has revolutionized activism for teens, social media has become more than just a platform for sharing weekend getaways and colorful food spreads. On platforms such as TikTok, where youth make up the majority of the user base, movements can become youth-driven and grow exponentially as social media algorithms work their magic.

“People our age, or even younger, are getting into politics earlier and earlier,” Rohan S. ’23 said.

“I think there is a new generation of people trying to effect material change in our society.”

Youth activists famously spearheaded March For Our Lives in 2018, a MIKI YANG ’22 series of protests pushing for gun regulation and political accountability after the 2018 Parkland High School shootings. An estimated 800,000 protesters attended the Washington, D.C. rally, making it one of the largest protests in the U.S. capital to date. Social media, researchers at Brandwatch say, was key to the success of the movement, with #MarchForOurLives becoming a universal rallying call.

“Something that ends up on the internet can be seen from across the world,” Miki said. “I think the international accessibility

of social media is definitely one of the most powerful drivers of activism because it can reach all these different people and influence so much change.”

Movements in recent years exemplify how social media can inspire concrete change.

In 2014, #BringBackOurGirls was started by Nigerian citizens in order to raise awareness of the nearly 250 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by an Islamic militant group; the rise of this movement on Twitter led the U.S., U.K., and France to aid Nigeria’s search.

Social media can also spotlight historically marginalized voices.

“You hear information from people all over the world from a variety of different backgrounds, whether it’s race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or gender,” Cate R. ’22 said.

According to a report for the Communications of the Association for Information Systems, technology has created “unprecedented opportunities” for those in marginalized groups to express themselves beyond the constraints of traditional media.

The rise of #BlackLivesMatter and #StopAsianHate are two recent examples of advocacy for marginalized voices. Similarly, the #MeToo movement, which spread like wildfire—over 1.7 million tweets with the hashtag in less than a week—after a tweet from Alyssa Milano, created a way for survivors of sexual assault to share experiences that they had been told to repress or hide.

“Both Me Too and BLM have actively pushed me to expand my worldview,” Cate said. “[It’s] not that I wasn’t doing that before, but there’s definitely a renewed sense of urgency when these [social media] movements occur.”

And yet, such a sense of urgency is also “crazy” because it risks spiraling down the drainpipe of Instagram trendiness, as both Cate and Miki noted.

“If information isn’t actually being shared on how to help the movement or be an ally, then that turns that activism and momentum into a trend,” Miki said.

An Instagram trend only remains popular for a limited time, which can completely eclipse the realities of a movement.

I think the international accessibility of social media is definitely one of the most powerful drivers of activism because it can reach all these different people and influence so much change.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE G., GRAPHICS BY FRE

#BlackOutTuesday, for example, trended in early June of 2020, but racial injustice continues to affect individuals every day. #BlackLivesMatter flew to unprecedented heights on Instagram following the death of George Floyd, but the movement had been fighting for racial justice long before that.

While trends can drown out the activism surrounding a movement, they can also beneficially disseminate current events quickly and interactively—and to a broad audience. “[Social media] has revolutionized how quickly we can share information and how much of our population knows about the different injustices,” Cate said. “But the main problem I see is an oversimplification of complex issues. There’s a sense of polarization—no issue is black-and-white, but it’s hard to get the nuance in an Instagram post.”

A prominent example of oversimplification was the #Kony2021 campaign, centered around a thirty-minute video portraying Joseph Kony, a warlord who led the Lord’s Resistance Army’s efforts to abduct children in Uganda to use as child soldiers.

It was criticized as misrepresenting the LRA and galvanizing others to action by oversimplifying the problem into a mere question of arresting an evil man.

Beyond oversimplification, the viral nature of social media allows misinformation to run rampant. Misinformation reached a zenith this past year: in the uncertainty enshrouding COVID-19, conspiracy theories claiming the virus was a hoax or a Chinese bioweapon found a home on social media platforms.

To combat this, some students factcheck what they re-post or consume. Cate, who frequently shares news via Instagram, confirms her information with reputable sources like The Washington Post or The New York Times. Miki strives to follow accounts like @soyouwanttotalkabout, where she’s able to check the sources for each post.

It’s not only activism-oriented students who are getting involved, however—anyone can share information via social media “You now have a whole new generation of people getting involved in politics in this way,” Rohan said. “The question is, how do activists, politicians, and people who are involved utilize that as a resource, because when two billion people band together, they can definitely effect material change if they’re doing something constructive.”

thefive15

shirien.creates

IMAGES COURTESY OF @THEFIVE15, @JULIAKES

ENT

FEATURES / PAGE 13

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD Consequences arise when slacktivism and performative activism muddle social media activism

O

EEPIK

juliakestnerdesigns

n June 2, 2020, millions of black squares flooded Instagram as #BlackOutTuesday trended worldwide.

In the wake of Black deaths at the hands of police, Atlantic Records launched #TheShowMustBePaused to show solidarity, which spread to a swelling sea of black boxes collectively known as Black Out Tuesday.

But soon after, the overwhelming support slowed. Feeds reverted back to pictures of days spent lolling around in the sand or posing under an impossibly aesthetic doorway. Links to Black Lives Matter resources trickled out of Instagram bios.

Black Out Tuesday brought renewed attention to the concept of “performative activism”: surface-level activism done to increase social capital instead of out of genuine support.

By Sept. 27, there were a total of 22.2 million posts tagged with #BlackOutTuesday.

There were only 11.3 million signatures on the Change.org petition to arrest Breonna Taylor’s killers.

Celebrities, brands, and general users were called out for their thinly veiled performative activism.

“Performative activism is really about getting the so-called glory of activism without having to pay any price,” said Medina Abdullah, the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, for Mashable.

And yet, while the proponents of social media activism may not have to pay the

22.2

million posts were tagged with #BlackOutTuesday on Instagram by Sept. 27

AESTHETIC ACTIVISM • Beautifully rendered and oft-reshared posts on social issues have taken over many Instagram feeds

STNERDESIGNS, AND @SHIRIEN.CREATES ON INSTAGRAM

price, movements often do.

With millions of black squares captioned #BlackLivesMatter rather than #BlackOutTuesday, information on upcoming protests and petitions under the Black Lives Matter hashtag was drowned out.

“There’s a distinction which has to be drawn between [Black Out Tuesday] and reposting a graphic which gives specific information on how to help,” Rohan said. “That social media activism is undoubtedly positive, but where it gets into hairy territory is when those black squares are detracting from that information.”

Activists have also critiqued Black Out Tuesday itself as masquerading

performative allyship and slacktivism (supporting movements in a way that involves little effort or commitment) as true activism.

“This performative ally stuff is not helping,” said Michelle Taylor (professionally known as “Feminista Jones”), a longtime organizer, author, and speaker for social justice, in a Vox article. “I’m like, ‘This is not how movements work.

This is not how we’re supposed to be using social media.’

And people fell for it because it takes minimal work and effort.”

Slacktivism, however, extends far beyond the Black Out Tuesday movement.

Retweeting words of hope after a humanitarian crisis or merely liking a ANA IYER ’21 donation campaign for an underfunded school rather than contributing to it all falls under the umbrella of slacktivism.

“I hope we don’t become complacent by only reposting things, because there are other things people can be doing,” Adrienne P. ’22 said.

When a low-effort post seems sufficient to replace participation in a strike, movements are hindered. Research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology suggests that online activism can lead to a reduction in offline actions; participants believe their actions on social media are effective enough and no longer feel a sense of urgency towards further action.

Students have seen such phenomena reflected in their own experiences with social media activism.

“There’s a difference between people who are using social media because that’s the only route they have available to make their voices heard, and people who are doing it because they want to feel good about themselves,” Rohan said. “And I think a lot of it is the latter.”

A sense of gratification isn’t the only emotion students have seen entangled with social media activism.

On her Instagram feed, Ana I. ’21 noticed a consistent pattern: the same posts tend to be circulated by the circle she follows. She attributes this to a sense of peer pressure to use Instagram to spread social justice.

“There’s the fear of judgment, the thought that people will see that I’m not posting and accuse me of being complacent,” Ana said. “And I think that’s one of the issues with social media—it places such a huge influence on posting.”

In a social media world where cancel culture has become more prevalent, many feel inundated with the pressure to portray themselves in the best

light possible. Research published in Computers in Human Behavior suggests that youth are driven to present a “safe and socially acceptable” version of themselves online in order to maintain their reputations. In a Pew Research Center national survey from 2015, 40% of adolescent social media users felt pressured to only post content which would make them “look good to others.”

Such pressure may become a breeding ground for performative activism in which social media users disguise their fear of judgment in a facade of activism.

But can the pressure tied to performative activism actually bring about greater awareness through virality? After all, though many Black Out Tuesday posts were labeled as performative, social media users' fear of tumultuous backlash from staying silent may have been what made the movement go viral.

Yale professors Harry Thomas and Pamela Hovland argue that performative activism and progress are not mutually exclusive. Thomas, who teaches a course on Black Lives Matter, claims that performative activism actually unearths a movement’s power.

“Everyone had a black square,” Thomas said in the Yale Daily News. “Everyone said #BlackLivesMatter. Two years ago, that would not have happened.”

Hovland noted a different upside: when major news sites pounce on the performative aspects of movements like #BlackOutTuesday, performative activism can become a catalyst for change.

“I think [Black Out Tuesday] was more powerful in the end because of the critique that resulted from it,” said Hovland, who teaches a course on activism, in the Yale Daily News. “If you were someone that gave over to that quickly…and then heard about that critique afterwards, it causes you to think: what am I doing in addition to this? Am I donating to the cause? Am I speaking to other people about this offline?”

Though some social media users reprimand others for performativity, Miki points out the blurred line between activism and performative activism.

“As long as you’re saying something, you’re bringing awareness to the issue at hand,” Yang said. “If you are able to advocate but choose not to engage, you’re automatically siding with the oppressor by silencing the movement.”

There’s the fear of judgment, the thought that people will see that I’m not posting and accuse me of being complacent.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

“The Drug Lady” Drug educator Rhana Hashemi highlights the importance of inclusive drug education STORY BY ISABELLE S.

“S

o you’re the drug lady.”

Although hearing about a student smoking To passerby, the comment might have weed may be alarming on her end, Hashemi has been perceived as puzzling, or even offensive. To learned to stay grounded and instead dig at the drug educator Rhana Hashemi, however, it was an root of why that is happening. affirmation and a title she embraced.

“Really, smoking weed is not going to ruin The comment came as Hashemi walked the your life. It’s the underlying problems that led halls of a school during her first week of teaching someone to smoking weed every single day that’s in September 2017 and a seventh-grade student gonna ruin their lives,” she said. “If someone is approached her and inquired about her work. curious about drugs, let’s empower them with Hashemi shared her list of everything she information to make sure they stay wanted to do with students—to hold safe. If someone’s using drugs a safe space for those curious on a regular basis, let’s about drugs, to effectively understand why they deal with and not judge want to alter their or shame students reality so much that involved with drugs, they’re no longer to advocate for present, because students instead of that’s what all trying to change drugs do—they them, to turn the temporarily students into alter our educators—and reality.” the student neatly For summed it up: Hashemi, she was “the drug defining lady.” And thus her moments while title, social media teaching are handle, and URL when students came to be. privately reach When Hashemi out to her during or was in high school, drug after class. education was stigmatized; “When the ones her interest in drug who need the information experimentation was considered the most feel comfortable to taboo and neither appropriate nor PHOTO PROVIDED BY RHANA HASHEMI reach out, that’s when I feel like legal. When the simplified phrase I’m doing what I’m supposed to be “drugs are bad, don’t do them” was all the advice doing,” Hashemi said. offered, she was only further prompted to explore Hashemi has worked to unpack much of her substance use—but without the knowledge of how own internalized stigma in order to hold a safe to do so safely. The first time she drank, Hashemi space for students—with her first step as being remembers, was at a hazy high school party present to herself. Through prioritizing the first where she matched the drinking patterns of a boy hour of her day to meditate, go on a walk, and “literally three times” her size. play some music and dance, Hashemi seeks self“I remember the sun hadn’t even gone down connection in order to be present for everyone yet, and I was throwing up,” Hashemi recalled. “No else. one ever told me what one unit of alcohol looks “The world can just absorb all of you,” like, so I’m over here drinking eight shots in one Hashemi said. “My own mental health care and hour. And I kept doing it over and over again.” my own self care is really the foundation from Hashemi’s past with substance misuse fuels her which I can create something authentic in the passion to effectively help students navigate drugworld.” related decisions and provide honest and open Despite her dedication, Hashemi faces the drug education to teenagers. unavoidable obstacle time: she can only teach “Being fascinated by drugs is such a scant amount in the a core part of my identity and how four hours she is allotted I show up in the world—something by schools per year, but that was shamed when I was a students are often exposed teenager.” to drugs daily in their Lies and exaggerations about personal life or in the the consequences of drug use took media. the place of honest conversations “It is just a part of life, when she was younger, and to have and one of the challenges that curiosity met with fear only for me is how to keep the made Hashemi feel as if she did not conversation going when belong, pushing her to spiral deeper I’m not there in a balanced into unhealthy drug use instead of way that is respectful and seeking help. compassionate, but also Moreover, after internalizing grounded in science and the narrative that she was a “bad society,” Hashemi said, kid” for using drugs and that “bad hoping to do so by having kids” deserve punishment, Hashemi more conversations with shamed herself for the depression, parents and teachers as anxiety, and sense of unbelonging well as recruiting more that stemmed from her drug abuse. “drug ladies” in order to As she grew up, she realized extend her method to more her feelings of ostracization were schools.

RHANA HASHEMI rooted in the lack of clarity around Hashemi’s next goal is Drug Educator drug education, and how strict, to scale up her teaching, unexplained prohibition of drugs including creating virtual only stigmatizes students and denies tools for drug education— them access to honest information. an idea born out of the “Good kids also use drugs,” Hashemi said. The pandemic. Last spring, when schools started to problem she found is the narrative of who deserves shut down, Hashemi realized the flaws of her to safely use drugs—and who does not. model as a guest speaker and how it “was not “The hypocrisy, the literal denial of sustainable for an everyday problem [like drug information, and the stigma all inform why I use],” prompting her to think about alternative [teach] and why I try to do this in a balanced way ways to spread information and enable because I don’t want kids to feel bad for this, I want institutions to continue the conversation without them to feel like they can talk to me about their her physical presence. use,” Hashemi explained.

My fascination with drugs is core to me, which is why I take an anti-stigma approach with drug education.

FEATURES / PAGE 14

From Seinfeld to Shavasana Suzanne Snyder’s journey through acting to wholestudent yoga instruction STORY BY GRACE H.

S

uzanne Snyder—of Seinfeld, Class, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and the yoga P.E. option—didn’t initially intend to become an actress nor a yoga instructor.

Snyder “fell into” acting partway through her degree at Northwestern, where she had initially intended to pursue pre-med.

The unanticipated shift was made more remarkable by her shy personality, which at first seemed antithetical to show business.

“Many people like a lot of attention—they’ll get up on a table and dance,” Snyder said. “I’ve never been that way.”

Despite her preference for privacy, however, Snyder loved working as an actress thanks to the opportunities to study human behavior and observe other actors at work. On the sets of Class and two episodes of Seinfeld, it was “doing brave and daring things” with her peers that mattered, more than the big-name productions. Her greatest takeaway, ultimately, was a newfound sense of awareness and connectivity to the world.

“When you’re a good actor, you always have something that’s invisible,” Snyder said. “Maybe you can’t see with your eyes, but you can feel it. You can sense it all around you. And so that was probably one of the most precious gifts [acting gave me].”

Her acting coaches initially introduced Snyder to yoga when she was in her early 20s—a move to help her “get really in touch with her emotions,” as she described it—but it was that same invisible “something” that truly drew her into yoga and mindfulness, and that continues to color the lens through which she views the world.

“When I did yoga, I saw...how it got you in touch with that energy, that awareness of life. Like when you look at a tree, you can see a tree or you can experience the truth and see the life of the tree,” said Snyder. “I know this sounds kind of ‘woowoo,’ but we’re all energy.

We’re all life, all energy, just in different shapes.”

Observing yoga’s impact on others was what ultimately led her to begin teaching. At first, she led informal classes for her children and friends, but after yoga “unionized” in 2010 with the formation of the Yoga Alliance, certification became mandatory, and Snyder decided to take the plunge to become a certified instructor.

Snyder trained for certification at the College of San Mateo— the very same college whose halls simultaneously hosted the burgeoning high school division. Snyder’s professor recommended her to former Nueva athletics director Amrit Chima as a potential yoga instructor, and Snyder was taken with Chima’s vision of physical education classes emphasizing whole student development.

“I just thought that what she wanted to create was so special, and so unique,” Snyder said.

To Snyder, the physical and metaphorical place alike are critical for effective practice. She described creating that “vessel” for yoga as one of the most difficult aspects of teaching at Nueva—after all, the yoga studio was “just some room” rather than a dedicated space. For her, the sense of place is critical to building the trust that characterizes a successful class.

“Ideally, [students] would feel that they could trust the experience and trust their peers and perhaps, maybe, trust me, so that they might try something new that they’ve never tried before and that would build some sort of confidence and courage,” Snyder said.

That confidence and trust are core to senior Theo Erickson’s recollections from classes with Snyder.

“I remember that sense of being encouraged to take risks in front of everyone, and trusting other people to catch your legs so you don’t just flip over,” Erickson said, speaking about a partner yoga exercise where students do handstands while leaning against one another to maintain their balance. “The suggestion of [the exercise] feels very Suzanne, as does the fact that people did it and that I was comfortable doing it. That feels like it really exemplifies the kind of environment she made in her classes.”

In Snyder’s view, an environment that fosters that sense of community is the ideal outcome.

“I want my students, no matter how different they are, to feel like they have a community—not just their Nueva community but a yoga community,” Snyder said. “High school is rough, right? And this is a safe place where they can feel like they belong.”

Now, even as she leaves her position at Nueva, that yoga community will remain—bolstered by the “invisible something” that Snyder has worked to bring into view.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NBC GUEST STAR • Suzanne Snyder appears as Audrey in Seinfeld season 5 episode 15, "The Pie"

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

FEATURES / PAGE 15

Students' passion projects STORY BY ALICE T.

A

fter a school year of extensive hours of classes and assignments, summer break lets students fully dive into their passions— whether it's writing up thrilling fantasy scenes or dropping off lofty aerial silks. From childhood aspirations to quest continuations, here are five stories of students and their personal projects.

Dreaming up a fantasy book series Seeking an ailment for her nonstop imagination and frequent insomnia, Sophie D. ’24 began writing her fantasy book series, The Alysium Trilogy—a story that follows a group of teenagers on their adventure through the afterlife. Although she began by releasing all of her chaotic thoughts onto paper, she soon realized she had a book’s worth of thoughts on her hands. It wasn’t until writing the ending to her book that Sophie noticed the plethora of loose ends scattered throughout her story—and thus one book became three.

Though writing a three-book series can be a daunting task, Sophie holds herself accountable by giving her friends frequent writing updates.

“My friends’ exceitement about the series made me motivated to write again,” Sophie said. “I wrote more this past year than in the last four years.”

With the plot of The Alysium Trilogy finished, Sophie plans to spend her summer perfecting her fantasy series.

Immersed in a world of digital characters Madison L. ’24 fell in love with anime the moment she started watching it.

Invested in the characters’ complex personalities and captivating aesthetics, Madison felt a pull to recreate them

through art. She began by sketching her favorite characters on paper, but quickly switched to digital art after being enamored by the varied textures, brushes, and easy usage of the platforms.

Spending so much time drawing other people’s characters sparked her curiosity in customizing her own characters, and she hopes to design life-long characters that will evolve with her as she matures.

Engrossed in the world of her characters, Madison transformed her routine into what it remains today: Art. School. Sleep.

Repeat.

Healing through songwriting For as long as Owen Y. ’24 can remember, his parents have played Chinese songs and musicals in the house.

Music grew to be an integral part of Owen's life. As a kid, it was the melody and beat that attracted him; as he grew older, however, Owen started to pay attention to the lyrics as well, wanting to understand the story behind each song. Ariana Grande’s song “breathin,” in which Grande shares her experience with anxiety attacks, was especially relatable to him.

Listening to Grande voice her struggles prompted Owen to write his own songs about personal struggles with anxiety and social interaction.

Owen was able to streamline his unresolved emotions into lyrics. After feeling emotionally overwhelmed when one of his friends moved away during the pandemic without any goodbyes, he wrote, “Don’t promise me that you’ll stay in touch / Those famous last words that I’ve heard too much.”

Owen says he never forces lyrics when he’s creatively drained, but songwriting

ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON L.

provides an outlet for him to express these emotions and tell his own life story—one of the many reasons why he loves to produce music.

Productivity with a task app Friends Houjun L. ’23, Huxley M. ’23, and Zach S. ’23’s task management app “Condution” started in an unexpected place: the treadmill. While Houjun exercised, Huxley and Zach would voice chat and brainstorm, turning down all ide—except for Condution. Condution was formed when Liu declared all other productivity apps like Microsoft To Do and OmniFocus frustrating, ultimately deciding he needed his own personalized app. So, the trio went to work on this app, though to Houjun, it “never feels like work-work”—the three of them always enjoy working on projects like this for the experience of learning something new.

Ultimately, he group’s dedication and effort led to the success of Condution, which now has thousands of users on the app. While treadmill talking stopped because of Houjun's broken treadmill, they’ll keep updating and improving their app as their group’s constant creation and work ethic persists.

Dangling from aerial silks Acrobatics has always been fascinating to Anya P. ’22, and seeing the thrilling flips and jumps from the Cirque du Soleil performances in middle school solidified her awe of it. Patel sought out dance in middle school, developing her soft spot for the performing arts. When she was later offered PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANYA PATEL lessons for aerial silks, she immediately took the opportunity.

“It has definitely helped me build up my self-confidence, not only in my athletic abilities but just knowing where my boundaries are,” Anya said.

Aerial silks can be painful—the silks will tug at your limbs and leave you with silk burn from the friction—but the pain is worth conquering to Anya. In the air, she can clear her mind and feel a rare sense of calm in her busy day, and she likes how introspective and self-reliant the sport is.

She can push herself to her limits without crossing them, and she plans to keep challenging herself on aerial silks this summer.

How Travel Week mastered the pivot

Several groups maintained exploration by visiting local destinations STORY BY ELLIE K.

DRUMS ON THE THIRD FLOOR • Ninth-graders built and then learned how to play their own cajón (box drum). PHOTO BY RACHEL FREEMAN

I

n previous years, when Travel Week came around, students packed bags, ran through airports, squeezed into airplane seats, and traversed across the country or globe.

When traveling became difficult during a pandemic-stricken world, however, Nueva trip leads brought adventure without planes or packing suitcases. All through their computer screens, the freshmen headed down South America to explore the wonders of Peru, the sophomores traveled to Costa Rica, the juniors scattered across the U.S., and the seniors studied six themes—environment, food, spirituality, health, conflict, and storytelling—and how they connect to identity in self-designed trips.

The 11th-grade AIDs memorial group,

12th-grade food culture group, and 11thgrade Montana wildlife group all modified their destinations to local ones. Instead of adopting the hybrid model that other groups were using, these trips drove away from classrooms and out into the world.

The Montana trip attendees, which aimed to explore the diverse Montana landscape and wildlife, headed out to the Golden Gate Angling Club in San Francisco for a fly-fishing lesson and provided students with the hands-on opportunity to tie fishing flies at Nueva.

To physics teacher Mark Hurwitz, the trip was drastically different, but the trip leads provided a great pivot in fly-fishing.

“The biggest change was the inability to view the landscape, walk the mountains, see the wildlife…There’s no way to

replace those experiential elements,” he said. “[Was taking a fly-fishing lesson] as much fun as fishing the Madison River in Montana? Frankly, no… But given the constraints, I think we did okay.”

In comparison to another hour of Zoom meetings and technical struggles, driving to a new location to connect with peers was a refreshing experience for students.

Jack T. ’22 and Cate L. ’22, travelers on the Montana trip, enjoyed the trip’s new format. Both had been to Montana previously and were eager to further learn about the beautiful state.

“It was really interesting to get a glimpse into [the wildlife professionals’] work and all the details that go on behind the scenes of wildlife conservation,” Cate said regarding the Zoom meetings.

Jack commented that the pivot was “an awesome experience” being the only “triplike component of the entire week.”

This year, the Understanding the AIDs Crisis trip, led by Alegria Barclay, Allen Frost, and Rachel Dawson, also had a “trip-like component.” Students watched documentaries, interviewed famous figures in the movement, and traveled to the AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco to meet with artists and AIDS survivors.

The excursion was crucial for the students’ participation and grasp of the subject. Usually the students travel to New York, investigating the AIDS epidemic and art as a medium of expressing trauma.

“I think having in-person days definitely made the trip more interesting and more intimate,” said April Z. ’22. To April, the trip to the Memorial Grove was “a great experience filled with amazing energy.”

Caroline P. ’22 also emphasized the importance of meeting off of Zoom.

“Being in person with those activists

allowed us to get a real, personal connection with them and we heard raw accounts of the AIDS crisis,” she said, surprised by the speakers' generosity and willingness to express such personal stories. “I was grateful that we got to hear from so many people without the complications of transportation.”

Back on campus, the group was able to personalize the trip, reflecting upon their own COVID-19 experience through multiple art and clay projects, and emphasizing the value of togetherness.

The theme of connection was also included in the senior food-themed trip, where students were able to benefit from an in-person excursion to an oyster farm.

Seniors in this group individually attended two restaurant meals, cooked for their families, and visited an oyster farm together. There, they examined the evolution of oyster farming and how oysters are prepared from farm to table.

“We got to see how oysters go from farm to table, and how oyster farming is both good for the environment and how it has evolved over time,” said Joseph K. ’21. “I got to see people who I hadn’t seen in forever, got to eat good food, and got to learn more about how food can represent culture, politics, and identity.”

Learning and exploring together were the key features within all trips.

In previous years, students like Joseph remember hikes under pouring rain in Machu Picchu, cooking classes, measuring tree heights, making hats and necklaces, and holding goats. Memories like those are hard to replicate during a remote year; however, the in-person, miniature trips provided students with a greater knowledge of their respective topics, a feeling of connection, and a desire to learn more.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

PAGE 16 / FEATURES

Class of 2021

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

Where are the seniors off to?

What wisdom do they have for future college applicants?

STORY AND GRAPHICS BY JORDAN M.

Spend time thinking about what you want your college experience to look like.

Knowing what you want makes it easier to choose.

LIAM D. ’21

MOST POPULAR STATES

13 9

Nueva taught me that no matter what happens, my worth is not predicated on my achievements as a student—there are so many other important things in life.

seniors will be attending college with a merit scholarship

VIENNA G. ’21

seniors have decided to or are considering taking a gap year

California (27) Massachusetts (17) Illinois (9)

12.5

the average number of applications submitted by each senior

CLASS OF 2021 MATRICULATION LIST Stanford University (8) Northeastern University (7) University of Michigan (6) University of Chicago (5) University of California, Berkeley (4) Washington University, St. Louis (4) Case Western Reserve University (3) Columbia University (3) Northwestern University (3) Tufts University (3) University of California, San Diego (3) Brown University (2) Carnegie Mellon University (2) Dartmouth University (2) Harvard University (2) Haverford College (2) Occidental College (2) Princeton University (2) Scripps College (2) University of California, Los Angeles (2) University of California, Santa Cruz (2) University of Pennsylvania (2) University of Southern California (2) Wellesley College (2) Bryn Mawr College (1) California Institute of Technology (1) Colorado College (1) Colorado School of Mines (1) Duke University (1) Georgetown University (1) Harvey Mudd College (1) Johns Hopkins University (1) Loyola Marymount University (1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1) Pomona College (1) Purdue University (1) School of Visual Arts (1) Skidmore College (1) Smith College (1) University of Illinois (1) University of North Carolina (1) University of Wisconsin (1) Wesleyan College (1) Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1) Yale University (1) Undecided / Gap Year (1)

22%

COLLEGE ACADEMICS Primary Academic Discipline: Arts (2), Business (4), Engineering (15), Formal Sciences (11), Humanities (11), Interdisciplinary (11), Natural Sciences (24), Social Sciences (5), Undecided (6)

Considering one or more minors?

30 seniors indicated that they are interested in pursuing a minor (or two!) in similar and different fields as their intended primary academic discipline.

139

the number of schools that admitted at least one senior

The Class of 2021 will be represented in 45 schools across 17 states and the District of Columbia.

This is the first graduating class that is not sending any seniors overseas.

30%

of seniors will stay in California for college

of graduates will be attending a public university

They get thousands of people boasting all sorts of accomplishments—and, of course, you should try and sell yourself, too—but they really want authenticity.

CARMEN M. ’21

8

seniors will be the first Nueva graduates at their college

Don’t focus too much on just one school or aspect of the process— make sure that you’re aware of a wide variety of factors before getting too deep in or making a very important decision.

EVAN S. ’21

*The statistics in this article are drawn from a survey of 79 of the 97 graduating seniors in the Class of 2021 as well as the College Counseling department and a student-created spreadsheet.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

THE NUEVA CURRENT Student Newspaper of The Nueva School 131 E. 28TH AVE., SAN MATEO, CA 94403

Editorial Team Willow C. Y. ’21 Editor-in-Chief

Jordan M. ’21

Design, Social Media, and Web Editor

Grace H. ’21

News and Opinions Editor

Amanda W. ’21 Features Editor

LiAnn Y.

Faculty Advisor

Staff Anouschka B. ’22 Grace F. ’23 Jack F. ’23 Aliya G. ’21 Ellie K. ’24 Sami K. ’23 Kaden K. ’24 Anisha K. ’22 Mirabella K. ’24 Serena S. ’23 Isabelle S. ’23 Alice T. ’24 Sofia T. ’24 Emma Z. ’23

One last word from the departing senior editors Four years ago, we helped found The Nueva Current DEAR READERS, To be entirely honest, the thought of leaving The Nueva Current is terrifying.

For us seniors on the editorial team, the paper has been a consuming whirlwind of an entity—one that has shaped our day-to-day, our Nueva, and our selves.

Four years ago, when we founded the paper along with Scott Brasesco ’18 and faculty advisor LiAnn Yim, we were but freshmen, utterly unaware of what creating a paper would be like, much less developing it into the established publication it is today. That said, there is so much more that this paper can do. What we’ve accomplished in four years has made us proud, but the most important work we did was not in

pursuit of perfect publications—rather, it was in our efforts toward constructing a foundation strong enough to support the successes of the future.

We have so much faith in the new editors and staffers. We hope we have prepared them to relish reading outstanding articles and those still waiting for a tune-up, manage late nights and last-minute edits with poise and joy, and appreciate the beauty and chaos of publication, distribution, and critique.

We’re placing our faith in you, our readers, too. Keep sharing your opinions and experiences, giving heartfelt, honest feedback, and trusting that communication that continually strives to be fair and accurate can

WILLOW Y. ’21

AMANDA W. ’21

Editor-in-Chief

The Nueva Current strives to provide informative and impactful articles for our community. Our issues cover stories related to our school, the Bay Area, California, and other relevant spheres. We are dedicated to helping readers understand the ways in which we can all make a difference in the world around us.

Questions, comments, or submissions? We welcome your voices. We accept photographs, illustrations, articles, and other pieces of work. Please email us at thenuevacurrent@nuevaschool.org.

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OPINION / PAGE 17

JORDAN M. ’21 Design Editor

Features Editor

elucidate truth and spur change. You govern this paper’s purpose, and we hope it will continue to honor your voices in the coming years.

We ask that you put your faith in this new editorial team. We believe they will lead the paper to new heights, building it into something greater and grander than we could have imagined when we laid its foundation four short years ago.

Nueva, keep an eye out for this team; they’ll do amazing things with The Nueva Current.

DEPARTING EDITORS Willow C. Y., Jordan M., Amanda W., and Grace H.

GRACE H. ’21

News & Opinions Editor

Hello from the new editors!

Current events inform our vision for the future of The Nueva Current

A

s spring bleeds into summer, there’s a sense of something greater than just seasonal change in the air. An end to the COVID pandemic that has ravaged America for over a year, claiming the lives of 596,000 people, peeks over the horizon. The once-foreign, now-familiar pandemic routines—obsessive hand sanitizer usage, six-feet-apart signs, mask wearing (or double-masking), and above all, fear and anxiety—are becoming less prominent as something like pre-pandemic normalcy dawns.

The long-awaited we’re on the other side now! can be heard drifting through school hallways or seen infused in the newfound casualness of day-to-day life—and in some ways, it’s true. As the number of Americans with at least one vaccine dose soared from four million at the start of 2021 to approximately 169 million today—and is now expected to reach over 230 million people, or 71% of the population,by July 4—restrictions have loosened significantly.

But we can’t return to normalcy without acknowledging that billions of people can’t yet see the other side, and hundreds of thousands never will.

In countries around the world, the virus rages rampant while vaccine rollouts lag behind, inundating countries with third and fourth waves of COVID. While we dip our feet into the privileged waters of freedom, lock down orders have once more been implemented in countries like Brazil, Pakistan, and Malaysia.

Though at a slower rate, the virus is still spreading within the Bay Area community and continuing to claim lives. San Mateo County may have

moved to the Yellow Tier, but assuming total safety and letting precautions fall by the wayside risks endangering members of our community and beyond.

Before returning to normalcy in our lives, we have to first acknowledge the impact of the deadliest pandemic since the 1920 Spanish flu outbreak and check our privilege of living in a bubble of accessible highly effective vaccines, wealth, and security.

As a student newspaper, we feel a responsibility to bring such stories to the forefront. Now more than ever, when misinformation spreads lightningfast across the globe, the fight for truth needs to be waged wherever possible.

We’ve seen how news and social media can spread vaccine conspiracies, distrust and racial vitriol; as student journalists, we have the responsibility to deliver accurate information.

Beyond providing unbiased, relevant reporting, our job is to highlight the Nueva community’s connections to these pressing issues. With in-person interactions upended and safety uncertain during this past year, the online space—particularly social media—became a hub for students to engage with each other and the world.

As movements unfolded in response to the racial injustice in America threatening lives, students, alongside millions of others, faced a conundrum: how we could fight for racial justice in the midst of a pandemic where catching COVID could threaten the safety of one’s entire family. The social media activism sweeping the world in connection with movements like Black Lives Matter

and Stop Asian Hate gave an answer to the conundrum—yet it also came with widespread criticism of performative activism, slacktivism, and ineffective allyship.

As our community begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we urge you to be conscious of your privilege— both in terms of the pandemic and social media activism—and mindful of how your actions may affect or drown out others.

———

INCOMING EDITORS ANOUSCHKA B. ’22 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMMA Z. ’23 DESIGN EDITOR ISABELLE S.I ’23 NEWS EDITOR GRACE F. ’23 CULTURE EDITOR ELLIE K. ’24 FEATURES EDITOR ANISHA K. ’22 OPINIONS EDITOR SERENA S. ’23 SPORTS EDITOR

THE NUEVA CURRENT

PAGE 18 / OPINION

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

How can math be more equitable and still challenging?

A concrete alternative to the San Mateo-Foster City School District’s attempt at more equitable math offers two paths for students to advance ILLUSTRATION BY ANNIE Z.

WRITTEN BY SOFIA T.

W

hen I started tutoring students in math this February, families were frustrated with the setbacks and slow pace of remote learning. Parents hoped to give their children a chance to learn challenging math by testing into compacted math, a path for avid students to take accelerated middle school math at an rate, ending with eighth-grade Algebra I. My tutees and I were shocked when, in March, the SMFCSD presented their plan to replace compacted math with heterogeneous, standard-curriculum sixthgrade math and possible seventh- and eighth-grade advancement. Considering this year’s learning gaps and lack of assessment data to identify students for advancement, the district created the proposal in hopes of providing deeper Math 6 learning and fighting inequities in the math classroom. After a month rife with debate, the Board of Trustees voted to approve the proposal, weakening the community’s social trust that had been already strained by over a year of remote learning.

Though I share the district’s goals for greater equity in math, this proposal was rushed without a clear plan, backed by irrelevant research, and ultimately does more harm than good.

Current Math Framework MATH 7

MATH 6

MATH 8

Independent Study

MATH 6/7A

MATH 7B/8

ALGEBRA I

Firstly, the studies used to support a heterogeneous sixth-grade math class date back to 2000 and 2006—before Common Core standards—and their successful scenarios involve more advanced curricula than the standard Math 6 planned for all future sixth-graders. One affirmed that heterogeneous grouping and “an accelerated

mathematics curriculum” increased outcomes for all students. The other’s fruitful mixed-group classes were between the lowest and highest tracked groups in terms of rigor.

While Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services David Chambliss claims that the goal is to have “potentially 100% of eighth-graders accessing Algebra,” the proposition does not, in fact, include a new pathway to accelerate middle schoolers to Algebra I. Although the board has promised to find a solution

by December, it made no sense for the trustees to vote for the removal of compacted math for incoming sixth-graders without a concrete plan to replace it. The implementation of any of the four possible pathways presented so far would mean major changes—and downsides—for students; two of them include doubleblocks and one crams Math 7 and 8 into one block.

From a student’s perspective, when I hear “doubleblock,” I immediately have to ask, “What will that replace?”—a question the district still needs to explicitly address. This new pathway could come at the expense of important electives or English blocks. There are only so many hours in a school day; students who would rather take the current compacted program without losing time for other subjects should be allowed to do so.

If the district thinks the current system of accelerating by fitting three years of math into two is rushing students, how can they present a new solution that combines seventh- and eighth-grade math into one block?

Trustee Shara Watkins said that the proposal is about “challenging a system…that has worked for some [but] has not worked for others for a very long time.”

Cramming acceleration into seventh and eighth grades would work for some students, but others, like those I tutor, are ready to accelerate without spending extra time.

Students develop math skills at different rates and times; a single, universal path cannot accommodate for this.

The best way to provide equitably challenging math is to establish many routes to fit the needs of each student.

Visualize the scenario commonly depicted to define equity—three people of different heights, each given enough blocks to stand on and all reach equal heights.

Equitably challenging math means meeting students where they are; students who need more stimulation (metaphorically short) are given more challenging math (more blocks).

The fluidity of Nueva’s middle school math groupings contributes to more equitably challenging learning experiences, and decreases the stigma that certain people are intrinsically “math people” and others not. Students who may have been misplaced can speak with their teachers and be assessed to move to a more appropriate class, rather than being stuck on the wrong pathway. My classmates whose understanding of math had changed moved to a more suitable class where they thrived.

When students can work with their teachers to learn at a challenge level that is appropriate for them, math learning experiences are more equitable, and the mentality that the groupings reflect innate math giftedness is counteracted.

In order to maximize support for diverse learners on their path to Algebra I in middle school, the SMFCSD should offer at least two advancement routes in different years.

No new classes would need to be designed to create two middle school accelerated math options. While the current framework would remain, students wishing to accelerate would also have the chance to take both Math 7 and 8 roughly in parallel during seventh grade.

Because Common Core standards revisit units from previous grades to new levels of depth, students would build on knowledge from Math 7 in the concurrent Math 8; educators wouldn’t need to extensively reorganize the curriculum.

This summer, study programs could be held to fill in any learning gaps. Math results from this spring’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress could be used in preliminary identification of students for sixth grade compacted math and to create groupings for the summer review. This supported study would double as a trial to see how well students work at the pace of their assigned class; rising sixth-graders’ math assignments could be adjusted according to how they perform.

The district’s proposal makes me especially grateful for access to stimulating math at Nueva. While no school is perfect, Nueva’s many flexible pathways more equitably challenge students.

Providing two middle school acceleration routes in the SMFCSD would similarly meet the needs of diverse learners, destigmatizing and achieving greater equity in challenging math.

ILLUSTRATION BY THALIA R.

What the Nueva Way means to me How the flexibility of the Way shapes my learning WRITTEN BY SAMI K.

D

uring a recent assembly, Dean of Students Hillary Freeman told the student body to “embody the Nueva Way.” I started wondering, what does the Nueva Way mean?

When I applied to Nueva, I understood the Nueva Way as a

mission of learning and teaching from the definition showcased on the website.

In ninth grade, my understanding shifted. I began to realize how it might apply to me and how it was more than just a mission—it was also an attitude.

Classes weren’t just students sitting at separate desks, incessantly taking notes from a teacher speaking in a podcast monotone. Instead, it was extremely interactive and there were multi-directional pathways between my teacher, my peers, and me.

This year, my understanding has shifted again—multiple times.

Throughout the fall semester,

the Nueva Way, for me, was how the classes stayed hands-on despite remote learning through mere screens.

In History, I remember preparing for a “town hall” where we each presented different sides of the French political scene in the 1700s and proceeded to vote if we wanted to kick anyone out of the “room.”

While we could’ve learned the same concepts from a slideshow and PDF reading files, the Way, which values choices and Nueva’s motto of “learning by doing,” enabled our class to stay flexible and prevail through Zoom classes.

The Way was also a way to maintain

the energy of the community during remote learning. For me, the weekly Maverick Mornings spurred on connection and enthusiasm through this year.

Now, nearing the end of my sophomore year, my understanding has been expanded once again.

The inherent energy that in-person classes have coupled with the Way is a powerful duo that has enhanced my learning across all of my classes. How my peers can spring back together and how we have room for past and future change that we’ll go through, is also part of the Way.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

OPINION / PAGE 19

The same play tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow teaches unique, necessary skills Why we should return to single-play Shakespeare seminars STORY BY GRACE H.

I

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSSA L.

was startled by the strength of my disappointment when our Shakespeare class finished Macbeth and abandoned it for King Lear—startled because I honestly believe Macbeth to be one of the worst of Shakespeare’s plays and certainly the worst of his tragedies, with its tedious slasher-film sensibilities and largely one-dimensional character interactions.

Nonetheless, I found myself wishing we could continue reading secondary analyses of the play, watching its adaptations, and digging into the historical context that sculpted its text, fully ready to discard Lear—a text I genuinely love—in favor of more time spent exploring the world of analysis we’d just begun to glimpse.

Up until this year, senior Shakespeare seminars each focused on a single play, bringing a variety of lenses to a single text and culminating in a performance of the play during the final weeks of school. Now, however, these courses have been replaced by classes centering on a theme and exploring a series of plays throughout the term. We should bring back single-playcentric Shakespeare classes, as they allow for greater depth in analysis and fill a critical niche by teaching different skills from prior English classes through an emphasis on multiple modes of analysis applied to the same work.

Whether it’s the identity-twisting romp of Twelfth Night, the slippery, genre-aware tragedy of Hamlet, or, yes, the cutthroat horror of Macbeth, focusing on a singular text ensures that enough time is available for a wider variety of scholarly lenses to be brought to the work, pushing students to consider critical analyses beyond their go-to methodologies

of analysis. Likewise, the added time spent on a singular play allows for a deeper study of the play’s evolution and recontextualization; there is no shortage of adaptations of each play, and studying them teaches the critical skill of evaluating and analyzing texts—and particularly productions—as artifacts of their contexts and audiences alike.

Spending months on a single play also forces students to dig past the preliminary close reading methods they’re comfortable with. For example, my go-to is analyzing each instance of a single motif or symbol; someone else might grasp first for an argument around the use of a particular GRAPHIC BY rhetorical device. Either way, if we write only one piece per text, it’s easy to stay within that comfort zone rather than diving into the far-more-productive-but-lessprocrastination-friendly realm of genuine uncertainty. In focusing on a single text, past Shakespeare courses taught students to stretch beyond the comfortable rhythms of multi-text high school English classes—rhythms twelfth graders certainly know well, after three years of them—and, in doing so, gave them the freedom, tools, and impetus to explore new avenues of analysis. The new classes, while fascinating by virtue of their trappings and topics, are, at the bone structure level, identical to the other proffered courses.

Focusing on a single play makes for more varied learning, despite the less-varied reading. It opens the door to new directions for papers, productions, and discussions alike. And it makes senior seminars meaningful in a unique way, giving the English progression a more impactful final act before the seniors exeunt.

FREEPIK

Self-comparison in school: how college stress has affected my mental health The constant hyperfixation on achievement and application-building has occupied an unwelcome space in my conscience STORY BY GRACE F.

A

s I approach the end of my sophomore year, I can feel the once-distant threat of college applications nearing my periphery. It feels like every single choice I make in high school will stack up to build the application that will get lost in a sea of ambitious, high-achieving students fighting for something that will make them edge out the rest. It’s exhausting to freak out after a single “Foundational” on an assignment or turning in an assignment late when my Wi-Fi goes out, but my selfimposed nagging never stops.

It ultimately comes down to a morbid curiosity about my future and a selfish hope that I can make myself known in a world full of equally qualified students.

However, I’ve found myself having a harder and harder time controlling this curiosity due to perfectionism and a desire to have a spotless transcript. It’s hard to be confident in my own abilities while seeing so many amazing students around me, knowing that these will be the very people that I compare myself to in the years to come.

Given my history with mental illness (specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder), I wasn’t too surprised when I started getting extremely particular about every single rubric I received, to the point where I would completely break down if even a single assignment wasn’t up to the impossible standard I put on myself. It’s exhausting—and, quite frankly, disruptive to those around me—to have to deal with a descent into panic over every assignment that isn’t perfect.

However, this situation extends beyond my specific experience. High school students experience a lot of stressors—even outside of a pandemic and a contentious political election. The march to graduation is paved with an increased workload and pressure to perform well, an unrelenting fog that can be detrimental to mental health and wellness.

This stress can be boiled down to a universal need to outperform and compare myself to my peers. Especially at a school like Nueva where we are surrounded by so many incredible people, it’s easy to lose sight of my own accomplishments and the things that make us who I am.

Although Nueva provides a positive environment given the fact that students are not ranked or compared, it’s hard for me to not constantly spectate my peers and what they’re doing. And despite my crammed schedule and many interests, I always feel like I’m not doing enough— like there’s still one more item I need to add to my already overflowing plate.

Though this layer of stress has been constantly weighing down on me for the past couple of months, I’ve still been working on improving my own attitude so that I can improve my mental health as a whole. I’ve been working to specifically be the person I want to be without trying to quantify against other students. Though it’s difficult, putting in a specific and focused effort has helped me narrow my view and not get too caught up in what everyone else is doing.

In the end, it’s important to keep our goals realistic to avoid this stress that can come from self-imposed pressure. But that is infinitely easier said than done, as sometimes our brains do things that we don't necessarily agree with. A small step is to focus on the qualitative rather than the quantitative—take classes that are intriguing to you and go deeper into the subjects that you are passionate about, and your work will pay off. We only have four years to be in high school—don’t spend it trying to become a cookie-cutter perfect applicant. It’s easy to compare ourselves to the amazing people we see, but we need to remember to step back and appreciate how each of us have our own interests and quirks that make us amazing students and people in our own right.

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE W.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

OPINION / PAGE 20

Our nature should be to nurture the earth

My journey to becoming an environmental citizen and advice for fellow students starting out STORY BY MIRABELLA K.

H

ealthy eating: that was my original passion, though I never imagined the wild path it would lead me on through woods, oceans, fields, and pastures—all connecting back to my kitchen.

Approaching high school, I realized that what I put into my body greatly impacts my health, wellbeing, and simply how I feel. Both minimizing processed food—like added sugar and other unnatural ingredients—and eating balanced meals infused me with energy and vibrancy.

Naturally, my love of fresh fruits and vegetables made me look at my plate and wonder: what if it was completely plant-based?

This school year, I embarked on an exploration into the art of vegan cooking. Challenging diet culture’s belief of restriction in eating plant-based was my goal starting out, which has evolved into nurturing the earth in return for all that it gives.

Since I can remember, I have always had appreciation and wonder for the outdoors and beauty of nature.

I immediately started restricting my red meat consumption when, in sixth grade, I learned about the environmental deficits of eating beef: deforestation for grazing land, soil erosion, methane, and an excessive drain of resources. (According to the Los Angeles Times, a one-third pound burger requires 660 gallons of water.)

I began limiting other meat as well (factory farming), and then fish (overfishing). It came as a shock to me when I learned that growing plants and fresh produce—which I had previously thought to be environmentally

GRAPHICS FROM FREEPIK

My 15 days on campus

Reflections on a remote freshman year STORY BY ELLIE K.

GRAPHICS FROM FREEPIK

I

beneficial—is not as untainted as one would think, thanks to industrial agriculture.

This new, contradictory knowledge made it difficult to accurately assess the impact of my eating choices and introduced me to the complex relationship between the systems that make up our daily lives and the environment—in particular, those of food and agriculture. Nueva has given me a greater appreciation and understanding of this complexity through studying the interconnectedness of these global systems. As I’ve come to learn, health connects to food, which connects to agriculture, geography, socioeconomics, capitalism, politics, and, most importantly, the environment.

The lesson I learned from my disillusionment was that there is a lot I have to learn about humanity's relationship with and impact on the earth. My curiosity about sustainability and agriculture was piqued by the delicious wonders I’d created while cooking vegan, and I started reading and engaging with others about environmental topics. I realized the importance of an open, reflective mindset, because there is often more I must take into consideration, like how my food was grown and where it came from.

I’ve learned that the best choices you can make as a consumer are buying food grown sustainably and organically and veering away from supporting slash and burn, use of pesticide, monoculture, and other agricultural practices that damage ecosystems.

According to the EPA, the agricultural sector is one of the top five emitters of greenhouse gases at an ever-increasing 10% of all U.S. emissions. Sourcing food and buying locally-grown fresh produce greatly cuts down on emissions from transportation and storage (not to mention it’s more ethical by

don’t know what surprised me more about high school: that students don’t break into song and dance simultaneously between classes like Troy Bolton taught me, or that I wasn’t the only one with imposter syndrome.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed I could not attend a school like the East High in High School Musical.

Growing up, high school itself seemed strange, including or excluding melodies. A person enters as a young teen, then exits with a brain full of knowledge, passion, and purpose—and wearing a peculiar flat hat.

Over the years, I continued forming expectations for my high school experience. I worried about the increased workload and how in the world I, having had to dress in uniforms my whole life, was supposed to find something to wear. In elementary and middle school, I began to worry what GPA, SAT, AP, and even what “TYSM” or “LOL” stood for.

But then, before I even learned what high school I wanted to attend, I had to learn what COVID-19 stood for and that realization and the resulting consequences drastically impacted the first few months of my anticipated high school years.

When I finally arrived in freshman year, I felt like an imposter. I was new, I was short, and I felt like I did not belong. I did not think I deserved to be considered

supporting sustainable, small family farms).

A responsibly sourced, plant-based diet is overall the most effective way as an individual to reduce your environmental footprint—leading back to where I started with healthy eating. You don’t have to be 100% vegan to be a conscious citizen. However, everyone can take positive action for the health of the environment that often coincides with your own.

As for when you do eat meat, fish, or other animal products, the same attention to sourcing is important.

Regenerative agriculture is something I’ve been recently introduced to, and I’ve seen some stands at my local farmers market selling regeneratively farmed meat.

Explore! Since I’ve gotten started, I’ve discovered that there is an abundance of incredible earth-conscious options. You just have to know to look.

Consumer habits have the power to enact broader change in industry and society. One overarching piece of advice I have is to ask yourself, does what I’m buying support my values? Do my actions align with my values?

Both are your choices.

My journey to becoming an environmental citizen has not been a straight line. Industrial agriculture and meat proliferation are just some of the many problems and include waste, packaging, transportation, and energy usage—and the magnitude of these problems can feel overwhelming. Larger action by governments is needed.

Yet we can collectively all do our own part, and we must start somewhere—this summer is a great opportunity to begin learning, looking, and taking action. While my impact is small, it is not insignificant, and my time at Nueva has taught me that I have the ability to make a difference in the world. This is only the beginning. Earth is beautiful, and I think we all want to keep it that way.

“gifted.” I struggled, like many students at my age and at Nueva, with imposter syndrome. I was mired in feelings of self-doubt.

It took months for me to finally ask for help. For the first half of the year like all of my peers, I entered classrooms through Zoom waiting rooms and ended my school day by stepping away from my desk, scattered with papers and pencil shavings. I was overwhelmed and felt no connection with the school or my classmates.

Eventually, I gained the courage to participate in conversations with mentors about how to connect with my peers. I began to attend social hours and start discussions during breaks. I never considered myself a shy person; I just realized I was not making an effort to reach out.

Still, this year drastically missed my expectations for high school, but I’m not surprised. I had imagined lunches at tables, chatting in the hallways, assemblies sprinkled with laughter and smiling faces, and students creating circles of friends and not stuck inside the circles of socially distanced hula hoops. And yes, maybe a song or two.

I never thought I would make it to the summer again.

It was a first year with fewer friends and an obsession with hand sanitizer. But I will be back in the fall and grateful for my real Nueva experience to begin.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

Faculty pandemic outfits How your teachers are surviving endless Zoom meetings and classes STORY BY SERENA S.

Amber Carpenter (English)

During the pandemic, my style has primarily been committed to comfort: joggers, pajama bottoms, t-shirts, and oversized sweatshirts. My clothing staple was a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, navy-blue with pink polka dots, that felt soft and suitable for sitting in a desk chair for several hours per day. I learned that amenity is far more important than fashion in the midst of a pandemic. I certainly missed getting dressed for a particular purpose or outing; I would often open my closet door, scan all of its contents, and feel a sense of despair.

It may sound silly, but clothing and style have always played a part in my individuality, in what I choose to present to the world around me. When you are suddenly pulled from that familiar world and forced to remain in your house day in and day out, for weeks and months at a time, clothing and fashion become trivial.

Three exquisite games to play this summer If you need more ways to waste time, look no further STORY BY JACK F.

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ummer is on the horizon and the school-year is coming to an end, which means the season of playing an unhealthy amount of video games is here. Here are three video games that are detailed, character-driven, and offer infinite replay.

Genshin Impact Genshin Impact, an adventure-style game, is my first recommendation—and the game I’m playing as I write this. In a sentence, Genshin Impact is like Zelda: Breath of The Wild but in a 3D anime style, each region modeled

Michaela Danek (Science)

My style was all kinds of athleisure clothing that was usually covered in Hulk’s dog hair from taking cuddle breaks between Zoom meetings. It’s not really clothing but AirPods made quarantine work more bearable because I could walk, cook, carry Antonela, rub Hulk’s tummy all while being “fully” present on my Zoom calls. This is a little gross but when most of the day just involves sitting at a table, you can recycle outfits multiple times before needing to wash them (unless you’re sweating bullets in a stressful meeting).

Arta Khakpour (History)

I suspect I’m not the only person that learned that changing into your work/school clothes even on a remote day is a good way of motivating yourself and getting some energy. This was a lesson I’d learned in graduate school – when it was possible to stay in sweats for half the week while doing dissertation writing, changing only to take the train to Manhattan and teach. This was not a good policy then, and I realized the same lesson quickly into the pandemic. So no crazy pandemic fashions for me, ultimately.

My new normal was just normal.

Kevin Quinn (English)

I don’t think I changed my style much when I was on Zoom. Perhaps there was one day when I wore a hoodie to class and everyone was shocked. I never did that again!

When not on Zoom, my go-to was my black cashmere hoodie/sweatpants combo from Naadam. There is nothing on earth more comfortable to wear. I didn’t learn anything in particular other than the fact that I missed buying and wearing shoes! I don’t think I bought a pair of shoes for at least the first eight months of the pandemic—and that is something none of my friends would believe given my love of good shoes!

Allie Alberts (English)

ENTERTAINMENT / PAGE 21

I have two little kids, and when they were born, I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to think about clothes every day for work. So I just started wearing black and white so everything would go with everything else. (Also, I lived in New York for 15 years, where it is totally normal to wear black every day of the year.) Even though they are 3 and 7 now, this is still largely my everyday wardrobe, even during shelter in place. [My staple has been] my L.L.Bean moccasins with a pair of hiking socks!

I’ve had long periods of working at home before (I had two non-teaching research fellowships in grad school), and then, as now, I learned that getting dressed like I am going to work every day is really important for me to get into the right mindset.

after real places with an added fantasy twist.

“It’s a fun, free-to-play game that has good mechanics and nice visuals. Although it does have luck-based elements, it is fair enough that it doesn’t feel hard to play,” Claire Callan ’23 said. “I think there is a lot of interesting variety to the gameplay and the ways you can use the characters.”

Genshin Impact offers different characters, elements, skills, and weapons, all of which can be leveled up. Even though the game is free, the visuals are exquisite and each character has an excellent and detailed design. The addictive aspect of this game is that there is always more you can do: you can ascend (level up) characters, weapons, or artifacts, complete the daily commissions or tasks, defeat the weekly boss, find all the chests hidden around the massive map, or just wander around and pick flowers and fruits.

Sky: Children of the Light For those who love the flight aspect of games, I would recommend Sky: Children of the Light, an exploration-centric game in which you fly across the expansive map collecting “light.” Sky’s characters are faceless and genderless, which can help the game feel more inclusive. There is also a multiplayer aspect to the game, including a hand-holding ability to help out newer players which I find incredibly cute.

“At its core, Sky is a game about compassion and generosity… it’s about connecting people and nudging them to do good for each other,” said Jenova Chen, the creative director of Sky. Sky is a much more aesthetic game compared to Genshin Impact or Cookie Run, with purposeful color schemes and abstract character designs. Throughout the game, I would pause, simply taken aback by the beauty of the landscape. It was art, and truthfully I almost cried when I reached the first major checkpoint of the game (I won’t go into any more detail for spoilers’ sake).

Cookie Run Cookie Run is a definite stylistic outlier: it’s visuals are cartoony rather than picturesque.

I discovered the game in fifth grade when Prauu, an exchange student from Thailand, introduced it to me. At the time, it consumed my every waking moment; roughly seven years later, I’m still obsessed. Cookie Run is like a relay Geometry Dash with less geometry and more dashing. Everything is sugar-themed: each character is a kind of cookie, the starter character being the classic gingerbread man, and each has their own special power-up candies. The game is definitely addictive—but for some, it’s an acquired taste. At times, it can be overwhelming and hard to navigate because there is so much going on. However, there is much less of a plot compared to the two other games, which can honestly be refreshing. You don’t have to talk to non-playable characters or watch cutscenes; instead, you can just lose yourself in performing satisfyingly smooth jump slides and runs.

THE NUEVA CURRENT

PAGE 22 / ENTERTAINMENT

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2

Creating the Composite Senior Crafting a single entity to represent the legacies left behind by the Class of 2021 STORY BY BAYAN S.

CLASS SCHEDULES

QUEST PROJECTS

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Composite Senior has quite the packed schedule across their final year at Nueva; they take a variety of classes, listed here in order of popularity:

The creative multitude of the Quest projects is too great to be ignored, and it’s a testament to the diversity of the grade that only one category—culinary arts— had projects in the double digits and only barely. We can therefore conclude that the Composite Senior’s Quest would result in an incredibly ambitious project with not just one subject, but five:

he Class of 2021 has lived through an irreplicable tenure at Nueva, being the first class to enter Nueva with a graduated class, the first class with 100 students (however briefly), and the first class to experience their entire senior year amidst a world-changing global pandemic—all part of an incredibly unique experience that will be lost to the winds of time.

The Class of 2026 will likely have no conception of what this graduating class was like, and, as such, the preservation of today’s seniors is of the utmost importance.

Hence, to preserve the unique experiences of this year’s graduating class, I have created the Composite Senior: a hypothetical senior student consisting of the combined attributes from the Class of 2021, ranging from classes to Quests to fields of study.

FIELDS OF STUDY The field of study is both the hardest and paradoxically simplest attribute of the Composite Senior to determine—simpler because fields are easy to rank, but difficult because required courses (such as Shakespeare in the Modern World) muddy the waters. However, with some margin of error, I can state that the general fields of interest for the Composite Senior are, in order: 1. History 2. Chemistry 3. Physics 4. I-Lab 5. Economics The Composite Senior, evidently, has quite the array of interests, though it does make one wonder how they’re able to juggle so many varying fields in their schedule, especially when studying for any one of them will give little overlap—looks like the Composite Senior will be enduring long nights of studying in spite of their senioritis. Perhaps we’ll learn how they do so with a look into the structure that will shape the Composite Senior during their final year at Nueva: the schedule.

1. Drug Design 2. Linear Algebra 3. International Relations 4. Advanced Mechanics 5. Advanced Spanish: Communication The Composite Senior’s top choice for class, perhaps surprisingly, is Drug Design!

Despite Drug Design’s multiple prerequisites, the Composite Senior joins their legion of peers in hoping to integrate into the equally competitive and lucrative pharmaceutical industry.

The choice of Linear Algebra demonstrates that they have either a strong focus in mathematics or a sense of masochism in the face of a relentless waterfall of homework washing over them.

With this rigorous course selection, they join the ranks of people who can perform a Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization—quite the achievement in the face of a global pandemic and senioritis.

In third place is International Relations, providing the Composite Senior with the knowledge and frameworks needed to become extremely frustrated at every layperson’s extreme arrogance in their own political beliefs. Perhaps we’ll see the Composite Senior living a successful life as a skilled politician or populist ideologue in the future.

The Composite Senior is also skilled in Advanced Mechanics, comprehending kinematics, oscillation, transformations of energy, and innumerable other physics concepts beyond the author’s humanities conceptions.

The Composite Senior’s passion for Spanish cannot be understated: Spanish 5 is the only language to make top 5, and the closest other language course in popularity was Spanish 4!

Despite these seemingly definitive choices, you cannot discount the astonishing 35 classes with no more than 2 seniors attending them!

From music to biology to economics, there’s a limitless number of classes the Composite Senior could’ve found themselves taking.

1. Culinary Arts 2. Writing & Literature 3. Computer Science 4. Fitness & Athletics 5. Visual Arts To integrate the Computer Science element, the Quest would utilize a digital medium, while centering on Culinary Arts.

By combining these two, we can decide that the Quest product would be software related to cooking. To utilize Fitness & Athletics, we propose an application or website that promotes and facilitates healthy eating.

To use a liberal definition of Writing & Literature, the inclusion of recipes in the software would qualify. Add in some stunning pictures of prepared meals and lo and behold, the Composite Senior has finalized their mythical 5-category Quest!

THE COMPOSITE SENIOR Following this exercise in number-crunching and overabundant extrapolation, one undeniable fact makes itself clear above all others: There will never truly be a Composite Senior.

The Composite Senior created by the averaging of classes and theorizations over Quest creates a striking character, but the multitudes that define the class of 2021 are lost. Though its members may share experiences, ties, and classes, each has undergone a journey at Nueva specific to themselves, and those nuances are lost in composition. The creation of the Composite Senior leaves us not with preservation, but with insight into how the Class of 2021 will be remembered.

When the Seniors leave the halls of Nueva, the details that form their first-to-100-students, midpandemic, 5th graduating class experience will be lost. Yet while the true Senior sinks away into both the sands of time and the recesses of Nueva’s memory, only the shadow of their academic experience—the Composite Senior—will remain.

Little moments, big nostalgia

Brief bits of “normalcy” missed from pre-pandemic school INTERVIEWS BY ISABELLE S.

I really miss being able to get snacks from the Café, hanging out on the third floor of the Rosenberg Wing, lying on the floor of the 175s, the peace of the third-floor WRC, and literally all of the couches.

I so miss my lunchtime routine with my friends. We’d head over to the Whole Foods area and get Chipotle for lunch, sometimes topping it off with a drink or pastry from Starbucks. I have such positive memories of conversations and good times we had at those lunches, and I will never not be reminded of them whenever I go to Chipotle and Starbucks now.

CATHERINE C. ’21

LUCY B. ’21

I really enjoyed chatting and working in the WRC fireplace area with friends throughout the year since it was always really calm and cozy, especially during the winter months.

The hot food and the ability to craft your own lunch. I took one of the leftover teacher meals at the end of the day. It was a roast beef sandwich with garlic mayo, tomatoes, on top of a baguette style bread, with corn.

MICHELLE Z. ’23

LIVI P. ’23

My friends and I used to hang out by the red lockers on the second floor. We would sit, stand, and lie in that cramped space, talking, laughing, playing video games, or just working on homework.

JONATHON T. ’22 The days that we got Tin Pot, we would walk to the train a little earlier.

I usually got Passion Fruit or a cookie flavor, and my friend would get Earl Grey or Jasmine Tea. KAREN G. ’22 I do miss the toast—the jam and toast or butter and toast.

DOMINIC L. ’23 Playing soccer in the courtyard.

Tea and toast. The couches.

NICO B. ’23

THE NUEVA CURRENT

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

Sports Briefing WRITTEN BY SERENA S. & ELLIE K.

Girls Basketball Led by coach Laurel Donnenwirth and assistant coach Gavin Bradley, the 12-player team practices four days a week, typically using the hour and a half each day to run through plays and prepare for upcoming games. Due to the delayed start of games, however, the season has condensed all games with a raise of two to three games per week.

Throughout the season, the team competed against rival schools such as Crystal Springs, Castilleja, Summit Shasta, Pacific Bay Christain, Design Tech, and Mercy Burlingame. As a team, they have worked on teambuilding not only for bonding but also for the games.

“We always encourage each other and we understand how each other plays,” said Hope H. ’22, who has played on the team since her freshman year.

“One thing our coach says is if we have great energy, then our outcome tends to be better, we score better, our accuracy becomes better.”

The team’s last regular-season game was against Crystal Springs on May 28.

However, they also competed in the first round of CCS against Pacific Point Christian on June 8.

Boys Basketball Even with the interruption of COVID-19, the 13-member varsity boys basketball team, coached by history teacher Barry Treseler, has continued to outperform their league.

Spending around two hours together six days a week for practices and games, the team has grown closely knit.

“The team in my eyes is one big family; as a new member of the varsity team, I felt completely welcome and at home,” Nathan L. ’23 said. “We all push each other to the best we can be, but we definitely don’t leave out any jokes or fun.”

During practice, the team prepares both physically and mentally for upcoming games.

While the team strives to win each game, additional emphasis is put on individual growth.

“Whether [it] be focusing on dribbling or shooting better, if everyone on the team can improve at least a bit every day, then the team as a whole would improve greatly,” Nathan said.

Playing against Pescadero, Summit Shasta, Design Tech, Pacific Bay Christain, and Crystal Springs, they finished the regular season with an overall record of 7-2 (losing twice against Summit Shasta). They will attend CCS playoffs with the goal of winning their whole division.

Their first game of the playoffs will be June 10 against Summit Shasta, who they hope to beat for the first time this season.

Boys Soccer While most sports teams were able to compete semi-normally this year, the boys soccer season was heavily modified because of COVID-19 and lack of participation. Even with only one game and a few players, the boys team met two to three times per week to train at the San Mateo campus or with the girls soccer team at the Hillsborough campus.

The only game, a season highlight, was against Crystal Springs. They were able to bring in players to compete with full numbers and the teams tied 4-4.

Though they had an incomplete season, Daniel R. ’23 looks forward to 2022.

“I think the team dynamic is great and will hopefully improve next season when we have more players,” Daniel said.

Next year, the team hopes to revive its numbers and get back to a more normal season of soccer.

Track and Field

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CHRIS WADE

Although last year’s track and field season was cut short due to COVID-19, the track and field team came back eager and excited to be on the run this year. Coached by Robert Lopez and assistant coaches Sheryl Taylor and Ben Nealy, the team practiced six days a week primarily at Bay Meadows Park and sometimes on other trails for longdistance training.

The team was prompted to move up to the WBAL league this season, as their usual PSAL league was unable to run this year. They joined the league late, missing some races, but still ended up competing in several meets.

Additionally, with the decrease in participation this season, each member was individually scored during the meets rather than as a whole team. The focus on individually improving has led many to break their personal records this season.

Dominic L. ’23 broke his 100-meter personal record by a few tenths of a second and Kelly P. ’24 broke her 1600-meter record as well.

“Breaking [my PR] really validated all the hard work and training I’ve put into the season,” Kelly said.

On June 4, the team competed at the WBAL Championships where many more members shattered personal records. The team was also visited by a few Nueva track alumni to cheer on the runners.

“I’m really proud and thankful for everyone on the team,” Kelly said.

CCS semifinals are June 12, and their team Instagram page @nuevaxctf will be used to capture some of their favorite moments.

SPORTS / PAGE 23

Boys Tennis Crammed onto two practice courts, the boys tennis team shared enough support to progress through another difficult COVID-19 season. The varsity team, coached by math teacher Coltrane Hunt (and economics teacher Patrick Berger coaching the JV team), held flexible practices at a public court park. The 15 players split into two groups during practices—half playing tennis and half working on conditioning.

The short season, a multitude of freshmen players, various competitors, and challenging conditioning instilled a feeling of bonding and a team dynamic.

“Everyone was so excited to actually play tennis with each other in person.

For a lot of us, it was the first time we’d played tennis since the pandemic cut off last year’s season prematurely,” Luca L. ’23 said. “Us sophomores welcomed in the new freshmen and were often happily surprised by how well they played.”

The season consisted of six games for both junior varsity and varsity. Junior varsity improved from last season and single players grasped various victories. Though there were few team victories, the true success manifested in team bonding and regaining skills. “I have high hopes for the next season,” said Alex W. ’24. “I really hope to practice more and win some games as a team.”

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021

THE NUEVA CURRENT

SPORTS / PAGE 24

Girls beach volleyball season ends with co-ed practices Boys grass volleyball team joins girls team for scrimmages in final weeks CELEBRATORY PHOTO • The girls soccer team holds captain Emma Leschly ’21 in a celebratory end-of-year photo after a game. PHOTO BY SERGIO RIVERA

Kicking it up a notch A year of pandemic pushes team up a league and toward a stronger community STORY BY ISABELLE S.

A PLAYING IN THE SUN • The beach and boys volleyball teams scrimmage on Notre Dame Belmont's outdoor courts. The 20 players across the two teams were able to play, socially distanced and masked.

PHOTO BY RACHEL FREEMAN

STORY BY ALICE T.

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he girls beach volleyball season ended on May 26 with a small popsicle celebration by the Notre Dame Belmont sand courts where the team held their eight practices over the course of the past four weeks, three of which were played with the boys grass volleyball team.

The two teams together totaled 20 players, who ran drills and mixed competitions while being coached by beach volleyball coaches Rachel Freeman and Rachel Miller as well as grass volleyball coach Francisco Becerra-Hernandez.

Nicole K. ’23, a member of the girls beach volleyball team, had been joining in on the boys team practices before the beach season started. With the support of her teammates, she pitched the idea of having a combined practice to the coaches, who believed it was beneficial to both teams.

“I think having two teams come together always challenges the players in a way that can’t be replicated in practice,” Freeman said. “Being able to face different competition who have different tendencies helps broaden the skills that you build when you’re learning about how to play against other people.”

During the combined sessions, many games of Queen of The Court were played—a classic sports drill—as well as a lively round-robin on the last day of practices. The teams mixed all high schoolers of varying ages, genders, and skill levels, resulting in fun and skill-balanced games.

“Playing with the boys and the girls together is a great way to build new connections between genders and grades,” Nicole said. “We all seem to be playing better together and challenging each other more, which is really great.”

Even though the players’ time together was limited, the experience was one to remember.

New inter-grade and inter-gender friendships were forged, but most importantly, as Max M. ’24 said, “it was just more fun.”

lthough the girls soccer team has missed a year of music-filled van rides, locker room shenanigans, and postseason celebrations, the team has not only bounced back this season with stronger team bonding but also advanced into a higher league.

The 16-player team practiced three times a week at Bay Meadows Park and the Hillsborough campus field. While practices consisted mostly of individual training and nocontact drills for the first month of the season due to pandemic restrictions, not only did they return to normal, but the team also competed—in a higher league.

New to the league, the team seemingly came in as the underdog.

However, as their games have proven, they have stepped up and fought their way to recent wins, ultimately beating every other team in the league once.

“Last year, we only had a few games that allowed us to play to our full potential, whereas I think every game this year has been one where we have been challenged,” team captain Emma L. ’21 said.

The sometimes neck-and-neck games allowed the team’s competitive sides to shine. Emma remarks on the empowerment of seeing the entire team step up to fight for the win.

“It’s been so much fun to see everyone go hard under pressure in those tight games.

As captain, seeing the whole team step up has been so fun to be part of,” Emma said.

One of the team’s biggest accomplishments this season was beating Castilleja 3-2 on May 3, a stark contrast from their 2-4 loss last year.

“That was our biggest growth trajectory,” recalled Mira D. ’22, who has played on the team since her freshman year. “It was an exciting game for us—Castilleja is one of our hardest opponents.”

Along with the games, the team competed at the yearly CCS playoffs. This year, however, they advanced to division three—two divisions higher than last year.

With wins also came losses, and a lost part of the Nueva soccer experience during the pandemic was opportunities for team bonding.

Although it was difficult to rebuild the close-knit community within the team at the beginning of the season due to social distancing, the team learned to find and maximize the little moments—warm-ups and water breaks included—they had to bond.

“In a way, we’ve been able to grow as a community and actually become closer in the pandemic because we just appreciate each other more,” Mira said. “It made me appreciate the seniors a lot more too, and I’m definitely going to miss all four of them so much.”

Emma builds onto the close team community, describing the team as “the most competitive but welcoming team.”

“We all want to play and win, but if you have no experience playing soccer, that’s totally fine— everyone is so welcoming,” Emma said. “I think we all just are there for the sport and for the team, and we’re friends on and off the field.”

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CHRIS WADE