In an era where technology often mediates our interactions with others, Chen’s choice to engage in letters allows her to put more thought into her communication than a simple text.

“I’ve done two pen-pal programs,” she said. “The first one was in eighth grade and I was paired with a girl who lived in the French Alps. We talked for a bit online before we started writing to each other. I wrote to her in French and she wrote to me in English.”

This program was orchestrated by her French teachers and their English teacher friends in France. Although not participating this year because her teacher chose not to, Chen was involved during her eighth grade and freshman year.

Teachers paired students up with someone from their partner class in the other country, and in cases of unequal class sizes, someone may be required to write two letters. From there, students received basic information about their pen pal and gave teachers the letters to mail out — beginning the exchange cycle. Through the program, Chen matched with many students from diverse backgrounds whom she wouldn’t have had the chance to meet otherwise. One example of this enlightenment is her second pen pal — Clemence from Albi, a village in the South of France.

“I exchanged social media with (her), and despite only having one semester to communicate, (found out she was) a very lovely person,” she said. “She’s a tri-athlete and she’s super cool.”

For Chen, every envelope that arrives creates a new and lasting friendship, as well as an opportunity to explore unique experiences. Regular curriculum is taught through an outside perspective with basic grammar and textbooks, while the letters take those skills to a more advanced level. They help improve her understanding of foreign lifestyles and cultures and enhance her knowledge around language use.

“(The pen-pal program) enriches your class experience a lot more because you get to see the culture a lot more and you get to learn first-hand what life is like in the country of the language that you’re speaking,” she said.

Pen-pal programs also opened Chen’s eyes to the cultural differences in other parts of the world andhelped her learn how to adapt to them. Each letter unveiled new perspectives and ideas from France, allowing Chen to experience the country through a mere piece of paper.

“I’ve definitely learned more about French culture, and when I did my exchange program with the Council on International Educational Exchange over the summer, I had my pen-pal programs before that,” she said. “Learning about French culture through someone who was living there actually helped me a lot during my exchange because I got to learn about French customs a lot and adapt there quicker.”

Chen also emphasizes the importance of keeping contact with others around the world as a way to connect, meet new people and expand one’s horizons.

“I think that all language students should do pen-pal programs because you’re able to immerse yourself into the culture a lot better and you’re able to learn the language and cultures a lot better,” she said. “It’ll open your eyes up to the world a lot more.”

“We originally started a pen-pal project because we wanted to bridge the intergenerational gap between the elderly and students here at Gunn,” Krishnan said.

These letters cover a variety of topics, such as hobbies, sports, academics or anything else the students choose to include about themselves. The founders of BuddyBonds created basic prompts intended to promote interesting conversations and encourage those writing to share more about themselves.

“In one of the letters, one of the other people who participated talked about her love for music and how she’s part of the orchestra,” Krishnan said.

Writing these pen-pal letters transcend the benefits of casual correspondence. According to Krishnan, the experience of a senior citizen — someone who is over 60 years old — is incredibly different from that of a high schooler, and writing to them would provide students with a chance to understand unique points of view and learn from their vivid life experiences. Krishnan adopted a newfound sense of understanding towards those who reside at Ivy Livings through her pen-pal letters. The project also left a positive impact on the community at Ivy Living by helping to introduce more social aspects to the seniors’ lives.

“Only one out of the 10 people we interviewed said that they got contact with people outside of the retirement home,” she said. “And after we did the pen pal letters, (we) can safely say that there’s been a difference and that they feel a little bit more connected, specifically to the students that were involved with the pen pal program.”

This pen-pal project has also created a chance for students to meet one of the residents in person — Alison. Alison, who has lived and studied in Edinburgh, Scotland, was one of those individuals. This experience has proven that taking initiative to reach out can lead to potentially life-changing opportunities like these.

Although the project is relatively new, with the first letter being sent out in March, Krishnan recommends this activity to anyone looking for a way to connect with others.

“Reaching out and communicating is definitely a great way to get involved in writing letters,” she said.

The practice of writing letters has become less and less common, vanishing in the age of technology. While less convenient, the authenticity of writing, addressing, stamping and mailing a letter can’t be beat. Despite its decline in popularity, however, the art of pen-palling is still occasionally seen today in initiatives such as BuddyBonds, which are intended to connect people of different ages.

Ren has been involved in coding for seven years, beginning his journey with the First Lego League, an international robotics competition for elementary and middle school students. Although FLL included some coding, he only began competing in USACO two years ago.

“Competitive programming is a pretty niche part of coding, so I got into it relatively recently,” he said. “A lot of it doesn’t have to do with anything else in coding.”

This type of coding may be less known, but Ren isn’t the only one at Gunn participating in the competition. With two years of coding experience prior to his introduction to USACO, junior Agastya Goel began competitively coding in sixth grade, an endeavor propelled by his existing interest and family influence.

“My dad does a lot of computer science and my sister had also done competitive programming, so I decided to try it out and see what there was,” he said. “I found out very quickly that it was a lot of fun, so I continued.”

While Goel has participated in many coding competitions, USACO is the largest and most popular, with the organization holding four monthly competitions a season from December to March. Participants are divided into four divisions — Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum — depending on their compiled scores from each round. Each round lasts four or five hours and consists of three problems contestants must solve from scratch, which are then run against different test cases. The more test cases the program passes, the higher the contestant’s score.

“The great thing (about USACO) is that once you reach a certain division, you’re there permanently,” Goel said. “So, for most people, they aren’t worrying about joining the camp, but just to progress to the next division by scoring well. It’s like you’re competing against yourself.”

Not only is USACO accessible because participants can sign up online and participate from home, but online coding resources are also widely available. While preparing for the competitions, Goel focused on individual studying, including reading free blogs on Codeforces, a platform with over 20,000 community members, to learn new techniques and algorithms.

Goel noted that while his previous coding experience helped him at the beginning, the content he’s learned from most coding classes differs from the competition-style prompts in USACO.

“You have a math problem, but now you have a computer to help you solve it,” he said. “Instead of building something like a website, what you’re doing in competitive programming is you’re given (a) math problem with different constraints and variables and you need to write a computer program that’s going to solve the math problem given to you.”

Therefore, Ren’s practice approach prioritized building the experience and mindset to think about new problems instead of only cramming techniques.

“I learned a couple of more basic common techniques, but a lot of the problems and how USACO is trying to move in general, is to be more about problem-solving rather than (about memorizing) a bunch of techniques and throwing them at the problem.”

Something else that differentiates USACO from traditional coding are the requirements in coding language. While the competition accepts any language in the lower divisions — most popularly C++, Java and Python — if chosen for the camp, participants must use C++, a general-purpose coding language used by many competitive programmers for its fast speed and well-developed Standard Template Library, which is used to find common algorithms.

Out of the 24 candidates selected for the training camp, only eight students — four for the girls team and four for the boys team — are chosen to represent the US at the International Olympiad in Informatic, the most prestigious computer science competition for high school students. Last year, Goel traveled with the IOI team to Hungary, where he received a gold medal.

“We got to meet lots of people from other countries, we were able to try out local Hungarian food and it was a lot of
fun,” he said.

Nonetheless, Goel’s journey to IOI hasn’t always been easy. During the six years that he has been competing, mental blocks have been a major obstacle for him to overcome.

“I think that the biggest challenge for me was the initial four divisions because sometimes it seemed impossible to get to the next division,” he said. “I think that USACO does a really good job of breaking up the process to IOI into many stages, but even with that, when I was in the Gold division, reaching the Platinum division seemed almost insurmountable. I very seriously considered giving up.”

As Goel’s experience and passion forcoding grew, he was able to push past these challenges.“At the beginning, it felt like I spent four hours coding when I was really only coding for 90 minutes,” he said. “Now, it feels like every minute I spend coding is really worth that time, so I think that when you enjoy something, you get much more value out of doing that thing.”

Having achieved his goal of competing internationally, Goel hopes to continue fostering his passion while spreading it to students at Gunn as co-president of the Competitive Programming Club.

“We ran a very successful coding competition this year,” he said. “It was the Bay Area programming competition with 80 or 90 in-person participants. That was a great experience, and we’re just trying to make coding accessible to everyone who wants to learn it.”

Although Ren has met a few fellow USACO participants, he is not active in the online or Gunn competitive programming community. Instead, similarly to Goel, Ren attributes his success to his personal interest.

“Follow your interests and do what you think is fun,” he said. “Don’t do anything for college because it doesn’t really work out.”

While USACO is competitive, Goel hopes to highlight the supportive camaraderie.

“It does feel like every competitive programmer is on the same team,” he said. “I think this is clearly seen in the camp, where after a very long and exhausting five hour contest, everyone just gathers downstairs in the dorm and starts playing games, or on the last day of camp, everyone stays up super late chatting or coding.”

A key component of the course is mentorship: Each AAR class is assigned two to three mentors — ranging from district parents to local professors to business owners — who regularly check in on students’ progress. According to AAR teacher Rachael Kaci, this model of mentorship has evolved since the course’s development nine years ago.

“Most students, prior to Covid, were assigned to a mentor one-on-one, but we saw such a variance in how the students relied upon the mentors,” she said. “Now that the mentors come into the classroom, they have the opportunity to watch the progress throughout the year and the student growth.” Under these mentors, students learn critical research skills, such as professionalism and writing. Kaci appreciates how the course challenges students to strengthen their soft skills of time management, communication and adaptability.

“Every single year, every student runs into a hiccup,” she said. “It could be a major one — like last year, I had two students who completely pivoted second semester and redid their project. Or, it could be a minor one, like not having enough respondents on a survey.”

SCRAPP

Despite these challenges, AAR students finish the school year with newfound answers to their research questions or having made an impact on an aspect of their community.

For instance, while walking around campus, students might notice green and blue posters with “Don’t Trash Your Planet” in bolded text plastered on any empty wall.

These posters are part of the Sustainability Campaign to Raise Awareness of Plastic Pollution initiative, begun by Social Justice Pathway juniors Phoebe Mota-Judges, Floyd Neesen and Talya Schube this year. SCRAPP’s goal is to motivate Gunn students to clean up trash from school lunches.

“We just saw the problem was so bad,” Neesen said. “If you take a look at the senior and sophomore (quads after lunch), there’s so much (trash). If you’re walking by, you can’t not notice it.”

The group hopes to combat littering by raising awareness. As part of the sensibility campaign, they have created an Instagram account to post videos and infographics about the detriments of non-reusable plastic and the impact of trash on campus.

Although existing posters in each classroom highlight the different materials that go in compost, landfill and recycling, they don’t include all of the wrappings used by the school cafeteria.

“There are reminders to throw away your trash and waste sorting guides that include the (packaging) that is used in the cafeteria,” Neesen said. “The (existing posters) don’t have the things that they use to wrap sandwiches and burgers. We have those.”

Fueled by their determination to improve Gunn’s sustainability, the SCRAPP team has learned valuable skills, such as networking, adaptability and teamwork. According to Schube, there were challenges when working with a lot of people.

“Trying to work on other people’s time, as well as going through a lot of people, was difficult,” she said.

BuddyBonds

AAR projects also extend beyond Gunn’s boundaries. For instance, juniors Namya Kasturi, Samhita Krishnan and Lia O’Donovan have worked to combat elders’ loneliness in Palo Alto through pen pal assignments this year. In collaboration with Palo Alto Commons, a retirement community, they sent a sign-up form to the home’s residents and are currently waiting to hear back.

From the beginning of the brainstorming process, O’Donovan and her team knew their main goal was to build community.

“We wanted to create intergenerational events between the elderly population and teenagers, and we were hoping to branch out to other schools and care homes to work with,” she said.

For O’Donovan, this project stemmed from her desire to become closer to elderly family members.

“I live far away from my grandparents, so when I get to talk to them, it’s very special,” she said. “I know that I have older neighbors on my street and I feel very connected to them when I get to talk to them a lot. I wanted to form that bond for others.”

Although BuddyBonds originally wanted to organize student groups to go to retirement homes, they had to adapt their idea, as finding a retirement home willing to partner with them was much harder than expected.

“It’s taught me a lot about moving on and how to make a change in a community that isn’t sheltered by a class, because this is something we could have done outside of AAR,” she said. “I learned that it’s the real world.”

Staff mental health

AAR is more than hands-on work, however: Students must also write up their findings in a formal paper. As sophomore Alisa Sonehara begins drafting her research paper, she needs to cite information from other sources while still integrating her own ideas.

Luckily, she has the support of experienced mentors to help analyze and organize her data. She also uses generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, which help check that her writing is clear, concise and, most importantly, accurate. With these resources, Sonehara has been able to delve into staff mental-health supports in PAUSD.

While Sonehara originally planned to research students’ mental health, she ultimately shifted her focus to staff, in light of district staffing shortages and new support initiatives following the pandemic.

“I wanted to see the type of support they are getting because I think there’s a lot of awareness and support for students right now, and there’s a lot more talk about it compared to educators,” she said. “I feel like educators deserve the same attention for mental health, because they matter a lot too.”

Sonehara was surprised to find that improving certain areas of mental health isn’t within the county specialist’s purview.

“For example, in the Healthy Kids Survey, if a teacher’s respondents are saying how they don’t have a good work environment, the mental health specialist isn’t really directed from the district to help improve that — she’s kind of just working on the overall view of the support for mental health,” she said. “That kind of surprised me because I feel like she could do a lot to help (those particular areas) as well.”

According to Kaci, this long-term, hands-on investigation makes AAR unique. With the wealth of professional resources and guidance, she recommends the course to anyone passionate about something and unable to find a class on campus that caters to their interests.

“You’re placed with a mentor or a manager and in a field that’s different from the traditional classroom and still get credits to put on your transcript, so that’s why I like (AAR),” she said. “Don’t shy away if you’re nervous about research — we can help anyone.”

Fleischmann’s journey with languages began early. Born into a multilingual family in California, her parents introduced her to German and Danish when she was a baby. Alongside these two languages, Fleischmann’s mom spoke Italian and her dad spoke French, further diversifying her language exposure.

“For me, language is a form of self-expression,” she said. “Knowing more languages makes our house a lot more expressive and a lot more vibrant.”

Although Fleischmann was born in the U.S., she moved to Germany when she was a few months old. There, she attended a British international school, where she learned English.

“I say words such as ‘hoover’ instead of ‘vacuum,’ or ‘queue’ instead of ‘line,’” she said. “Because I learned British English, it’s always a really funny conversation to have because (people ask), ‘You were born in California, German’s your first language and you learned British English?’”

By the age of 5, Fleischmann had moved back to the U.S. and begun attending Ohlone Elementary School, where she participated in the Mandarin immersion program for four years.

“It’s a thing in my household where everyone knows a special language that no one else in the household speaks, so (my parents) wanted me to have my special language as Mandarin,” she said.

Although Fleischmann became mostly fluent in Mandarin, she lost her proficiency after leaving Ohlone when she was 9 and started German Saturday school instead.

“If I don’t use (a language) regularly, I will simply forget it,” she said. “It’s harder for (me to forget) languages like Spanish, English and German because I am (completely) fluent in them, but definitely for upcoming languages, if I don’t practice or use it, I’m going to lose it — and it’s scary.”

Even when Fleischmann lived in Palo Alto, she occasionally visited Europe during the summers. She learned two more languages during these trips: French and Spanish. She began learning French at around 8 years old after an interaction she had at a party with a businessman her dad knew.

“He and my dad were talking about (me), so this guy said, ‘Introduce me to her,’” she said. “I walk up to him, he goes full-blown French on me and I (could not respond).”

After this exchange, Fleischmann’s parents urged her to learn French. Her lack of genuine interest in the language caused her to dislike it, however, and when she was required to choose either French or Spanish in fifth grade at her school in Germany, she opted for Spanish.

“I knew (French) and hated it,” she said. “My parents thought I should have done French. … In hindsight, that was probably the smart move because I’m now ‘bad fluent’ in both French and Spanish. I should have just stuck to one.”

That said, learning Spanish has allowed Fleischmann to better understand her mother when she speaks Italian, as the two languages share important linguistic similarities. For example, the word for a male cat is “gato” in Spanish and “gatto” in Italian.

When Fleischmann was 9 years old, she began classes to help her with her dyslexia. Fleischmann’s teacher taught her Latin word bases, which led her to fully learn the language.

“I am dyslexic, which makes learning this many languages even more freaky because learning languages is really hard for dyslexic people,” she said. “Learning Latin bases actually helps you a lot to decode (a) word. I was also really interested in Latin and kept learning it because I’m interested in medicine, and everything in medicine is Latin.”

In eighth grade, Fleischmann’s family moved back to Germany for a year. Hearing people speak a familiar language in a new setting allowed her to begin understanding and gain appreciation for the culture.

“(Living) in Palo Alto was quite the bubble,” she said. “It’s crazy. People don’t realize that there’s a world out there. I didn’t realize that either, and then I went and lived in Germany. I felt like I put glasses on for the first time because there was so much out there.”

Fleischmann quickly noticed that culture shapes language, and vice versa: Some words encapsulate ideas that simply don’t exist in other languages’ lexicons. These words are often adopted into other languages because they capture such a specific sentiment. For example, the word “schadenfreude” in German means finding pleasure in others’ misfortunes.

During her time in German school last year and the two summers prior, Fleischmann learned American Sign Language from her deaf teacher.

“For the first few weeks of school, I was completely fascinated,” she said. “Every time she said something, I asked, ‘What’s that in ASL?’ Eventually, she got so annoyed with me constantly asking her what things meant that she just offered to teach me after school.”

ASL opened Fleischmann’s eyes to both the possibilities and limitations of language. Before, she had not recognized the significance of the languages she knew because they were such a quotidian element of her life.

“The main reason I learned (ASL) was to try to connect with someone who wouldn’t normally be able to connect,” she said. “Most of (my background) of languages was that I just grew up speaking them, but this one specifically had a reason and impact.”

Overall, however, Fleischmann has found that each language she has learned — verbal or not — has improved her ability to communicate.

“It’s so much more powerful for me to say ‘I’m feeling exuberant’ instead of ‘I’m happy,’” she said. “Through the ability to manipulate and understand language, you’re able to connect with people because it evokes this emotion that all forms of self-expression do.”

Nevertheless, he made it through. After finishing the track meet, Mirza was physically drained, but his spirits were lifted.

“I realized that there are many other people who do (track) while fasting,” he said. “It gave me a new appreciation for the mental strength involved in the halal lifestyle.”

Mirza is one of many Muslims who partake in a halal lifestyle. This lifestyle is based on the concepts of “halal” (allowed or permissible) and “haram” (forbidden), which are taught in the Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam. The natural state of everything is halal, and things are haram only if specified in the Quran — pork, for example, is haram because pigs are considered unclean. These concepts apply to aspects of life beyond food, including social norms and individual beliefs.

“Universally, (the halal lifestyle) is no pork, no alcohol, no drugs,” Mirza said. “But there’s more to it with the halal
lifestyle. I see the halal lifestyle as my moral code, along with the Islamic moral code.”

Freshman Hana Siddeek, who is also Muslim, noted that the distinctions between haram and halal aren’t always simple.

“There’s some circumstances nowadays where there’s not something specifically stated, so you have to use logic and reason and the sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to infer the right decision,” she said. “There’s also varying degrees of disliked, allowed, permissible and encouraged.”

The strictness with which the lifestyle is followed also varies. Siddeek and her family are flexible with some things because of their personal beliefs and choices.

“Gelatine is sometimes taken from the insides of a pig, so a lot of Muslims won’t eat gelatine unless it’s halal gelatine,”
she said. “But my parents (took) a class and their teacher told them that gelatine is chemically reformed — it’s a completely different thing and not actually pork. So, I eat gelatine.”

Nevertheless, finding food options can be difficult. Students may opt for vegetarian options simply because finding halal-certified food options can be challenging. While Mirza has faced these difficulties, he also noted that those at Gunn do their best to make allowances.

“You can’t necessarily eat (school lunch) depending on which family you’re from,” Mirza said. “People (at Gunn) are supportive and they understand the restrictions that I have. I feel like Gunn makes the halal lifestyle relatively easy.”

Outside the realm of food, haram and halal also govern other aspects of daily life, including social interactions.

“I can hang out with my friends just fine, but if my friends are making bets or playing poker, I just don’t put any money in,” Mirza said. “(Living halal) also teaches me how to create my own boundaries so people don’t cross them.”

For Siddeek, part of living halal is not dating.

“I don’t date,” she said. “This is a reason why I prefer juvenile fiction, because a lot of the young-adult fiction features people doing stuff that they wouldn’t normally do unless they were married, but they’re not married. That makes me a little uncomfortable.”

Ramadan is still another crucial aspect of living halal. During this sacred ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast, waking up before sunrise for a meal and praying afterward. While fasting, Muslims do not eat or drink, including water. Prayers are segmented throughout the day: dawn (“Fajr”), early afternoon (“Dhuhr”), later afternoon (“Asr”), sunset (“Maghrib”) and evening (“Isha”).

These daily prayers allow Mirza time for introspection. While he tries to pray five times a day, most days outside of Ramadan, he prays once in the early morning and once before bed.

“Living halal affects me in a positive manner because every (day) through prayer, I get to reflect upon my own feelings
and show gratitude towards my own life,” he said. While many of Siddeek’s experiences with Islam have been shaped by her parents, she has gradually learned to embrace and interpret the religion in her own way.

“As I learn about (Islam), I’ve started to (follow) it more of my own accord because I understand it,” she said. “Just learning by myself and learning from my parents’ guidance has helped me to live this way.”

]]> https://gunnoracle.com/26911/uncategorized/halal-kosher-values-govern-food-social-interactions-2/feed/ 0 https://gunnoracle.com/26890/uncategorized/filmmakers-illuminate-lives-through-cinematic-visions-sophomore-jaylen-wong/ https://gunnoracle.com/26890/uncategorized/filmmakers-illuminate-lives-through-cinematic-visions-sophomore-jaylen-wong/#respond Fri, 15 Mar 2024 05:24:18 +0000 https://gunnoracle.com/?p=26890 Sophomore Jaylen Wong joined the filmmaking world in middle school, when he signed up for the video production elective. However, it wasn’t until high school that he found his niche: sports filming.

Wong posted his first sports film on Instagram during his freshman year after attending a Gunn varsity football game. Although he received positive community feedback, he found that he struggled with adjusting to filming at night.

“During the game, I had to quickly search on YouTube how to fix the lighting problem, turn up the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and turn up the aperture,” he said. “(I had to figure out) how to increase the lens so more light came through to brighten the shot.”

Wong’s personal journey as a basketball player played a large role in his decision to continue making films.

“I wanted to capture how it felt being there (on the court),” he said. “That’s why I wanted to film sports, because I think (it) is a really great way to show other people’s passions.”

Core lessons Wong had learned from playing sports contributed to his filming mindset.

“Many sports require a lot of patience and dedication, and that really transferred over to my filmmaking,” he said. “(I had to) dedicate a lot of time in post-production, filming (and) planning.”

Wong’s journey, however, wasn’t all smooth sailing. Most of his major filmmaking challenges occurred when he pushed himself out of his comfort zone and tried filming sports he wasn’t as familiar with. In a water polo video, for example, lighting posed a problem.

“It was light out, and it was hard to adjust my camera to the glare from the water,” he said. “Since it was my first time filming water polo, I needed to get used to the sport and know what to look for.”

Usually, Wong creates multiple iterations of a video, and the full film-creation process for a 90-second video typically takes around six hours from start to finish. Much of this time is dedicated to fine-tuning pacing.

“(Making a film) is like telling a story,” he said. “There’s a rising action, climax and falling action. I take that format and use it to (create) the
video.”

Moving forward, Wong hopes to continue filming college sports to bolster his portfolio on Instagram. He has already filmed some Stanford basketball games this past season, and he and his twin brother, Liam Wong, are working to acquire media passes from the video director of Stanford’s football program, Mike Gleeson.

Despite the heavy workload, Wong finds the time commitment to be manageable, especially since he enjoys working on the videos. The feedback he receives further motivates him to continue to create films and seek new opportunities.

“Just seeing the athletes’ reactions make it worth it,” he said. “It makes me happy that they liked the video and that it wasn’t all for nothing.”

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.