Throughout their 11 years of being best friends, Wang and Masuda have developed a unique dynamic. “I enjoy the fact that I can insult her any way possible and receive an insult back,” Masuda said.

Wang also appreciated this aspect of their friendship. “I like insulting you,” Wang said. “It’s very fun.”

Despite their banter, Masuda is comfortable around Wang. “I feel like I [can] say anything to her,” said Masuda.

Wang adds that their playful insults make their relationship one of a kind. “We’re so good at trashtalking each other. It’s a special form of love and friendship.”

Wang recalls the unique gifts they’ve given each other throughout the years. “She once gave me a gin bottle filled with apple juice for my birthday,” she said. “Another time, she gave me this candle that says ‘Our friendship is like this candle. Forget me, and I’ll burn your house down.’”

While they may look more like enemies than friends at first glance, Wang and Masuda are quick to defend their friendship. “In third grade, I broke my leg and had to use a wheelchair,” Masuda said. “During that time, we had a field trip to Angel Island. We went to the beach, and I was super sad because I couldn’t go into the water. Zara sat with me the whole time.”

Ultimately, Wang and Masuda agree that despite every insult and incident that has been thrown their way, they are happy to have maintained their friendship. “She’s a very nice person, and she’s very generous,” Wang said.

Masuda is optimistic about her friendship with Wang even beyond high school. “I’m glad that we stayed friends even after middle school and high school, and [I hope that we stay friends going] into college,” she said.

Of course, for such a big holiday, you have to prepare. Stop by your nearby Target and take a stroll down the party aisle. If the stores don’t have decorations for the holiday, use this as an opportunity to get creative. It’s time to bust out the marker set you stole from your second grade classroom and get decorating.

How does one go about celebrating a day dedicated to lunch? For starters, the lunch line had better give gourmet meals—filet mignon, french onion soup and crème brûlée—at the very least. If you usually pack lunch, tell your parents to cook up your favorite dishes and have them delivered piping hot at 12:20 p.m.

National Make Lunch Count Day is also a day to take advantage of the lunchtime you have. Maybe you could catch up with some old friends or make up with your middle school nemesis. Whatever way you choose to celebrate, make sure you do it with family and friends. A day like this is meant to be shared with your loved ones. What are you waiting for? Start prepping and mark your calendar for April 13.

Kompella’s fascination with clothing stems from her early desire to become a teacher. “Even though I trained to be an engineer, my heart always wanted to teach,” she said. “When I was in school, I would see what [my female teachers] were wearing.”

The responsibility of being a teacher has had a big impact on deciding what to wear each morning. “Clothes add to the profession.” Kompella said. “So when I choose something, it has to be fun. It also has to be functional because I do all kinds of things.”

Over the years, Kompella’s fashion has evolved from her cultural roots. “I grew up in India,” she said. “My signature look used to be fully Indian clothing. I came here in my late 20s, and suddenly, I was transplanted into a different culture, so I had to learn from my co-workers.”

Kompella’s style boils down to her love for teaching and her enthusiasm to make her classes engaging. “People think that physics teachers are boring, and I don’t want to be like that,” she said. “I want to embrace the fact that I enjoy doing things that are not physics-related. I like designing and putting outfits together that look good.”

For Bednarz, taking a gap year was influenced by her environment. “COVID-19 was the reason I took my gap year,” she said. “For a while, I was really against the idea because I was so excited for college to start. Looking back, however, I couldn’t be happier with my choice; I would take that year off even without the pandemic if I could do it over again.”

While she is glad to have taken the path that she did, taking a gap year was not an easy decision. “Seeing friends getting ready to go off to school and getting excited about classes certainly sparked some fear of missing out,” she said. “[My gap year] relied on making solid plans and following through with them. It’s intimidating to have a full year of nothing after being in school your whole life. It was super important to me to have some structure in my day-to-day life.”

During her gap year, Bednarz has taken up multiple jobs. “During the first semester of my gap year, I worked full time at Philz Coffee,” she said. “I often had the early shift, so I would be there from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. After work, I had a part-time gig in graphic design where I designed calendars, magnets and greeting cards for a company.”

The college application process is different for everyone who decides to take a gap year. Students can choose to either apply during senior year with all their other classmates or wait and apply during their gap year. Bednarz chose the former, as she was unsure of whether she would take a gap year at the time. “I have to recommend [applying during senior year], as I think that applying to schools while you’re still in the SAT and recommendation letter mindset makes it easier to buckle down and do the good work,” she said. “Gunn’s college counselors are a super helpful resource, and I appreciated having access to them while applying. After I got into college, I filled out a form asking to defer a year. They granted me the deference and officially enrolled me in the class of 2025.”

Bednarz says that taking a gap year has been very beneficial in many aspects of her life. “Between Zoom school, AP tests, college decisions coming out and all the emotion that surrounds graduating, a break from school was just what I needed,” she said. “Taking a year off let me enter my freshman year of college with a revived enthusiasm to learn. [It also] gave me the freedom to explore interests I hadn’t had time to delve into at Gunn.”

In giving advice to seniors considering taking a gap year, Bednarz says the opportunity exceeded her expectations. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “Knowing what I know now, I would have taken a gap year even without the pandemic. I really urge all seniors to think about what you could do in a whole year and reflect on if you’d benefit from some time away from school.”

There is a soundtrack for every mood. Songs in movies are meant to bring depth to the scene—they’re meant to make you feel something. If you’re feeling down in the dumps, there’s surely a song out there that will lift your spirits. Want something epic to start off your day? Try the “Lord of the Rings” or “Star Wars” theme songs.

Along with the many emotions songs from soundtracks can bring out, there are also so many styles of music to choose from. You don’t even have to like the movie to love its music.

With movie soundtracks, you can surprise yourself and listen to something new. Open a random soundtrack and click on a random song. You could possibly find the song that you’ll play on repeat for the next week. Or, if it sounds like too much work to think of a soundtrack to search up, try this: next time you watch a movie, pay attention to the music and make a mental note on the ones you like. From there, it should be pretty easy to find the soundtrack online. (Most will probably be on YouTube or Spotify.)

In the end, there’s no denying it: movie soundtracks are truly the greatest music genre of all time. With a little bit of everything, everyone can find their perfect song.