Due to a myriad of factors, there exists a major and growing issue with the cost of housing in the Bay Area and the places people can go if they cannot afford rent. Palo Alto is no exception, with rampant NIMBYism and homelessness being a prevalent problem that too often is dismissed. There are many volunteer and nonprofit opportunities within Palo Alto, but this project focuses on the Opportunity Center, a walk-in clinic next to Town and Country with a wide range of services and ways to connect with case managers to find housing. This project was cut short due to the Coronavirus, but aims to bring awareness to the Center and the need for reform surrounding the issue of homelessness.

Pediatric Oncologists come face to face with difficulty when it comes to working with families of terminally-ill patients. Even though many children with terminally-ill diseases should be given the same resources as adults to alleviate their pain, about “80% of children dying with cancer in this country are still suffering, and their symptoms are not being adequately palliated (Wolfe, 2000). This problem has negatively impacted the 15,780 children under the age of 19, that are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. A possible cause of this problem is that adults do not understand how to deal with a terminally-ill child, especially one whose needs differ from those of an adult who is terminally ill. This research project will investigate how pediatric oncologists deal with terminally-ill patients with the goal of remedying this issue.

A deadly and common disease with a simple solution: skin cancer. Certain groups, such as low-income or dark-skinned groups, are particularly susceptible to the development of skin cancer due to lack of access to sun protection or lack of education about sun protection. An educational intervention has been found to increase the likelihood of future sun protection. The hypothesis was that pairing educational and access-based interventions will be even more effective at improving sun protection. The study was conducted at Palo Alto High School, and the impact of the interventions was measured through pre and post-surveys.

This research project is about the disproportionate affects of air pollution in communities of lower socioeconomic status, especially between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. Air pollution is a major problem because it has lots of long and short term health effects, like asthma. Communities of lower socioeconomic status experience more air pollution than other communities, so this research is aiming to see if East Palo Alto experiences worse air pollution than Palo Alto.

In March of 2017, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) received a Letter of Findings from the Department of Education detailing their violations of Title IX (a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex), including failure to provide “a prompt and equitable response to notice of peer sexual harassment” (ED, 2017). A survey was administered to high school students in the spring of 2017, 2018, and 2019 as part of a resolution agreement with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). In 2019, 15.8% of students reported they “experienced sexual harassment in a school setting during the previous 12 months” (Kolar & Kuhbach, 2019). While the survey-reported rate of harassment increased from 10.5% in 2017 to 15.8% in 2019, the rate of reporting incidents to school officials has decreased, from 12.1% in 2017 to 7.8% in 2019. How might the Palo Alto High School improve their Title IX reporting process and address discrepancies in reporting?

The aim of this project is to increase veteran morale in the Palo Alto community. Through research it has been determined that high levels of patriotism is correlated with high levels of veteran morale. Patriotism is a very broad concept that is hard to define. Therefore, a previously identified component of patriotism will be studied. When a nationwide survey was done regarding patriotism in the United States, community volunteerism was one category studied in which researchers associated with patriotism. This project will analyze how volunteerism in Palo Alto can be increased through action based research.

This project is based on finding differences between boys and girls perceived safety. If there is one, why? And how can they be made to feel safer? To collect data, girls and boys will be surveyed to determine if there is a difference between their answers. This survey is the basis of the project and will lead to action research. Following the survey, participants will receive a hand out “safety sacks” which hold a bright light with an alarm attached to it, along with pH paper in which someone can test their drink for drugs.

This project will examine how stereotype threat affects historically underrepresented minority students in the PAUSD middle schools. The project examines how negative stereotypes about the ethnicity of a student causes that student to perform worse in school. The project also evaluates a potential curriculum to address this issue, self-affirmation curriculum, which promotes the individual value of students in their learning, and relates it to their life experiences. A survey will be taken before and after the self-affirmation curriculum, and its effectiveness in addressing stereotype threat will be determined.

Despite PAUSD's stellar reputation, only about 37% of low-income students in PAUSD are meeting A-G requirements and are deemed “college ready” and eligible for UCs. Not meeting A-G requirements makes it significantly harder for students to receive a college education and rise out of poverty. Parent communication and involvement has been proven to positively impact students, so this project will provide parents of low-income students with one-on-one meetings that will provide information on A-G requirements so that they are informed and able to help their students stay on track to meet them. The parents will be given pre and post surveys to see if there is a statistically significant difference in self reported knowledge and level of comfort on A-G requirements.

Despite decades of scientific research, many still have reservations about the safety, efficacy and morality of immunization. However, most of these reservations are based off of false or incorrectly interpreted information. Through research on the spread of this information, this project aims to help educators better understand why and how this information is spread, and what can be changes can be made to improve this dissemination of and response to scientific information.