Hardison’s passion for filmmaking was sparked by a class that he took in school. “I got into filmmaking in seventh grade because I took the video production course at JLS Middle School [taught by Jamie] Buddle, and I just fell in love with the idea of filmmaking. The next year, I encouraged all my friends to take the class,” he said. “They all did, and we started making videos together as a group, which definitely made me have a lot more fun with everything.”

Hardison credits his enjoyment of the activity to his friends. “I guess that’s what made it fun for me. It became something that I was able to do with my friends or something I could do in my free time, rather than doing a chore or something along those lines,” he said.

Editing is Hardison’s favorite part of filmmaking, especially because it’s often underlooked. “I like editing the most because that’s where you make the whole movie your own. You know you could have a good story and stuff, but the editing really makes the movie flow and makes the scenes work. It differentiates a good movie from an average one,” he said. “I love to add random stuff in there and just mess around.”

Like many artists, Hardison is ready to continue working with his passion in college and in his future careers. “I’m applying to schools that all have film departments. I’m planning on either pursuing a minor or major in film along with another major probably in the sciences, like biology,” he said. “In the future, I would love to pursue film as a career or something along the lines of film or photography.”

Throughout his young career in cinematography, Hardison has made many films. However, when asked what his favorite was, Hardison decided that for now, it was a film called “Deface” that he made with several classmates. “I put a lot of effort into the movie and we made ‘Deface’ in school,” he said. “It was our capstone project for the advanced video production class. Sadly, we didn’t get to spend enough time on it, but we put a lot of effort into it, we’d shot a lot and the cinematography is good.”

Hardison has learned that he needs to think on his feet when he encounters a plethora of setbacks in his film-making. “You know, it’s really hard to manage people when you’re directing because filming takes in a bunch of components. For example, you have filmmakers, actors and others. You usually have like six or seven people, and there are confusing online chats. You also need to conform to other people’s schedules to be able to get a lot of people together on one day.”

Hardison believes students don’t realize the time, expenses and effort required for cinematography. “It’s expensive. It’s hard to do. I feel like people kind of underestimate the time that goes into making a movie,” he said. “I don’t know if you know the movie ‘Moonlight,’ but they spent like six or seven years making that movie.”

Hardison also believes his passion for cinematography has changed the way he watches movies. “I’m always looking at movies and I’m thinking about how they got the shot or the editing, or like, the pacing might feel slow or too fast,” he said. “You kind of get to notice, especially as time goes on, how movies have evolved.”

It was Christmas morning in 2018 and the air was a crisp 62 degrees. I was curious, not knowing what could be contained in the plentiful boxes of presents laying under the plastic Christmas tree. The time finally came when my parents told me to pick out a present and open it. I chose a small rectangular one, not knowing that the gift laying in front of me would become one of my most essential possessions. The gift was the first edition of the Apple AirPods, and they instantly became a must-have. Anywhere I would go, they would either be in my pocket, in my bag or in my ears.

The only downside that comes to mind is the constant “oh, somebody’s rich” or “wow, way to flex on us,” comments that are inevitable when you take them out.

Now that we have covered all the negatives, time to start listing some of the endless positives. AirPods allow you to stay connected and listening to your device within a 40-foot radius. They also connect to any Bluetooth device, which helps solve issues that come with different types of headphone inputs.

The AirPod case and individual earbuds also have a very sleek design.  The battery life on the AirPods is also superb; I once went through an entire day of school with my AirPods in and not once was I worried that they would die. AirPods have also proved to be very helpful when bored in class, since the earbuds are extremely concealable and the customizable tap features allow you to switch songs and pause without using a phone.

In the end, if you can get past the hefty price tag, the AirPods are a wonderful purchase and an everyday necessity.

From a young age, every movie I saw that had a high school portrayed it with the same stereotypes. The school was always ruled by a jock—generally, a football player—and anyone who prioritized schoolwork was always depicted as a nerd with little to no social life. However, the biggest thing I seemed to notice throughout all these movies was the large emphasis on the high school party culture.

These stereotypes definitely did not apply to my high school experiences. When I came to Gunn, I knew that it would in no way represent the traditional stereotypes of high school. Even before I started my time here, it was rarely advertised as a fun school or a party school. Instead, telling people I was going to Gunn generally elicited a worried face or a reminder of what a high-pressured environment the school would be. I would always hear people rave about the school’s academics rather than its social activities.

The difference in our school’s party culture compared to other schools, such as Menlo-Atherton High School, became obvious to me at the beginning of my sophomore year. While talking to one of my friends who had transferred to Menlo-Atherton, they could not stop boasting about the “elite” parties that people at their school would throw. To be fair, our demographic definitely does not match the party school theme; our school has been dubbed the type of school to flex SAT scores at a basketball game.

However, despite our affiliation with academics, our school certainly has a party culture. I have experienced plenty of kickbacks thrown by all sorts of different people. Kickbacks are generally more toned-down, laid back parties predominantly made up of smaller groups of friends. These kickbacks also tend to be invite-only between close friend groups, causing fewer people to find out about them and come.

This feeds into Gunn’s “clique-like” culture. From my own and many of my friends’ personal experiences, we have witnessed the disunity within classes and disparity with people in other grades. Petty quarrels and unnecessary “beef” have prevented any true unity between groups, which in turn doesn’t allow for big parties. Due to this disparity, it is unlikely that a true “party culture” will develop at Gunn in the foreseeable future.

From what I saw in my freshman year, the upperclassmen always seemed to throw relatively big parties and social gatherings. These parties got less and less common as time went on. The last grade to throw these large social functions was last year’s class of 2019. Again, I noticed that the similarity that all these grades had, at least from an outsider’s perspective, was the unity found within the class. It doesn’t mean that everyone loved each other, like some weird hippie cult, but everyone seemed to be accepting of who was there. No one would let someone they didn’t like get in the way of their having a good time and no one wanted to ruin someone else’s good time.

But division in a grade can’t be the only barrier to unleashing Gunn’s inner party culture. Over time, students could have become less attracted to the illicit behaviors that go with party culture. Maybe parents have become smarter about allowing people to have big groups of friends over. There are endless possible explanations for why the party culture at Gunn isn’t as extravagant as it could be, but for the underclassmen’s sakes, I am excited to see what happens to it.

Coming towards the beginning of my senior year and the end of my high school experience, I have had time to reflect on the many things I have learned and wish I knew when I was younger. My high school experience, like that of many, has been an emotional rollercoaster. I have had countless good and bad times, memories I wish I could forget and some I wish I could relive every day. Throughout all these experiences, here are some tips and tricks I have learned:

1. Sleep is essential. I, like most people, have a bad habit of pushing things to the last minute. I have had many nights where I am torn between studying for an extra hour or getting an extra hour of sleep. After trying both, I highly recommend the extra hour of sleep. I have seen many peers perform worse on tests due to sleep deprivation. The later you sleep, the less information you retain from studying. It is very important to prioritize your own mental and physical health over an assignment or test.

2. Get to know people. Establishing connections or friendships is crucial to your high school experience. Freshman year is the best time to set up the groundwork for meeting people because people come from many different schools and most people are open to meeting others. Freshman year is also the time when many people come in with blank slates, so it’s a good idea to try to meet people without outside opinions clouding your perception of them.

3. Not everyone’s going to be as nice as you want them to be, and that’s fine. You’re not going to be friends with everyone, and that’s completely normal. It is much more important to focus on yourself without caring about what others think of you.

4. Find a group of friends who make you happy. It is important to find a group of friends who offer you a balance of friendship and fun, while also offering support and help both academically and mentally. A good group of friends can completely change your confidence and the way you view yourself, which is exceedingly important due to how much teenagers’ perceptions of themselves change throughout their lives. Having a close group of friends offers you an extra backbone to rely on.

5. Try not to run to class. The only thing that can distinguish someone as a freshman more is neon yellow Nike Elite clothing. If you’re going to be tardy, just take the tardy; the embarrassment of running from the freshman quad to the science building is not worth it.

In the end, it’s important to remember that your high school life will be filled with lots of highs and lots of lows, and even though at times it seems overwhelming, it’s completely possible to get through it by focusing on the right things.

—Manesh, a senior, is a Sports Editor

Gunn’s football team is off to a historic start to the season. The team has won their first two games for the first time in seven years. The Titans started off their winning streak with a 59-34 win versus Saratoga’s Prospect High School, followed by a blowout 42-0 versus James Lick High School, which is located in San Jose. 

Senior quarterback Aidan Everett is excited for the season and proud of the work and motivation his team has. “This year has been a special year for not only me but for the entire team. All these guys have continued to put in the work not only from last season but also offseason. We all want it [to win the championship] bad,” he said. 

Everett is also backing the tactics and ideals of Coach Jason Miller. “Coach Miller’s goal and mission has been to change the stigma that is associated with the Gunn football program. We think we have a good chance to do something very special.” 

Team captain Kylen Liu is also very excited and has high hopes for the season. “I’m pumped for this season, everyone on the team has been grinding the offseason and we are hungry for wins,” he said “This season we want a championship so we won’t tolerate any effort that’s not at that level. We have been hitting the weight room before school and have practice after school. We have been building up to something special since our coach Jason Miller has arrived.” 

The team plays games every Friday and the next game coming up is Friday 9/13 against Yerba Buena Highschool at Gunn.  

At the end of the last school year, students learned that they would be able to take two new physical education (P.E.) electives: Athletic Conditioning and Yoga. Both of these classes, if completed, count towards a student’s physical education credits, and are available to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Athletic Conditioning is taught by Braumon Creighton and the Yoga elective is taught by Steve Ames and Diane Ichikawa.

Students in Athletic Conditioning focus much of their class time in the weight room, where they will have the chance to learn and advance their knowledge of weightlifting. The class will also have lessons on the track, but students will mainly be learning how to do some conventional weightlifting, such as Olympic lifts, bench presses, squats, power cleans, push presses and deadlifts.

Creighton is hopeful about the upcoming year. “I am more excited for this class than I have been for any class I have taught here at Gunn, which has been a short time, but it has really given me something that I can get creative with and stretch my knowledge and teach kids stuff that they would have never learned in a normal physical education class,” he said. Creighton also believes Athletic Conditioning is more focused than most P.E. classes. “We are so bound to teaching team sports as a unit, such as teaching traditional team sports, basketball, volleyball and football, we never get a chance to talk about the different types of training methods that aren’t typical to your standard ‘meat and potatoes’ P.E. class,” he said.  “I am thrilled that the people signed up for this class for the right reasons.”

In Yoga, students’ curriculum is broken into four different units: the first unit is one focused on ensuring students are in shape to prevent any future injuries. The second is centered around the brain and learning about how it works. After that, Ames and Ichikawa will be teaching their students how to connect the brain and the body, and how to maintain a healthy mindset. The final unit will be shorter, and focused on how to apply skills that students learn in class to the outside world.

Ichikawa is pleased by how the Yoga class is going so far. “We’re already starting to see some pretty good shifts in some of our students, the dedication that they are bringing to it and the level of reflection they have when we have conversations about what they are getting out of it,” she said.

Athletic Conditioning and Yoga classes hope to continue to diversify students’ options for physical education.