What began as an activity to pass the time slowly evolved into a part of Poot’s routine beginning sophomore year. She transitioned from at-home training to a gym-going regimen, focusing on different muscle groups each day and always ending her workouts on the stepmill.

“At the beginning, when I would go to the gym, I would be nervous and think, ‘Oh, I don’t know how to use this,’” she said. “(But I eventually realized that) no one is really focused on you.”

For Poot, the benefts of working out extend beyond the gym.

“I used to compare myself a lot with people on Instagram,” she said. “But since I started (going to) the gym and everything, I feel more confdent about myself. … I just like trying to do better every day and focus on what I can do and what I cannot.”

Beyond high school, Poot plans to continue her strength training through competing in body-building competitions. Moreover, as a frst-generation college student, she plans on majoring in psychology — an interest she found through taking Advanced Placement Psychology at Gunn — at San Jose State University.

“(Personality-wise), I like to listen to people — I’m more of a listener,” Poot said. “Every time that my friends want to talk about something, I’m always there for them to talk, and it kind of made me realize that maybe I have good-quality traits to become a psychologist.”

Poot hopes to pair her psychology studies with her love of training to become a clinical sports psychologist.

“I’m excited to work with different athletes and try to help them with their physical performance,” Poot wrote in an email. “I feel like a lot of what makes a good athlete perform better is the way they think or react to challenges, so I’m looking forward to helping them to reach their full potential.”

As much as I would love to say that I had a profound reckoning early on, I didn’t. Instead, I took so much pride in my own accomplishments — even trivial ones. But while skipping class to cram for same-day APUSH quizzes and physics tests, I found myself thinking about the people whose work ethics I could only dream of. Whenever I snooped through The Oracle’s section folders after fnal drafts were due, fellow staffers’ perfect, succinct prose gave me chills of satisfaction. And when I was stressed, friends with overflowing empathy, thoughtfulness and understanding — which I don’t know if I’ll ever fully achieve — met me where I was.

Funnily enough, despite my initial effort to excel beyond others, I’ve felt more and more “average” the longer I’ve been at Gunn. But this feeling of mediocrity hasn’t left me mired in self-pity. Instead, by devoting less of my energy toward making myself the king of the mountain, I’ve come to recognize the profound impact of others’ presence on me and how much more I can learn from their intelligence, generosity and resilience.

To be clear, this journey was something that I essentially stumbled into. As a freshman who took Beginning Journalism because I thought it was broadcast (sorry, KGB), I defnitely did not know I’d be writing this refection in the school newspaper four years later. But here I am as an 18 year old on the cusp of adulthood, excited to continue meeting people that empower me to grow during the next stage of life: college.

Ultimately, “average” — in the context of life and growth — is relative. Even if you could somehow measure the exact average of everyone’s intelligence or other desired quality at a certain instant in time, that average changes the very next second.

As humans, we’re meant to evolve and be fluid. Thus, delineating those above average and those below ends up being little more than a futile attempt to feed our egos — especially at a school community that has so much more to offer.

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with (or at least, that’s what motivational speaker Jim Rohn thinks). Make those fve people really count, and see how they can help you continue climbing to new peaks and become the best version of yourself. At the same time, see how you can be a role model for others. When we’re simultaneously learning from those we deem “above average” and being that exemplar for others, maybe 65% of us can be “above average” after all.

Although the virtual meeting was advertised as a “community input session,” per Superintendent Dr. Don Austin’s Jan. 26 Superintendent’s Update, many questions in the Zoom chat — where participants were directed to ask their questions — remained unanswered.

Instead, toward the end of the meeting, which ended 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, community members could fill out a form with any remaining questions. When a similar form was sent out last December, however, parent of PAUSD alumni Lori Meyers emphasized the difficulty of giving specific feedback, as the substance of the course’s units and lesson plans wasn’t included.

“The community in general, and myself included, found it really difficult to understand exactly what we were giving feedback on, because it was something like, ‘What is your feedback on the section titled “Identity?”’” Meyers said. “We were like, ‘We don’t have any information’ — (the form) didn’t give us any real content to delve into.”

In a follow-up conversation with The Oracle, Lopez said that responses to questions asked on the form would be posted to the district’s ethnic studies webpage in the near future, but wasn’t able to provide a firm date.

The Jan. 30 meeting was one of many instances in which community members raised questions about PAUSD’s new ethnic studies class. Passed in October 2021, California’s A.B. 101 mandates an ethnic studies-course graduation requirement for all public and charter high schools. The requirement aims to acknowledge the state’s diverse population in its curriculum, and follows research co-authored by Stanford Graduate School of Education professor Thomas Dee in 2021 demonstrating ethnic studies’ positive impact on attendance and graduation rates for ninth-grade students.

In PAUSD, freshmen will first take a semesterlong ethnic studies course — which aims to “examine California as a microcosm of the United States and focus on themes of social justice, social responsibility, and social change by increasing student agency” — before covering world history in the second semesters of ninth and 10th grade.

While ethnic studies has long been a contentious matter, tensions have risen since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with educators, parents and students attempting to reconcile their ideas for the content and structure and content of the course.

Path to a state mandate

On Nov. 6, 1968, the Black Student Union and Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of ethnic student organizations, went on strike at San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College) to advocate for more diversity in the admissions process and for the creation of a school of ethnic studies. After more than four months of striking, San Francisco State established the nation’s first College of Ethnic Studies, which began operating in fall 1969.

Though it remains one of the only institutions of its kind in the U.S., ethnic studies courses have since become more common at other colleges and universities.

Five years prior to A.B. 101, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed A.B. 2016 into law on Sept. 13, 2016, mandating the Instructional Quality Commission to develop an ethnic studies model curriculum for high schools. When the commission completed their first draft, however, it faced backlash for being ideologically left-leaning and excluding certain topics, such as antisemitism. On Aug. 12, 2019, California Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond announced that the Instructional Quality Commission would be submitting a new draft to the Board for approval.

“Ethnic studies can be an important tool to improve school climate and increase our understanding of one another,” she wrote in a press release. “A model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all. The current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.”

After three additional drafts, on March 18, 2021, the California Board of Education adopted a 688-page model curriculum. Although the course’s primary focus remained on African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans — the groups most college ethnic studies courses center around — the model curriculum expanded to include lessons on other ethnic groups in the U.S. Furthermore, the final draft included guidance to teachers on establishing trust when discussing complex topics and presenting balanced coverage of issues.

Current concerns

Some on the commission, however, were dissatisfied with the final model curriculum. A September 2023 letter from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council expressed concerns over the weaponization of “guardrails,” which preclude ethnic studies from promoting any discrimination, bias or bigotry.

The first draft of the state model curriculum included lesson outlines on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and studies of figures such as U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, whom some have criticized for anti-Israel comments. The final version does not include these lessons, instead focusing on the history and contributions of Arab American communities, as well as common stereotypes that Arab Americans encounter.

The 2023 letter contended that restricting certain material from the curriculum mirrors “conservative efforts in states such as Texas and Florida to suppress hard truths about racism and colonialism” and that “California teachers should be able to deliver lessons on important concepts such as settler colonialism, apartheid, and resistance without having to fear censorship or legal action by the state.”

Those with similar views joined to create the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which first convened in April 2020. The organization has their own model curriculum that aims to have students look through the “intersectional lenses of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, ability, language, immigrant status, and class” and “analyze indigeneity, white supremacy, oppression, privilege, and decolonization, and work toward empowering themselves as anti-racist leaders who engage in social justice activism.”

Many, including former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig, have urged schools to reject the “liberated” curriculum in favor of the state’s model, noting the dangers of using group identity as the primary lens to examine history, society, culture and politics. On the other hand, proponents of the “liberated” curriculum argue that de-emphasizing systems of power and oppression detracts from ethnic studies’ original purpose, leading to surface-level, non-critical explorations of culture and race.

According to Lopez, PAUSD has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Studies Initiative — part of its History-Social Science Project — starting this year. Some community members have expressed concerns about this partnership, as the group lists the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum as a teaching tool and also worked with the Oakland Unified School District, in which a faction of the Oakland Education Association participated in an unauthorized pro-Palestinian “teach-in.”

In a Jan. 19 email obtained by The Oracle through the California Public Records Act, Austin clarified to the PAUSD Board of Education that the Oakland teachers union failed to follow standard processes and taught lessons that weren’t connected to the Berkeley consultants.

“During the (curriculum development) process we will consult with a lot of people,” he wrote. “That should be what is expected. There will be many efforts to silence voices, starting with who we even speak with. I am asking that we continue to share the process and timelines and that our board helps people who reach out to understand that we have identified input opportunities.”

In PAUSD, Gunn Social Studies Instructional Lead Jeff Patrick said that though some lesson outlines from the state’s model curriculum may be used, most would be generated by Gunn and Paly teachers. He also noted in an email that it would be “extremely unlikely that (the district) would use anything specific from the Liberated Ethnic Studies group.”

Community feedback

In order to prepare for the 2025-26 course rollout — which was pushed back one year to allow for further course development — PAUSD formed its Ethnic Studies Committee last school year, comprising Lopez, Patrick, Paly Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano, and other Gunn and Paly teachers.

The committee is currently refining the course’s five core units: Identity; Race and Ethnicity; History and Migration; Language, Culture, Education, and Learning; and Action and Civic Engagement. It is also soliciting feedback from students and community members. At the Jan. 30 meeting, the committee announced a new Unit 0: “Why Ethnic Studies?,” and Lopez noted the possibility of one section of ethnic studies running at each high school next school year to allow for additional fine-tuning before the final rollout.

Thus far, alongside the two community meetings, Paly and Gunn held information and student-feedback sessions during PRIME on Oct. 11 and Oct. 18, respectively.

At the school-board level, community members have advocated for an ethnic studies course encompassing more ethnic groups — mirroring the activism that led to the state’s sprawling model curriculum.

During Open Forum on Nov. 14, 2023, 17 Middle Eastern and North African community members spoke about their experiences with Islamophobia and advocated for MENA inclusion in ethnic studies. According to Paly senior Mariam Tayebi, who is the MENA Club co-president, the group felt compelled to speak after facing bullying and discrimination following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“We decided that it’s really important for us to show the district and show whoever else watches (the Board meetings) that there are kids here and we are struggling and we want to be represented,” she said.

At the next meeting, on Dec. 12, eight Jewish parents and students — including PAUSD parent Linor Levav — detailed personal experiences of antisemitism and asked for Jewish voices to be included in the ethnic studies curriculum. Although Jewish Americans’ history is typically not covered in most college-level ethnic studies courses — they are considered white in the context of the discipline — the California model curriculum includes lessons on Jewish Americans and antisemitism.

“I want to ask you to please include Jewish Americans in our ethnic studies class,” Levav said during Open Forum. “Antisemitism has exploded across the United States and the Bay Area. It’s fueled by lies about Jews and Israel. PAUSD can and should help to correct this.”

Beyond specific ethnic-group considerations, many have advocated for transparency with the curriculum-development process.

“It’s very, very important that there is … full transparency,” Meyers said. “The more that the community and students and parents can see what’s going on in ethnic studies, the better and smoother the process is going to be, and the more likely it’s going to be that we get the kind of ethnic studies class that I think we all really want.”

While Patrick understands the community’s desire to participate and the need for PAUSD to share updates and solicit feedback, he emphasized that the lack of transparency some feel can mostly be attributed to educators’ newness to the process, not ulterior motives.

“What we’re trying to do is create a course that’s going to be best for our students,” he said. “So as people are looking at our work and bringing up their own points, I hope that they can keep that in mind that some of the comments parents make might not be in the best interests of our students as a whole.”

Along a similar vein, though PAUSD parent Uzma Minhas also values transparency and community involvement, she cautions the district from only listening to the loudest and most organized groups.

“They have to be very careful that oftentimes marginalized communities don’t speak up, so they may not be hearing from the most marginalized communities,” she said.

A realistic curriculum

Although much of the conversation surrounding ethnic studies has revolved around Jewish and MENA curricular inclusion, Patrick emphasized that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not explicitly be covered in the new course, and that it’s currently a part of the sophomore Contemporary World History class.

“The scope that the state intends for the ethnic studies curriculum is narrower than the general public … is aware of,” he said. “By the time students are there in 10th grade looking at that topic, they will have hopefully developed the skills or began to develop the skills to analyze those things on their own.”

Paly senior Alma Samet — who identifies as a Mizrahi Jew (Jewish people who are of MENA origin) — agrees with this assessment, noting how including the conflict in ethnic studies could exacerbate misrepresentation.

“I really could see it just overriding and taking up a lot more space in the curriculum than it has to, especially when there are so many different topics and communities to focus on,” she said.

Still, senior Deena Abu-Dayeh stressed the imperfections of how the Middle East is currently covered in Contemporary World History, citing her own experiences.

“The only time I’ve ever heard (about) Palestine — which is where I’m from — is when it had to do with the conflict and how we are the terrorists, and that name has been portrayed on us a lot,” she said. “That kind of gives a false image that all of us are just barbarians that have to deal with poverty.”

According to Patrick, the ethnic studies course’s final unit — Action and Civil Engagement — will include a capstone activity allowing students to have more choice in the topics that they delve into.

Looking ahead, the social studies department plans to identify potential ethnic studies teachers by this spring, so that it can spend the next school year in professional development related to the course. Although specific trainings have yet to be finalized, teachers will be focusing on developing common understandings of sociological terms that may not be as prevalent in other history classes, such as “dominant and counter narratives” and “intersectionality.”

Ultimately, despite the complex and often-controversial process, Samet maintains an emphasis on the course’s central objective.

“I think the main goals are just to create more well-rounded, respectful students who are ready to go into a world that is very diverse,” she said. “Especially in America, it’s a big old melting pot, so making sure that people maintain respect for all types of cultures and traditions and also understand a bit more of a backstory on the struggles that these communities have faced.”

The next ethnic studies community meeting will be conducted as a webinar, and the district will ask for questions in advance. More information will be provided in Dr. Austin’s weekly Superintendent Updates.

Started in fall 2022, the modernization effort includes a new administration office with a more prominent entrance and a food-services complex. The latter will house indoor and outdoor eating spaces and culinary arts classrooms alongside traditional food-services facilities. Both buildings are on track to be completed before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi explained that contractors lost 1 1?2 months’ worth of work time due to last winter’s unusually heavy rains. Consequently, they had to work more intensely toward the end of the school year. “When March started and we had no rain, we were pushing for more people, more crews, more labor,” he said. “You had a team taking down the columns, (another) taking down the foundation. That overlap of so many activities made all that noise.”

As construction continues throughout this year, Sedqi hopes that the work will be less disruptive. The asphalt between the quad and E-building has been replaced with concrete, and fences will be pushed closer to the construction site, opening a corridor for students to walk to the southeastern portion of campus without cutting through the quad.

Looking ahead, Principal Wendy Stratton is working with new Assistant Principal Mycal Hixon, who will be overseeing construction, and Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy to make the process more transparent and accessible. Stratton believes student involvement is key, since students are important beneficiaries and the project was funded through taxpayer dollars. On his part, Levy has formed a new Student Executive Council committee that will attend construction meetings and share relevant updates in a new monthly newsletter.

Levy hopes that classes can take advantage of the ongoing work. “It could be a learning opportunity for a lot of different classes — one where they could take tours or learn more about the construction process,” he said. As an example, Levy pointed to how students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes could focus on the steps construction crews are taking to minimize damage to the environment and create greener buildings.

Sedqi also expressed a desire to work with students who are interested in architecture, construction or engineering. “I’ll be more than happy to get them involved in this — just to see the progress, how we are doing the work, what’s happening,” he said.

This unique architecture that dominates southern Palo Alto was created by real estate developer Joseph Eichler. Though he first worked as a dairy businessman, living in a home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright inspired him to think of ways he could bring modernist home elements to the general public. In 1949, he founded Eichler Homes Inc. and partnered with various architectural firms to deliver on this objective.

Eichler Homes Inc. marketed three key priorities: design, community and affordability. These concepts are best illustrated through Palo Alto’s Greenmeadow neighborhood, an area of the city bounded by Alma Street, East Charleston Road, Middlefield Road and San Antonio Road. There, Eichler sold homes featuring open floor plans, post-and-beam construction and clerestory windows—windows located at the top of a structure’s wall. When they were first introduced to the market in 1950, the homes were sold at a modest price of $17,000. They were also in close proximity to the Greenmeadow Community Center, which housed a pool and a clubhouse to host various events. According to Greenmeadow resident junior Naya Nebriaga, the community center continues to be an integral part of the neighborhood today. “Every weekend (there’s always) something going on,” she said. “They have barbeques, wine tastings for the adults and home renovation tip sessions.”

In many aspects, Eichler’s architectural legacy has endured the test of time: Out of the 2,700 Eichler homes originally built in Palo Alto, Atria Real Estate Founder Kevin Swartz estimates that roughly 2,000 of them still remain. Some Eichler owners, such as Nebriaga, have opted to modernize their homes to make them more suitable for 21st-century living. “When we moved, we had to redo all of the plumbing and electrical and add insulation to the walls,” she said. “This past summer, we also invested in HVAC units for all of the rooms.”

While renovations are oftentimes necessary, Eichler Network Director Marty Arbunich noted their potential to detract from the classic Eichler aesthetic. “Many remodels are off the mark, and this could be attributed to one key factor: not having a clear understanding of the architecture at the onset,” he wrote in an email. While remodeling their Eichler, Nebriaga’s family recognized this risk and ensured that the new changes would complement qualities such as the interior-exterior fluidity. “When we renovated the house, we made sure that the floorings were very similar to the outside concrete area, so that it was a seamless transition,” she said.

Along with Eichler’s architectural legacy, his community ideals still pertain today, according to Swartz. “The sense of community, parades and block parties are really unique to Eichler homes,” he said. “The people who are buying and living in these homes all love their Eichlers and have a common denominator between them. It’s a great asset to the neighborhood and families, being able to participate in that.” Nebriaga also enjoys the sense of community that owning an Eichler affords her. “Our neighbor next door wants to renovate, and they’re asking us questions on what to do because renovating an Eichler is different from renovating a regular home,” she said. “If I have a friend who lives in an Eichler, it’s also really cool to see their layout, because in a way, the houses are supposed to be very similar, but each one is super different depending on what they decided to do with the interior design.”

Despite their numerous benefits, Arbunich does not foresee similar community-oriented developments being built in the future. “In the Bay Area, we’ve simply run out of space to develop new tracts of any kind,” he said. “When Eichler was building in the postwar (period), there was plenty of available land, but so much of that has been filled over the past 60 to 70 years.”

Unlike design and community, Eichler’s third ideal of affordability has fallen short of maintaining a modern-day relevance. In February, the median sale price of a home in Greenmeadow was $1.97 million, over 10 times Eichler’s original asking price adjusted for inflation. According to freelance writer Bo Crane, Eichler’s reasonable asking prices facilitated racial integration in Palo Alto. “Eichler was the first local builder to proclaim that he favored selling houses to buyers of various racial and ethnic backgrounds,” he wrote in a Palo Alto Online article published in February. “The Greenmeadow tract welcomed Eichler’s first Black homebuyers.”

Although Eichler’s socially progressive values resonate with many, the Bay Area’s low housing supply and high demand have impeded their continued application. “I’ve heard many Eichler homeowners and buyers comment on how they were aligned with the history of how he was inclusive and wasn’t discriminating,” Swartz said. “But there are a lot of people who want to live in an Eichler, and they’re looking for where they could possibly afford one. The price is definitely a big barrier.”

Nevertheless, Arbunich believes that when it comes to fostering a strong sense of community, few neighborhoods can match Eichler neighborhoods’ camaraderie and cohesion. “Eichler owners are different in that regard,” he said. “It would take a lot of education and instilling pride in home ownership to build a (similar) support network behind most other communities.”

According to the National Weather Service, the winds were due to the atmospheric river currently impacting the San Francisco Bay Area. The NWS has issued a severe high wind warning and moderate flood watch until 11 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14.

The winds resulted in a fallen tree by the library near Arastradero Road, which has since been cordoned off. The severe conditions also caused a decorative metal panel on the P-building to fall on a student who was walking beneath it. 

Buildings on the northern end of campus—including the P-building, N-building and Village—experienced a power and WiFi outage toward the end of second period, with power being restored at the start of lunch. Sophomore Laura Cheunkarndee was in the S-building during the outage. “We were playing in orchestra and all of a sudden, the lights (went) out,” she said. “We just kept playing because we could (still) read the music.” The sudden outage also resulted in the cancellation of the High School Musical sneak peek of “Status Quo.” 

Before lunch, Assistant Principal Harvey Newland sent out a Schoology update advising students of the extreme weather conditions. “Due to high winds, we have asked staff to keep their classrooms open during lunch if possible,” it stated. “We recommend that you find a place to eat indoors to avoid flying debris and broken trees.” At 11:52 a.m., teachers were instructed to open their classrooms to students during lunch to provide shelter from falling debris. 

At the end of lunch, administrators broadcasted a schoolwide announcement. “All students and staff should remain where they are and not go to class until further notice,” it stated. A few minutes later, a follow-up announcement ensued. “We are no longer transitioning to third period at this time,” it stated. 

Budget Manager Silvia Griswold communicated with administrators to secure areas on campus. “The winds were very strong and it was unsafe to be outside because trees and other things can dislodge,” she said. “(The administrators) wanted to make sure that everyone was safe and asked students to shelter inside until further notice. All the administrators went outside at lunch to make sure students were sheltering in place.”

The outages elicited mixed reactions from students. Sophomore Melinda Huang noted the unprecedented nature of the outage. “The winds have been super strong,” she said. “It’s been scary having to take cover because (this) has never happened to me before.” Others, such as freshman Tom Scheib, were more relaxed. “It was windy, but there are people in charge to make sure that the problems don’t get too big,” he said. 

At 1:11 p.m., administrators announced that students should go to class immediately, and that they would not be allowed out unless for emergency bathroom breaks. “Students should go directly to third period and avoid any areas with trees and only using open walkways,” they said. 

At 1:15 p.m., power went out for the southern end of campus, which had not lost power during the previous outage.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Photo courtesy of E O'Connell

A deciduous tree falls down under the force of the winds near the F-Building