On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Acworth, Georgia, eight people were killed in the Atlanta Spa Shootings, with six of the victims being women of Asian descent.

On Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, two guns were found in separate Berkeley High School students’ backpacks. “The response was pretty swift and comprehensive,” said Enikia Ford Morthel, Berkeley Unified School District’s superintendent.

In November of 2022, recently fired Berkeley Police Department officer Corey Shedoudy leaked a series of texts from the BPD Bike Task Force. These texts included officers joking about a hypothetical disease that could wipe out the homeless population in Berkeley and alluded to a possible arrest quota that had been established within the

“Out of all the 50 letters of recommendation that I wrote, I was happy to write all 50, and I think that each student deserved a great letter of recommendation,” said Erin Smith, a Berkeley High School Biology and Integrated Science teacher, “(but) at the same time it’s a ton of extra work that I

“Mental health is an isolating subject,” Berkeley High School junior Kai Lim-Moreno said. “It’s never an easy subject to talk about. There’s such a sigma about,” she explained.

Every year, students from private middle schools and neighboring school districts face a decision to either continue their education in their current school district or private school, or transfer to a different district that would better fit their needs.

“I would have loved to stay home with my newborn child longer than I did, but it was financially impossible,” said Yoshi Salaverry, an English teacher at Berkeley High School.

“Even though the process is not the friendliest, there is a benefit to reporting,” said Jasmina Viteskic, the Title IX Coordinator for Berkeley Unified School District.

“We need more long-term mental health support for every student on this campus given what has transpired over the last year,” said Anna Maine, Multilingual Program co-lead teacher and English Learners Coordinator.

“Whenever I need to go into a space that is gendered, like a bathroom or a locker room, I feel extremely uncomfortable,” said transgender junior Alastair Kudsk, who uses he/they pronouns.

“It can sometimes be a little bit weird to be on a women’s varsity team and know that I am not a woman,” said Medina Lam, a senior on crew, who plays on a gendered team that they do not identify with.

“Student activism. I think that is something really beautiful, and is what shaped this department.” said Dawn Williams, or “Doc Dub,” a teacher at Berkeley High School.

“Chris Hemsworth from Thor: Ragnarok. That was my ideal body type for years. That was my goal,” said Gabriel Ross, a junior in Berkeley International High School.

In 2015, Tamara Friedman and Glenn Wolkenfeld, then-professional development coordinators at Berkeley High School, decided that BHS needed to change.  An achievement gap persisted along racial lines, and students who could have been helped were falling through the cracks.

In 2021 graduate Melani Garcia’s freshman year at Berkeley High School, she attended her first party. At the party, she said hello to a classmate who she believed to be intoxicated.

Natalia Quezada, a junior in Academic Choice who identifies as Latina, is often one of the only students of color in her classes. According to Quezada, her teachers don’t do an adequate job of acknowledging the lack of diversity in classrooms or making a safe space for Black and Brown students.

“I don’t want my mom telling me about all the time she masturbates,” said Adeline French, a senior at Berkeley High School. “But it would have been nice to have a conversation with her.”  French, like many women and femme identifying people, was never told that masturbating is normal, healthy, or a way to