Arhana Aatresh (’23) is an Editor-In-Chief for Vol. 58 and Vol. 59 of The Lancer. She was the Vol. 57 News Editor and the Vol. 56 Features Editor. She is also a Science Columnist who currently authors “Brain Dump,” having authored “Mental Mettle and Musings” for Vol. 58 and “Pandemic Panacea” for Vol. 57.
Articles
Brain Dump: how to put yourself out there
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 31, 2023 Readers, this column marks my end as a columnist and staff member of The Lancer. It is with deep sadness that I bid you farewell, but I want to leave on a positive note. Spring is a major transition period—seniors accepted to college are starting to make…
Transcending the boundaries of education: Innovation@Saint Francis
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) and Alexander Chang (’23) | March 31, 2023 Saint Francis is no stranger to innovation. In addition to constructing spaces for experiential learning, such as the Eggers Innovation Center, students have had opportunities to be involved in programs and partnerships that are pushing the boundaries of education. One of the school’s…
Brain Dump: fighting burnout and senioritis
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 10, 2023 It’s that glorious time of year again for seniors nationwide: March. College acceptances are slowly arriving, and graduation is only two months away. The indomitable condition, with a bit of malaise mixed in, seems to overshadow everything else. While “senioritis” may not be contagious, it manifests like…
Maggie Rogers brings “feral joy” to San Francisco in stunning last show of tour
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 10, 2023 Maggie Rogers showed San Francisco what surrendering to joy really is during her March 5 show. Originally a folk singer-songwriter from Maryland transformed by exposure to electronic music in Europe, Rogers was already genre-defying artist with her debut album, Heard It in a Past Life. Her sonically…
Brain Dump: New Years’ resolutions
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | February 3, 2023 It’s that time of year again! One month since we eagerly set ambitious New Year’s resolutions to exercise more, eat healthily, spend less, and do yoga. But we’ve slowly become lazy, succumbing to the pressures of work and school and reverting to the comfort of our old…
Behind the scenes of Little Shop of Horrors
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | February 3, 2023 Little Shop of Horrors, with a book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, initially seems like a frightful musical. The show follows the meek and earnest floral assistant Seymour Krelborn as he chances upon a carnivorous plant that promises him success and a…
“Wednesday”: a “woe”-fully wonderful work
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | February 3, 2023 This article contains spoilers. Netflix’s latest original show Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega and largely directed by Tim Burton, is the streaming service’s latest hit. Breaking Stranger Things 4’s record of Netflix’s most-watched English language series, sparking viral TikTok trends, and inspiring people around the world to dress…
Brain Dump: the science behind voting
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | November 18, 2022 The arrival of November is an exciting time: leaves falling and changing colors, a rare peek at rain, and perhaps most importantly, Election Day. A portion of the Saint Francis student body can now legally vote, a cherished civic responsibility, and all sixteen and seventeen-year-olds can pre-register…
Trader Joe’s Fall Foods
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | November 18, 2022 Trader Joe’s and autumn are as closely linked as peanut butter and jelly. Annually, without fail, the chain practices what I like to call the “pumpkinification” of every food item from baking mixes to ethnic foods, resulting in many runaway hits but also some tragic misses. Regardless,…
Lancer FMSA hosts second Red Cross Blood Drive, meeting critical healthcare needs
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) and Nikita Senthil (’23) | November 18, 2022 Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, whether it be for cancer treatment or traumatic injuries. That’s the time it took to read that sentence. However, the country is facing a massive blood shortage, due to the all-time low registration of…
Brain Dump: the importance of consensus in conversation
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | October 7, 2022 Welcome to Brain Dump! I’m excited for a year of exploring the mysteries and wonders of our brain and how they manifest in our thoughts and actions. As high schoolers, we’re familiar with disagreement, which happens in diverse situations, running the gamut from social settings to academic…
Mental Mettle and Musings: the power of art
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | April 8, 2022 The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked dialogue about the importance of art during difficult times. Isolation, lockdown, and quarantine periods have inspired people to turn to a range of artists for comfort, including musicians, visual artists, and other content creators. I certainly found solace in art by reading…
Activities Office implements major changes to ASB and student leadership
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) and Anika Jain (’22) | April 8, 2022 The Activities Office recently announced changes to the structure of student leadership to be implemented in the 2022-2023 school year. Starting next fall, Saint Francis’s Associated Student Body (ASB) will be composed of four elected officials and four appointed officials, with the Social…
Mental Mettle and Musings: to conform or to conform?
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 21, 2022 Teenagers get a bad reputation for their obsession with social status and group belonging, as well as their impulsive and temperamental tendencies; just look at every teen drama and movie! However, they should not be faulted for their brains that are literally wired differently from those of…
Mental Mettle and Musings: finding comfort in the familiar
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | February 14, 2022 Students often find themselves mocked by the adults in their lives for enjoying the things that bring them comfort, such as music they listen to when preparing for exams, books they reread every winter break, or movies they play in the background of stressful tasks. If the…
All About Alumni: Dr. Christopher Gilbert
by Arhana Aatresh (’23), Louis Chavey (’22), and Will Li (’23) A number of Saint Francis alumni have taken the leap from student to teacher. One of them is Dr. Christopher Gilbert (’87), who participated in everything from tennis to theater to community service during his time as a Lancer. Inspired by his own teachers,…
Mental Mettle and Musings: the continual clash of sleep vs. stress
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | November 19, 2021 Most students on campus would argue that sleep is overrated, and their concerning lack of sleep certainly proves that they are willing to sacrifice it. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a battle between students and their sleep schedules; with increased screen time and a lack of structured…
Humans of Saint Francis: Lily Arangio
by Arhana Aatresh (’23), Alexander Chang (’23), Will Li (’23), Elsa Ying (’23), Da Hee Yang (’23), Kasper Halevy (’24), and Anika Bastin (’23) | October 11, 2021 Many teenagers perceive politics as either a stream of intangible Instagram stories or an abstract mess reserved for adults. However, Lily Arangio (’23) actively combats this perception…
Mental Mettle and Musings: teen tension and back-to-school anxiety
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | October 11, 2021 The return to on-campus instruction for the first time since March 2020 has brought endless challenges, especially surrounding the transition from isolation to constant academic and social engagement. While a sense of normalcy is comforting to many students, others suffer from anxiety in response to the never-ending…
Following fake bomb threat, Saint Francis students and faculty reflect on the evacuation
by Anika Jain (’22), Arhana Aatresh (’23), Louis Chavey (’22), and Nikita Senthil (’23)| October 11, 2021 On October 5 at around 1 P.M., Saint Francis received a series of phone calls regarding the presence of a bomb on campus. Principal Katie Teekell immediately made an announcement over the PA system, informing all students and…
All About Alumni: Ms. Amy Sherrard
by Anika Jain (’22) and Arhana Aatresh (’23) | October 11, 2021 One day, every single one of us will matriculate from Saint Francis. What will follow these four years of high school? How will the lessons we have learned within the walls of these classrooms impact the trajectories of our lives? Perhaps your experiences…
Pandemic Panacea: restoring hope following COVID vaccinations
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | May 10, 2021 After over a year, the future is finally looking up in California, which currently has the lowest percentage of cases and positive test rates in the entire nation, and where daily deaths have fallen 90% since the state’s peak in January 2021. The sunshine state is truly…
Pandemic Panacea: lessons learned
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 29, 2021 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 crisis a pandemic. By this time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus had already destroyed thousands of lives and was rapidly spreading in the United States, bringing life as we knew it to a halt. The major transition…
WandaVision: a unique exploration of grief during a time of loss
by Arhana Aatresh (’23)| March 29, 2021 For over a year, many people have been sequestered in their homes, besieged by grim headlines and death tolls, with little respite. Thankfully, media in forms ranging from movies and television shows to books and podcasts have provided an outlet for many. WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ first release since…
Pandemic Panacea: Vaccine development and distribution
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | March 1, 2021 Since the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use authorization last December, people have been lining up to receive the vaccine, even visiting pharmacies at the end of the day, vying for leftover doses. Unfortunately, there is a general mistrust of the coronavirus vaccine. The…
Pandemic Panacea: vaccine and therapy innovation
by Arhana Aatresh (’23) | November 16, 2020 The global death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic peaked at 1,319,267 cases on November 15 and is skyrocketing as the U.S. continues to smash records with an alarming increase in cases. Despite political pressure, U.S. health experts have consistently maintained that fully reopening businesses or schools…
Pandemic Panacea: mental health declines during lockdown
by Arhana Aatresh | October 5, 2020 Welcome to Pandemic Panacea! In this column, I will cover everything regarding living through the COVID-19 pandemic, from mental and physical effects to new scientific discoveries, and also offer remedies and solutions. This issue, I will discuss the mental impact of the past six months in quarantine. Ever…
The coronavirus, explained
by Arhana Aatresh | May 19, 2020 The world has been sent into varying states of chaos ever since a deadly respiratory illness known as COVID-19, or the coronavirus, started to spread through six continents in the past few months. As of May 8, there have been almost four million total cases and 273,852 deaths…
Holy CrossFit: connecting through fitness during the pandemic
by Arhana Aatresh | May 19, 2020 Due to the current shelter-in-place order, many people are scrambling to find new sources of exercise. Sports teams are unable to meet, while visits to the gym risk everyone’s health. From high schoolers to professional athletes, people everywhere have had to adapt to stay fit in the safety…
Art/Photography
Categories: Uncategorized
The Lancer 