Written by Miranda Smith
When I was 16, I fell in love with another counselor at an all-girls summer camp in Maine. No, I’m not pitching you a twenty-first century coming-of-age rom-com (but look for it in a theater near you, summer 2040), but this is how my entire world flipped upside down over...
Written by Emily Cao
“I am intimidated by the fear of being average.”
For as long as I could remember, I have always been scared of a lot of different things. As an elementary school student, I had an entire menagerie of fears. They were my little collection of cynicisms about the world around...
Written by Challis Michael
Cancer. Cancer? CANCER. I had heard the word, said the word and discussed the word, but until January of 2014 I had never lived the word. My life until that point had been pretty idyllic and I knew it. I grew up in San Diego, moved to Arizona for college, then London...
Written by Jenna Marvet
A high schooler has many weights they must carry with them. The stress of classes, exams, friends, relationships and future plans looming in the distance. It’s all difficult, but adding the trauma of sexual assault on top of the heavy stack made me worry everything would...
Written by Chloe Sorensen
When I first arrived at Gunn, I was not the type of person to open up to others or talk about how I felt, let alone ask for help. When people offered to help me, I tended to dismiss it, because I didn’t want them to go out of their way to help me. However, here at Gunn,...
Written by Evalyn Li
Grief come in many forms and avenues. As we struggle to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, we all respond and behave differently. Here, senior Alper Karakas tells his story in the hope that it can provide light for those struggling.
Karakas stands up and grabs his...
Written by Shawna Chen
If you’ve been my friend since elementary school, one of the questions that most often came up in our conversations was probably: “Are you mad at me?”
I’ve been insecure ever since I can remember. To some degree, everybody has insecurities, but when your behavior...
Written by Matthew Shi
I went into freshman year feeling confident, like most if not all freshmen. I had just graduated from middle school, had done fine in all my academics, and didn’t feel as if I could mess up. For me, the world was limitless, and anything I wanted to do I could accomplish.
A...
Written by Yuki Klotz-Burwell
Halfway through the first semester of my freshman year, I had mastered the facade that my grades were perfect and that my life was under control. I pretended that I was happy and healthy and doing well in school. The reality of the situation, however, was the complete...
Written by Shawna Chen
Math teacher Rachel Congress arrived home one night in 2010 to the smell of gas filling her house. She found her then-husband intoxicated at the stove, cooking dinner over an ignited burner that had not lighted its flame. Her husband had lacked a sense of smell from his youth,...
Written by Lisa Hao
As a journalist, I know the importance of storytelling. Personal stories can join communities by offering new perspectives and helping others feel less alone. Although I’m much more accustomed to reporting other people’s stories, I believe it is also important to finally share...
Annie Shuey—Gunn Class of 2011
Whoever said that high school is the best four years of your life sure didn’t spend their weekday evenings in grueling, three-hour-long SAT prep classes. They didn’t spend an anxiety-ridden senior year applying to 19 colleges, only to be rejected by a solid majority....
