In 2012, English teacher Shaina Holdener was completing her Masters in Education in the Stanford Teacher Education Program, when she was told to choose a group for a project. “I was just like, ‘Okay, this is a make-or-break situation, when who you pick is going to determine everything,’” she...

Biology and anatomy teacher Maria Powell met chemistry teacher Dr. Heather Mellows while they were teaching chemistry together at Gunn. Mellows came a year earlier than Powell, and, as teachers in the same department, Mellows became a mentor figure for Powell. “She (was) very patient and generous with...

The term “self-love” has recently been gaining traction with the sharpening focus on mental health, but many people rarely stop to think about it or realize its importance. As teenagers, we often criticize ourselves for things that shouldn’t matter in the long run, such as beating ourselves...

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,...