During the second semester of his junior year, Mihlaan Selvaretnam transferred to Middle College, a program allowing him to take classes in a cohort at Foothill Community College. At the time, Selvaretnam liked the idea of getting college credits early and felt overwhelmed balancing his time-consuming commitments.

“I was really stressed with all of my schoolwork, wrestling and social life,” he said. “I was trying to balance all three things at once, so I thought it would be a good move to try something new.”

At Foothill, he enjoyed voicing his opinion in discussion-based classes.

“It defnitely fostered a good environment for discussions,” he said. “It was very discussion-based, and you were able to say your actual opinion on something and the teachers were very receptive to what you were saying.”

Selvaretnam noticed that people were less cautious about the topics discussed in class, which benefted his learning. Still, while Selvaretnam enjoyed learning at Foothill, he wanted to be back at Gunn for his fnal year of high school. Returning made him realize how much he had missed the social component of school.

“I made the right decision with coming back to Gunn,” he said. “I was able to learn a lot from Foothill, but it wasn’t well suited for me, and being back here made my senior year feel a lot more eventful and memorable.”

Selvaretnam will be studying business economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, next year.

“The micro and macro econ classes at Foothill really sparked my interest because of how the teacher, Brian Evans, taught the class,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in working for myself, just like my dad does, so I use him as a blueprint and inspiration for my own life path.”