Going into high school, Ajla had one passion: physics. She spent her days immersed in research and physics problems, trying to understand the universe—and her nights hunched over her home telescope trying to see it.  What she couldn’t show through her physics work, she expressed through her writing—enjoying the nuances of making a text educational, entertaining, and accessible. As someone who had already begun to write at an early age, she enjoyed the nuances of making a specific text educational, entertaining, and accessible all at once. With this vision, Ajla was ready to turn her passion into action as part of Mitty’s newspaper. However, after spending time writing for the Opinions section, she realized that her heavily leaning “scientific” articles never really fit in with the rest of the content. 

Ajla then realized this was a massive missing opportunity for the Mitty community as a whole to express their interests. However, she immediately hit an issue: she noticed that most STEM fields were saturated with people who aren’t very passionate about what they are doing.

“A lot of times people write about this stuff, and they just forget to be passionate. It’s very dry, cuttedge, and boring. Remember that you’re supposed to love what you’re doing.” She dreamed of cultivating a community and providing an opportunity for students to explore organically novel research, journalistic writing, and collaboration about new developments in science and technology without the academic pressure atypical in most schools in the Bay Area. With this in mind, and fueled by the proper demand and “origin story” —and the assistance of the newspaper Moderators to get it off the ground—the Science and Technology section was born. 

But the final product of a successful and smooth-running newspaper section was still far from achieved. Ajla faced several setbacks within the first few months, most notably organization and coordination. However, Ajla collaborated with her fellow Editors to align goals and objectives, including promoting the section with peers and by degrees throughout the year of its founding the section ultimately became a hit. Imagine 30 writers in one room and everyone wanting to have each of their article pitches received–typically only 5-6 articles make the “cut” each issue.

This influx of so many enthusiastic writers made coordination of giving every writer “a shot,” and ensuring accepted articles on esoteric scientific developments and breakthroughs were well-researched and properly edited. Ajla, however, was prepared and up for the task, recruiting the two best editors she could ask for: Gwenyth Tran ‘24 and Atman Shah ‘24.

She believes that their dedication and skills were key to the groundbreaking success of the section. Another hurdle was proving that they could sustain the section. There had once been a Science and Technology column before, but it fell apart quickly. Ajla and her team treated their version as a completely new entity, focusing their efforts on making sure their version would last even after they graduated. Despite challenges, they managed to get through their first year of successfully maintaining interest and popularity throughout the year, and the section has to date officially earned its credo as a major section of The Monarch.

Now, as a high school graduate, Ajla shares her vision for the section, which can be summarized into just one word: entropy. Entropy, a physics term to represent the chaos and disorder of a system, is essential to our understanding of the universe. She believes the SciTech section should reflect entropy-—being energetic, unpredictable and full of fresh ideas.

As an editor, she encouraged this by teaching students how to combine their passion for rigorous STEM fields with the aesthetics of good writing. In a room stuffed with people, her and her editors jumped to different groups, watching ideas emerge and die until only the best ideas were left. She ensured that students collaborated on articles, watching all their unique voices come together to create something beautiful. This, she says, is what will continue to inspire Science and Technology readers, and is what she wants to continue to happen as new editors are rotated in.

Lastly, we asked her advice to any current SciTech editors and writers. As a previous editor herself, she said to do their best bringing in new voices, make science exciting, and challenge writers to step out of their comfort zones. To the writers she shares: don’t be afraid to take initiative, embrace failure, and seek real-world STEM experiences. Above all, she believes in just doing what you love: because passion is what makes all the difference.

“I love physics, so I’m going to write about it like it’s the best thing in the world, and I don’t care if you think it’s not the best thing in the world. I think it is and that’s all that matters.”

Despite all of the challenges, Ajla’s story as the founder of the SciTech section is a testament to the power of passion and determination. With the help of her team, she was able to turn her dream into a lasting legacy. The SciTech section of The Monarch is here to stay, and it continues to inspire students to share their love for STEM with the world.