Climb trees. Count the bricks on the quad. Make a sand castle in the sand patch near the football field.

These are things most students would never think of doing, but for class of '07 graduate Heather Bui, it is important to break the mold. "I wanted to encourage people to mix it up a little, try to meet strangers, do something they haven't done before," she said. Bui compiled "Fun Things To Do When You're Bored at Gunn," a list of 87 ways to spice up the hours students spend on campus.

On Aug. 29, Bui and other '07 graduates distributed distributed copies of the list to students. What started out as a creative writing assignment during Bui's senior year grew into something more. "If there was something I thought was especially neat, I wrote it down in a notebook," Bui said. "I was originally just going to turn [my ideas] in for creative writing, but then I decided I wanted to share some of my ideas with other students."

The list incorporates many things that Bui and others have personally done. Bui herself has had picnics in the middle of a hallway and searched for four leaf clovers in the grass. Bui also tried putting a stack of coins in a crowded area and observing people's reactions from a nearby hiding spot, another one of the ideas on the list. "The stack of coins one was a social experiment I and we found that while most people were completely oblivious to it, the guys who did notice would usually take the money, and the girls would usually rearrange it and walk away," Bui said.

Other ideas include raising both hands whenever you speak and building sand castles in the sand patch near the Village. All fun aside, there are also more serious ideas such as starting a club and visiting a counselor for personal problems.

Though the list is applicable to all students, Bui's main target were those who were newest to the Gunn campus: the class of 2011. "I intended the lists to be for freshmen, because I wanted them to have an immediate source of knowledge about some of Gunn's highlights that probably weren't covered at orientation."

Bui's efforts didn't go unnoticed. "The list makes me feel welcomed," freshman Alison Ang said. "I want [to] try out some of the things that [aren't] too crazy."

Some students, however, believe that the list is more applicable for returning students. "You need to know Gunn to understand some of the things on there, and I think the goal is to help us relate and relive our memories at Gunn," junior Ellen Su said. "I'm glad that a lot of thought has been put into the paper, it summarized Gunn pretty accurately and even showed the personality of some teachers."

Our Favorite Ones

#8: Make a card for a teacher or administrator and drop it in their box in the main office.

#13: Practice writing with your left hand, or your right if you're a lefty.

#47: Go into the bike cage and look for unlocked bikes. Write friendly notes to owners, reminding them to lock their bikes.

#51: Look for the word "echo" around the campus.

E-mail gunnoracle@yahoo.com for the entire list.