For a student, living alone is a balancing act. “I thought it was going to be a total raging party at first, just staying up and playing video games, eating whatever I wanted, that type of stuff,” Class of 2009 alum Kan Magoshi said. “I later realized it was stupid though, because it started affecting me at school and I kept getting all sorts of headaches and tummyaches.” Magoshi, 18, has been living alone for eight months. He decided not to move to Japan with his family during second semester last year so that he could finish his high school education in the United States.

Magoshi, an anonymous junior and Class of 2007 alum Jonathan Gu have each dealt with the issue of living alone in their own way.

“I live like a normal adult,” the anonymous junior, whose name is being withheld because as a minor he is living alone illegally, said. “I do what I want, I’m responsible and I get things done on time.” He has been living alone for about five months and also chose to remain in the United States so he could attend Gunn. Every two or three months his mother visits to check up on him. “When my mom is here, it’s great because I get to eat her home cooking again,” he said.

Gu, now a 20-year-old junior at University of California Berkeley, lived with his parents on and off for the last three years of high school and also enjoyed the perks of his mother’s visits. “When my mom was there, it was like having a personal house maid,” Gu said. Gu’s parents both moved to Hong Kong for work, but Gu, like the other two students, stayed in Palo Alto so he could attend Gunn. “Living alone taught me to be independent, so when I got to college I knew what to do,” Gu said. “It was the opposite of the stereotypical Asian childhood. I had so much freedom.”

According to Assistant Principal of Guidance Kimberly Cowell, an average of two or three Gunn students live alone each year. “When someone in the Guidance Department or in administration hears about someone living alone, the student is called to talk about the situation if the student is 17 years old or younger,” Cowell said. “Sometimes, the police are called to do a welfare check at the home, particularly if the student is not regularly attending school. Also, we must report the situation to Child Protective Services as mandated by law.”

Leaving minors alone for a week or two, a more common practice, is also illegal. According to Cowell, it is considered neglect and possibly child endangerment, depending on the age of the child. “Students need adult support at home,” she said. “Having a kid live alone takes an emotional toll. It can really damage them psychologically.”

Cowell emphasizes the value of the support that school connections and friends can offer students living under these circumstances.

Magoshi agrees. “My friends are my family, and they are the people I care about most right now,” he said. “They’re the people who have supported me throughout all my struggles as a kid living alone.”

Strained family relations contributed to Magoshi’s decision to leave his parents. “I was never really close with my family anyway, and there was always a lot of tension between us,” he said. “Now that they’re farther away though, I feel like we’re almost closer because we talk in friendlier terms.” For Magoshi, the first month without his parents felt great, but he later realized he needed a sense of balance and control in his life.

“After a month of living alone, I got into a pretty bad accident where I damaged a BMW and a Nissan, and totaled my own car,” Magoshi said. His friends donated over $10,000 for him to pay off the damages and to get a new car, and his father chipped in some money as well.

The anonymous junior and Gu also quickly learned how to balance their newfound freedom and responsibilities. “When my mom and I decided I was going to live alone, I knew I had to set my priorities straight,” the anonymous junior said.

Gu had a similar outlook. “With school and sports I didn’t have a lot of time to get in trouble,” he said. “School was a matter of pride. I’m not dumb, so I didn’t want to get bad grades.”

The anonymous junior’s parents supply him with money through a debit card, but he has to manage the money and has to pay the bills himself. “I feel more mature than most people at my age would or should feel,” he said.

While Gu and the anonymous junior are both financially supported by their parents, Magoshi’s most common struggles are with money. He supports himself with several odd jobs, such as working for Culture Frozen yogurt and moving boxes. “My parents only pay my rent; I have to pay for everything else, and even then, I feel like I’m barely scraping by,” Magoshi said. “I didn’t realize something as simple as toilet paper would cost so much. That’s something parents would usually pay for, and what a kid would take for granted.”

Magoshi regained his footing by focusing on money and education as his top priorities. “When I’m not at work, I’m at school,” he said. “When I’m not at school, I’m at work.” Magoshi is currently attending De Anza Community College and was not eligible for financial aid at many colleges because of his family’s relocation.

Many of these students’ friends consider them lucky and imagine living alone as a constant party, but this is far from the truth. “When I tell people I live alone, they usually ask me why I don’t throw a big party at my place or anything,” the anonymous junior said. “I’m not that type of person; plus after everyone leaves, it would be so much work to clean up.”

According to Cowell, a student living alone is a health and safety issue. “What happens when they get sick? Where’s the parent to deal with medical people if there’s an accident?”

While Magoshi enjoyed the freedom living alone brought, he said that overall the cons outweigh the benefits. “I had people over during the day, but the nights were lonely,” he said. “And being sick sucks because there’s no one else around.”