When sophomore Karthik Dulla’s United States visa expired, he and his family returned to India in October 2021. They planned to stay for a few months while the U.S. approved a new visa. But, when the...
Past the towering brown brick walls with spires pointing skyward inside the halls of Washington University’s labs, senior Lauren McLeod assists in carrying out the latest brain-development tests on children....
At 9 months, I sat in my mom's arms and drank from a bottle. My grandparents and aunt traveled to China to help my mom. On Oct. 31, 2006, my mom adopted me in Chongqing. In November 2006, after three flights...
Elle Rotter, Deputy Conceptual Editor-in-Chief
• October 28, 2022
Even as a kid, she knew what she wanted her future to look like, and that plan did not include college. Now, senior Sapir Zachary plans to graduate high school early, attend farming programs across the...
Decorating the house, cooking food and getting dressed up, Hindu students prepare to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights.
Diwali is a major Indian holiday that typically falls around late autumn...
Until the summer of 2018, senior Luisa DAquino Lazarini and freshman Clara DAquino Lazarini lived in São Paulo, Brazil, in a cozy, blue house surrounded by fellow Brazilian neighborhood kids. Due to a...
Esta Kamau, Features/Humans of West Editor
• October 24, 2022
Business teacher Bill Mitchell and his identical twin brother became homeless at 17 years old after a turbulent home situation arose. Throughout high school, Mitchell and his brother found comfort in wrestling...
Raj Jaladi, Newsletter Editor/Data Analyst
• October 24, 2022
For junior David Hawiger, summer was not just relaxing and travel but also time to answer his question: Is a medical career for me?
Hawiger pursued an internship opportunity at the St. Louis University...
Ashlyn Gillespie, Deputy Managing Editor-in-Chief
• October 14, 2022
One day at West, former Principal Beth Plunkett was in an English classroom when she saw a fire start from a telephone line. It shimmied towards a nearby generator, which exploded into flames, sending...
As the horn sounds for the second time to alert everyone of the upcoming voyage, junior Caitlyn Allendorph boards the Fydraca, a 32-foot-long Viking ship, along with her seven other crew members. While...
![At the entrance to Washington University, senior Lauren McLeod poses in front of her workplace. Through her internship at Washington University’s Social Cognition and Development lab McLeod exposed herself to a possible future career field. “I'm hoping to work on similar research, major in cognitive science, and expand more in [this] topic. This [opportunity] has impacted my life in a lot of [different] ways,” McLeod said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image1-900x542.jpg)
![Sophomore Keyshon Brown and senior Sapir Zachary measure ingredients to make a sauce for their day's dish: fettuccine alfredo. In the Culinary Mentor class, neurotypical students work with kids with various disabilities to learn cooking skills. “I thought [this class] would be enjoyable and a great opportunity to help kids develop skills they can carry on later in life. It hurts my heart to see how those kids can be treated. I always wanted to be their friend and make them laugh. More people need to be considerate and nice and be someone’s friend,” Zachary said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Sapir-900x600.jpg)
![Sophomore Nidhi Pejathya lights candles to welcome guests on Diwali. An urli is a traditional Indian decoration filled with water, flowers and candles that are lit during the holiday. “Diwali is the festival of lights, so we greet the goddess Lakshmi with [them]. In our culture, a huge saying is ‘treat your guests like god,’ so we do the same for them as we would for the goddess,” Pejathya said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Nidhi-FEAT-900x675.jpg)
![Sticking her tongue out playfully, 3-year-old Clara DAquino Lazarini tightly holds her sister. In Brazil, when the two shared a bedroom, many fun memories were made — however, there were the occasional light-hearted disputes. “I would always try to sneak into her bed at night because she had [the] top bunk, and I was so upset that I didn’t have it,” Clara said. “I used to talk while I was sleeping, and every morning she would tell me the things I said or did, and she would always pretend to be mad at me, but in the end, she'd laugh about it with me.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IMG_6818-900x637.jpg)
![Senior Nick Menendez chose to honor Business Teacher Bill Mitchell during Teacher Appreciation night for varsity boys soccer. Players wrote letters to their teachers and gave them to them before the game. “I chose Mr. Mitchell because I enjoy his class. I believe what he's teaching will actually be useful to me later on in life. [I like] solving problems, working out how to best present an idea or a concept and then working through that and delivering on it,” Menendez said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Teacher-Appreciation-900x600.jpg)
![Junior Caitlyn Allendorph carries the shield of her mentor during the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) Laurel Award Ceremony. The award is presented to those who have excelled in the arts and sciences category. “This was a huge honor to do this, [my mentor] helped me get my bearings at the SCA. It makes me so happy that I was able to be in this,” Allendorph said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image_50802177.jpg)