Four spirit weeks, eight weeks of finals, infinite tardies, a bundle of absences, a few too many streakers and one final goodbye. Some students have been here from the start, while others arrived at Paly in the years following. Some were lost to private schools — or worse, Gunn. Our class has been unified through four years of good and bad times, a lot of construction and an endurance of AP testing, lake Paly and false fire alarms. We now look towards uncharted waters as our four years at Palo Alto High School draw to a bittersweet close. Verde went around campus to give a few seniors the chance to reflect on their time at Paly and deliver some last words of wisdom. Here is what they said.
What’s your best memory from Paly?
“In freshman year when there were two streakers on the first day of school and then I got interviewed about it and they got my name wrong on television,”
— Hayden Libbey
“I feel like Spirit Week every year is probably the best week of the year. It’s a really fun way to bond with the grade,”
— Alissa Bernstein
What do you wish you had learned earlier?
“Memories don’t last forever. Capture the fun moments in life via camera,”
— Trevor Woon
“That the staff are extremely devoted and they’re willing to talk about anything and everything,”
— Hayden Libbey
“Time management,”
— Alice Zhang
“Should’ve done crew,”
— Robbie Nixon
“There are free snacks in the Wellness Center,”
— Paloma Ruiz
“Computer science,”
— Tommy Smale
“Grades matter,”
— Ryan Mendoza
“I wish I had learned to find a good balance between schoolwork and social life because the first few years of high school I didn’t really have a social life.You can’t do well in school if you aren’t emotionally as stable as you can be,”
— Alissa Bernstein
“Not to spend all of my money at Town and Country,”
— Declan Flanders
Describe Paly in three words.
“Open, supportive, fun,”
— Taylor Duncan
“Reese the bikecop,”
— Declan Flanders
“Accepting, green, foreign,”
— Eelis Copeland
“Energetic as hell,”
— Moa Stakeberg
“Outgoing, engaging, accepting,”
— Alissa Bernstein
“Spirited, inclusive, Prophecy,”
— Elin Stakeberg
“It’s pretty dope,”
— Christian Rider
“Resilient, adaptive and intelligent,”
— Trevor Woon
“Charming, tough, and smart,”
— Tommy Smale
“Vibrant, open, logical,”
— Hayden Libbey
“Community, stressful, cultivating,”
— Alice Zhang
What advice would you give to incoming freshmen?
“It’s all going to work no matter where you end up at,”
— Angus Stayte
“Don’t juul,”
— Eelis Copeland
“Take it easy,”
— Christian Rider
“Appreciate your sleep. Ask your teachers when you need help,”
— Alice Zhang
Where do you go for lunch and why?
“Town and Country because I can’t be bothered to bring food everyday to school,”
— Moa Stakeberg
“Now I try to go to somewhere on Cal[ifornia] Ave or a fast food place because Town and Country decreased my bank balance account by literally $1500,”
— Sid Sharma
“Anywhere but Town and Country,”
— Declan Flanders
“Chipotle, because I like Chipotle,”
— Christian Rider
“Chipotle, because I like Chipotle,”