Assistant Principal Courtney Carlomagno, counselors Myesha Dickson and Lorenzo Gomez, English teacher Danielle Whichard, and Gunn’s Safety and Family Specialist Joey Ordonez (non-chaperoning) organized the trip, which consisted of a UCSC tour and a presentation on UC college admissions.

This year marked the resumption of the programs’ college visits after a temporary hiatus due to the pandemic. Students had previously explored the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University in the fall.

Taught by Whichard, the AVID elective course closes the achievement gap and prepares students for college. Run by Dickson and Gomez, the College Pathways Program is geared towards supporting first-generation students who will be the first in their families to attend college. 20 students from AVID and 30 students from the College Pathways Program participated in the college visit, which aligned with both programs’ purposes: to initiate the college research process early and equip students with information to plan their futures.

Sophomore Keefe Aidan Punzalan, who attended the trip, joined AVID to better prepare himself for and understand what to expect in college and beyond. Gunn’s college visits have served as stepping stones for his academic journey.

“Visits like this make me less scared of what to expect in universities and provide the necessary perspective to understand campus life and attending classes,” Aidan Punzalan said. “I managed to strike up conversations with a few of the college students. They gave me all kinds of input on what elements they do and do not enjoy (in college).”

Led by a UCSC guide, students learned about the school’s expectations, culture, housing situations and student life. A presentation by a UCSC admissions representative also provided students with a glimpse into UC college admissions, according to Carlomagno.

“(The admissions presenter) shared a lot of great insight with our students about what exactly they’re looking for, and how it’s not always about grades, but about other things that students are involved in, such as programs like AVID,” Whichard said.

The tour and presentation were followed by lunch in the cafeteria and UCSC student-led visits to the Art Building, libraries and museum. UCSC dining hall staff even brought out their ice cream machine for the visiting students, according to Aiden Punzalan.

Coordinators typically solidify fall college visit plans before summer break. In December, prior to winter break, the team decides on spring college visit timings and then reaches out to the colleges. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this process.

“We could have started last year, but it was hard to get back into the routine of planning trips,” Whichard said. “The way college campuses run their tours has gotten more strict, and we ran into an issue last year where we weren’t finding availability for a big group.”

Aiming to expose students to a wide variety of universities, the team plans to schedule one last trip to a community college before the end of this school year, according to Carlomagno.

“We chose UCSC, a University of California school because we’d done a California State University and a private school in the fall,” she said. “We try to offer all the different types of schools, so students have a good idea of the difference in colleges, and can make their own informed decision based on their experience when they do apply.”

Gomez hopes that visits like these can assure students that college is an achievable goal.

“Being able to provide information to these students in these programs on Gunn campus, and then actually visiting a college campus puts everything that we preach (into perspective) and paints a picture of the reality of how higher education looks like,” he said. “We hope that you pursue it.”

Currently, the Middle College and College Now! programs — in which juniors and seniors take classes at Foothill — are outsourced to the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District.

Since the 2019-20 school year, Middle College has enabled students to attend high school English and history classes taught by certified MVLA teachers at Foothill College. Students attend classes in one of two 50-student cohorts during the two-year program. They can take up to 11 credits of college classes per quarter, pursuing in-person or asynchronous Foothill courses that fulfill their remaining MVLA graduation requirements and suit their interests, according to Lead Counselor David Leftwich.

To ensure a smooth transition to the new program, current Middle College juniors will remain with MVLA for their senior year, according to Leftwich. PAUSD’s Middle College program will enroll only juniors next year and expand to include seniors in the 2025-26 school year. Sophomores may also be included in the near future.

PAUSD Middle College senior Isaac Wang appreciates Middle College’s capacity to facilitate genuine connections and unique opportunities.

“It opens your horizons because it exposes you to a lot of different people from different places and of different ages,” Wang said. “I think where Foothill shines more compared to a high school is (in) its ability to connect you with your professors and a lot of real-world opportunities and referrals, like internships.”

Created in 2018, College Now! immerses students who may have “outgrown” high school in college-level work at Foothill, allowing participants to accrue 15 college credits each quarter.

The program, which will be renamed to Foothill Now! to reflect the new in-house program, is ideal for independent and self driven students, according to PAUSD College Now! junior Sophia Howell.

“There is some independence required to succeed, because a lot of the steps that you’re taking in terms of applying for the program is very self-driven,” she said. “There’s not a lot of guidance, apart from that of (College Now! advisor Gary) McHenry. His involvement is intentionally less hands-on than it would be with the Middle College program. Ultimately, as long as you possess those qualities, or you’re looking to develop those qualities, the program is suitable for pretty much anyone that would like to apply.”

According to Leftwich, the new model, in which PAUSD hosts both programs under PAUSD graduation requirements, will allow the district to better address individual students’ needs.

“Through our model and our planning, we can offer more direct and robust services than are currently available to PAUSD students in the MVLA model,” he said. These services include guidance and mental health resources.

Principal Wendy Stratton explained that PAUSD’s Middle College and Foothill Now! programs align with the district’s initiatives to give students alternative paths to college.

“(These programs can serve) as a pathway for students who may not fit the bill for a comprehensive high school experience,” she said. “It was kind of a no-brainer to bring it here, especially when we’re trying to support that pathway to college here in our district.”

Along with Foothill’s fully staffed tutoring center, students will have access to six new PAUSD classrooms on Foothill’s campus, according to Superintendent Don Austin.

Citing other students’ support for the program, Howell called on its potential to expand educational prospects for Gunn students.

“I would love to see more Gunn students at Foothill because I always give people a wave if I recognize them,” she said. “If it means getting more PAUSD students, opportunities, and involvement in the College Now! and Middle College programs, I think it’s a great move.”

In addition to these two programs, Gunn has proposed launching an English dual-enrollment program for seniors who are interested in taking English for college credit. According to English Instructional Lead Kate Weymouth, the current plan is to merge Gunn’s Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum class and Foothill’s English 1A and English 1B courses into one class at Gunn next year, taken during a normal class period. The class will be included in this spring’s course catalog.

“We have had ERWC for many years, but we’ve never run it as a dual-enrollment class with Foothill before,” Weymouth said. “This is the first time you will be able to take the class and get credit with Foothill, so students will receive weighted grades and college credit for their coursework.” Weymouth also emphasized dual-enrollment programs’ inclusive approach to higher-level learning.

“Not all students are Advanced Placement students, but that doesn’t mean not all students want rigor and exposure to college-level work,” she said. “So, we offer college-level work to a broader range of students with different interests or learning styles.”

Cassel, who researched dual enrollment and taught dual-enrollment courses at San Joaquin Delta College before coming to Gunn, the program provides an opportunity for students to try out a college English class in the safety of a high school environment.

“Early college opportunities can be transformative experiences for students who are looking for a chance to try out college and gain important exposure to college-level academic experiences,” she said.

Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp

Courtesy of Food Network

Click here for the full recipe

• 5 pounds
  McIntosh or
  Macoun apples
• Grated zest of one
  orange and one
  lemon
• 2 tablespoons
  orange juice
• 2 tablespoons
  lemon juice
• 1?2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons
  ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground
  nutmeg
• 1 1?2 cups flour
• 3?4 cup granulate sugar
• 3?4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1?2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1?2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Freshman Inaaya Ahmed’s experiences outside of Palo Alto spurred her to found the South Asian Culture Club. “I’m (from) Minnesota, and as you can imagine, the diversity wasn’t very high,” she said. “I moved to California hoping that I would meet a lot of similar South Asian kids like me, but I haven’t met as many as I was hoping for.”

As a result, Ahmed wanted to cultivate a place of belonging for South Asian students. “By starting this club, I’m hoping to make a community where all the South Asian kids can be together and share our culture,” she said.

Sophomore Sylvie Nguyen, Vietnamese Culture Club president and reporter for The Oracle, and sophomore Chilton Chau, Vietnamese Culture Club vice president, formed the Vietnamese Culture Club for similar reasons. “I (wanted) to spread more awareness of Vietnamese culture, and share and preserve it,” Nguyen said. “I’m trying to create an empowering and inclusive community that wants to learn about Vietnamese culture and have fun with it.”

Chau added that VCC isn’t exclusively for Vietnamese people but for anyone interested in learning about Vietnamese culture. “VCC (is for) all different types of races, ethnicities and identities,” he said. “I want (everyone) to feel comfortable at our club.”

Welcoming students to the new Southeast Asian Culture Club, junior An Chanthery explained the importance of cultural clubs. “It’s important for the Gunn student body to have access to (culture clubs) because we are spreading awareness and educating students about different cultures,” she said. “It’s nice to see people interested in our culture.”