The final weeks of high school are memorable for nearly everyone, rose-colored snapshots of their time spent with friends, liberated from the burden of exams and essays and nervously excited about a new chapter that's just around the corner.
For the class of 2020, all of that still holds true, despite being colored by the disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic. Graduating seniors adjusted to the wholly unexpected ending to their high school careers over the last two months by forming Zoom study groups, putting on floor-length gowns for socially distanced prom pictures and emailing beloved teachers that they would have said goodbye to in person. Many participated in a citywide car parade on Wednesday evening, putting on their graduation gowns and decorated caps to wave from honking cars as they drove in a loop through the city, past cheering crowds. Neighborhoods came together for socially distanced celebrations and even mock commencement ceremonies, playing "Pomp and Circumstance" as seniors tossed their caps into the air.
The Palo Alto Weekly interviewed six graduating seniors from Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, whose varied accomplishments are well worth celebrating, now more than ever. Two are first-generation students who have been accepted to college, one finally found joy at a non-traditional high school, and others found their voices through podcasts, creative writing, sports and music. Below are their stories.
Hannah Shader was the kind of kid who would pepper adults in the room with endless questions.
As a teenager, she's channeled that natural curiosity into storytelling, primarily through producing podcasts. She's now executive producer of KPLY, Palo Alto High School's student-run radio station, which she joined as a junior while everyone else on staff was a senior — and a boy. Her podcasts have spanned investigations into the East Palo Alto housing crisis and the relationship between weightlifting and body image to an interview with a Paly student rap group. Her latest KPLY podcast, produced from home, dug into mental health during the quarantine.
"I think I've always been a storyteller," Shader said.
Shader grew up in Palo Alto, attending Walter Hays Elementary School and the private Castilleja School for middle school before returning to the district to attend Paly. The social transition back to Paly was difficult, she said, but activities like the radio station, soccer and the Social Justice Pathway program helped her find a place at school. She made close friends and threw herself into Paly's infamous spirit weeks. (Her class voted her "most spirited" in the yearbook.)
Shader loved being part of Paly's Social Justice Pathway program, a "school within a school" that starts sophomore year. The program's independence and project-driven environment allowed her to pursue her interests through academic assignments, like a paper on Afrofuturism and one of her favorite hip-hop artists, MF Doom.
For her final capstone project this year, she conducted research on political polarization in different courses at Paly. She gave students a neutral policy proposal written by either a Democratic or Republican senator, asked them what their personal political leanings are and how likely they were to agree with the proposal. (She actually found that Social Justice Pathway students were the most likely to have a blind party affiliation between the senator and their own political beliefs.)
Before the stay-at-home order, Shader spent a lot of time at the studio of Stanford University's radio station KZSU, where she has a weekly music show called "On the Sidewalk with DJ Shader." Her hour-long playlists offer a little bit of everything: world music, rock, hip hop, '80s music, jazz. She's now doing that from home, digitally, which she said isn't the same as being in a recording studio surrounded by vinyl records and CD's.
Shader has deferred her admission to Tufts College to take a gap year, which she had planned for a long time. She plans to teach in Los Angeles with City Year, a nonprofit that places recent college and high school graduates as teacher aides in under-resourced schools. She's not sure that she wants to become a teacher, but she's drawn to the power of public education.
"Having gone to public school for high school and elementary school, I also really want to give back to this system that's done so much for me," Shader said. "In elementary school, if I was struggling, there would always be resources for me to catch up. That's just not true for some of these underserved school districts."
On what she didn't know at the time was her last day of school at Paly in March, she and some of her classmates were joking about that exact possibility. They held a mock commencement ceremony and walked across the senior quad wearing graduation caps made out of paper.
While she's "mourning the loss of all the end of year senior activities," particularly graduation, she said she still cherishes that final light-hearted, surreal moment on the quad with her friends. "It was good to have a little bit of closure before the end," she said.
One of Riley Breier's earliest memories of Gunn High School are of his older brothers' graduation ceremonies. He remembers sitting in the crowd, watching them walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. He spent time on the campus as a young kid, feeling intimidated by the large campus full of teenagers.
When it came time for Breier to enter high school, he walked his brothers' well-worn paths and attended Gunn. But even from his first day there, he felt disconnected from the school, like the place he had observed since he was little was actually a set with props, he said. He didn't get along with his classmates and started to struggle academically.
His chemistry teacher finally pulled him aside and suggested he check out Middle College, an alternative program for high school students who for whatever reason don't fit into the traditional high school. Breier left Gunn and started there his junior year.
"I think it really saved my life in a lot of ways," Breier said of Middle College. "The way that graduation felt so unachievable at Gunn — it felt so much more likely and realistic at Middle College."
Breier will graduate this month and is hoping to attend the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he's been wait listed. He wants to study writing in some form; he loves creative writing, journalism and keeps up a personal music blog. Breier, who plays guitar and piano, was in a band with Gunn and Palo Alto High School students. They called themselves "The Fringes," a reference to their "outsider vibe," he said.
At Middle College, Breier said he started to enjoy school for the first time. He blossomed in the smaller environment with teachers who let students call them by their first names and access to a wide range of community college classes filled with people of different ages and backgrounds.
"The first things they teach you at Middle College are these really intense philosophical concepts about radical freedom and romanticism and the importance of self. That was exactly what I needed to hear at that time because I had been so beaten down," he said. "I come to Middle College and it's like they're speaking my language. I feel like I'm not alone anymore."
He felt like he was treated more like an adult at Middle College, and the exposure to a community college campus makes the transition to college seem less daunting. He took classes like music theory and psychology.
Despite the uncertainty about what his freshman year of college will look like, he said he's looking forward to "a different type of freedom" as a college student and exploring his passions for writing and music.
"My uncle says I haven't met dorm room stairs yet — apparently dorm room staircases are really great for acoustics. That got me excited," he said.
Despite his struggles at Gunn, Breier was looking forward to returning for graduation, in part to get a sense of closure for his high school experience. (Middle College students are allowed to walk at both schools' graduation ceremonies.) Losing that moment feels "really heavy," he said.
"I can't wrap my head around it," he said of this unexpected ending to high school. "I think a lot of people my age have a really good sense of humor about it, which can seem off-putting to some adults … but it's a coping mechanism. We're taking this the most seriously we can, which is trying to make light of it in some ways or trying to work through these really insane feelings about the end of our high school time."
Middle College, meanwhile, is planning a virtual graduation for late June.
But he said he's felt surprisingly reconnected to his graduating class, even as they're apart, watching peers post online about their losses and disappointment.
"We all have a shared experience again," Breier said.
Charlotte Lamm is a 21st-century Renaissance woman. She paints, plays bass and guitar, skateboards and is on Castilleja School's robotics team.
Her favorite aspect about the high school experience has been the freedom to delve into so many different worlds, both inside and outside of school.
"It's the perfect time to explore your interests," she said. "There's not that much at stake, even though it feels like there is. Truly, you can try out new things."
Lamm, who grew up in Palo Alto, went to Castilleja for both middle and high school. She said she felt free to follow her interests without any pressure from her parents or peers. All of her extracurricular activities are ones she genuinely cares about and enjoys.
At Castilleja, there's "a kind of culture where you don't feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing," she said "There's no expectation for what you're supposed to or not supposed to do."
Inspired by her step-father, who was in a band, she started taking music lessons at School of Rock and then Gryphon Stringed Instruments. She joined her own bands and performed at the Palo Alto JCC's Battle of the Bands, which she credits with helping her find "like-minded" teen musicians who might not have otherwise met each other.
"Once we started discovering each other and finding out we all had similar interests, we started bands together," Lamm said. "We'd all just get together and play music."
At Castilleja, she became active in robotics, where she found a tight-knit, supportive group of girls with equal drive for self-guided learning. She recalled a memorable moment during a competition last year when the team was trying and failing to get the robot to climb onto a platform. In the last few seconds, they got it to work and erupted into cheers.
She fell into skateboarding a few years ago through Instagram, where she started following female skateboarding "icons" Rachelle Vinberg, Briana King and Lizzie Armanto. Through skateboarding four times a week — at the Burgess Park skate park in Menlo Park before the shutdown but now mostly on city streets — she found another unique community of supportive women.
"They showed me that skateboarding is all about what you make of it. You don't even have to be able to do incredible tricks to have fun," she said.
As a younger student, Lamm wondered if another kind of school would have been a better fit for her. But looking back on how Castilleja "has shaped me, having the experience of going to an all girls school was actually really valuable for me, especially with my interest in robotics," she said. "I never would have joined the robotics team at Paly. I would have been too intimidated. I think it (Castilleja) really helped me step outside my comfort zone."
Lamm said she has most valued Castilleja's teachers, from an engaging English teacher who came to Lamm's band's shows to the art teacher who let her become an assistant teacher, leading lessons and projects with younger students while deepening her own arts education. While school has been closed for the last two months, all of her teachers have been "super dedicated to making sure our needs are being met but also that we're still learning," she said.
Lamm will be attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, where she plans to study cognitive science, a major that covers her varied interests. The university hasn't yet said what the fall semester will look like, and she can't help but feel sad at the prospect of a hybrid or virtual start to her college career.
"That freshman year of college is something that every kid looks forward to," she said. "I'm just ready for whatever comes next."
This weekend, Lamm and other Castilleja seniors will be able to go to campus at staggered times to safely pick up their diplomas and take a photograph on the school's oval. On Monday, June 8, seniors and families will participate in a drive-in graduation ceremony in the area from their cars.
Among Denice Godinez's high school achievements — becoming a student government vice president, a chemistry teacher-assistant and the first in her family to be accepted to college — is something much rarer for a teenager to accomplish: self-acceptance.
Godinez was raised in Menlo Park by a single, immigrant mother who didn't speak English. Godinez felt out of place at her elementary and middle schools in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, where she was surrounded by mostly white, affluent peers. She "always had some sort of almost embarrassment with not having English as my first language, having a mom (who) I have to translate everything for" — until she arrived at Eastside College Preparatory School, where she was surrounded by other first-generation students from low-income families.
"My peers, the staff, everyone helped me, even if it wasn't directly, to learn that I should accept myself, that coming from an immigrant parent isn't a bad thing … and I'm capable of reaching my goals and my dreams despite the challenges that I face," said Godinez, who graduated from Eastside during a drive-in ceremony on Wednesday and will attend the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in the fall.
"My high school experience was honestly so much personal growth, so much learning about myself, acceptance, who I am, self-identity."
Godinez's mother is from Michoacan, Mexico. Godinez was born in Washington, then moved back to Mexico as a young child and returned to the United States. She struggled to learn to read and write in English, with no one to practice with at home, until transferring to the Belmont-Redwood Shores district, where she said she thrived with more academic support.
But she said she always felt out of place at school. When she heard about Eastside — a private school in East Palo Alto where 100% of students get into a four-year college or university — she knew she wanted to go there for high school.
"I want to pursue higher education, and I also want to meet people like me," she said. "I wanted to reconnect with my community."
Godinez described herself as a shy freshman who didn't realize her capacity as a leader. But at Eastside, she became one, particularly through her role in student government and leading fundraisers, including a drive to raise money for leukemia research.
She felt supported by her Eastside teachers and friends in a way she hadn't experienced before, especially during shelter-in-place. While she found it hard to stay motivated while learning at home, she found a drive and solace in Zoom meetings her teachers set up both for group academic work and to check in with students about how they've been coping during the pandemic.
"I never ever felt alone at that school. I always knew I could rely on someone," she said. "That's what I'm going to miss about Eastside the most."
In high school, she connected with her Mexican identity in a way she hadn't allowed herself to before. Before Eastside, she wouldn't listen to Spanish music. Then a friend turned her on to reggaeton and banda music, a Mexican genre that features wind instruments and percussion, and she started going to Hispanic community events.
"Her passion, her persistence in introducing me to our culture is what helped me a lot in accepting who I am," Godinez said of her friend.
Godinez explored her identity struggle in her college application essay and how she came to the realization that she can integrate rather than separate her Mexican and American selves.
At UCLA she hopes to study biochemistry, a subject she's been drawn to throughout high school. For the last two years, she's been a teacher assistant (TA) for her chemistry teacher, helping to set up and break down labs and other activities. She loves the hands-on learning and organization of a chemistry lab, she said.
"I always looked forward to getting to her class and getting to that TA period. I had never felt like that for another subject where I put aside everything else to do just that," Godinez said.
Between homework, volunteering at her church's youth club and helping her two younger brothers with homework, Godinez has had little time for hobbies. She's looking forward to college as "the place where I want to explore a lot more about myself."
She's been told there's not enough housing on campus for all new freshmen, but she's crossing her fingers that she gets a room. Even if UCLA does remote learning in the fall, she said, she wants to be there.
"I just want to continue to build my own character, my own identity. I know that interacting with others, learning new things … that helps you build your values, your moral code," she said. "I just look forward to being able to do that."
Alonso Rodriguez is a sports fanatic, from soccer to basketball to skateboarding. He dabbled in cross country and yoga at Palo Alto High School, but soccer is his first love: a creative, strategic game that requires true teamwork.
"It's an actual team sport. It's necessary that they have a connection or an understanding to be able to play really well. I really like that — the whole team effort that's needed to win," he said.
But there have been times in his life when he couldn't play any sports. Rodriguez has scoliosis, which required two major surgeries — once in seventh grade and again the summer before ninth grade — that left him stiff and immobilized. The first surgery was to create space in the back of his neck for his brain so it wouldn't sink into his spine and cause curvature.
"Going into surgery was easy, but coming out after surgery was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do," Rodriguez wrote in an essay response to one of his University of California application prompts. "The stiffness made every movement very challenging, so I kept my head straight and upwards, and I remember not being able to look at my family and friends who came so often to see me. I remember not being able to sleep because of pain. I remember wanting to leave the hospital so bad, but never could. I remember getting frustrated going through physical therapy to get my body functions back to normal. For those weeks, school was the last thing on my mind. But when I did return, I actually felt positive about school and the education I was getting."
Rodriguez, whose family is from Michoacan, Mexico, was raised in East Palo Alto. He attended Walter Hays Elementary School, JLS Middle School and Palo Alto High School through the district's Voluntary Transfer Program (VTP). He's a first-generation student headed to the University of California at Riverside in the fall, where he plans to major in Latin-American studies. He looks forward to returning to Palo Alto for an in-person graduation postponed until December.
"It feels really good" to be graduating, he said. "It'll make my parents proud. That's what makes me happy."
Rodriguez said he wants to learn more about his culture and background through his college major. At Paly, he joined the Latinx Club, whose goal is to spread awareness about Hispanic culture on campus "to others who may not have had experiences with it," he said. One of the club's annual events is a Dia de los Muertos celebration on the quad, when the members invite students to decorate sugar skulls and learn about the significance of the holiday.
Rodriguez became vice president of the Latinx Club before quarantine; with all of their members at home and apart, they've been trying to figure out how to continue their mission remotely, he said.
Two of Rodriguez's commitments outside of school — a job at Palo Alto ice cream shop Salt & Straw and volunteering at a MidPen Housing after-school program — have both stopped during the stay-at-home order. This disruption has been hard, he said, but he's kept busy with schoolwork and physical activity.
Rodriguez won a President's Volunteer Service Award for over 175 hours of community service with the MidPen Housing program, which serves kids who live in his apartment building and surrounding neighborhood. He reads to them (and sometimes they read to him) and helps them with homework.
"I consider them my closest community — I see, talk, and sometimes play with these kids on a daily basis," he said. "I now know that kids don't always ask for help when they need it, so I always make sure to check up on them when they look confused. I even check on them when they think they are doing well, just so I can boost their confidence. I have really enjoyed being their role model and mentor and watching them grow up. In fact, we have all grown up together."
Rodriguez has maintained a tight-knit group of friends, some since elementary school, and said their "social bond" was what he enjoyed most about his time at Paly.
"I will miss seeing and hanging out with them at school all the time because I don't know the next time I'm going to see them," he said. "I hold the memories I've shared with them very close."
If you had asked third-grade Liza Kolbasov what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have swiftly answered: an author.
And she has become one. Kolbasov grew up to become the editor-in-chief of The Oracle, Gunn High School's student newspaper; vice president of Pandora's Box, the school's literary magazine; and in her spare time, a poet. As a high school senior, her published body of work includes an investigative series on student mental health, an editorial on lowering the voting age in Palo Alto school board elections and a poem called "Dreams." She feels strongly about bringing visibility to journalistic and creative writing in a community better known for its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) pursuits.
"I think we need more opportunities for people who are interested in humanities or creative pursuits to be able to share their work with the community," she said. "Pandora's Box is one way we try to get artists and writers to publish their work. …Encourag(ing) people to share that a little more is something that's important to me personally."
Kolbasov grew up bilingual in Palo Alto, speaking Russian at home with her parents, who moved here from Russia, and English at school. She learned English — which would become one of her favorite subjects at Gunn — in preschool.
Kolbasov was drawn to journalism as an extracurricular that involved writing. As a rising freshman, she went to Palo Alto High School's summer Camp MAC, where she learned the tenets of journalism from Paly student journalists. She joined The Oracle second semester of her freshman year — but almost quit, feeling intimidated as one of only three freshmen on a large staff of experienced upperclassmen. But she stuck with it, becoming copy editor her sophomore year, opinion editor the following year and then editor-in-chief this year. She oversaw the remote production of The Oracle's last edition of the school year, which included stories on student-led COVID-19 relief efforts, local restaurants offering takeout, home workout ideas and an opinion piece on the district's temporary move to a credit/no credit grading system.
In a Facebook post, Kolbasov said she hoped the final issue would bring other seniors "joy and some sense of closure to your careers at Gunn.
"At the very least, I hope it's a bright spot in the monotony of quarantine. For me, working on it certainly was," she wrote.
The mental health series "In the pursuit of wellness" scrutinized how Gunn and the school district had responded to two student suicide clusters, whether their measures to address student well-being had worked and what could be improved moving forward.
Personally, she feels like the climate around mental health at Gunn has improved over the course of her high school years, albeit slowly. The most impactful changes for her have been driven by students, such as the student-run podcast Project Oyster, which interviews students about depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges.
The most challenging aspect of high school for her has been Gunn's intensely competitive academic culture.
"I don't think it is 100% true 100% of the time (but) I do think there's a lot of pressure, whether that's inflicted by the environment or self-inflicted pressure — there is always the feeling that no matter what you do there will always been somebody who does it better," she said. "I know they're (school administrators) trying really, really hard to make things better. … It's just the culture that we have there that everyone, myself included, can say they've participated in and added to at times, if I'm being honest."
A positive flipside of that culture, though, is being surrounded by incredibly passionate teenagers.
"So many people I've met are so passionate about something or just in general interested in having conversations, in talking about something," Kolbasov said. "My favorite thing (about Gunn) has definitely been the connections, the friendships I've made."
Her favorite high school memories range from the notable — senior year homecoming week — to mundane moments that have taken on new meaning after schools were closed in mid-March.
"It's a lot of small things that I'm realizing now I miss a lot: walking through campus or being on the senior quad and lying on the square benches in the sun and walking down from the N building steps and meeting a friend — being places and feeling like a part of the school," she said.
Kolbasov is headed to Brown University in the fall to study English and psychology. She also plans to write for the university's student newspaper and is looking forward to the academic freedom of Brown's open curriculum, which has no general education requirements.
Several years ago, Gunn started a new graduation tradition: banning any mention of colleges on graduation caps and instead urging seniors to decorate them creatively. Despite the fact that in-person graduation has been postponed until December, Kolbasov still plans to decorate her cap, perhaps with a quote written in calligraphy or fragments of a newspaper.
We asked the six seniors for the answers to the following questions about popular culture and their hopes for the future.
What song defines your senior year?
Hannah: "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield.
Riley: "Square One" by Tom Petty. I love how sweet it is and I relate to the message of finally being honest with yourself.
Charlotte: It's hard to choose just one, but I think Fugazi's "Bad Mouth" portrays the message I've been trying to tell myself throughout the year. Now is the time to be the person I want to be; it's time to grow up!
Denice: "Lights Up" by Harry Styles because it is a very uplifting song that prompts self-reflection. It made me think about who I am and want to become in a positive manner. That was something important to think about going forward especially with college being right around the corner.
Alonso: "Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)" by Kid Cudi.
Liza: "Talk to Me" by Cavetown.
Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok?
Hannah: Snapchat.
Riley: I deleted all social media.
Charlotte: Instagram, but right now my favorite social media platform is Strava. It's a fun way to stay motivated to go outside and run, skate, or hike. You can track your own activities and post them along with pictures from your excursion for your friends to see. I've enjoyed seeing how my classmates are spending their time during quarantine.
Denice: I definitely have to go with TikTok.
Alonso: Snapchat because I use it the most often, then Instagram because I actually enjoy the content and connections. TikTok is last because I use it the least.
Liza: Instagram — I'm not cool enough for the other two :)
What advice do you wish you would have received as a high school freshman?
Hannah: Take advantage of the light workload and spend time with friends!
Riley: I'd tell myself that the cliches are true but they're just phrased wrong.
Charlotte: Don't be too serious! It's okay to care about grades, but high school is the perfect time to explore new interests and figure out who you want to be.
Denice: I wish someone had told me that it is perfectly normal to get wrapped up in school work freshman year, but that it is important to take a step back to enjoy the other parts of your life.
Alonso: As a freshman, I wish I would've been told that having the right tools to help yourself succeed and the will to use them is the key to high school. And to just try your best.
Liza: I wish I'd been told to make time for people and things I love in the present, instead of waiting for someday in the future to hopefully be happy. I wish I'd made more memories to look back on.
If you could nominate one person for president in 2020, who would it be?
Hannah: Avril Lavigne from 2002.
Riley: I think America has had enough celebrity presidents. I'd nominate my cool uncle.
Charlotte: The Kool-Aid Man! He will break down the wall.
Denice: I would nominate Harry Styles because he is one of my favorite artists who I believe is very level-headed.
Alonso: Rodrick Wayne Moore, Jr.
Liza: Someone who is capable of admitting they're wrong and making meaningful changes, listens to scientists and experts, is in touch with and aware of minority experiences, and is open to learning new things.
Finish this sentence: "In 10 years, I'm going to be..."
Hannah: Stopping by 2028 Paly graduation #Vikesforlife.
Riley: Nostalgic for this time in my life, no matter how messy it is.
Charlotte: Hopefully employed, learning how to surf, making art and enjoying life.
Denice: An experienced biochemist who aids students who are pursuing science.
Alonso: Making money at a job that I like and traveling the world as well as doing hobbies I like (skateboarding and playing soccer). I just hope to be living good.
Liza: At least a little happier, at least a little more confident and satisfied with whatever I've achieved.
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