the students’ magazine
August 2026
Issue 1 Volume 3 Guilty Pleasures
Available both online and in print.
About Us
Bringing together students of all disciplines, Perception Magazine serves as a non-judgemental place for students of all backgrounds and interests to share their unique perspectives. Through our award-winning work, we encourage students to collaborate, debate, and push their thinking into new realms.
To us, everybody has a story and perspective to tell. Perception simply embodies this ideal and creates a place that fosters intellectual curiosity and creativity.
perception
Issue 3 OUT NOW
Effective October 4, 2025 our team will be releasing a new article weekly from one of our staff writers. They will be organized in the following monthly sections. Make sure to check the website weekly on Monday for a new post!
2025 December
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BUSINESS - Amanda Yan
In the Coca Cola industry, there are lots of management roles to make sure the business runs smoothly. James Quincy has been the chairman and chief executive officer since 2017 that has various leadership roles globally. The executive vice president and chief operating officer is Henrique Braun in which he is responsible for the company’s financial strategies. In addition to finance, the president and chief financial officer is John Murphy who oversees the company’s financial strategies.
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POP CULTURE - Angel Lu
It’s a debate whether to take down the painting or not. Some project feelings of disgust, arguing how immoral it would be to have a painting of the young girl showing her underwear up at The Met. Others believe art should not be censored just because of its inappropriate nature. Ultimately, after a failed petition of around 10,000 signers, the painting remains up for the world to see.
In response to Thérèse dreaming, actress and singer-songwriter Maya Hawke released the song “Thérèse”on her album Moss in 2022. The lyrics of the song reflect Maya Hawke’s personal experience with Thérèse dreaming and how Thérèse does not innately belong to any of the viewers. -
PERSONAL - Naomi Wu
As I reach for the sunlight, I am met with a cascading darkness. I spent my youth wondering why my friends all seemed to tread effortlessly through air, while I struggled to keep up in water. Elaborately tailored plans spanning five years, actually knowing what career they wanted, gaping gaps between our timelines. I admit it, I’ve always been something of a spectator in life, preferring to watch the world spin before taking action. While I grew content with being swayed by the wind, I couldn’t help but wonder why my day felt an hour shorter than everyone else’s.
Monthly Updates
2025 November
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PERSONAL - Angel Lu
There comes a time every so often when I realize I know nothing. While I’m close to finishing the first quarter of my life, I still feel more connected to the unconscious feeling of a toddler rather than a mature adult. But as I’m pushed into the mind of a teenager without the reins that directed me as a kid, I find myself searching for security in what I love.
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LITERATURE - Alaina Yan
Characters are an integral part of all stories. They are the plot, face conflicts, and make the important decisions to get the story to a conclusion. As readers, we tend to empathize with the main character, as we see them as the heroes of the story. We take their side over the other characters since we get an inside view of their thoughts, circumstances, and understand the reasoning behind their decisions. However, we still have to keep in mind that the characters we cheer and root for are not entirely innocent.
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HEALTHCARE - Alaina Yan
Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative brain disorder, has been found to be twice as prevalent in women as men. Many have assumed that this difference is due to women living longer. However, there are many key differences between men and women’s brains as they age.
2025 October
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LITERATURE - Alaina Yan
Two powerful presidents, Obama and Kennedy, brought many “firsts” to American politics: Obama was the first African-American president, and Kennedy was the youngest president, age 43, to be elected into office. Their shared revolutionary characteristics carried over to their similar eloquence, both known for their empowering inaugural speeches. While both Kennedy and Obama shared similar goals for international peace and supporting developing countries, they differed in the methods to help those countries and their call for Americans to make change domestically.
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BUSINESS - Amanda Yan
Starbucks recent performance shows a mix as they can see some revenue growth and some decline. For instance in Starbucks’ Q2 earnings and revenues was adjusted EPS at $0.41 verus a projected $0.49 and a revenue of $8.76 billion versus a projected $8.38 billion. So far Starbucks has a debt of over $25 billion, however, the company demonstrates strong liquidity with operating cash flow of $6.1 billion and levered free cash flow of $2.15 billion.
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HISTORY - Ling Zhong
Nüshu (女书), or quite literally “women’s script” in Chinese, was a unique writing system employed by women in China. The exact origin of this script is still unknown, with some experts claiming it was invented 1000 years ago during the Song Dynasty, while others speculate that its birth can be traced back to BCE.
2026 January
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BUSINESS - Ling Zhong
In short, AI is a system designed to think, learn, and make decisions like humans. While there are various models and methods, most AI relies on a principle known as “Machine Learning,” an algorithm that analyzes large quantities of data, identifies patterns, and translates findings into understandable content. Thus, AI’s promise of advanced analytics and automated decision-making attract heavy investments from business owners.
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HEALTHCARE - Alaina Yan
Much of diabetes is genetic; people inherit the risk and predisposition from their parents or relatives, and their lifestyle choices and diet trigger the development. While you may be at risk, there are many steps to decrease your chances of developing diabetes, whether it be type 1 or type 2.
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PERSONAL - Alaina Yan
Connecting to others and being loved is also an essential part of leading a deep life. As social creatures, our brains are hardwired to thrive in groups. The movie Wall-E perfectly demonstrates the importance of being loved. While the main character, Wall-E, is a solitary robot on a polluted, uninhabited Earth set in the future, he represents an isolated human.
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POP CULTURE - Angel Lu
The ingenuity behind David Bowie’s lyricism in “Starman” lies in the possibility of the “starman” not truly existing, as Ziggy Stardust being an alien, and, ultimately, just a character of artistic creation.
The lines “He’d like to come and meet us / But he thinks he’d blow our minds” reveal the speculation of such an alien as Ziggy Stardust being a person of pure imagination, because he’s the nearly impossible symbol of wonder at the time of Earth’s demise. It reflects the idea that Ziggy Stardust, as a personification of aspiration, is but a character of Bowie’s album and simply an exaggerated version of David Bowie that emphasized creative liberty.
2026 February
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HEALTHCARE - Naomi Wu
To illustrate this concept, Daniel Kahneman, in his work Thinking, Fast and Slow, proposes two different systems by which our brain deals with information: System 1 and System 2. System 1 is responsible for intuitions, hunches, and memory recall. It contains our brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN), which dominates your cognition when you are zoning out during class or work, letting your mind wander, or sleeping.
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PERSONAL - Jayden Zhang
In the end, love is still incredibly complex and hard to understand. To put it into words is to describe a taste with color, or to define a sound with an aroma. It is something that is different for every individual, something that is fluid in its existence and elusive in its realism. It must be experienced to be understood. It is both our biggest strength and our largest flaw. It is what makes us human, and it must be preserved.
2026 March
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POP CULTURE - Amy Li
But at the expense of how much quicker and more convenient movies have become, these movies have also lost the nostalgic, personal charm of the simplicity and innocence of the films from the hand-drawn years. It seems impossible to completely detach from the world of technology nowadays, and technology has played its part in making our lives simpler and easier.
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PERSONAL - Jayden Zhang
The most terrifying thing about the ocean, though, is its unyielding power. It gnaws at your breath, it pushes upon your soul, and rust blights even the strongest of metal. The vast expanse holds no regard nor restraint. There is no ground, there is no safety, and there is no knowing what may be drifting your way.
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PERSONAL - NAOMI WU
To summarize the concept of creativity into nothing more than a few words is to diminish its inherently complex nature. To put it into an analogy, I noticed creativity operates a lot like a water cycle. The resource is knowledge, which you accumulate throughout the course of your life just as plants take up water and use it to grow and synthesize materials. Such materials prevail in the environment passing on from generation to generation.
2026 April
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PERSONAL - Amy Li
It is easy to interpret a smile when someone is young because the answer is simple: It would mean happiness. Things get complicated, however, once the smile comes from someone older. Does it mean happiness? Is it mocking? Or even yet is it a shield behind which the actual emotions are hiding?
The ambiguousness of the meaning of a smile is not unusual. As we age, emotions and feelings become more complex, not to mention the seemingly endless amount of names for the new ones.
And as with every gain, there is a loss. With the gain of emotions, the loss in this transaction is our definition of happiness.
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POP CULTURE - Alaina Yan
Feeling overshadowed and insignificant compared to the other experienced spider-people, Miles doubts his capability to be a hero and becomes irrationally afraid of making the wrong decision. However, as he “forgets what everyone thinks of him,” he begins to understand that, although he is not the typical, courageous, and nearly flawless Spider-Man people expect, he is still capable of achieving the same feats and completing the same good deeds
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PERSONAL - Jayden Zhang
By utilitarianism, it would be justified to take all the apples from others and give them to the monster, simply because he would reap more gain from them. It doesn’t matter that nine-thousand nine-hundred ninety-ninety people do not have apples, as long as the monster’s enjoyment is more than the anguish of everyone else. That brings us to the major problem with utilitarianism, the fact that it is inherently assigning numerical and quantitative values to, as well as systemically calculating, abstract ideas.
The ambiguousness of the meaning of a smile is not unusual. As we age, emotions and feelings become more complex, not to mention the seemingly endless amount of names for the new ones.
And as with every gain, there is a loss. With the gain of emotions, the loss in this transaction is our definition of happiness.
2026 May
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HEALTHCARE - Alaina Yan
While Alzheimer's Disease is known to impact short-term and long-term memory in patients, it also results in mood and behavior changes. While many believe this change is voluntary, it is not. In fact, some of these changes require medical attention.
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PERSONAL - Amy Li
I also loved to dress up and pose for pictures, as well as act out scenes from my favorite books. Merely acting in general brought me so much joy whether it was just voice acting while reading a story out-loud or actual acting in front of a camera. In elementary school I auditioned for every play and every main role in each play, my efforts culminating in three roles in a play about the Revolutionary War. In middle school, without any sort of hesitation, I signed up for the Drama and Acting electives for both seventh and eighth grade, determined to make a name for myself on the stage, albeit a simple school one.
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HEALTHCARE - Alaina Yan
Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. Common conditions are coronary artery disease (buildup in major blood vessels by plaque buildup), cerebrovascular disease (restricted blood flow), and arrhythmias (irregular heart beat).
2026 July
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NEUROSCIENCE - Jayden Zhang
Dreams are weird, there’s no doubting it. They usually fall in a sort of uncanny valley, where the events that transpire feel realistic enough to be believable in the moment, but are much too fragmented when looking back. Thus, dreams may have people who are recognizable, or places which are familiar, but the exact details do not match. People might have different personalities, shifted voices, or even different appearances. To find out why this is, we have to look at the root cause of dreams.
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PERSONAL - Amy Li
Since it’s summer, it’s the perfect time to relax and enjoy life at a slower pace. It’s also a great time to head off to Disneyland, the land that claims to hold the title of “The happiest place on Earth.” And there is plenty to be happy about at this land, with the churros and the popcorn and the rides.
But anything can get old, including the aforesaid churros and popcorn and rides. So, what else is there to do in this happy land?
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HISTORY - Ling Zhong
Luxury items weren’t the only things traded in the Silk Road; in fact, the immense volume of knowledge, innovation, ideas, and religion exchanged among the routes were what made the Silk Road so impactful to people back then and people today. Paper and printing techniques spread throughout the Silk Road from China. Gunpowder changed the scale and nature of war. The Black Death also spread along the Silk Road, devastating much of Europe. On a more peaceful note, Buddhism from India came to exert strong influence in the more eastern part of Asia, Hinduism and Islam reached Malaysia and Indonesia, and other religions like Christianity and Zoroastrianism also left their mark.
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COMPUTER SCIENCE - Yufei Wu
Ultimately, edge computing promises to reclaim something we have quietly surrendered: our digital independence. A world of on-device intelligence is a fundamentally different world from the one we inhabit now. Imagine your phone or car now capable of running AI without ever reaching for the internet. Your data is now its own, its answers instant, its appetite for power small. Perhaps the future of artificial intelligence is not the large data centers people once envisioned, but their opposite, of small, quiet machines, each thinking for itself.
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NEUROSCIENCE - Alaina Yan
Recently, there is research on the brain’s reaction to AD as there is evidence of abnormal buildup in brains without the development of dementia. Scientists have linked resistance to dementia development to how effective the brain’s immune system is. Microglia is a key player in AD as it’s the brain immune system’s first line of defense.
Recent Updates
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New List ItemNew discoveries on brain’s resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease progression
NEUROSCIENCE
Recently, there is research on the brain’s reaction to AD as there is evidence of abnormal buildup in brains without the development of dementia. Scientists have linked resistance to dementia development to how effective the brain’s immune system is. Microglia is a key player in AD as it’s the brain immune system’s first line of defense.
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The Machine in Your Pocket
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Ultimately, edge computing promises to reclaim something we have quietly surrendered: our digital independence. A world of on-device intelligence is a fundamentally different world from the one we inhabit now. Imagine your phone or car now capable of running AI without ever reaching for the internet. Your data is now its own, its answers instant, its appetite for power small. Perhaps the future of artificial intelligence is not the large data centers people once envisioned, but their opposite, of small, quiet machines, each thinking for itself.
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Tracing the Silk Road
HISTORY
Luxury items weren’t the only things traded in the Silk Road; in fact, the immense volume of knowledge, innovation, ideas, and religion exchanged among the routes were what made the Silk Road so impactful to people back then and people today. Paper and printing techniques spread throughout the Silk Road from China. Gunpowder changed the scale and nature of war. The Black Death also spread along the Silk Road, devastating much of Europe. On a more peaceful note, Buddhism from India came to exert strong influence in the more eastern part of Asia, Hinduism and Islam reached Malaysia and Indonesia, and other religions like Christianity and Zoroastrianism also left their mark
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Other Things To Do At Disneyland
PERSONAL
Since it’s summer, it’s the perfect time to relax and enjoy life at a slower pace. It’s also a great time to head off to Disneyland, the land that claims to hold the title of “The happiest place on Earth.” And there is plenty to be happy about at this land, with the churros and the popcorn and the rides.
But anything can get old, including the aforesaid churros and popcorn and rides. So, what else is there to do in this happy land?
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An overview of the current understanding of dreams and nightmares
NEUROSCIENCE
Dreams are weird, there’s no doubting it. They usually fall in a sort of uncanny valley, where the events that transpire feel realistic enough to be believable in the moment, but are much too fragmented when looking back. Thus, dreams may have people who are recognizable, or places which are familiar, but the exact details do not match. People might have different personalities, shifted voices, or even different appearances. To find out why this is, we have to look at the root cause of dreams.
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To Performing, From Me
PERSONAL
I also loved to dress up and pose for pictures, as well as act out scenes from my favorite books. Merely acting in general brought me so much joy whether it was just voice acting while reading a story outloud or actual acting in front of a camera. In elementary school I auditioned for every play and every main role in each play, my efforts culminating in three roles in a play about the Revolutionary War. In middle school, without any sort of hesitation, I signed up for the Drama and Acting electives for both seventh and eighth grade, determined to make a name for myself on the stage, albeit a simple school one.
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A quick guide to the vast impacts AD has on a person
HEALTCHARE
While Alzheimer's Disease is known to impact short-term and long-term memory in patients, it also results in mood and behavior changes. While many believe this change is voluntary, it is not. In fact, some of these changes require medical attention.
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Chronic Diseases 2: Cardiovascular Disease
HEALTHCARE
Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. Common conditions are coronary artery disease (buildup in major blood vessels by plaque buildup), cerebrovascular disease (restricted blood flow), and arrhythmias (irregular heart beat).
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10,000 Apples: Death and Pleasure
PERSONAL
Under a utilitarian worldview, all misfortunes are measured under the same scale. Death is measured on the same numerical scale as losing an apple, as large as the number may be. What that means is that theoretically, there would be a point where death would be as appalling, or even less appalling, than losing a large number of apples
