Junior Ori Lavi’s coach calls it “Middle Earth.

Lavi is one the few MVHS students who currently attends Middle College at DeAnza. Playing soccer at MVHS, Lavi has found that attending middle college and being a high school athlete poses challenges that may not be expected — like missing parts of class to play a soccer game. “Over at Middle College, we have waivers to get cleared for an hour, but we have to make it up eventually, with the adviser,” Lavi said. “And I have to figure that out as early as possible, so that I don’t get behind.” Lavi has experienced several other impeding factors such as the commute, but he believes his decision to attend Middle College over MVHS, was the right one. Lavi aspires to be a graphic designer and feels that he is able to further his studies in an ideal way that MVHS may have been unable to provide.

Senior Giselle Kaneda, who also attends Middle College, believes that Middle College provides and supports a healthier mentality, which focuses on learning rather than getting a good grade. “One of the things I like about Middle College is that it’s not a pressure-oriented place,” Kaneda said. “[At MVHS], you get the good grade. [At Middle College], it’s that you learn. And if you get a good grade along the way, that’s great.” Unlike Lavi, Kaneda has found that, at least for her, attending Middle College rather than MVHS has resulted in many more advantages than expected. Kaneda does hurdles, and the MVHS hurdle coach is from De Anza, so the practices are held there. It has helped her because she does not have to commute between two locations to attend practice. She has found that several times, she arrives to practice before the coach does. Both Lavi and Kaneda believe that their choice to attend Middle College has helped them pursue their careers in depth, and hasn’t impeded their ability to play a sport at MVHS, so they both believe that the positives of attending Middle College outweigh the negatives.

Senior Nicole Anderson-Au, who currently attends the “College Now” program at De Anza, believes that her choice to enroll in college wasn’t the right one. While attending Middle College allows an athlete to play a sport at MVHS, attending the College Now program prevents the athlete from participating in sports at MVHS. “Not being able to play is really stupid and annoying,” Anderson-Au said, “because I’m not allowed to play on the college team either. So I really can’t play any school volleyball for really convoluted reasons.” Anderson-Au also finds that not being able to play on the MVHS team puts her in an awkward situation — she’s a “player” on the team who can’t play in games. She is considered an “assistant coach” and attends every game, even though she cannot play. “At the same time I’m a peer, but also a coach,” Anderson-Au said. “So I don’t get the respect of a coach.” But more importantly, Anderson-Au feels that volleyball is a very social sport and believes that she is missing out on this aspect. Anderson-Au believes that because she does not attend MVHS, she is not really part of the team because she does not know about anything that happens at school. “I’m not a peer [to them] because I can’t play in games so I sometimes get overlooked,” Anderson-Au said. Anderson-Au, in turn, does not recommend any athlete to attend College Now while at MVHS. “I definitely would not recommend College Now — it makes it really hard because you can’t compete,” AndersonAu said. “But it’s a great program if you don’t play a sport.”

Despite the difficulties that attending De Anza poses, Anderson-Au and the other athletes will not quit their sport. “I like playing the sport,” Kaneda