Let’s start with some basics: how do you make it through first semester? Practice self-care. Don’t just sit on the couch crying over essays. Develop an exercise routine that gets you outside everyday, even if that’s going on walks to see the sunset. Maintain connections with your friends (or reach out to create new ones) and check in regularly, because this time is tough for a lot of people. But don’t stress too much—I promise it’s all going to work out.

So we’ve got the first semester covered. What about the second? My advice would be to do three things: find a hobby, go somewhere exciting and do something stupid. For the hobby it can be anything that brings you happiness outside of school and extracurriculars. (I’ve always been partial to ice-skating.) The “somewhere exciting” doesn’t have to be far; take a Caltrain to San Francisco, or bike to Shoreline. Experience a new place. As for the “something stupid,” I want to be clear that I’m not condoning any illegal activities. Just do something that you wouldn’t have done before without overthinking the pros and cons. Dye your hair a new color, or bike to the Dish at 5 a.m. to see the sunrise. Make a memory that you won’t forget.

And, of course, throughout it all—and particularly during essay season—we have to answer one last question: how do you decide what you want to do with your life? The answer is simple: dream of something worthwhile. You’ll always have the option to sell out, to become a Goldman McKinsey Amazon financial developer consultant or whatever, but at least for now, desire something better than living off of exploited workers’ labor. That doesn’t mean you can’t apply to be a Computer Science major (like me). It just means that when you build your trajectory and choose programs to apply to, imagine using that major in an exciting way (like building data visualizations for the New York Times!). It’s scary being 17 and even having to think about this question, but as long as you have big dreams, you can always adjust them going forward. Good luck. I hope you have a wonderful time—I’m rooting for you.

Alexis originally planned to take a gap year so that she could continue to develop before she left for college. “I felt like I really needed to grow as a person, and there was this really awesome program that I wanted to do,” she said. “I wanted to go to college with more of a college mindset rather than a continuation of a high school mindset.” But in spring, she got some unfortunate news: her program to travel to Morocco was cancelled, and it “completely changed [her] entire plan.” 

The situation was particularly complicated because Alexis hadn’t applied to all the colleges she wanted to, only applying to British schools for deferred enrollment, so she didn’t have an option to go directly to college when her program was cancelled. “[In senior year], I didn’t feel ready to make a choice about college, honestly,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t in the right place as a person, right, to sort of decide where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life.” 

With no plan for her gap year, Alexis spontaneously decided to join her friends who moved to the East Coast so they could be in the same time zone as their virtual college classes. “It was pretty spur of the moment,” she said. “I decided [to move] for sure about two weeks before, and then we went.”

Now, Alexis spends her days going on runs in Central Park, doing household chores and grabbing boba with her friends. She’s also gotten involved in a few different community organizations. Right now, she is working to start an international journal about the importance of studying abroad. She’s also helping Wave Learning Festival, an education nonprofit, apply for financial grants. “I figured, like, I’m not doing anything now,” she said. “I might as well do this.”

One of the best parts about taking a gap year for Alexis is her newfound self-sufficiency. “There’s a lot of independence,” she said. “I can go wherever, and do whatever, obviously within social distancing limits. There’s a freedom of choice, and it’s great.”

Alexis is not sure if she achieved the personal growth she’d hoped for. “I can’t say exactly if I’ve grown as a person, because I feel the same day-to-day, but looking back at my pre-pandemic days—I feel like, yeah, it’s hard to quantify but I feel like I have changed,” Alexis said.

For everyone else thinking about taking a gap year, especially if COVID-19 persists, Alexis isn’t sure if she recommends doing it. “There’s so much uncertainty right now,” she said. “There’s no right decision—you do you. If your circumstances are such that taking a gap year would not be good for you right this moment, then don’t take a gap year.”

As for her own experience, Alexis doesn’t know how it’ll turn out, but she’s pretty sure her journey will be worth it. “Honestly, I can’t say how it’s gonna turn out,” she said. “I might totally regret it by the end, especially during this time, and I might not. But I feel like, whether or not I regret it, I’m happy now that I did it. I’m okay with whatever the outcome is.”

“If (and it’s an if) Santa Clara moves from [“purple” status to “red” status] on Sept. 8, schools COULD reopen for in-person as soon as Sept. 22,” superintendent Don Austin said in a Sept. 1 tweet. “[Palo Alto Unified School District] would NOT return for large-scale in-person until a minimum of Oct. 12 as previously stated.”

The school board meeting on September 22nd will discuss a reopening plan; however, it is unlikely that Gunn will open up immediately on Oct. 12. The district has made it clear that priority will be given to reopening elementary schools before secondary schools, according to Gunn School Board Representative Thomas Li. 

Li, for his part, stressed viewing the situation realistically. “I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions,” he said. “There are still many difficult decisions and details the district needs to make before schools may reopen.”

This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Gaming is at an all time peak. With a myriad of games across many platforms and applications, gaming offers relaxing and enjoyable entertainment. Social distancing has caused trouble for friends trying to stay connected; online games allow friends to collaborate and interact in a way that one cannot with texting and calling. In times like these, gaming allows many to stay connected when they are feeling lonely.

League of Legends

In sophomore year, I promised myself that I would give it up. Yet here I am, only a year later, launching the Riot Games app to play what is the most addicting game in the world: League of Legends.

League of Legends, colloquially known as League, is a multiplayer online battle arena game that allows players to select one of over a hundred champions with unique abilities and, in its standard game mode, work in teams of five to dismantle the opposing team’s nexus. The game is known to be addicting, especially for high schoolers procrastinating on their Required Online Learning Experiences. With game times of anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, each game is a time commitment —but the happiness that comes from destroying your opponents is worth it.

One of the reasons why League is my “quarantine game” is due to the fun vibes it has, allowing you to hop on a call with four other friends and work together to accomplish your goals. Sure, it’s known for being toxic (friends certainly get upset when you steal their kills!), but getting to chill and play with your friends makes it very worth it. Plus, the game doesn’t require a fancy gaming setup—it can even be run on a Mac!

For anyone looking for a game: I’d recommend never downloading League of Legends. I promise that you’ll never be able to give it up.

Anagrams

Compelling, competitive and extremely addicting, Anagrams is the perfect video game to indulge in during the shelter in place. To those with iPhones, it’s accessible on the Game Pigeon feature within iMessage, requiring no additional download. Plus, you can play the game with anyone else who has an iPhone, helping you stay in contact with other gamers.

The game itself is quite straightforward. Players are given six random letters and have 60 seconds to create as many words as possible. The words must be at least three letters, and different point values are given to each word based on their complexity and length. For example, a six letter word scores 2,000 points, while a three letter word may only score 100.

The 60 second time limit also creates a sense of urgency in the game. Players are forced to work quickly to outcompete their opponent. Additionally, as each round consists of only so many seconds, it’s often played dozens of times–once the clock starts ticking, no one wants to stop.

Anagrams is the essential game that everyone should be playing during shelter in place. It targets all audiences, from elite gamers to novel beginners. It is dependent on quick thinking, yet not to a tedious extent; likewise, speed is a factor, yet not the determinate. Everyone should play Anagrams, and see for themselves just how universal the game really is.

Wii Sports

Many teenagers these days are taking up new hobbies while sheltering in place, and to no surprise,  gaming is one of the most popular. But video games don’t have to be violent, and you don’t need to be guns-a-blazing to have fun. For a relaxing alternative with little to no violence, try Wii Sports Resort, an enjoyable blast from the past.

Wii Sports Resort is a collection of 12 different sports ranging from sword fighting to wakeboarding. Whether you want to have a dogfight with a friend or take on a competitive game of bowling with 100 pins, there’s something for everyone.

The game mainly takes place on Wuhu Island, but for a entertaining game of golf you may be flown out to Wedge Island. Wii Sports allows you to play as your Mii, an avatar that you can design to see yourself play each offered game. Throughout the island, there are certain places to play each sport, which can be explored in the game Island Flyover in which you pilot a plane searching for unique landmarks across the archipelago.

Wii Sports Resort is a classic and nostalgic game from almost every kid’s childhood. The game lets you combine fun with a nice amount of exercise to get the best possible video game experience. If you ever need a calm break while staying at home, hop on the Wii and check this game out.

One of the major changes to the spring semester has been a shift to a credit/no-credit grading system. PAUSD was one of the first school districts in the country to transition—other districts have since followed. According to Superintendent Don Austin, the decision was made due to a lack of ability for teachers to transition quickly into online learning without sacrificing grading efficiency and accuracy. “Everyone around the country is dealing with this crisis,” he said. “There’s no way to have virtual classes be equivalent to in-person learning opportunities.”

For students, one concern about the system was the lack of transparency in transition. “I think it was a good solution, but there were definitely better ways to approach it,” junior Tiffany Chen said. “They could have first asked for student and parent input.”

Some parents were also skeptical of the decision. During the April 21 board meeting, parent Sudeshna Raha voiced concerns over equity for students who have worked hard to excel in their classes, yet due to the credit/no-credit system, are unable to receive recognition. “I feel what has been done with credit/no credit is inequitable to students taking honors and Advanced Placement classes,” she said. “They are putting in the work and they have been putting in the work, but they don’t have anything to show for it in their weighted GPA.”

Still, many see the importance of credit/no credit grading in the time of a crisis. “It’s a less stressful alternative for quarantine, because not everyone can put their full effort into school right now,” junior Lila Sanchez said. Colleges have currently said that they are accepting credit/no credit grading systems during the pandemic and will adjust accordingly.

Austin is also working on budget changes in anticipation for next year. Recently, the parcel tax, which is a property tax to fund California K-12 schools, was taken off of the voting ballot due to the financial impacts of the pandemic. According to a Palo Alto Online article on May 11, PAUSD has lost around three million dollars due to this pandemic. During the May 12 school board meeting, Chief Business Officer Carolyn Chow presented proposed planned budget cuts. While not directly mentioned, the proposal garnering the most public reaction was a reduction of release periods for all Instructional Supervisors and the stipends they received.

This decision was met with some backlash from the community, especially Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) instructional leads who are faced with dropping from one release period and a stipend to no release periods and a stipend. According to Instructional Lead for VAPA at Palo Alto High School Brittney Kerby, VAPA instructional leads are necessary for the mental health of students. “The proposed reduction of the VAPA [Instructional Lead] to only a stipend position will diminish our vibrant arts program and impact the student experience,” she said. “Time and responsibility that is required to support our specialized programs and advocate for our passionate students cannot be accomplished under a stipend reduction.”

According to Student Activities Director Lisa Hall, there may be many potential changes awaiting students in the coming fall, and the administration is considering smaller class sizes. “Given what we know right now, I suspect that student life at Gunn is going to be pretty different,” Hall said. “Right now they are looking at models that reduce class sizes so we can manage groups that may be in close contact.”

Furthermore, one of the major PAUSD initiatives going into the next school year is the alignment of the bell schedules. Gunn Principal Kathleen Laurence is heading the committee in charge of determining the education changes for next year and creating a modified bell schedule; at the May 12 board meeting, district officials presented a potential schedule with A/B schedules. This aligned bell schedule will allow teachers who work at both Gunn and Palo Alto High school to move seamlessly between classes and allow staff to work more collaboratively in the district—the A/B schedules will also try to ensure that transmission of COVID-19 is reduced. The schedule is still in draft phase and will be finalized.

Finally, changes to standardized testing will affect upperclassmen and underclassmen alike. In March, the College Board, a nonprofit organization in charge of such testing, announced that AP tests would be moving online, be reduced to 45 minutes in length and consist of solely free-response questions; additionally, only units that students were expected to learn by March will be tested.

According to AP Computer Science teacher Joshua Paley, students must consider how these changes will affect them in the long run. “The question you should be asking is whether, from a student’s perspective, AP tests this year are worth it,” he said. “Given that it’s a $150 investment for something like $4000 in college credit, it’s important to consider whether colleges will consider it—whether you’re getting a return on your investment.” Chen expressed concerns over how much shorter AP tests are. “It’s kind of stressful that AP scores will depend solely on how you respond to one or two [Free Response Questions],” she said. “It’s definitely not representative of a student’s knowledge about the subject.”

Ultimately, Austin understands the crisis that everyone is going through and believes that PAUSD will adjust as time goes on. “I’m looking forward to getting back to some normal as soon as possible,” he said.

    First, identify what you need to succeed in AP classes. For me, having lost a month of school due to COVID-19, one of the major tasks I had to do was make study guides for all of my classes in order to retain the knowledge. Take advantage of the new open-note and open-book format for the 2020-21 exams by taking succinct, clear notes that you can look over during the test (if necessary). Find some sources of practice problems; a great place to start would be your teacher’s Schoology pages. Look for other resources specific to your AP test such as albert.io, which provides a limited amount of free, multiple choice questions.

    Once you have a list of things you need to do, divide them equally within the weeks before your AP exam. Then, taking your daily planner (or creating a daily planner if you don’t have one already), insert the weekly requirements into different days based on where you have space. If you don’t have time, don’t push yourself too hard–it can only cause burn out and the number one most important thing right now is your health. Instead, take some things out of the “requirements” by either reducing the number of practice problems, finding online study guides instead of making your own, or finding other ways to cut down.

    Most importantly, stick to your schedule but don’t force yourself to lose sleep or other valuable time to cram in AP knowledge. You’ve been preparing this whole year for the tests, you can trust yourself a little bit. If you don’t get through every single thing you hoped on your daily schedule, don’t worry. Put it in another day where you have time, or delete it if it’s not important. Always prioritize your mental health and sleep before your studying. A 4 on an AP test isn’t going to make or break your high school experience, but losing sleep is not only going to make you cranky, it’s also going to reduce your mental function when it comes to the exam. Treat yourself right, and you’ll get through this and do amazing on AP exams.

    Good luck! Remember that you know what you need and what you can handle, and everything will turn out good in the end. You’ve got this!

Particularly in class, girls often find it more difficult to get their voices heard, making it more challenging for them to understand the content. A 2008 study by Northern Illinois professors Jennifer Schmidt and Lee Shumow focusing on high school science classes found that teachers are 43% more likely to spend time explaining basic concepts to boys than girls. A 2002 text by David Sadker further supplements this, showing that boys are also more likely to speak up in class discussions, even if they don’t understand the content as well. This comes from internalized concepts of gender that many teenagers are taught from a young age: girls are told to sit still and look pretty rather than take command of their own education.

These inherent stereotypes can be showcased in group projects, where girls often find their contributions overshadowed by boys. According to Deborah Tannen, boys have a tendency to ignore girls’ comments on co-ed group projects, preventing them from playing an impactful role and learning. Personally, I notice that girls tend to pull back during these co-ed projects and allow boys to lead, depriving them of valuable leadership experience as well as the learning that comes through working on difficult aspects of a project. 

Meanwhile, clubs, especially those that involve competitive activities, often unknowingly allow for greater levels of sexism, either from parent judges or from high schoolers themselves. According to a VBriefly article analyzing 89 national circuit Lincoln Douglas debate tournaments, girls are 4% less likely than boys to win preliminary rounds. In my personal experience, parents who judge debate rounds tend to characterize girls as “aggressive” whereas boys are referred to as “assertive,” and girls can receive ballots focusing more on their attire rather than their speaking (I once lost points for not wearing high heels!). This can discourage girls in the activity–the same VBriefly article found that girls who debate in sophomore year are 2.5% less likely to debate as juniors in comparison to boys in the same situation. 

Moreover, students in these competitive activities can commit gross displays of sexism with limited repercussions. Former Public Forum debater Megan Munce’s article Alright Let’s Talk, highlights the concept of “Good Debate Syndrome” (GDS), an idea where mostly male debaters are placed on a high pedestal of attractiveness simply by being good at debate. They then are able to use this idea to harass female debaters, all under the guise of GDS. In a 2016 Washington Post article about sexism in debate, a junior in debate spoke about being told by her male opponent that she could win a round if she “opened her legs.” 

This has held true even in the affluent, liberal Silicon Valley. A male debater at a nearby all-boys school once texted me that he would get me drunk on wine and when I wake up, “make [me] trust [him] [that he didn’t take advantage of me.]” Another, at a separate school, invoked “GDS” after I told him that I thought his partner was good at debate, humiliating me and making me feel uncomfortable. During cross examination, an opponent once said “why are you so mean to me?” when I assertively asked a question, another debater took screenshots of my personal, private chats with a different boy at his school and posted them on a debate group chat–the list goes on. All of these actions contributed to me having mixed feelings about tournaments and almost getting pushed away from the debate space, like many girls end up being. The fact that, until this year, I was the only varsity girl policy debater in my grade at Gunn (out of almost 10 total varsity sophomores last year), and that only 3 out of the 16 state qualifiers in our policy debate league were female this year, proves that this competitive activity ends up biased in favor of males. 

Model United Nations (MUN), another competitive activity that Gunn offers, has a similar dynamic. In a 2017 article by Rose Jacobs entitled MUNecdote: A Woman’s Role in Model UN, Jacobs mentions an advisor telling her to “tone down [her] intensity” because she was a girl. Unmoderated caucuses in conferences often see students flocking towards the tallest male in the room, rather than girls who might know more or have important ideas to contribute. This is an issue, as it leads to girls getting fewer awards because they have failed to show they can “control the room,” all due to internal biases held by the students around them. Erin Renzi’s article entitled Being a Girl in Model United Nations, also shows how, like in classes, girls tend to get called on less, giving them fewer opportunities to impress the chairs and to speak their minds. All of these are fundamental issues with activities that Gunn students are involved in, but oftentimes they aren’t called out or discussed.

Finally, students, even in everyday interactions, continue to fuel sexism in harmful “jokes” which are meant to demean; furthermore, they’re rarely called out for it, which allows them to continue. While playing video games with a group of friends this past weekend, I was told that “my opinion doesn’t matter because I’m a woman,” while my friends laughed in the background. Even when asking for advice on this column, I was told to “ensure I wasn’t a stupid feminazi” and asked if I “hated America” for wanting to write this. Yes, these are jokes, but when they are consistently told, the concepts become internalized more and more, causing greater insecurities for all the girls who have to hear them. I remember a friend telling me that he could “see that girl’s p*ssy through her shorts”–when I called him out on it, he laughed and quickly moved on. Personally, I’ve been asked to “send nudes” on Snapchat from boys at school that I don’t know. When I refuse, it’s played down in a similar way, as a “joke” that simply failed to land. It’s not funny. That shouldn’t be acceptable behavior, especially among juniors. 

So, what do we do about all this? The first step is to speak up. Continuously call out comments that are rude or discriminatory. If girls are comfortable with it, they should make a point to take charge in group projects and keep their hands raised, even if the teacher calls on all the boys first. The only way to change these structures is to set new examples, and that can only be done through “being aggressive” about change. A difference cannot be made until we fight back against the very structures that push us down. 

This responsibility doesn’t rest solely on girls, however. Everyone should take a second to moderate the language that they’re using and look at the ways they’re allowing for sexism to continue: either by making sexist comments or simply flocking to that tall male in an unmoderated caucus. Ultimately, it is up to students to set examples of acceptable behavior and recognize their own biases. Until that day, girls will continue to be made uncomfortable and pushed out of spaces of learning. 

In times of crisis, it can be rewarding to turn to history as a learning tool, helping to both avoid past mistakes and replicate past successes. As panic in response to COVID-19, a pandemic that recently caused the shutdown of all Palo Alto Unified School District schools till April 13, rises, this process becomes incredibly important as a mechanism to explore what each of us can do to improve the situation. Through an analysis of four major health crises, including the Spanish Flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Swine Flu and the H2N2 virus, commonly referred to as Asian Flu, as well as comparisons to modern-day COVID-19, it is possible to learn many lessons about how to prevent a pandemic. 

COVID-19 is believed to have originated in a “wet market” in Wuhan, China,  possibly coming from transmission between the animals there and humans, but probably originating in bats. SARS, which is thought to have also originated in bats, first saw cases in Zhongshan City, China possibly due to other “wet markets” there while the H2N2 virus, which came from ducks, was first seen in Guizhou, China. The Swine Flu started in Veracruz, Mexico near a pig farm (and the Spanish Flu’s origin is mostly unknown but some hypotheses include a British army base in France, Fort Riley in Kansas and, more recently, somewhere in Northern China). 

This seems to suggest that the highest risk areas for the start of epidemics tend to be places where humans are in close contact with live animals, such as a farm or “wet market.” These diseases tend to be zoonotic, meaning they spread from non-human animals to humans. In fact, it is possible for zoonotic diseases to show no symptoms at all in the non-human animal but severely affect humans due to differences in immune systems. 

One of the most important parts of the timeline of a pandemic is its “spread,” or what allowed it to go from one case to thousands. One reason is close proximity to other people. The Spanish Flu is one of the clearest examples of this, as it is mostly thought to have moved through World War 1 bunkers where soldiers were shoved into cramped places and spent weeks living inches away from each other. It infected over 500 million people and killed over 50 million, globally lowering the average life expectancy by 12 years. 

Still, one of the things to watch out for in comparisons between pandemics, especially between COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu, is the time period during which the pandemic occurred. In 1918, the medical field had not advanced nearly as far as it has today. Key innovations such as respirators or more protective medical gear were simply not available, meaning that more people got infected and treatment was less effective. That’s not to say that COVID-19 is not bad, it is a fast-spreading dangerous virus, but that its spread (and casualty rate) is inhibited by technology that did not exist at the time of the Spanish Flu. This lack of technology helped allow for the Spanish Flu to spread rapidly and kill over 50 million people.

Specific features of each of these viruses also made their transmission more likely. One of the reasons COVID-19 is spreading faster than SARS is because, according to Vox, it replicates in the upper respiratory tract rather than the lower one, allowing it to transmit even without the host showing any symptoms. It’s very likely that teenagers and young children may not show any symptoms at all but act as carriers to the disease, spreading it to people that may be more affected, such as elderly grandparents. The Swine Flu, a strain of influenza, was also special due to its ability to infect people of various age ranges rather than other strains of influenza which disproportionately affected those over 60 years old. 

The next step in the timeline of a virus is containment: how did government or social policies help to curb the virus’ spread? Quartz’s article on the Spanish Flu, which compares the spread of the flu in St. Louis, Missouri and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania helps to highlight the necessity for social distancing. Specifically, while Philadelphia held a war march of over 200,000 people while in the middle of the pandemic and ended up overflowing its hospitals with cases, St. Louis was able to effectively reduce its cases by closing most public centers (including schools) in the first two days, and banning public gatherings of over 20 people. 

This concept, commonly referred to as “social distancing,” seems to be the best way to combat contagiousness. Whether implemented through government policy, like the recently announced lockdown of all non-essential Bay Area businesses, or through social norms where people agree to limit the spread of the disease, it can be one of the only ways to at least slow down the spread. 

However, self-quarantine requires trust of governments: both to believe that the measures are necessary and that the crisis is real. Some countries attempt to bypass that necessity for trust by brutally enforcing policies, often leading to a more effective containment but worse quality of life. For example, according to Eugenia Tognotti’s article “Lessons from the History of Quarantine,” Chinese police during the SARS went as far as to install Web cameras in homes to maintain the quarantine, while also imposing harsh punishments such as the death penalty on those who violated the quarantine. Although these policies helped to significantly reduce the spread of the virus, it is up to the individual to decide whether invasion of privacy is worth that reduction. Still, self-quarantine will always be effective by limiting interactions and stopping the infections from getting worse.

The final step of a pandemic is its resolution, typically when the World Health Organization (WHO) declares it to be in its post-pandemic stage. This doesn’t mean that cases don’t continue to happen, but rather that there are no large or unusual outbreaks of the virus. Each of the four pandemics assessed ended in a couple years, with the Spanish Flu lasting from 1918 to 1920, the Swine Flu pandemic lasting from 2009 to 2010, the H2N2 pandemic lasting from 1957 to 1958 and SARS lasting from 2002 to 2004.
None of these resolutions came directly after one significant step taken, but rather individual events that compounded together to inhibit the spread. Developed immunity, the rise of vaccines, quarantine policies and even changing weather all played a part in finally ending these pandemics. When we look at COVID-19, it is our responsibility to each individually do our best to help this crisis reach that post-pandemic level quickly. By following policies set forth by local governments, practicing “social distancing” and listening to other key lessons from history, we can each make an impact on working toward the resolution of this crisis.

One of the ways to avoid “falling out of love” is to share your love. Thus, although there is no inherently “valid” way to love, some of the most loving expressions of love include focusing on the little things, creating a positive atmosphere and setting aside time to make the ones you love feel important.

Love is often hidden in the little things. Even the smallest actions in any relationship can have far-reaching effects. It’s the subtler phrases like “drive safe” that can mean the whole world. I once knew a boy who kept a collection of hair ties on his sleeve. When I asked why, he explained that he was holding them for his girlfriend. She’d often forget to bring her own and would then be unable to do things like participate in labs. Rather than placing the burden on her to remember, he decided to start carrying them around in case she ever needed them. That’s one of the cutest expressions of love: just another way of letting her know that he would be there for her, whatever she needed. 

Little things can be something as small as remembering your best friend’s boba order and grabbing it for them when you drive by. It’s fairly inexpensive—only five dollars—and can brighten up their day. My sister is one of the people who’s the best at this type of love: she remembers small things about people and gifts them shirts related to them. For example, my dad loves to *defy* the law and my sister bought him a shirt with the words “Officer, I didn’t see you there.” It was still pretty cheap and showcased a level of listening to the other person and a playfulness that is in the best love. Surprise the people you love with cute gifts, or even care packages, for that added level of affection.

Another important way to express love is by sending positive vibes to those around you. I know someone who, whenever he sees me, without fail, compliments me on my outfit—even if I feel like a paper bag. It always lightens my mood and makes even the worst days 10 times better. Tell the people you love that they look cute today or simply just that you love them. It’s a fail-safe way to make someone smile. More than that, laugh at their jokes, even if they’re not all that funny. Smile around them, and create a positive vibe within every relationship. Make yourself someone that you enjoy being around, and they’ll enjoy it too.

Of course, sometimes it’s hard to maintain those positive vibes, and that’s still valid. Trust them to be okay with you when life gets sad. Let them in whenever you can. Cry on their shoulder about that stupid biology test, allowing yourself to be imperfect in front of them. Tell them about your failures just as much as your successes and be willing to laugh with them about the thousands of insignificant problems in your lives. Most of all, be willing to be that person for them. Embrace their flaws and blemishes wholly, and offer yourself as the shoulder for them to cry on. Going through tough times can make love stronger, if you let it. As long as every action you do has love behind it, it’s all going to be alright. 

Further, take time out of your day to let them know that they’re appreciated. Remind them of how amazing they are and what they’ve done for you. Acknowledge and welcome their attempts to love you back. More importantly, try your best to take time out of your day for them and avoid being “too busy.” This can be hard, especially for teenagers with a thousand things to do, but it’s completely achievable if you put effort into it. 

If they’re busy, actively look for ways to make them happy and help them deal with that busyness. I have one friend who lives very far from me, so we don’t get to talk a lot. However, she’ll text me about the most random things, from Red Velvet music videos to memes about Mr. Darcy (we stan!). And whenever I have a debate tournament, she’ll find out and send me small supportive texts before rounds, helping me deal with my nervousness and making me smile. If someone you love has a big presentation, send them “good luck <3” texts, you never know if that’s the motivation they need to get through it.

Along that same vein, prioritize them whenever you can. With your family, make the effort to have dinner with them, and ask them about their days. Listen to what they have to say and remember it, proving to them that you care. It’s those small things that bring happiness.

Finally, it wouldn’t truly be a love article if I didn’t talk about some level of intimacy. Not every relationship is physically intimate, and that’s completely okay. But for those that are, know that even the smallest touches are a way of supporting the person you love. In my opinion, one of the sweetest things you can do with your partner is hold hands, even in the idlest of moments. It’s such a small thing, but it feels like getting enveloped in someone else’s warmth, helping them keep themselves up and reminding them that you’re close by. Hugs, too, can be really wholesome. They’re a greater extension of holding hands and letting you know that the person you love is right there around you. Of course, never be pressured to go any further than you’re comfortable with and always establish boundaries. Make sure everyone feels safe, and understand that the biggest part of love is a bond that’s far beyond anything physical. 

At the end of the day, love comes from wanting to put a smile on the faces of the ones around you—it’s the person running outside to hand you an umbrella in the rain or the hair tie reserved just for you. It can come through any and every action, but should always leave warmth behind, both for you and for the ones you love. This Valentine’s Day, try a few of these tips on the people who make you happy.