Lynn Rose 

Ten years ago, early in English and AVID teacher Lynn Rose’s marriage with her husband, she recalls running up and hugging a Tigger actor at Disney World “like [she] was five years old.” After that instance, her husband joked about her extreme love for Tigger, and her collection began as people began buying Tigger-themed items for her. From her husband, sister and students, she has received a plethora of Tigger items including a shirt, Disneyland merchandise, calendars and hand-painted Tigger-related gifts. 

Rose specifically recalls a trip to Southern California with her AVID students, where they toured colleges and visited Disneyland.  At breakfast the morning after their day at Disneyland, Rose’s students gifted her a mug with Tigger artwork on it from Disneyland as well as a stuffed Tigger. 

Rose’s love for Tigger has only grown since it began, regardless of thinking that some people may find it childish. She finds that her love allows her to feel young and connected to her childhood. Because of this, she keeps a shelf of Tigger plushies in her classroom, that she wonders what she’ll do with after she eventually retires from teaching.

For Rose, Tigger also represents another valuable life lesson — “keep calm and bounce on.”

“[Tigger] bounces, bounces back,” Rose said. “‘Keep calm and bounce on’ and I think that’s a great attitude about life too, to just keep bouncing.”

Nathan Wang 

Senior Nathan Wang was initially introduced to coding by his parents who are both software engineers. After learning the beginner coding language Lua from his parents, programming and coding “took off” for Wang. He went on to self-study “web development basics” with a website called CodeAcademy and participate in competitive coding. 

To prepare for these competitive coding competitions, Wang attended summer programs which he found to be “insanely fun,” due to the matched enthusiasm from his fellow attendees about coding.

Not only does coding remind Wang of valuable moments like the card games he and his friends would play during the summer camps, but he also hopes to pursue coding as a career. However, Wang still sees coding as more than just a job and rather as an “inseparable part of [him]” that likens him to artists.

“I’m able to create almost anything I can visualize with code and especially with web development,” Wang said. “I imagine that the creative freedom I feel when tinkering with code is similar to the creative freedom that an artist feels while drawing, or an architect while creating a blueprint, except with code I can do so much more.”

Wang highlights that “power and scalability,” a quality he defines as the ability to expand an idea widely, makes coding a tool for him to make an impact on the world. Wang finds that this power comes especially from the fact that directly after writing code, it can be used by many people without continued effort from the coder. Along with real-world applications, Wang finds genuine pleasure in coding and its flexibility.  

“Programming and especially easy web development is legitimately relaxing for me,” Wang said. “I often find myself drawn to the simplicity and comforting familiarity of programming after a long day as a way to relax.”

Ethan Tarng

After junior Ethan Tarng’s last final in December of 2021, he recalls walking to the Olive Court to participate in a secret Santa gift exchange with his friends from the Water Polo team. Being the first to receive his gift, Tarng remembers the experience as awkward and quiet, but also enjoyable — he was gifted a potted plant from one of his close friends, junior Maya Mizrahi.

“[The plant is] very special because it’s a very unique looking plant,” Tarng said. “The pot was also decorated with glitter, which gets everywhere, but looks very nice and is very artistic.” 

The uniqueness of this plant stood out to Tarng immediately upon receiving it, and after doing further research, he found that the plant is called a flapjack succulent: a plant that only flowers once in its lifetime and is characterized by its round leaves. Tarng has yet to see this flowering occur, but mentions that he hopes to see this during the next season or spring.  

Tarng says that he formed a strong attachment to the plant because Mizrahi’s choice to give the plant was “thoughtful and caring,” as gardening is one of Tarng’s hobbies.

“The person who it came from [and the artwork on it] is what makes it unique,” Tarng said. “And because I keep it in my room, I feel almost connected to the person who gifted it to me and that is also why it’s very special.”