
Melody Xu, Reporter
Melody is a sophomore at Palo Alto High School and serves as a beat reporter covering the Palo Alto Unified School District for the Post.

Connecting farmers with community, local nonprofit Tera Farm is ‘everyone’s farm’
STORY BY MELODY XU, PHOTOS COURTESY JACQUE RUPP AND TERA FARM When the pandemic first hit last March, wreaking havoc on the food industry, it wasn’t just restaurants that were forced to shut down — the agriculture industry also suffered from the sudden drop in demand. Sheena Vaidyanathan, a teacher in the Los Altos School…
Continue reading ➞ Connecting farmers with community, local nonprofit Tera Farm is ‘everyone’s farm’

PAUSD drafts plans to offer optional remote instruction in fall 2021
STORY BY MELODY XU, PHOTO BY TOMOKI CHIEN The Palo Alto Unified School District has plans in progress to offer remote instruction programs for its K–12 students in the 2021–2022 school year, as discussed at tonight’s board meeting. District documents clarify that though PAUSD remains “optimistic for a full return to school” in the fall,…
Continue reading ➞ PAUSD drafts plans to offer optional remote instruction in fall 2021

At last, PAUSD, MVLA high schoolers return to campus
STORY BY TOMOKI CHIEN, JONAS PAO AND MELODY XU, PHOTO COURTESY WYNNE SATTERWHITE Almost exactly a year since campuses first shuttered to stem the tide of a raging pandemic, high schoolers in the Mountain View–Los Altos and Palo Alto Unified school districts returned to classrooms this week. We spoke to students in both school districts…
Continue reading ➞ At last, PAUSD, MVLA high schoolers return to campus

Paly club makes change one postcard at a time
STORY BY MELODY XU, PHOTO BY EMILY MCNALLY Palo Alto High School’s Postcards for Change club seeks to increase youth engagement in politics, and in a rather unique way — writing, decorating and mailing out postcards. The club, founded and led by sophomores Isabella Daly and Ella Rosenblum, branched out to a couple of community-oriented…
Continue reading ➞ Paly club makes change one postcard at a time

Gluten-free bakery Sweet Diplomacy brings a community of food lovers often left out, together
STORY BY OLIVIA HEWANG AND MELODY XU, PHOTOS BY EMILY MCNALLY When Melody Hu happened to run out of regular flour while baking muffins at home one afternoon five years ago, she discovered gluten-free, mochiko rice flour to be a perfectly delicious substitute. The result of this accidental discovery is Sweet Diplomacy, a 100% gluten-free…

PAUSD to make optional in-person return in red tier
STORY BY OLIVIA HEWANG AND MELODY XU, PHOTO BY GIL RUBINSTEIN Grades 7–12 in the Palo Alto Unified School District will enter an optional in-person return once Santa Clara County falls to the red tier of coronavirus restrictions. As a continuation of the school board’s Nov. 10 vote to return to school in the spring…
Continue reading ➞ PAUSD to make optional in-person return in red tier