“I was learning from students that are agricultural and environmental science students at Stanford,” she said. “They come from all over the place and have different perspectives on everything, and it’s just really interesting to listen to while doing mundane tasks like weeding.”

Novitskaya grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and often visited countryside farms with her family. Moving to California showed her the importance of agriculture as a system.

“A lot of people didn’t realize how important it is here because a lot of people are focused on tech and not really on a more traditional or not-as-fancy sort of profession,” Novitskaya said. “But I think it’s really important.”

Over the years, Novitskaya has explored various perspectives on agriculture through volunteering, going abroad, and traveling with her family. Last summer, as part of a Council on International Educational Exchange program focused on climate change, she learned how Costa Rican people battle climate change through agriculture in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

“Seeing different farms of different countries, (I saw that) other countries are able to do (agriculture) sustainably,” she said. “So can we, but we aren’t really pushing towards that. I want to focus on the sustainable side of it and help other farmers make better choices that are more environmentally friendly.”

Through majoring in agricultural science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Novitskaya hopes to learn more about the agricultural system in the U.S. and abroad.

“As people live in more urban areas, it’s harder to get fresh food and food deserts are a big problem,” she said. “Being able to assist people with getting fresh produce in a more environmentally friendly way would be really cool.”

Previously, the team also competed in the regional Silicon Valley District Career Development Conference from Jan. 5-7.

DECA Inc. is a national organization that prepares high school and college students for careers in business management and administration, entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality and tourism, marketing, and finance literacy. To prepare for conferences, the Gunn DECA team holds online and in- person study sessions and has a mentoring system.

SCDC team finalist junior Jennifer Bukchin competed in the Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making event, taking a business-administration exam and participating in a partner case study at SCDC. To prepare, she completed practice tests, studied key terms and used flashcards to learn vocabulary. Her partner read books and articles to keep up with business trends.

Bukchin enjoys bonding with the DECA community during competitions.

“My favorite memory is definitely Door-Dashing food at night,” she said. “For States, I also liked going to Disneyland. I was there with friends (and) I got to see fireworks, do all the rides (and) get some good food.”

The Idaho regional competition comprised practice matches, qualifications and playoffs. During the qualifications, robots accrued ranking points for a chance to compete in the playoffs, which determined the event winners.
After the first round of qualifications,
GRT — registered under the team number
192 — was in 43rd place of 43 teams due to
repeated control failures. After all rounds
of qualifications, however, GRT was in 20th
place, and was selected to join Alliance 7 by

the alliance captain, team 2122.
In the final best-of-three rounds, GRT’s
alliance and the opposing alliance each won
one match, leading to a final tiebreaker that
ended with a score of 103 for Alliance 7 and
97 for Alliance 1.
Learning from past mistakes allowed the
team to be successful this year, according to
Safety Captain junior Amelia Perry.
“We have a system to pass information to
future years, which is why we have lasted so
long as a team,” she said.
As the regional winners, GRT and their
alliance captain team 2122 from Boise, Idaho,
will continue to the April 17 to 20 FIRST world
championship in Houston, Texas.

Estrada Nakamatsu’s parents first introduced her to the Marinera to help her and her sister connect to their culture. Although Nakamatsu sometimes disliked attending practices, she eventually grew to love expressing her emotions and culture through dance.

“I was the only Peruvian at my elementary school for around four years, which made me feel very isolated and scared to represent my own culture,” Estrada Nakamatsu said. “It was kind of hard to try to accept my culture and be proud of it (because of) the really deep seated fear of being judged. As I got older, I definitely started to become more proud of my culture. Now, I’m very open. I love to show it off.”

Through the Marinera Nortena community, Estrada Nakamatsu surrounds herself with people who share her Peruvian culture, giving her a sense of belonging. The excitement that comes with dancing gives her an opportunity to cherish her culture.

“Sometimes, I’m so focused on the excitement of the dance that I block out the cheers of my family and I’m completely in a state of happiness,” she said.

Estrada Nakamatsu participates in several competitions during the year, though schoolwork and parent availability limit the number of practices and competitions she can attend.

“I was really happy to be (at the Marinera Siempre Juntos competition in January) because I hadn’t competed in such a long time,” she said. “I got a lot of compliments, and it felt really good to be in traditional wear.”

Competitions usually consist of three pairs dancing while four to six judges watch, with multiple rounds if necessary. Pairs are judged based on the spontaneity (the personality of the dance), grace, coordination and zapateo (the footwork). Through these competitions, however, she’s had to face the hard truth that certain dancers pay to win, even at the major national championship in Peru.

“It’s clear when someone who wins first place only won because they paid or because the judges weren’t good at deciding,” she said. “Sometimes it gets super frustrating that you just want to cry, because you’ve worked so hard and you have so much experience just to lose against someone that isn’t as experienced as you are.”

Despite this challenge, Estrada Nakamatsu continues to dance at competitions and for her own enjoyment.

“I basically just want to have fun,” she said. “I love to represent my culture. One day, I want to maybe even go to Gunn in my traditional clothing that I dance with to be able to show it off and be able to see other people wear (their) traditional wear.”