Although most of the priority areas carried over from last year, Innovation replaced Healthy Attendance in this year’s Promise following more consistent attendance and increased interest in new artificial intelligence tools. Key subgoals include incorporating technology into curriculum and instruction, increasing students’ access to postsecondary opportunities. Because these goals are recent and constantly evolving, PAUSD Board Member Shana Segal explained the importance of engaging students. “We’ve been hearing that it’s hard for students to attend after-school committee meetings, so we’re trying to hold more meetings during lunch and use the feedback to guide teaching practices and improve learning experiences,” she said. “As a board member, I’m very appreciative of students who come and speak because I take the words of every student into account and find it very meaningful.”

Serve and Celebrate Others, defined in the 2022-23 annual report as “building people up through positive interactions and acknowledging those who invest in others,” has been a long-standing priority of the district. Still, Board President Jennifer DiBrienza noted that it continues to adopt new meanings. “We have a long history of expecting kids to do community service and then putting it on their transcript,” she said. “But we’re trying to move from doing it for credit to doing it because it’s a worthwhile thing to do. There are so many amazing things our staff does — we’re trying to recognize those.” Examples of this recognition include the traveling builder helmet, awarded to employees who are positively impacting their communities, and the State Seal of Civic Engagement, awarded to civically active high schoolers.

Post-pandemic, Mental Health and Wellness has been another district priority, and it is one that DiBrienza expects will remain in future Promises.

In addition to providing tiered levels of support based on student needs and expanding the Social Emotional Learning curriculum, the district is also working to bolster staff mental health support, according to Principal Wendy Stratton. “We now have a therapist for staff that anyone can reach out to, and I’ve already heard from some Gunn staff who said they’ve reached out,” she said. “I think it’s so important that staff are supported because they’re on the front lines of working with our students.”

The goals of Early Literacy and Equity and Excellence were also renewed from last year’s Promise. Data from the iReady Assessment, Smarter Balanced Assessment and Panorama Survey indicate that the district has made strides in supporting the academic achievement of underrepresented groups and the development of a more diverse and inclusive curriculum.

Stratton hopes that Gunn will continue to progress in both areas this year by maximizing resources and opportunities in equitable ways. “To interrupt predictable patterns of performance for target groups’ students, we know that you have to look at many areas, like school climate, curriculum and instruction, and community engagement,” she said. “We’re working hard at Gunn with the SLAM (Student Leaders Anti-Racist Movement) program, the Student Leaders for Equity and the diversity commissioners on SEC to have more events that celebrate all of our different students and make them feel seen and special for who they are.”

The city’s abundant wealth and resources create a Palo Alto “bubble,” which often causes residents to be unaware of hardships that people from other areas experience: lack of resources, funding and a clean living environment.

Educational privileges

Palo Alto is known for its excellent public school system. According to Niche, all three Palo Alto Unified School District middle schools are among the 15 highest- ranked middle schools in California; Palo Alto High School is among the top 10 public high schools in California; and PAUSD is the best school district in America. Gunn itself is ranked first in California and 35th nationally among public schools, according to Niche. In addition, Gunn has high standardized-testing scores and a graduation rate of 94%, higher than the public school national average of 85%.

Gunn is able to provide its students with exceptional education largely through PAUSD funding. PAUSD is a basic-aid district, meaning that it receives funding from local property taxes in addition to basic-aid funding from the state of California. Partners in Education also works to raise money specifically for teacher salaries across the district. Altogether, PAUSD receives nearly $300 million each year to support students’ education, almost 90% of which come from local taxes.

Using these funds, Palo Alto provides educational resources such as Gizmos, Naviance and other applications, available in each student’s Rapid Identity portal. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, PAUSD spends approximately $25,000 to $26,000 per student every year, exceeding the national average of about $15,000 to $16,000.

These readily available funds give Gunn students access to a variety of resources and extracurricular activities. Junior Solyana Biadglegne, a transfer student from Leipzig, Germany, who moved to Palo Alto in November 2022, explained the disparity in resources between Gunn and her old school. “This place is just incredible — I think it’s obvious because it’s Palo Alto and Palo Alto is a rich city, but also there’s so many resources and opportunities for you,” she said. “At my old school, we had great teachers and a few clubs, but that was basically it.”

Gunn alumna Shauntel Lim, a freshman at Northwestern University, explained that the educational preparation and support that Gunn provided her made her college experience easier. “Within Palo Alto, we have access to good teachers, classes and extracurriculars, whereas I come here and I hear about (other) people’s high school experiences, and it definitely sounds harder where they’re living, where their schools are underfunded,” she said. “They definitely have to work harder on their own to reach the same amount of achievement (at Northwestern).”

Most of the resources PAUSD provides, such as Individualized Education Programs that ensure specialized instruction for students with disabilities, are state-mandated. However, history teacher Benjamin Beresford finds that Palo Alto often offers more than the minimum required by state mandates, such as co-teaching and the Academic Center, which has student tutors available to aid their peers. “At my previous school, which was very small, we didn’t really have all of these resources,” he said. “I had students who would have really benefited from the resources you could get at a public school like Gunn.”

Gunn students are instructed by a supportive and qualified teaching staff: Many teachers have pursued higher education, such as masters and doctorate degrees, further improving the quality of education in Palo Alto. PAUSD guidelines also require teachers to meet certain standards of accommodation and attention to students.

Environmental factors

Palo Alto, as a major center of technological innovation, is home to many of today’s most prominent, industry-leading corporations. Hundreds of startups have begun in Palo Alto, many started by alumni from nearby Stanford University, including Google and HP. According to data from Pitchbook, a venture-capital database, Stanford graduates have founded more startups and raised more venture-capital funding than graduates of any other university in the country over the past decade.

Many have moved to the city because of its reputation for technological excellence: Biadglegne’s parents relocated her family to Palo Alto for those very reasons. “Palo Alto and Silicon Valley are known for innovation and good schools, so education and jobs are the main reasons we came here,” she said. “We found everything we needed and wanted.”

Palo Alto also has shopping centers, restaurants and recreational spaces both in and around it. However, rising property values create high prices for foods and goods compared to other areas — one of the pitfalls of shopping in the city.

Since 2021, Palo Alto has been designated as a Gold-Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicycles, and has plentiful communal amenities such as parks, playgrounds, libraries, and walking and biking trails. In 2021, only 15% of cities and towns in the U.S. received a Gold or Platinum designation. Although many take these facilities for granted, they greatly improve residents’ daily lives. For example, research from the Journal of Transport and Health found that people in more walkable environments had lower rates of obesity and chronic diseases. According to KRON4, Palo Alto residents have a 22% obesity rate, 11% lower than the national average of 33%.

Furthermore, Palo Alto’s natural environment is well maintained and healthy thanks to environmental services provided by the city. These services include Zero Waste, a waste-management system that seeks to decrease landfill waste and encourage composting; Watershed Protection, which reduces the amount of waste entering local waterways; and the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, an extensive strategy to reduce citywide carbon emissions in coming years. To receive funding for these services, Palo Alto has several community partners that provide financial support to the city, including Stanford University, Friends of the Junior Museum and Zoo, Palo Alto Arts Foundation and Neighbors Abroad.

Expectations

Living in a wealthy city replete with resources, Palo Alto residents, including students, can be isolated from the challenges that less wealthy communities face. However, mental burdens still exist. While — or perhaps because — Palo Alto is a center of technological innovation and excellence, students often feel pressure to succeed and surpass their peers academically. Biadglegne said the environment at Gunn is more competitive than that of her previous school. “At my old school, it was competitive, but it was also a small school,” she said. “Even if one had an accomplishment or internship, they would tell their friends to apply, and if someone has a big accomplishment, everyone celebrates it. But here, they (often) say, ‘Don’t tell that person I got an internship at this place.’”

This competition and pressure manifests itself most conspicuously during the college admissions process. Beresford noted that Gunn students often have high expectations to attend prestigious universities after high school. “There’s a culture that you’re expected to apply and go to some kind of elite (university) like the Ivy Leagues, or at least Berkeley, Stanford, University of Chicago,” he said.

As a result of this culture, students often become hyper-focused on their grades and test scores. “A student’s motivation to complete work is around getting a certain grade, not necessarily around completing an activity or understanding,” Beresford said. “As a teacher, it can feel like my intent for why I’m teaching you something feels different from (a student’s) reason for wanting to learn something.”

Additionally, with the abundance of engineering, computer science and science-based companies and opportunities present, students often face pressure to pursue and succeed in STEM-related fields. Gunn alumnus Michael Wang, a freshman at Brown University, said that if somebody mentioned that they were from Silicon Valley or the Bay Area at Brown, people would automatically assume that they planned to work in technology or computer science.

Palo Alto has established Wellness Centers and mental health resources to support students. Gunn has mental health professionals working on-site, as well as an established SELF program to aid students in social-emotional learning. The ability to create such resources is, in a way, yet another example of Palo Alto privilege: According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, during the 2021-22 school year, around half of public schools in the U.S. received funding for mental health services, and less than 41% of schools hired staff to focus on students’ mental health.

Ultimately, Lim believes many Gunn students are unaware of, or do not acknowledge, the privileges they possess. “It’s important to acknowledge problems (outside of our bubble),” she said. “(This includes) socioeconomic and racial problems. Living within the Palo Alto bubble, we don’t see a lot of that firsthand.”

The stereotypical high school party portrays chaotic teenagers dancing and jumping to loud music. However, according to junior Sarah Tannenwald, party culture at Gunn is not as drama-filled, action-packed or crazy as media suggests. “Gunn (doesn’t really have) the traditional party culture you see in movies,” she said. “(Actually,) there aren’t that many parties at Gunn.”

Nonetheless, senior Adele Davis believes that the parties Gunn does have are enjoyable social experiences. Typically, these parties celebrate an occasion or act as an opportunity for individuals to commune with each other. “It’s a time for people to hang out and have fun,” Davis said. Tannenwald agreed that attending parties can be a positive social experience. “(It’s a good time to) listen to music, meet new people (and) sometimes eat,” she said. Parties provide unique situations for students to reach out and meet new people beyond their normal school peers.

Yet not everyone believes in the positive side of teenage party culture. “Especially with teenagers, (party culture) has a bad reputation,” Davis said. In a self-selected student survey sent out to Gunn students by The Oracle with 25 responses, an anonymous student critiqued parties and party culture. “Parties are a complete distraction and an artificial form of having fun,” they wrote.

Whether positive or negative, student experiences with parties will vary for each person depending on their circumstances. In particular, parties tend to take place at different times for students of different grades.

For example, during AP test preparation season, some students can enjoy the warmer days with fewer responsibilities. “Especially for seniors, people relax more during second semester, so there are more (parties),” Davis said. For juniors, on the other hand, Tannenwald believes that there is more time for parties and social events in the fall semester. “Earlier in the year, there was more time to relax,” she said. “Now, everyone is more stressed.”

Despite their social nature, parties can often have an exclusivity element. “People are very ‘cliquey’ with who they invite,” Davis said. “(Some) people tend to like hanging out with their friends, rather than meeting new people.”

Tannenwald shared similar insights. “Exclusivity occurs because there are specific friend groups that are not good at mixing or intertwining,” she said. “Sometimes when you walk into a party, there’s no music or it’s just really quiet. It’s awkward (at first) if people don’t know each other. If it’s not your normal group of friends, you can feel tension.”

Related to exclusivity, Davis has seen individuals affected by the Fear Of Missing Out when it comes to parties. “There’s definitely a lot of FOMO that people can feel if they’re not invited to certain things or are left out,” she said. “Social media definitely makes it worse because you can see other people posting about things (that you were excluded from).”

Tannenwald has experienced FOMO before, but new experiences have shifted her perspective. “I used to feel it earlier in the year, or when I was younger,” she said. “But now I just have different priorities.”

While parties can serve as a serious distraction to students from typical academic rigor, students still can find themselves conflicted by them—despite Gunn’s party culture being minimal compared to other areas. However, Davis believes that due to the studious environment Gunn creates, students are still capable of managing their time well. “For Gunn students, it doesn’t have too much effect (on school life) because people here are very academically focused,” she said. “People know how to balance.”

According to junior John Lee, Valentine’s Day is one of multiple love celebrations in Korea. “Korea has a lot of celebration days, for example the celebration of 100 days in a relationship,” he said. Nonetheless, public community places such as cafés, movie theaters and amusement parks provide special events for couples on Valentine’s Day. “They give more discounts to couples,” Lee said. “For example, at the movies, they give extra popcorn.”

In Southeast Asia, Singapore celebrates Valentine’s Day similarly to the U.S. However, the day is not recognized as an official holiday. Sophomore Joshua Shin said that Valentine’s Day is not just for couples, but also for friends to exchange presents. Public events are also hosted, such as music carnivals and fashion shows for the entire week of Valentine’s Day. Confessions are often made with flowers, and different shades are used to convey different messages. For example, red roses represent love and respect while pale pink roses symbolize grace and joy.

School events similar to the SEC Valentine’s Day grams were organized in Lee’s Korean school. “We sold candy and made a name tag for people to send it to someone anonymously, or to send it with their name on it,” Lee said. Likewise, students at Shin’s Singaporean school participated in similar activities. “You can buy candy and then gift it to someone in person,” Shin said.

Expectations

Expectations of a grand holiday dinner feast are shown in the extravagant meal in the famous Disney film “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.” Family and friends from all over town come with presents and gifts to celebrate the holiday together. People clink their glasses, savor the food and have a merry time. The fragrant Christmas tree is adorned with beautiful ornaments, candy canes, fairy lights and a glistening gold star at the peak. Along with the grand depiction of holiday festivities in media, are also portrayals of characters falling in intense, romantic love. This is featured in major film franchises such as the “Harry Potter” film series and the romantic comedy “Holidate.” In the movie “Holidate,” a man and woman agree to be each other’s holiday date to avoid remarks on marriage from family, but ultimately end up falling in love.

Throughout the Harry Potter films, Harry and his friends form bonds of friendship as they spend time or keep in contact with each other over the holidays. Ron Weasley’s feelings for Hermione Granger are officially confirmed during the Yule Ball, a holiday celebration at Hogwarts, in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

Of course, one cannot forget the music. The winter playlist that many people compile yearly is often full of Christmas Carols such as “Jingle Bell Rock” by Joseph Beal and John Boothe, “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey and “Deck the Halls” by John Ceiriog Hughes. With lyrics such as “deck the halls with boughs of holly,” to “dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square,” all of these songs depict an atmosphere of love, beauty and joy in celebrating the holiday season. These various forms of media depict a version of the holidays that cause people to form high expectations for their own holiday season.

Popular culture often dictates that finding true happiness can be as simple as huddling around warm fireplaces, decorating Christmas trees and sipping seasonal drinks topped with whipped cream. In reality, however, holidays can often be a time of stress, loneliness, schoolwork and extracurriculars.

Reality

Finals are always scheduled the week before winter break. This year, finals week falls during Hanukkah and ends merely three days before Christmas. For students, the high-pressure academic environment in the middle of the holiday season makes it difficult to truly get into the holiday spirit. The stakes are especially high for seniors, who likely must turn in their college applications less than a week after January 1. Students also feel pressure to receive good scores on finals in order to maintain or achieve their desired semester grade. With academic stress at its peak, expectations for how the holidays should unfold only add to the pressure. Nonetheless, holiday movies and commercials depict people in a state of unblemished joy, oblivious to the stresses and pressures of everyday student life. The pressure to enjoy the holidays, ironically, makes them even less enjoyable.

A realistic holiday season for many students will likely look like this: After recovering from finals, they will stay at home, scroll through their phone and binge-watch a season or two of their favorite TV show. If they themselves are not traveling out of town, they may miss their friends who are. Students might spend more time bonding with their parents, pets and siblings. Equally likely, they will spend the entire break holed up in their room on their devices, surfing through social media to see what others are doing over the break. Seniors will anxiously try to get their college applications in order while juniors will worry about the upcoming Advanced Placement (AP) tests in the spring. Freshmen and sophomores may feel nervous about their first semester final grades, hoping for a better second semester, but lacking motivation to prepare. Of course, everyone will still feel bouts of the holiday spirit—when lighting the menorah, exchanging Christmas presents or having a small family holiday dinner, for example—but much of the time in between time-honored holiday traditions will feel, for the most part, boring. As winter break comes to an end, students may return to feeling unproductive and unaccomplished, as well as anxious about the upcoming semester. The holidays, in the end, will have passed just as any other two week vacation.

Next Steps

Students should avoid criticizing themselves for not living up to their high standards of unreasonable happiness around the holidays, nor should they assume that none of their peers feel the same way. Although constant joy may be an unachievable expectation for the holidays, true love—the everyday kind, not the all-encompassing Disney-movie variety—and genuine human connection are not. Spending time with friends and family and having moments of true social bonding can be much more fulfilling, not to mention realistic, than singing Christmas carols, decking the halls or any other cliché holiday tradition. Instead of idealizing the so-called season of joy and good tidings, students should mitigate their expectations by seeing the holiday season as it truly is: a time of self-love, compassion and giving. The holidays are a time for you to take a break, enjoy yourself and spend time doing the things you love. As the quintessential holiday movie “The Grinch” once said: “To kindness and love, the things we need most.”

Decisions taken directly affect the school environments—for example, construction on campus. “We approve construction projects [in the district] to update buildings and [provide] a facility that is conducive to student learning,” DiBrienza said. Board member Jesse Ladomirak explained more about the board’s role in overseeing construction projects. “We approve [the district office staff] going out for bids for construction projects,” she said. ‘Then, we approve the award of contract for projects, so we review the design agreement with architects and authorize staff to proceed with soliciting bids for remodeling. Months later, it’ll come back to us, and [the district staff] will recommend awarding a contract to a firm.” Currently, the board is working on the renovation of A, B and K buildings at Gunn.

Besides construction, the board also shapes the curriculum taught in PAUSD schools, like that of the Social, Emotional, Learning, Functionality (SELF) courses taught in secondary schools. “SELF was something that we approved to happen again this year,” DiBrienza said. “We also formed an ad hoc committee, which means it’s a temporary committee this year, on SELF.” Students, teachers and administrators meet once a month to discuss improvements to the SELF curriculum and recommend changes to the Board of Education. Additionally, according to Ladomirak, the board has taken actions to improve mental health on the campus by hiring therapists and counselors. “In the way mental health is provided, we may be the first in the nation to do it this way in terms of having licensed therapists on staff as opposed to contracted,” she said. Board of Education decisions play an important role in the Palo Alto community and those eligible are encouraged to vote. Board of Education candidates have different issue priorities, so it is important for voters to vote for individuals who they believe will improve the PAUSD school system. “Make sure you’re electing somebody whose values have the same vision of what school should be and what should matter,” Ladomirak said. “There are a lot of ways a board member can impact the vision, direction and strategy of the district…[so voters should direct] that focus in ways that [they] think are most beneficial.”

Throughout the entirety of the school year, events such as homecoming, GunnSide Lands, the ping-pong tournament and Prom are all organized by SEC members. To plan these events, SEC has a weekly routine: identifying priorities on Mondays, leadership councils on Wednesdays and workdays for upcoming events on Fridays. Workdays also allow council members to brainstorm new events that are not yet on the calendar. “Leadership council is when anything that needs to be voted on or discussed takes place,” Hall said. “[It’s] also when we review and approve club events and any big purchases.”

For the 2022–2023 school year, SEC aims to diversify events and celebrate underrepresented groups and cultures. “This year our theme is ‘Tastes of Gunn,’” Hall said. “We aim to highlight all the flavors of the school community [by] focusing on different groups and interests. Not everyone gets to be on the center stage so we plan to bring forth these groups and highlight what they do.”