Chi’s badminton journey hasn’t always been smooth. The sport began to lose its luster in middle school as competition and pressure rose, up to the point where he almost wanted to quit. Eventually, though, he found his rhythm.

“Before getting to high school, the junior tournaments are very competitive, and you start to question yourself,” he said. “But (I learned) to trust in my own abilities.”

Badminton has helped Chi grow beyond increased physical skill and endurance, as competing with a team has taught him collaboration.

“I’ve learned how to communicate and interact with my peers, and listen to their unique perspectives,” he said. “(In badminton,) you have to understand your partner better and develop a strategy that suits both of your strengths.”

Chi plans to continue playing badminton on the University of California, Berkeley, team. While he’s been able to balance badminton and academics thus far, he believes college will prove to be a greater challenge. Still, even if it’s through casual play, Chi looks forward to diving deeper into one of his favorite aspects of the sport: community.

“I think it will be less rigorous because I will focus on forming connections instead of competing for personal glory,” he said. “(I’m excited to) meet new people on the team from diverse studies, locations and interests.”

At Berkeley, Chi plans to major in data science, an interest he’s fostered through computer science classes at Gunn.

“I believe data science is the future and opens up many new possibilities,” he said.

Olshen joined GRT after taking Introduction to Engineering Design in his freshman year, where he took a liking to computer-aided design. In sophomore and junior year, Olshen worked on mechanical design for the team’s drivetrain subgroup.

Through the robotics team — especially its startup-like organizational structure — Olshen has gained valuable experience for college and the tech industry.

“It is my dream to be part of a start- up, even if that startup fails,” he said. “And that’s how GRT operates. GRT has helped me understand what it would be like and also the challenges that I would face if I were part of or started a startup myself.”

Olshen appreciates the freedom GRT and high school have given him to explore various interests and make mistakes without having to fear the consequences.

“I’m lucky to have made the mistakes where the stakes are relatively low compared to my entire career,” he said. “If you don’t try a bunch of new things in high school such as GRT, or even multiple aspects within GRT, then you’re not going to make the most of the few years that you have where the stakes are low.”

Though he has enjoyed being able to physically interact with the systems around him through mechanical engineering, Olshen is also interested in delving into the ever-growing theoretical fields of electrical and computer engineering in college.

“It’s a little bit less tangible — and that’s why mechanical engineering has had such a pull, because I can understand that — but electrical engineering is just completely high in the sky, and that’s what I really want to understand,” he said.

Barbier chose this program to experience living in a different place. He believes the locations of both universities — Reims and New York City — provide the ideal opportunity to immerse himself in a rich political and cultural environment.

“France is full of European culture, and New York is the ‘Western capital of the world,’” he said. “I’m able to study what I love, which is the social sciences in an international setting, and at two great universities in two great locations.”

This program will not be Barbier’s frst time living in a new country, having stayed with his grandparents in France.

“I feel like I’m relatively adaptable when it comes to living in a new country,” he said. “That being said, it’s going to be a huge culture shock because the language is different, and I’m going to be in an apartment alone because it’s not dorms. So it’s a lot of independent life in a country that I am not very familiar with.”

Barbier looks forward to seeing the differences between French and American society frsthand.

“France is more of a socialist culture, whereas the U.S. is a lot more capitalist,” he said. “It’s going to be very interesting, especially when I come back to New York, (because) I’ll be able to compare the two.”

French universities also have a different style of education, with more rigid class schedules. Barbier hopes to further explore the intersection between social science and math through this program.

“I’m excited to explore how those two felds that are seemingly really different overlap, and how I can use (that) knowledge and apply it to the real world.”

At the beginning of each school year, the Student Activities Center sells parking permits, which are required for students to park their cars in the parking lot. Only juniors and seniors with driver’s licenses are able to purchase one, and those living beyond El Camino Real, Foothill Expressway, Page Mill Road or Adobe Creek are eligible to purchase permits a week earlier than other students. Students must provide their name, parents’ names, grade, driver’s license number, license plate number and car model. This identifying information is then linked to each pass. According to Assistant Principal of Facilities Dr. Mycal Hixon, as of April 8, all of the passes are sold out, but there is a waiting list for interested students.

The Palo Alto Police Department is responsible for ticketing cars without permits in the parking lot, which they try to do on a daily basis. Administrators first discovered a fake pass when ticketing officers called a student to move their car from a handicapped parking spot and found that the person who answered the phone was not the person whose information was linked to the parking pass.

One senior, who requested anonymity to protect themselves from disciplinary action, was unable to purchase a parking pass and decided to create a counterfeit.

“I was willing to buy one, and I even went and talked with them multiple times to try to get one,” they said. “(The school said they needed) to count the number of available spaces. I was like, okay, and that took them like three months to figure out. In the meantime, I figured out how to trace one to make a copy.”

The anonymous senior made a few passes for other students, and is also aware of other students who are making replicas. At first, the senior made the fake passes with polyvinyl chloride sublimation, before starting to order directly from the company that manufactures Gunn’s permits.

Administrators believe that there are currently 20 or more fake permits in circulation. Each legitimate pass has a unique ID number. Most counterfeit passes are identifiable because they repeat ID numbers, but most times they go unnoticed because ticketing officers aren’t able to closely check each pass’s ID.

According to Hixon, administrators have started looking into harder-to-fake permits for next school year, such as ones that use more laser-perforated holes or ultraviolet images for identification. Those with counterfeit permits this year may receive a parking citation or a ban from purchasing a permit in the future.

“(The security) started checking a bit, and there’s some people who had poorly made replicas,” the anonymous senior said. “For the people who I’ve seen get their fakes taken, the campus supervisor came up to them while they were in their car and asked to see it up close. Then they would ask for your name, and if the name didn’t match the one that was on the list, they would take it and not give it back.”

Senior Indira Raja, who has been on the parking pass waitlist for nine months, resorted to parking without a permit because driving is her only way to get to school.

“I know that the construction takes up a lot of the parking lot spaces, and there have been fake parking passes some of the students have been getting, so it’s been super difficult for the admin to give enough spaces for the students,” she said. “But I also just don’t want to be scared to get a parking ticket while I’m sitting in my sixth-period class.”

From an early age, Schettino González enjoyed creating skits and helping his sister — now a film student at Chapman University — make movies. For him, pursuing filmmaking was a natural instinct.

“I was never as attracted to something as I was to film,” he said. “I don’t think there was ever a moment where I was like, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do.’ It was always just something that I had to do. I had to make these films. I had to see my passion through.”

Schettino González has explored a variety of filmmaking genres — sports documentaries, PSAs and narrative shorts, just to name a few — but recently homed in on storytelling through fictional short films. He has a meticulous process: brainstorming ideas, writing a shot list, creating a detailed script, filming with actors and editing. He focuses on finding ideas and stories that resonate with his own experiences.

Like all amateur filmmakers, Schettino González started out shooting with default camera settings. With experience and upgraded equipment over time, he acquired an eye for detail, learning to enhance every element to make his films come alive. One technique Schettino González has honed is sound design, which he believes adds another dimension to films.

“A lot of people … don’t realize how (sound design) can enhance the performance, how we can create depth to the story, how we can make the characters feel lived in and make the story feel lived in,” he said. “Just creating a world with sound is very important and something that I pay more attention to.”

Schettino González’s film “Querido Mexico,” which explores his gratitude towards Mexico while comparing it to the stressful environment of Palo Alto, won first place statewide at the Directing Change Film Contest and the regional award for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Emmys. It was also nominated for a National Student Emmy. “Skateboarding with Lara Botto,” a film Schettino González created with senior Josh Scheinman, also received the regional award for the National Academy’s Student Emmys.

Schettino González has found it extremely rewarding to be able to network with actors and directors and spotlight important topics through films like “Querido Mexico,” which touches on student mental health and pressure.

In the future, Schettino González will continue improving his abilities and using film to bring meaningful issues to light.

“I see myself creating more impactful work, pieces that matter, pieces that touch on subjects that most people are scared to touch on, and collaborating with talented filmmakers to create things that stand out,” he said.

From an early age, Schettino González enjoyed creating skits and helping his sister — now a film student at Chapman University — make movies. For him, pursuing filmmaking was a natural instinct.

“I was never as attracted to something as I was to film,” he said. “I don’t think there was ever a moment where I was like, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do.’ It was always just something that I had to do. I had to make these films. I had to see my passion through.”

Schettino González has explored a variety of filmmaking genres — sports documentaries, PSAs and narrative shorts, just to name a few — but recently homed in on storytelling through fictional short films. He has a meticulous process: brainstorming ideas, writing a shot list, creating a detailed script, filming with actors and editing. He focuses on finding ideas and stories that resonate with his own experiences.

Like all amateur filmmakers, Schettino González started out shooting with default camera settings. With experience and upgraded equipment over time, he acquired an eye for detail, learning to enhance every element to make his films come alive. One technique Schettino González has honed is sound design, which he believes adds another dimension to films.

“A lot of people … don’t realize how (sound design) can enhance the performance, how we can create depth to the story, how we can make the characters feel lived in and make the story feel lived in,” he said. “Just creating a world with sound is very important and something that I pay more attention to.”

Schettino González’s film “Querido Mexico,” which explores his gratitude towards Mexico while comparing it to the stressful environment of Palo Alto, won first place statewide at the Directing Change Film Contest and the regional award for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Emmys. It was also nominated for a National Student Emmy. “Skateboarding with Lara Botto,” a film Schettino González created with senior Josh Scheinman, also received the regional award for the National Academy’s Student Emmys.

Schettino González has found it extremely rewarding to be able to network with actors and directors and spotlight important topics through films like “Querido Mexico,” which touches on student mental health and pressure.

In the future, Schettino González will continue improving his abilities and using film to bring meaningful issues to light.

“I see myself creating more impactful work, pieces that matter, pieces that touch on subjects that most people are scared to touch on, and collaborating with talented filmmakers to create things that stand out,” he said.

The os trigonum, present in around 15 to 30% of people, sits behind the ankle bone. Those who have it are born with it, and while some never experience discomfort because of the bone, others can develop great pain after injury or heavy use of their ankle.

Xue had been extremely active as a basketball player, swimmer and dancer, which strained her ankle. After her diagnosis, she temporarily stepped back from sports to recover, spending six months in physical therapy.

During these sessions, she was able to rest her foot and recover from the worst of her pains. She also learned how to take better care of her foot while easing it back into normal use.

“I (would walk) really weirdly, kind of with a limp where I didn’t put that much pressure on it,” she said. “It helps in the moment, but when you do it for such a long time, you gain bad habits while you’re walking. The physical therapy was getting me back to walking normally — putting pressure back on my foot while also trying to work out the pains in it.”

In eighth grade, Xue returned to sports through taking up tennis. However, her ankle still made her more injury-prone, causing her to sprain it while playing tennis and hurt it two more times during her P.E. class.

“My first tennis class, I sprained my ankle,” she said. “But I thought it was just another one of my ankle scares. I didn’t think it was serious. I thought I could just walk it off. … (After hurting it again), we went to a doctor, and the doctor was like, ‘You sprained it three times. What are you doing?’”

Though Xue wore a brace for several months to help support her ankle, she now mostly only wears it when she does long or highly intensive activities.

“It’s not good to get dependent on the brace,” she said. “So after a while, when I did actually get back into tennis, I started taking it off more and more to get more acclimated. Now, I can go for a two- or three-hour session without it, which is pretty good.”

Xue has learned to work with her ankle and hasn’t let it stop her from continuing tennis and also beginning running this season.

“Sometimes if I run for too much — especially if we do a mile during P.E. or something — it will start aching again,” she said. “But it’s not that painful anymore.”