The first two alarms were set off by some kind of smoke — potentially from foods like popcorn that have activated the sensors in the past — while the cause of the third alarm remains unknown. According to Assistant Principal of Safety Dr. Mycal Hixon, the new fire panel — which was installed over the summer to provide a safety upgrade to the previous out-of-date system — is being investigated as the potential cause.

“We’re trying to work with the fire department to see if this is either a faulty alarm, a box that’s going off or if there was an actual pull,” he said. “Unlike the other days, we weren’t able to identify smoke (on Thursday), so we’re really trying to figure it out.”

These interruptions, even with the adjusted bell schedule accommodations on Thursday, impacted both student agenda and instruction time. According to history teacher Laurel Howard, she’s had to adapt to the incident in order to ensure her periods learn the same amount of content at the same time.

“(The fire alarms are) impacting my class periods in different ways,” she said. “If I’m trying to keep my classes on track with each other and one has a 20-minute evacuation, then I have to make adjustments so (the delayed class) doesn’t fall too far behind.”

Although a definitive reason for the three alarms this week is still under investigation, administration is considering whether they may be due to a potential smoking problem on campus. Hixon explained that possible administration responses may include increased student resources, increased campus security and utilizing camera footage.

“We want to make sure that we can accurately identify what the problem is so we can accurately work together collaboratively to come up with solutions,” he said. “If it’s going off because somebody’s intentionally smoking in the bathroom, that’s one thing. If there’s somebody actually doing something, we want to find what support we can provide them to help them understand that (it) is not okay.”

For English teacher Diane Ichikawa, the ambiguity of the faulty fire alarms’ has added to the confusion that undermines the trustworthiness of the campus’s safety systems.

“Because we get so many (fire alarms) that end up being either false or people perceive them to be false, they don’t take an actual emergency (seriously),” she said. “It’s kind of a ‘boy-cried-wolf’ situation.”

In response to the lack of information available, Hixon highlighted the administration’s efforts to rectify these issues.

“We will work with the company that installed the fire alarms to ensure we are trained on everything it does and why,” he wrote in an email. “We will also be more alert to our surroundings, making sure that if we see something, we say something so that we can safely get things taken care of. We will also be getting an updated security camera system.”

However, despite the disturbances these fire alarms have caused, Science Instructional Lead Dr. Heather Mellows emphasized the importance of taking evacuation seriously.

“(Evacuating) is still important because we don’t know which alarms are real,” Mellows said. “And as a science teacher, I know that sometimes the fire alarm is because of what happens in my room, and I need it to be real when that happens.”

Currently, the evacuation drill scheduled for Thursday, August 29 will continue as planned.

“I am sure students have done a great job, but just in case, there are still a few things that we need to work on and (the drill) gives us that opportunity to do it,” Hixon said.

—Written by Kaylee Cheng, Anne Dong, Sylvie Nguyen and Ya-An Xue. Additional reporting by Gwen Domine.

Fleischmann’s journey with languages began early. Born into a multilingual family in California, her parents introduced her to German and Danish when she was a baby. Alongside these two languages, Fleischmann’s mom spoke Italian and her dad spoke French, further diversifying her language exposure.

“For me, language is a form of self-expression,” she said. “Knowing more languages makes our house a lot more expressive and a lot more vibrant.”

Although Fleischmann was born in the U.S., she moved to Germany when she was a few months old. There, she attended a British international school, where she learned English.

“I say words such as ‘hoover’ instead of ‘vacuum,’ or ‘queue’ instead of ‘line,’” she said. “Because I learned British English, it’s always a really funny conversation to have because (people ask), ‘You were born in California, German’s your first language and you learned British English?’”

By the age of 5, Fleischmann had moved back to the U.S. and begun attending Ohlone Elementary School, where she participated in the Mandarin immersion program for four years.

“It’s a thing in my household where everyone knows a special language that no one else in the household speaks, so (my parents) wanted me to have my special language as Mandarin,” she said.

Although Fleischmann became mostly fluent in Mandarin, she lost her proficiency after leaving Ohlone when she was 9 and started German Saturday school instead.

“If I don’t use (a language) regularly, I will simply forget it,” she said. “It’s harder for (me to forget) languages like Spanish, English and German because I am (completely) fluent in them, but definitely for upcoming languages, if I don’t practice or use it, I’m going to lose it — and it’s scary.”

Even when Fleischmann lived in Palo Alto, she occasionally visited Europe during the summers. She learned two more languages during these trips: French and Spanish. She began learning French at around 8 years old after an interaction she had at a party with a businessman her dad knew.

“He and my dad were talking about (me), so this guy said, ‘Introduce me to her,’” she said. “I walk up to him, he goes full-blown French on me and I (could not respond).”

After this exchange, Fleischmann’s parents urged her to learn French. Her lack of genuine interest in the language caused her to dislike it, however, and when she was required to choose either French or Spanish in fifth grade at her school in Germany, she opted for Spanish.

“I knew (French) and hated it,” she said. “My parents thought I should have done French. … In hindsight, that was probably the smart move because I’m now ‘bad fluent’ in both French and Spanish. I should have just stuck to one.”

That said, learning Spanish has allowed Fleischmann to better understand her mother when she speaks Italian, as the two languages share important linguistic similarities. For example, the word for a male cat is “gato” in Spanish and “gatto” in Italian.

When Fleischmann was 9 years old, she began classes to help her with her dyslexia. Fleischmann’s teacher taught her Latin word bases, which led her to fully learn the language.

“I am dyslexic, which makes learning this many languages even more freaky because learning languages is really hard for dyslexic people,” she said. “Learning Latin bases actually helps you a lot to decode (a) word. I was also really interested in Latin and kept learning it because I’m interested in medicine, and everything in medicine is Latin.”

In eighth grade, Fleischmann’s family moved back to Germany for a year. Hearing people speak a familiar language in a new setting allowed her to begin understanding and gain appreciation for the culture.

“(Living) in Palo Alto was quite the bubble,” she said. “It’s crazy. People don’t realize that there’s a world out there. I didn’t realize that either, and then I went and lived in Germany. I felt like I put glasses on for the first time because there was so much out there.”

Fleischmann quickly noticed that culture shapes language, and vice versa: Some words encapsulate ideas that simply don’t exist in other languages’ lexicons. These words are often adopted into other languages because they capture such a specific sentiment. For example, the word “schadenfreude” in German means finding pleasure in others’ misfortunes.

During her time in German school last year and the two summers prior, Fleischmann learned American Sign Language from her deaf teacher.

“For the first few weeks of school, I was completely fascinated,” she said. “Every time she said something, I asked, ‘What’s that in ASL?’ Eventually, she got so annoyed with me constantly asking her what things meant that she just offered to teach me after school.”

ASL opened Fleischmann’s eyes to both the possibilities and limitations of language. Before, she had not recognized the significance of the languages she knew because they were such a quotidian element of her life.

“The main reason I learned (ASL) was to try to connect with someone who wouldn’t normally be able to connect,” she said. “Most of (my background) of languages was that I just grew up speaking them, but this one specifically had a reason and impact.”

Overall, however, Fleischmann has found that each language she has learned — verbal or not — has improved her ability to communicate.

“It’s so much more powerful for me to say ‘I’m feeling exuberant’ instead of ‘I’m happy,’” she said. “Through the ability to manipulate and understand language, you’re able to connect with people because it evokes this emotion that all forms of self-expression do.”

Wong posted his first sports film on Instagram during his freshman year after attending a Gunn varsity football game. Although he received positive community feedback, he found that he struggled with adjusting to filming at night.

“During the game, I had to quickly search on YouTube how to fix the lighting problem, turn up the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and turn up the aperture,” he said. “(I had to figure out) how to increase the lens so more light came through to brighten the shot.”

Wong’s personal journey as a basketball player played a large role in his decision to continue making films.

“I wanted to capture how it felt being there (on the court),” he said. “That’s why I wanted to film sports, because I think (it) is a really great way to show other people’s passions.”

Core lessons Wong had learned from playing sports contributed to his filming mindset.

“Many sports require a lot of patience and dedication, and that really transferred over to my filmmaking,” he said. “(I had to) dedicate a lot of time in post-production, filming (and) planning.”

Wong’s journey, however, wasn’t all smooth sailing. Most of his major filmmaking challenges occurred when he pushed himself out of his comfort zone and tried filming sports he wasn’t as familiar with. In a water polo video, for example, lighting posed a problem.

“It was light out, and it was hard to adjust my camera to the glare from the water,” he said. “Since it was my first time filming water polo, I needed to get used to the sport and know what to look for.”

Usually, Wong creates multiple iterations of a video, and the full film-creation process for a 90-second video typically takes around six hours from start to finish. Much of this time is dedicated to fine-tuning pacing.

“(Making a film) is like telling a story,” he said. “There’s a rising action, climax and falling action. I take that format and use it to (create) the
video.”

Moving forward, Wong hopes to continue filming college sports to bolster his portfolio on Instagram. He has already filmed some Stanford basketball games this past season, and he and his twin brother, Liam Wong, are working to acquire media passes from the video director of Stanford’s football program, Mike Gleeson.

Despite the heavy workload, Wong finds the time commitment to be manageable, especially since he enjoys working on the videos. The feedback he receives further motivates him to continue to create films and seek new opportunities.

“Just seeing the athletes’ reactions make it worth it,” he said. “It makes me happy that they liked the video and that it wasn’t all for nothing.”

Wong posted his first sports film on Instagram during his freshman year after attending a Gunn varsity football game. Although he received positive community feedback, he found that he struggled with adjusting to filming at night.

“During the game, I had to quickly search on YouTube how to fix the lighting problem, turn up the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and turn up the aperture,” he said. “(I had to figure out) how to increase the lens so more light came through to brighten the shot.”

Wong’s personal journey as a basketball player played a large role in his decision to continue making films.

“I wanted to capture how it felt being there (on the court),” he said. “That’s why I wanted to film sports, because I think (it) is a really great way to show other people’s passions.”

Core lessons Wong had learned from playing sports contributed to his filming mindset.

“Many sports require a lot of patience and dedication, and that really transferred over to my filmmaking,” he said. “(I had to) dedicate a lot of time in post-production, filming (and) planning.”

Wong’s journey, however, wasn’t all smooth sailing. Most of his major filmmaking challenges occurred when he pushed
himself out of his comfort zone and tried filming sports he wasn’t as familiar with. In a water polo video, for example, lighting posed a problem.

“It was light out, and it was hard to adjust my camera to the glare from the water,” he said. “Since it was my first time filming water polo, I needed to get used to the sport and know what to look for.”

Usually, Wong creates multiple iterations of a video, and the full film-creation process for a 90-second video typically takes around six hours from start to finish. Much of this time is dedicated to fine-tuning pacing.

“(Making a film) is like telling a story,” he said. “There’s a rising action, climax and falling action. I take that format and use it to (create) the video.”

Moving forward, Wong hopes to continue filming college sports to bolster his portfolio on Instagram. He has already filmed some Stanford basketball games this past season, and he and his twin brother, Liam Wong, are working to acquire media passes from the video director of Stanford’s football program, Mike Gleeson.

Despite the heavy workload, Wong finds the time commitment to be manageable, especially since he enjoys working on the videos. The feedback he receives further motivates him to continue to create films and seek new opportunities.

“Just seeing the athletes’ reactions make it worth it,” he said. “It makes me happy that they liked the video and that it wasn’t all for nothing.”

The precise method of achieving this goal, however, varies: The French high school system requires students to choose a specialty before they graduate, while South Korean high school students’ academic futures depend almost solely on a single exam. While the American public school system is often criticized for its lack of rigor, its advantages are indisputable: By allowing students to explore their interests throughout high school and emphasizing personal development, American public schools provide valuable opportunities for pupils to grow.

The U.S. school system gives students time to develop their academic interests before deciding a career path. Some European countries’ education systems, on the other hand, emphasize specialization and career preparation in high school. For instance, students in France attend three years of high school, which culminates in the “baccalauréat” exam. Students can take the technology or general exam to attend university, or take the professional exam to begin working. This exam forces students to choose a field of study to focus on during high school, restricting options further down the line: Once they choose their concentration, choices of possible college majors and careers become limited. Students who lose interest in their chosen subject have their futures strongly impacted, and they may face stress and regret as they make the difficult choice of changing career paths.

On the other hand, the U.S. school system allows students to change their interests and areas of focus in high school — and even college. High schoolers aren’t expected to choose a concentration, and instead take classes across disciplines all four years of high school: Gunn, for example, requires students to take Visual/Performing Arts and Career Technical Education courses to graduate. Beyond high school, many U.S. colleges allow students to switch majors. According to 2017 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Department of Education, around a third of college students switch their majors within three years of enrollment. Young adults are often uncertain about their futures, and U.S. schools allow space for that.

The American education system also strongly encourages students to explore their interests through non-academic avenues. Extracurricular activities help develop existing interests and spark new ones. Activities like sports, clubs or volunteering help students apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Students under the U.S. school system are thus more likely to pursue career options they enjoy because they have a stronger sense of their interests.

By stressing non-academic learning, the U.S. school system avoids the pitfalls of focusing solely on academic performance. Take the South Korean education system, which determines students’ capabilities and qualifications for further education by their performance on a single eight-hour-long intensive exam, the “Suneung.” The difficulty and importance of the exam creates a competitive, toxic environment for students. Pressured by the goal of academic excellence, students neglect their personal development throughout high school. According to a 2020 study published in the General Psychiatry journal by University of Melbourne researcher Jiacheng Liu, 12% of adolescent suicides in South Korea were due to academic stress.

The paths each student decides to pursue should be tailored to what they are comfortable with, not what society expects them to do. Many other countries fail to address the external factors that may cause students to decide against enrolling in a four-year college, while the flexibility of the American school system enables holistic evaluations.

Ultimately, the American school system best prepares students for life. Although some may believe it isn’t rigorous enough, it allows students to make important decisions for their futures at a time when they are ready. While it may not be perfect, its academic flexibility and extracurricular options create the best environment for students to flourish.

Tomaszewski joined her first hip-hop dance crew at Dance Connection when she was 11 and participated in her first hip-hop competition with them. Although it seemed daunting at first, competing proved to be enjoyable.

“I had so much adrenaline,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep because I was experiencing so many new things. (But) we had a really good time, and I built friendships with people who were much older than me. Some of those friendships still last to today.”

Attending these competitions helped Tomaszewski improve both her hip-hop and communication skills.

“I was able to get out of my comfort zone in dance, but that would also apply to meeting and talking to new people,” she said. “It just broke me out of my shell and made me less shy.”

However, it has not been easy for her to master the dance style. Tomaszewski initially struggled with moving fluidly during quieter, slower parts of songs.

“Even though people think (hip-hop) is very carefree, chill and easy, there’s still a lot of technique that comes with it,” she said. “It took me a long time to be natural with it, and there would be a lot of internal frustration.”

To Tomaszewski, one of the unique advantages of hip-hop is that it allows dancers to express themselves freely.

“You’re able to express yourself in a way where, if you want to have a chill vibe or calmer energy, you’re still able to execute a hip-hop dance through that, but you can also be really hyped with it,” she said. “It gives me a much broader spectrum to be able to express myself in different ways.”

As Tomaszewski stopped dancing competitive hip-hop at Dance Connection, she joined other studios, where she refined her hip-hop personality.

“I’m very creative and energetic,” she said. “Most of the dances I
want to learn or perform have a lot of energy in them. I (also) try to incorporate improv a lot in dance too, so that’s where the creativity comes in.”

Tomaszewski draws comfort and inspiration from the authentic, like-minded peers she has found in the hip-hop community.

“The way a lot of hip-hop dancers interact with each other and other people is that they’re genuine with their kindness and compassion,” she said. “They’re super, super supportive, no
matter what, even if you’re not at the best level of hip-hop. I don’t feel like I’ll ever be truly judged by a hip-hop dancer.”

Even though Tomaszewski has taken a break from competitive hip-hop this year to focus on school, she continues to take classes occasionally to maintain her technique. In the future, however, she wants to join a dance team again to re-immerse herself in the community she knows and loves.

“I’m hoping to be surrounded by that same kind of community, because I do miss making a lot of friends and meeting new people,” she said. “So, wherever I end up going to college, I hope I can find a local dance team that competes to have a good time.”

Zhu did not immediately fall in love with artistic swimming. She began her journey with the Santa Clara Aquamaids when she was 7 years old, after her mom signed her up to keep her occupied for a week of summer break. “I really hated it at first because it was really cold in the pool,” she said. “But, because I was a weird kid, I was like, ‘This is kind of interesting. I’m gonna do this.’”

After she officially joined the team, she began to appreciate the sport for its artistry and variety of events. From the start, it was clear she was ahead of the game, given her prior experience in ballet, ice skating, gymnastics and competitive swimming. “Once I transferred over to artistic swimming completely, having that gymnastics and ballet background helped me get noticed by the coaches,” she said.

Zhu has since put in years of hard work to perform well in the U.S. Youth National Championships, securing her an opportunity to attend the national-team tryouts. After placing in the top five in the first phase and top 10 in the second, she became one of the 12 artistic swimmers to represent the U.S. during the world championships. There, she competed in two of the team’s six routines: free team and combo.

Prior to their performance, the team practiced together, choreographing and cleaning up its routines. The teammates stayed in Las Vegas, Nevada, for seven weeks in preparation for the competition, which Zhu believes helped them develop team camaraderie and refine their artistic-swimming skills. “Over the summer, we trained every day for around eight hours,” she said. “It was pretty tough. But living in the same house was team-building.”

However, her preparation time in Las Vegas was not all sunshine and rainbows: On the second day of training, while practicing a lift with two other team members, Zhu’s knee popped out and was almost dislocated, preventing her from participating for a week. “Before, I kind of assumed I would have a set spot on the team because I was there last year,” she said. “But then, I started stressing out because everyone else was going through these eight-hour days and improving so fast, and I was just sitting there on deck like an idiot with my knee taped and my leg elevated.”

with my knee taped and my leg elevated.” Zhu was fortunately able to recover in time to learn the routines and take part in the competition, which consisted of two rounds of judging. World Aquatics implemented major changes in the artistic swimming scoring system beginning with the international competitions this season. The uncertainty around how the team would be judged added a layer of stress during preliminaries. “Because the way (the judges) control and decide things change (at every competition), a day before we were supposed to compete, we found out one of the skills we’ve been training for was not at the right angle,” Zhu said. “We had to change it right before, so (preliminaries were) pretty nerve wracking.”

Ultimately, the U.S. team performed well at the artistic-swimming world championships, medaling in all but one event. “We did the best we could in the two months that we had,” Zhu said. “If we had longer, we could have definitely done better, but I feel like we did a good job.”

Zhu found this experience to be formative not only for her artistic-swimming skills, but also her motivation to strive for the best. “(It’s nice to) have teammates around me who are working hard,” she said. “We’re all technically competing against each other to get that spot on the national team or get a spot in the duet. Everyone’s trying hard, and it’s a group mentality for you to keep on working.”

Although the main component of a concert is the music, Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Warren Collier believes that concert participation encompasses much more. “I can just (listen to my favorite songs) on Spotify or the radio,” he said. “Concerts are not just about the music — it’s about the experience. It’s about the bonding that you feel with both the artist as well as everyone else who is there for the same reason. That really helps increase the emotional impact.”

Choir teacher Angelina Fitzhugh agrees that the connections made at concerts add to their appeal. “There’s something
about being with other people who love the same thing you do that increases the excitement and enjoyment,” she said. “There is nothing that can compare to being in a concert, and the artist stops but the singing continues. There’s nothing. bigger than that.”

These crowded events have become all. the more enticing in the post-pandemic world, leading to higher ticket prices as students become increasingly willing to shell out large sums of money, according to Fitzhugh. “Humans have this innate desire to be in groups,” she said. “We experienced not being able to be in groups during the pandemic, so I think that’s a part of what brought (concert culture) back.”

Psychology Club Co-President junior Kate Hamilton attributes the cohesive community and atmosphere of concerts to a psychological phenomenon called “group behavior.” “People tend to be strong in groups,” she said. “(Group behavior) is a strong drive to be with each other. The need to talk to each other and be social is similar to the need (for food or water).”

Beyond the connections that are formed among audience members, Collier also stresses the one between concertgoers and the artist, which provides a sense of intimacy that listening to songs on a device does not. “(At a concert), I’m not just listening to the music alone or the song alone, but maybe the artist will tell me about what inspired them to write a song or the story behind something,” he said. “I get to know them more. I get to know them more personally, and that helps me increase my interest in and enjoyment of the song.”

Although Psychology Club Co-President junior Maddy Fitzpatrick agrees that most concertgoers buy their tickets due to intrinsic motivations, she also notes the potential influence of peer pressure. “It’s similar to why people spend money on clothes or makeup,” she said. “It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just to fit in with a greater crowd.”

According to Collier, these social pressures can make concert-going seem imperative.“If all of my friends go to (the Eras Tour), I will feel that much more desire to go, whether I have the money or (if) I’m begging my parents for it,” he said. “If all my friends are going, I would want to have fun with my friends.”

Above all else, however, Hamilton believes that the concert experience prompts self-discovery through the formation of tight-knit communities. “People are dressing up because they want to feel like they belong,” she said. “It’s a sort of sense of identity. People can connect to that (as they) are trying to find some kind of purpose with the music.”