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The Alma-Churchill intersection will undergo safety modifications in 2022, according to the Palo Alto City Council.

The Federal Railroad Administration rated the intersection as one of the most dangerous in the state.

The changes presented at a City Council meeting on May 3 by the Office of Transportation include: adding a presignal for eastbound traffic on Churchill, widening the pedestrian gate onto the tracks, expanding the pedestrian queuing space between the tracks and Alma street, and improving the connection to the Embarcadero Trail that runs parallel to the school. The OOT also proposed adding high-visibility yellow striping along the cross walks, green markings for bike lanes and stop lines for cars.

“This project is really meant for near-term safety improvements,” Chief Transportation Official Philip Kamhi said. “It’s envisioned that there will be a more significant project that will occur at Churchill regarding grade separation.”

by AVERY HANNA

BRISK BIKER — Sophomore Phela Durosinmi bikes away from the Alma-Churchill crossroads, an intersection that is usually filled with both cars and bikers. “It’s always pretty scary when there are so many students in a rush to get across,” senior Hope Morita said. Photo: Anushe Irani SCHEDULE SWITCH — Junior Celia Frahn and sophomore Arati Periyannan work side by side in Palo Alto High School’s Media Arts Center. These students, along with others, will be adjusting to PAUSD’s bell schedule plans for next school year, which will include a later start and end time. “The later ending time likely means people will not have as many chances to pursue extracurriculars,” Paly sophomore Ethan Boneh said. Photo: Meena Narayanaswami

THE PALO ALTO UNIFIED School District will adopt a modified block bell schedule for 20212022 school year.

The new schedule includes all seven periods on Mondays and 90-minute block periods from Tuesday to Friday, for both middle and high schools.

For high school students, school will begin at 9 a.m. everyday and end at 3:50 p.m. on Mondays, 4:10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Many students are looking forward to the 9 a.m. start time because school begins 40 minutes later than it did during the 2019-2020 school year. The later start times will ensure students are able to get sufficient sleep each night, but one consequence is the later end times each day.

“It will be a big scheduling change, and I know that lots of people are concerned about extracurriculars conflicting with school hours, but I’m positive it will work out,” sophomore Rebecca Helft said. “I think what we often forget is that any time there’s a change, even for the better, it takes a little time for everything to follow suit as well. Because most, if not all, extracurriculars are directly serving kids and teens, they will follow the shift in school hours.”

Middle schools are slated to have a seven-period schedule on Mondays. However, middle school will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. on Mondays, 3:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and 1:45 p.m. on Fridays.

Middle schools will have a block schedule for in-person learning for the first time, which will be an added challenge for teachers.

“It is hard for me to predict what any challenges will be with the longer blocks as I have yet to teach block periods in any other format than on Zoom,” Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School teacher Elizabeth Lewis wrote in an email to Verde. “Personally, I will be thinking about how to break up the blocks into smaller activities in order to maximize student learning.”

THE PARKS AND RECREATION Commission will be responsible for building a new skate park in Palo Alto after the Palo Alto City Council unanimously voted in favor of the proposed park on April 12.

A petition for the new skate park was started by Palo Alto High School sophomore Sam Kaplinsky last August and has since gained over 2,000 supporters. Kaplinsky has been working with council members Alison Cormack and Greg Tanaka to to help get his plan approved by the city council.

“The next step in the process is going to be finding a location, finding a design and fundraising,” Kaplinsky said.

Accoring to Kaplinsky, the approval of his plan is a major step towards his dream of a new skate park in Palo Alto.

“Personally, it just is really great to see the community that came together to support the project,” Kaplinsky said. “Every time there was a city council meeting, there were dozens of people, kids and adults, Paly students, people from all over, speaking in support of it [the proposal].”

According to Kaplinsky, the hardest part, fundraising for the project, is yet to come. Nevertheless, Kaplinsky is optimistic about the future of the skate park and hopes that the community will continue to be involved in the project.

“It’s pretty meaningful to see everybody come and support it [the proposal] and then also have the actual city support it,” Kaplinsky said.

by JERRY FANG

THE PALO ALTO HIGH School Journalism archive will be increasing the content and publicity of the archive after it received $22,000 from the Troper Wojcicki Foundation.

The donation will mainly be used to memorialize the past 20 years of Paly journalism, according to retired Paly journalism teacher Esther Wojcicki.

“They [student journalists] learn a lot by looking back and seeing what other students did before them,” Wojcicki said. “It’s not only a way to perpetuate memories, it’s a way for students to learn, and also to feel connected to the students who were part of the program, and past years.”

The past 20 years of Paly journalism have been some of the most influential for the program. These years hold the beginnings of many of the major Paly publications including The Paly Voice, Viking Sports Magazine and InFocus News, and continue to show the legacy of Wojcicki, widely considered the pioneer of Paly’s contemporary journalism program.

“I devoted my life to the journalism program at Paly,” Wojcicki said. “I spent 40 years there, and I would like to have this legacy live on.”

Wojcicki says one of the most influential stories currently in the archive is an editorial by The Campanile titled, “Sex survey reveals surprising statistics” published in December of 1993.

“One of the most important historical moments that The Campanile really impacted was in 1990 when we did a survey of students’ sexual behavior,” Wojcicki said. “Just doing that survey alone was considered shocking for most people, but what we discovered is that kids were not using condoms, … as a result of that, the skills for living class was started quickly to try to help students understand the consequences of not having safe sex.”

This story and many other historical Paly stories can be found at palyjournalismarchive.pausd.org

Palo Alto High School’s journalism summer camp, Camp MAC, will be held on Paly campus this summer, running from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6.

The Camp MAC leadership team and teacher advisors began pushing for an in-person program at the beginning of April.

“Everyone on our leadership team and our advisers were in agreement that hosting Camp MAC in person would be more fun and engaging for our campers because being in person allows us to do a lot of interactive activities that would not have translated very well to being online,” junior Emily Yun, a member of the leadership team, said.

The proposal was approved by Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson on May 5, but a virtual option will still be available for those with COVID-19 safety concerns, or outof-area students.

Junior Gianna Brogley, another member of the leadership team, says she is looking forward to incorporating in-person activities for campers to enhance the camp experience.

“We’re planning on having campers review a fake restaurant that we set up,” Brogley said. “We’re also planning on having guest speakers throughout the camp week, which we had last year virtually but there was less attendance.”

Editors’ Note: Verde Magazine receives funds from Camp MAC through the MAC Boosters program.

OVER 350 PROTESTERS gathered in front of Palo Alto City Hall on May 2 to encourage voter registration among the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities as a part of an ongoing movement against hatred towards the AAPI community

Only 49% of Asian American citizens that are eligible to vote do so, according to Greg Tanaka, Palo Alto City Council member and organizer of the “8 by 8” campaign. The movement encourages community members to convince eight people to register to vote in eight days, which Tanaka hopes will increase Asian representation in government.

“What this [rally] is trying to do is the ‘8 by 8’ which is to get eight people to register to vote in eight days,” Tanaka said. “It’s to drive action so that there’s more representation from the community.”

Supporters marched down University Avenue, whistling yellow whistles and chanting phrases such as “eight by eight, stop Asian hate.” As they filled up the plaza in front of City Hall, protesters were greeted with live music and speeches from guest speakers in the Asian community sharing the experiences that motivated them to advocate and attend the rally.

Palo Alto High School junior and ASB Junior President Mathew SignorelloKatz was one of many student volunteers contributing efforts to organize the event. Motivated to support the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities after seeing a recent surge of anti-Asian hate crimes, Signorello-Katz signed up to help attendees register for the rally.

“I think there’s a necessity to spread awareness both at the local level and beyond,” Signorello-Katz said.

Protest attendee and California Deputy Attorney General Eric Chang said he believes that protests like these will instill feelings of progress in the community

“It’s cathartic,” Chang said. “It [rallying] makes people feel better and that shouldn’t be understated.”

by SASHA BOUDTCHENKO additional reporting by

SEBASTIAN BONNARD

PALO ALTO PROTESTS — A crowd of protesters rallies in front of Palo Alto City Hall to protest recent hate crimes against members of the Asian community. “It’s really significant to start [Asian American Heritage Month] off strong by showing the community that … they shouldn’t be receiving this hatred,” student volunteer Shruthi Ganesh said. Photo: Sebastian Bonnard

SANTA CLARA VALLEY Athletic League Board of Managers is allowing season two and season three sports to participate in the Central Coast Section playoffs starting in the coming months.

SCVAL initially withdrew all 14 of the schools in its league, including Palo Alto High School, from the CCS playoffs due to safety concerns on April 29.

This decision came after students, parents and coaches pushed SCVAL to allow its schools to participate in CCS playoffs and threatened SCVAL with lawsuits.

“They [SCVAL] have not only taken away hours of our uphill battles to get a season three, test and play with good health, but have also taken part of most of these seniors’ last chances in competing to win a CCS title,” Lynbrook High School basketball player and senior Hali’a Yee wrote in a widely shared Instagram post on May 5.

Paly senior and varsity swim captain James Fetter also fought against SCVAL decision with his fellow team mates.

Following the decision to allow student athletes to play in CCS, Fetter says that he is looking forward to the playoffs for the comradery and prolonged season.

“Obviously the team is super excited to just be given the opportunity to compete,” Fetter said. “Win or lose, we all know that we go out there and give it our all, and that’s the best we can ask for in this crazy year.”

Fetter is optimistic about his last year on the Paly swim team.

“Honestly, this [season] has potential to be our first [CCS] title in team history,” Fetter said.

Additionally, the board voted against crowning regular-league champions, but will still crown CCS champions.