Thomas Bruns, Opinions/A&E editor
Pronouns: he/him
I am a junior and this is my second year on staff. I started taking Convergence Journalism as a class and soon decided to join the newspaper. It has taught me much about talking to strangers and asking good questions. The supportive editors and collaborators encouraged me to grow and push myself in pursuit of better quality journalism. Being a writer on the Pathfinder has encouraged me to write more concisely and engagingly both in and out of a school setting. My biggest interests are film and American politics (hence why I am an Opinions/A&E editor). Outside of the Pathfinder, I am heavily involved in the Debate Team.
![Foreign language teacher Blair Hopkins stands by the smart board while she teaches her Spanish One class about different food items. Though Hopkins began with teaching French, she now teaches both French and Spanish classes. “Self-pacing is the biggest thing I've tried to take away [from the Excellent Fellowship program] because there's no class in the world where every single person needs exactly 10 minutes to do a task,” Hopkins said. “I'm trying to learn more how to set it up so that everybody can work at their own pace.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image2-8-900x600.jpg)
![Senior Skyler Ji converses with students on a video call. Ji, who has been speaking Chinese since birth, treasured the opportunity to talk with native Chinese speakers. “I wanted to join because of the opportunity to talk to and interact with people in China. I used to go to town a lot, but, recently, I haven’t been,” Ji said. “I also wanted to join because of the opportunity to talk to Chinese people and see how COVID[-19] has been impacting them.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Mark-student-video-call.png)
![Learning about DNA charges, sophomores Lucas Escandon, Cami Levy and Ben Scott work together on a lab.
The group, in their biology class, had to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions. "Being in close proximity with my classmates felt a little weird with the masks and seeing people after nine months of at-home learning. It didn't really impact the lab all that much, it was just [us] trying not to touch everything, so other people could touch the tools," Escandon said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DSC_0085-900x600.jpg)
