Luis Rodriguez had never imagined that walking out of his school could change history. Fifty years ago, in March of 1968, 13-year-old Rodriguez led his classmates to walk out of Richard Garvey Intermediate School in protest of Mexican-American treatment in schools. Now known as the Chicano Blowouts, or the East Los Angeles Walkouts, these walkouts […]
It wasn’t until she couldn’t stand up without getting a headache that Alyse Tran ’18 finally decided she was too sick to come to school. She had endured three days of body aches to avoid missing class, but eventually her flu symptoms became too debilitating to ignore. “I had a lot of tests and labs due […]
Wearing skin-tight leggings and a low-cut tank top, Amanda* ‘18 tugged at her shirt to try to cover up. But after “hooking up” with a senior boy at a party, her outfit wasn’t the only choice that made her feel vulnerable and overexposed. She heard senior girls whisper about her at the party. As a […]
When Marc Novicoff ’18 walked onto the quad after his eighth period class, he was immediately led to a chair in the middle of a crowd on the quad. Awaiting his arrival in the center of all the commotion was Nicole Bahar ’18, prepped with a sign, flowers and backup dancers ready to spring into […]
Jocie Chen ’18 was on the home page of her Common Application when she sensed her friends looking at her screen. She said she felt nervous and embarrassed as they bombarded her with questions and judgments: “That’s a really big reach for you,” “You need an insane GPA to get in,” “Come on, everyone here […]
As Josue Gutierrez ’18 gazed out the window on the long bus ride home after his first day of ninth grade at Harvard-Westlake, he felt stunned and overwhelmed. Basketball tryouts. Nine periods every day. A new, strange school, far from his home. “I came home and I didn’t know what to do and I just […]
While some students were stressing over an internship or college prep over the summer, Blythe Berk ’19 was sitting around a campfire at the edge of a lake, making s’mores with her camp friends. “I felt like going back to camp to see all my friends was more important to me than preparing for colleges […]
After another long day of testing and note-taking, Diego Ayala ’18 faced his most challenging task at home: telling his mom what he learned in school. Reflecting on lectures from his science, history and math classes, Ayala said it was difficult to pinpoint a certain lesson that resonated with him because all he could remember […]
After an exhausting afternoon of multiple sports practices, Jessica’s* exercise had only just begun. She felt as though she needed to work out until she was physically unable to continue. Like most days, she went through her routine with barely any food in her system. “I was going on my run, very lightheaded, everything was […]
As Patrick’s* ’18 sophomore English class prepared to pack up, he was halted by the sharp words of his teacher in response to a student’s comment about current events: “If you support Trump, get out,” the teacher’s words blared across the room. “I think a lot of people felt restrained in what they could say […]