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Riya shares Joy Blalock’s journey from discovering art to shaping Pinewood’s creative curriculum.

Harry previews the baseball team’s season, highlighting new leadership, fresh talent, and the team’s goals.

Michael explores the psychology behind Costco’s design, membership model, and food court strategy.

Ryan covers the 11th grade iNaturalist competition, where students track and identify local species.

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MARCH 6, 2025

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PINEWOOD SCHOOL, LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA

VOLUME IX, ISSUE IV

THEPERENNIAL.ORG

Basketball Teams Push Through CCS Playoffs

Girls Advance to Open Division Final & Set Sights on State Title JAKE REYNDERS Staff Writer

be away from home. Scheppler spoke about what his team needs to execute if they are to win in tough away environments. Chants of “I believe that we just won; I believe “We need to really contain … high percentage that we just won.” reverberated in the Panther Pit finishes and wide open three-pointers,” Scheppler after the Pinewood girls basketball team defeated said. “Offensively, we need to create good shots Woodside Priory 48-32 and qualified for the Calfor ourselves and we’re excited to compete in hosifornia Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Central tile environments.” Coast Section (CCS) Open Division ChampiOn the other hand, the boys team, led by head onship. The team took the CCS Open Division coach Chris Jackson, were selected as the ninth playoffs by storm, winning by an average of over seed in Division V CCS playoffs. Their road to 27 points in their opening three games against Saa championship began with an opening round cred Heart Cathedral, Saint Francis, and Priory. matchup against The Kehillah School on Feb. 21. Heading into the game, Pinewood’s starting guard, junior Josh Tian, spoke about the impor“We need to play with no fear know- Students cheer on the Panthers as they face Archbishop Mitty at Photos by SAM JEZAK tance of humility throughout the postseason. ing that we deserve to be there and Santa Clara University. “We’re excited to compete in CCS playoffs this give everything out on the floor.” year,” Tian said. “We beat Kehillah earlier this season, but we can’t go in with that mindset or Their dominant performances earned them a our season will be over.” spot in the championship against Archbishop Just as Tian warned against, the team started Mitty at Santa Clara University on Feb. 28. Juthe game poorly and fell behind 21-9. However, nior Caitlyn Kramer spoke about what the team they were able to regather themselves and clawed needed to do in order to win. their way back to a 72-62 overtime win. The team “It feels great to play in such a high stakes game advanced to the second round of CCS Division and have the opportunity to play for a champiV playoffs, but unfortunately lost 60-45 to Basis onship,” Kramer said. “We need to play with no Independent Silicon Valley School. fear knowing that we deserve to be there and give After the hard-fought matchup, Jackson and everything out on the floor.” Tian both looked ahead to the upcoming 2025After falling behind by as many as 23 points be2026 season. hind Mitty, Pinewood cut the deficit down to five Tian expressed his excitement for his senior seain the final minute of the championship. While Pinewood girls place 2nd in CIF CCS Open Division in the 2024-25 son. Jackson spoke about the measures that they they lost 59-51, head coach Doc Scheppler was season and hope to advance further. need to take in order for the team to improve. proud of the team nonetheless. Despite the close loss, the girls are still in contention “Our culture of effort needs to be more estab“We’re all proud of our effort for the last three quar- for a state championship, as they have been selected as lished,” Jackson said. “I’m going to put us in a position ters of the game,” Scheppler said. “We need to start the sixth seed in the Northern California Open Divi- to continue to make growth, and the team’s improvegames with more energy and unconditional belief.” sion state playoffs. Their opening round matches will ment will go from there.”

New Courses in Advanced Coding & Personal Finance Pinewood Prepares Students for Future Careers In STEM

LUCAS GUAN Staff Writer

Want to learn advanced coding or how to manage your credit? Next year, Pinewood is offering two new courses to help students do just that. AP Computer Science A will be taught by computer science teacher Christine Tran, and business and French teacher Stéphanie Gervais will teach Personal Finance. “These courses prepare students with professional skills,” Head of Upper Campus Eve Kulbieda said. “It’s a signature part of what Pinewood does.” Tran said that the AP Computer Science class will go beyond the College Board curriculum and will include a multi-week project where students work on different components of a coding problem and learn to collaborate, similar to how software development teams work in the real world. Tran said that she hopes this course will serve as a stepping stone for the future of the computer science department. “I hope to further expand our offerings by adding

more design and engineering courses, giving students even more opportunities to develop their technical and problem-solving skills,” Tran said. Another way Pinewood is preparing students for the real world is by offering a Personal Finance course in order to promote financial literacy. After polling students in her Business and Tech class, Gervais said that students were excited about the possibility of more course offerings in business and finance. “Most of the students that joined Business and Tech liked how they learned about the real world,” Gervais said. “So that’s why I felt like Personal Finance would make sense.” In the class, students will learn a diverse range of topics about financial decisions, including about credit cards and comparing different job opportunities and housing. Gervais plans to integrate artificial intelligence into her course to aid students with a simulation project where students manage their finances in a virtual world. Gervais wants students to know about their finances

so that they don’t have to learn everything themselves. “I came to the U.S. not that long ago, and all of this was brand new to me,” Gervais said. “I failed to learn about the financial system, and I just want to make sure that our students start life with the right information so that they can thrive.”

“We’re trying to keep up with the way the world is changing. We want to get ahead of where we think the world will be when students graduate.” As Pinewood introduces these new courses, Kulbieda and the faculty remain committed to adapting the curriculum to meet students’ needs and help achieve future career success. “We’re trying to keep up with the way the world is changing,” Kulbieda said. “We want to get ahead of where we think the world will be when students graduate.”