Culture

Parent-teacher conferences can be a source of anxiety, excitement, or curiosity for students at any school. But for Stanford OHS students, whose parent-teacher conferences are upcoming at the end of October (to be exact,October 30th through November 1st), this normal mid-term ritual has certain differences to brick-and-mortar schools, precipitated by both OHS’s “online”ness and its global reach.

Or do they? One student, rising full-time senior Charlotte Own, has pioneered a highly commendable different course of action. Instead of disillusionment, she chose an alternative route to prepare for the OHS prom. Charlotte shared: “I thrifted [my dress] at a relatively high-quality Japanese thrift store…for an equivalent of around $20.” Thrifting is not only a sustainable recourse in the face of a difficult prom dress market, but may solve problems of both quality, comfort, and expense that many are facing. Before thrifting, Charlotte pattern sewed her own dresses. “It’s become a yearly tradition for me to get straight to sewing…right after finals end so I can have that week in between finals and prom to work on it.” 

In reality, reintroducing mandatory testing is more likely to go back to privileging the privileged—those who could afford pricey test prep classes and had the overall advantages in life that lead to higher scores. Although students struggle to perform well in this unbalanced system, they are also stressed by trying to determine if they even need to take these standardized tests or if they should. We don’t know whether to take tests, retake them, or focus our energy elsewhere based on the latest policy changes from different colleges. 

As such, Student Life still plans for alterations to this year’s event. They will be working with a carnival company to hold the carnival, and as Ms. Mustafa says, “the best part is… there will be prizes!” Ms. Mustafa, who spearheaded this initiative, expresses that her personal goal was to, “uphold the spirit of the Carnival name and translate it into a real-life experience that captures all the best parts of the carnival and fairs many of us have gotten to experience in the Bay Area,” then share that with the entire OHS community. For students attending remotely, one event that will be hosted is an online student showcase on June 4.

Although Isabelle enjoyed riding death defying roller coasters, she also appreciated other moments—one of her favorite moments was bonding with her friends as they walked around the park. While walking, Isabelle fondly recalls, “This adorable stray cat walked up to us and was meowing. It was super friendly and adorable, so we took some pictures of it!” 

On the last day, the OHSers met up at Andrew Mullikin’s, one of the students in attendance, house for breakfast. Andrew’s mom was the main planner for this meetup and was also generous enough to set her house up with food and sports (like basketball and tennis) for the last day. Reflecting upon the meetup, Andrew said that he enjoyed “... seeing friends and people you’re really close with in person and actually getting to do fun things with them,” which seems to be a shared sentiment among everyone who attends OHS meetups.