From sophomore-year summer to senior-year winter, Alisa Novitskaya volunteered at the Stanford Educational Forum, planting vegetables in the fall and harvesting the crops in the summer. This opportunity opened her eyes to sustainable and organic agriculture and guided her decision to major in agricultural...

Obsessed with horses, Jenna Kang began playing violin at 6 years old because the instrument’s bow was made of horsehair. Since then, Kang has explored classical music as a soloist, chamber musician with Young Chamber Musicians and orchestra musician in the California Youth Symphony and National...

Flipping through artist Patti Smith’s memoir, “Just Kids,” her sophomore year, Siena Tacy was inspired by the photography of Smith’s long-time friend Robert Mapplethorpe. This, alongside taking Photography 1 at Gunn, pushed her to pursue photography more seriously her second semester of sophomore...

They say senior year is the best year for confessions (after all, who’s going to chase you down afterward? An ill-intentioned sibling? A teacher?), and in that spirit, here’s mine: I was — and, at least marginally, still am — a Stephen King fan. All teenagers have their indulgences, and beginning...

Like many other then-freshmen, Zairy Poot found herself bored at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, when she saw her mom starting to work out in the house, she decided to join her. What began as an activity to pass the time slowly evolved into a part of Poot’s routine beginning sophomore year....

Six months, 37 drafts, pages saturated with her favorite authors’ words: While most seniors were trudging through college essays, Vandana Ravi was having a blast.  “Move over, Hamilton,” she joked. “I can write essays.” Such dedication is a hallmark of Ravi’s writing process, which...

Impact: It’s what Deena Abu-Dayeh hopes to pursue as part of Northeastern’s electrical engineering program. Despite the challenges of pursuing a STEM major as a woman of color, her resilience and love for physics propelled her decision. Abu-Dayeh found her path to engineering through her parents’...

Growing up in a family of badminton players, Patrick Chi has pursued badminton since childhood. Today, Chi plays on Gunn’s badminton team — and has for all four years of high school — where he participates in all events: singles, doubles and mixed. He also trains year-round at Elite Badminton Center. Chi’s...

The rock was soft. Or rather, what then third-grader Fiona Li touched weren't rocks but anemones, their tentacles tucked in at low tide. Exploring tidepools for the first time at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, Li discovered an entire microsystem of of marine creatures. "It's special because the creatures...

First to go were things: the cheap charm bracelet I’d bought in Okinawa seven years ago, the Kinder-egg toy, the expired library card from when I lived in Fullerton, the books I read once and vowed never to again. Paging through J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” I felt the same frustration...

Having been on the Gunn Robotics Team for three years, pursuing mechanical engineering seemed like the clear path for GRT captain Jacob Olshen. However, following a visit to the University of Washington, Seattle, where he plans to attend college, he now hopes to pursue electrical and computer engineering. Olshen...