The Campanile

Informing the Paly community since 1918. Twitter:
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www.thecampanile.org

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/thecampanile

ISSUU: http://issuu.com/palycampanile

06/15/2026

The PAUSD Board of Education announced the appointment of Jason Glass as superintendent on Friday. Glass has two decades of education leadership experience, with previous roles across Colorado and California. The Board is set to approve Glass’s contract at its June 16 meeting. If approved, he will begin his tenure on July 1.

Glass most recently served as the superintendent of the Laguna Beach Unified School District, where he focused on improving trust, expanding learning pathways and supporting student well-being among other goals outlined in the district’s “Superintendent’s 100-day report”.

Glass’s selection comes a month after former PAUSD Superintendent Don Austin’s appointment as the new superintendent of the Laguna Beach School District, creating a trade between the two districts.

In a statement to the community, PAUSD said the decision follows a national search with input from 1,434 community members.

“Their priorities were consistent: a leader who listens, who rebuilds trust, and who comes to invest in this community,” the statement said “Dr. Glass will begin not with an agenda but with a listening process, working alongside the board, staff, families, and students.”

In the same statement, Glass expressed gratitude and described his goals for PAUSD.

“I am grateful for the opportunity and ready to do the work to earn the trust of this community,” Glass said. “I intend to listen carefully, be present in the schools, and build connections as my first priority.”

Sophomore Lucas Wiedenhoeft wrote that he hopes to see better support for student mental health in a message to The Campanile.

“(The district should focus on) better management of mental health among students,” Wiedenhoeft wrote.

Sophomore Alon Milman said the appointment could give the district the strong leadership it needs.

“We need a strong and experienced superintendent to reconcile the district,” Milman said. “I think switching to Dr. Glass could help with this. He appears to have a lot of experience and I think he possesses a lot of qualities that could help the district thrive.”

Reporting by Jonathan Gu

06/07/2026

On Thursday, from musical performances to heartfelt speeches, the Class of 2026 graduation ceremony celebrated the achievements, memories and future aspirations of this year’s graduating seniors.

Photos by Cindy Liang and Dashel Chun.

06/05/2026

Review the best of the Campanile’s 2025-26 season, featuring top stories from each section. Find these stories at thecampanile.org

News: Students stage walkout by Dashel Chun and Cindy Liang

Spotlight: From progress to pushback by Dashel Chun, Lucas Lai and Mirai Matsuzawa

Sports: Flipping the fumble by Kira Tzeng

Editorial: PAUSD needs new leaders to bring a culture shift by the Editors-in-Cheif

Lifestyle: A ‘Stranger Things’ farewell by Zoya Prabhkar

Column: Rage-baiting 101 by the Double Take (Cindy Liang, Dalia Saal)

Opinion: There was always a next time by Meryem Orazova

Science/Tech: Chatting up ChatGPT by Dalia Saal

05/30/2026

At the start of this year Paly administration implemented an extension, called Classwize, on all high school Chromebooks. The decision was made after some of the high school teachers expressed interest in piloting it. It gives teachers the ability to screenshot, monitor and control students’ screens in real time. It also allows them to directly message students and pause their internet and is operational on Macbooks if students are logged into their PAUSD Google accounts on Chrome.

Read more at thecampanile.org

Story by Christopher Lee
Art by Sofia Singer and Eden Yoo

05/25/2026

After a long week filled with assignments and stressful tests, sophomore Liani Ragade curls up on a nice, warm couch to read the library book that has been sitting untouched on her desk since she checked it out last week. She only has an hour to immerse herself in another world far away and free from outside distractions.

However, in another house just a few blocks away, sophomore Anisha Shetty settles down on her bed after digging through her backpack and fishes out her phone. Instead of reading a book, Shetty scrolls on Instagram, a weekend activity that has subconsciously become part of her routine. She isn’t alone; a growing number of young adults and teenagers are losing their ability to focus long enough to read and resort to social media as a source of entertainment.

Read more at thecampanile.org

Story by Brooke Bressler, Annika Chu, Dashel Chun and Philip Shen
Art by Sofia Singer and Ellen Wang

05/24/2026

PAUSD administration implemented a new student device-monitoring software at Paly and Henry M. Gunn High School this year called Classwize, distributed by the company Linewize, which allows teachers to monitor students’ screens in real time and control their devices. The Campanile thinks Classwize will be ineffective in minimizing student distraction in class and is an unethical breach of student privacy.

Additionally, the decision to use the software was not communicated to students or teachers for adequate input or notification beforehand.

Read more at thecampanile.org

Story by the Editors-in-Cheif
Art by Ellen Wang

05/20/2026

Pick up a copy in the MAC!

05/17/2026

As the last of the audience files in on Friday, performers from Harmony Ensemble —a student-run chamber orchestra and band— raise their instruments to begin the 2026 Harmony Artist Concert featuring works from Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Laufey and others.

Junior Kate Vo, who is one of Harmony’s co-founders, said the performance is part of the ensemble’s broader mission to build community and inspire passion through music.

“Our goal is to bring people together and form a community through the sheer love of music and collaboration,” Vo said.

Sophomore Darwin Collins, a student performer, said the concert featured both returning musicians and new members.

“We had some new people and everyone did really well,” Collins said.

Vo said the ensemble’s commitment and energy contributed to the performance’s success.

“The performance went well,” Vo said. “Everyone put a really high level of dedication towards the performance and the overall attitude was really strong.”

Vo said the performance fulfilled one of Harmony’s central goals:connecting with the community.

“It was really meaningful to have such a wonderful audience,” Vo said. “We achieved a lot by bringing together a lot of people.”

Burt Glassman, who attended, said the students’ talent elevated the event.

“I was very, very impressed,” Glassman said. “The sound and ability of all the musicians were incredible.”

Paly junior Tiffany Chou, who co-founded Harmony alongside Vo, said the group will continue to build relationships with the community.

“Our goal will always be to share the love of music to the community in any way possible while having fun along the way,” Chou said.

Photos and reporting by Jonathan Gu and Philip Shen.

05/16/2026

Girls varsity lacrosse beat Gunn High School 12-9 on Thursday, allowing them to advance to the Division II Central Coast Section Championship.

Paly ended the first quarter with a 4-3 lead and maintained it throughout the rest of the game.

In their previous matchup, Gunn beat Paly 9-8 in an overtime game. Sophomore attacker Zara Mathoda said the win was important to solidify their win over Gunn.

“It was great to kind of build on our past overtime win against Gunn,” Mathoda said. ”And in such a special place, like the CCS semifinals.”

Senior defender Keerthi Raj said beating Gunn was important to her because they had never gotten this far in the league before.

“I’ve been on this team for 4 years,” Raj said. “We haven’t even made it to the top three, and now we’re in the championship for CCS.”

Sophomore defender Maya Ratliff said she enjoyed seeing the team’s successes while watching from the sidelines due to an injury.

“Watching from the sideline, it’s really great to see how much the team has truly progressed,” Ratliff said.

Head coach Kaitlin Chiu said she has a lot of seniors who have been with her since freshman year.

“They’ve really rebuilt this program into what it is today,” Chiu said.

But, Chiu said coming into this next game they still have a few things they need to work on.

“The biggest thing we have to work on is those 50-50 balls,” Chiu said. “We’ve got to make sure those always end up in our sticks.”

50-50 balls are ground balls where no single team has possession. Chiu said she thinks the team has executed the skills they have worked on in practice.

“Coming into the next game, we’re just gonna keep doing our thing, and keep working,” Chiu said.

Photos and reporting by Asaf Milman and Chris Lee

05/15/2026

This scenario may seem familiar. It’s 2 a.m. The faint glow of a laptop screen is the only thing keeping you awake. A half-finished problem set sits next to a computer riddled with dozens of open tabs. By the ring of the morning bell, the exhaustion will be shrugged off and repeated the very next day.

At Paly, exhaustion is commonly worn as a medal of honor. Students often exchange stories about finishing homework at 2 a.m. and surviving the week on unhealthy amounts of sleep. The less someone sleeps is often correlated with how impressive their workload seems.

Read more at thecampanile.org

Story by Cindy Liang and Jonathan Gu
Art by Cindy Liang

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