McKenna Stephens
West High seniors share their favorite stories.
Ameza Keita: “There was a [close] basketball game [sophomore year]. I was on the bench. We had a comeback — We were down 10 and then came back last quarter. [West’s] team had some big shots.”
Athra Li: “I remember I skipped class one time with friends and went downtown, and we got boba tea [at] Teamo Tea. I just remember [the tea] was actually good and also skipping class; don’t do it though.”
Sebastian Rutkowski: “We had a substitute in AP World in 10th grade, and we all sang Star Wars music in a capella for almost the entire period.”
Adrian Rodríguez: “[In] my junior year, I was taking Spanish V, the Seal of Biliteracy class. We were doing voluntary work for Ms. Stumpff where we went to an ELL class and aided the students academically with math and personally [by connecting] with them because they didn’t really know English. I think it was overall a positive experience that I learned a lot from. It marked me quite a lot because I feel like it’s very empowering to know that you can help people who have gone through the same things you have and that you can help them.”
Pranjal Paudel: “My favorite moment in high school was when I went to the [Peninsula Invitational] debate tournament freshman year. It just meant a lot because I didn’t have much confidence and kind of wanted to quit [debate], but then I ended up winning because I was too raw. It helped me cement my confidence in myself and it felt really nice to get the trophy in the mail and put it in my room.”