February, a month of love and joy, and the stress of finding a Valentine. By now we should all know that Valentine’s day is used to spread romantic love with cupid’s arrows. But is Redwood’s Love Week all about romance or is there something deeper?
By: Karli Branson and Solomon Burciaga
Love Week has been a tradition on Redwood’s campus for a decade. It was originally established by Nick Miller when he was the ASB Director. He is now the current Journalism Advisor and Photography and AP Literature teacher. Both Redwood’s current and former ASB Directors agree that there is a common misconception of what Love Week is really about.
Hailey Aston, the current ASB director, says, “Oftentimes kids think that love week is all about loving a partner, and that is not the true purpose of love week at all. Its really easy to get sidetracked and forget what love week is truly about.”
“The true purpose of love week is about loving yourself, loving your school, loving your friends and family and everything in between,” says Aston.
Aston shares the efforts to remind students and staff that it is not all about romance. She says, “Our ASB President is the one who kept us on track this year, saying this is the true purpose of Love Week. Let’s make sure we remind everyone of that.”
Aston says that there are some staff members trying to keep the true identity of Love Week alive.“ Someone who exudes love for Redwood and everything Redwood is Mrs. Barba-Tepper. She is a TRUE Ranger. She loves Redwood to her core,” says Aston.
Alexa Barba-Tepper has been around the Redwood atmosphere for a great portion of her life. She says, “I grew up hearing about Redwood. My mom worked here when I was a kid so I came to homecoming games and musicals..”
Alexa Barba-Tepper
Photo Gigantea
Barba-Tepper began her career at Redwood in 2007 as a Counselor and has been working at Redwood for 16 years.
She says, “This place is magical. There is something about this place. I think we’ve done a really good job at preserving tradition.”
Barba-Tepper is known for popping in from classroom to classroom to observe students and their activities, and get a feel for the Redwood spirit. She says “These four walls [of her office]can get kind of boring. Being in the class and seeing the students and teachers do their thing, that’s what makes this place run.”
Barba- Tepper says that the electives offered at Redwood are often the drive that students need to find their place. She says, “I love seeing you each find your thing here.”
“We have the prettiest campus. The architecture and looking at Ranger Hall against the blue sky. We took that for granted once you guys weren’t here and Covid shut [us] down. It’s you guys and watching you have so much fun,” says Barba-Tepper.
She shares her feelings towards Redwood’s Love Week. “Love of friends, romantic love, love of what you do.”
“I’ve always said I’m in love with Redwood. I love my staff, I love you guys, I love this place, I love the parent support. Especially when it comes to Love Week and knowing it came from the idea of love of school, love of community, and love of each other.”
Karli Branson
Karli Branson, '24 is a Feature Editor for the Redwood Gigantea but is always open to explore other sections. Outside of the Gigantea she enjoys the fashion industry! You can reach Karli at karli.br4537@vusd.us.
Solomon Burciaga
Solomon Burciaga is a first year journalist for the year 2023-2024. Solomon is a senior journalist who writes for Arts and Entertainment. He loves to particularly write feature pieces about people.
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