Sports medicine teacher Stacey Kofman balances responsibilities at Gunn, Stanford University, Palo Alto High School (Paly) and Go 4 Ellis. A passion for teaching and helping athletes connects all of Kofman’s jobs. Her career began at Paly as the athletic trainer in 1993. Later, she began teaching...

When English teacher Terence Kitada first came to Gunn in 2013, he was appreciative of the English department’s pseudo-dress code. “I heard from other English teachers that [semi-formal attire] is what you have to wear,” he said. “For me, that was great because I came from teaching in Japan,...

Thankfully for math teacher and fashion lover Kathy Hawes, the math department does not have a dress code, meaning that teachers are able to choose their day-to-day outfits based on personal preference. Hawes takes much joy in this freedom because of her love of fashion. “I find getting dressed...

On Valentine’s Day, instead of the typical red and pink color palette, English teacher Mark Hernandez opted for a black double-breasted suit and a gray and gold tie. The classic and traditional outfit was perfect for Hernandez’s Shakespeare class that day, where he was playing Claudius in “Hamlet.” While...

On a typical weekday, English teacher Kate Zavack begins her morning at 6:00 a.m. at her home in Gilroy, 48 miles away from Gunn. She scrambles to brush her teeth, get dressed, cook lunch and load the car before her son Jude wakes up. By 7:15 a.m., the two are on their way to Jude’s preschool in San...

Many students have found difficulty in the transition to virtual learning. After all, thanks to issues with Wi-Fi, audio and Zoom itself, not to mention the barrier that comes with conducting school remotely, learning has become more challenging. Students, however, aren’t the only ones struggling—teachers,...

Social studies teacher Laurel Howard, Gunn graduate, returned to Palo Alto in 2017 to teach at Gunn after graduating college. When deciding her next move after college, Howard considered many options, but she ultimately decided to return and give back to the community in which she grew up, applying...

When most students graduate from their respective high schools, they don’t think they’ll ever find themselves returning. Yet, Gunn graduate and social studies teacher Haley Perkins got the chance to bring her unique perspective as a former student back by becoming a teacher here. Since...

Throughout the beginning of the school year and the schedule-change frenzy that accompanies it, certain questions are often heard in the hallways at Gunn: “Is this teacher an easy or hard grader?” “Which classes are easy A’s?” While these topics of conversation are common at a high...

Some teachers collect vinyl records or souvenirs of past travels, while others house antique coins and stamps in bound folios. However, for substitute teacher Christopher Duff, the entirety of his collection—a collection of memories, that is—can be hastily drawn on a whiteboard: a peanut...

Science teacher Maria Powell stood on tiptoes to reach for something between lab stations two and three in her biology classroom—crowded with freshmen doing the bacterial transformation lab—and felt the muscles of her right calf tear. “It felt like a zipper unzipping,” she said. She...