garvey's entry shake up the race . have you seen these strange new yellow symbols on san francisco's streets that look like ping pong paddles? what are they about? and could they help improve? the city's notoriously clogged up traffic. but first, the story of a palo alto high school graduate being told for the first time on abc seven news here may just become the latest flashpoint in the increasingly bitter battle over elite college admissions. as you're watching, getting answers on abc seven, i'm kristin xie. have you heard the name stanley jones? the 18 year old graduated from gunn high school in palo alto earlier this year. like many seniors, he was disappointed in his college admissions decisions. but unlike most, his story was brought up in a capitol hill hearing. >> he was hired directly from high school by google, but rejected by 16 america's top schools like mit, cmu. >> stanley jones rejected by stunningly long list of

colleges, is now working full time with just a high school diploma for one of the top tech companies in the world, google. joining us live now to talk about his eye opening experience, stanley jones and his father, nanzhong stanley and nan. thank you both so much for coming in today. >> thanks for having us on. >> all right. this is pretty incredible, folks. you're 18. you're employed full time by google. what exactly do you do for them? >> i am a software development engineer specifically with the google cloud team. >> okay. that sounds really big and important and difficult. do you know exactly what you'll be doing yet? i know you just got started, right? >> yeah. today is actually my second day. so right now, you know, i'm still going through onboarding, ramping up, you know, learning some google's internal tools, things like that. >> okay. so it's safe to say that they don't just hire anyone. you have to have strong coding skills. so congratulations. and dad, you must be really proud. but this offer from google came after a really be, i guess, disappointing round of college

decisions. right. tell us about that. >> yeah, definitely. i applied to probably around 18 schools and i was rejected from from maybe around 15 of those. >> in fact, we have a map showing all the places that rejected you not to make you feel worse looking at this list, but i can see the usual ones. people applied to berkeley, stanford, mit, georgia tech, cornell, all all great places in terms of the academics and csr, cmu is actually carnegie mellon, which is in pittsburgh. sorry, we'll put that in the wrong spot. we just wanted to bring them to california, but but really also look at some of these. cal poly and santa barbara and san diego and washington. an okay. so i'm not trying to make you feel bad here. i'm just wondering how you felt as each of these letters came in saying, no thank you, stanley. >> oh, yeah. well some of them were certainly expected. you know, stanford, mit, you know, it's it is what it is, right?

but yeah, some of them like cal poly, some of the state schools . i really thought, you know, i had a good chance and it turns out, however good of a chance i had, i didn't get in. >> okay. well, let's just share your statistics because i know that factors into college admissions, right? your gpa and sat score gpa was 4.42 weighted sat score was 1590. >> okay. >> and in fact, i think we have that on a graphic, just so folks can see that. but in addition to statistics, because we know that's not everything, right, when you're talking about applying to the elite schools, what are some of these coding competitions that you did? well in? yeah. >> so google coding. google code jam is google's annual coding contest. it's for all ages developers all across the world and the semifinals rules require you to pass through two other separate rounds of increasing difficulty in order to reach the semifinals. okay. >> and then mit's battle code.

i've heard of that. i know you're creating stuff in a short amount of time and your team came in second, so that's all great. but but in addition to that, you created an app, right ? something i don't know if it's similar to docusign, but it's a signing app. in fact, you're wearing the t shirt. what is that? what did you code? what is this? yes. >> rabbit sign is an unlimited free signing platform. and yeah, you're right. it's very similar to docusign. the main difference being that it's free. and i really started rabbits sig pand, you know, with social distancing happening, e signing was really becoming essential in order to conduct business, right? because you can't sign pen and paper contracts anymore. >> okay. that does make sense. but let me ask you, you created all this before you were how old how old were you when you designed this app? >> i first came up with the idea for rabbit sign, probably around the end of middle school. and the for the rabbit sign itself fully became a company with incorporation and everything. in my sophomore year.

>> okay, so nan, how did your son pick up all these coding skills? like do all these things that grown ups do after they get their master's or phd? >> it's surprising to me as well. so he started picking up coding on his own around age ten. and of course i was in the it industry, so i thought maybe i can teach him a thing or two. but the fact is that he learned all this on his own. i can share with you that after noticing his interest, i gave one of the classic algorithm books that i had from college to him, and it's been sitting in his room collecting dust for two years, and he never opened it. when i asked him, he gave me a sarcastic teenager. look and said, hey, dad, there's a thing called the internet. so they just learn things very differently. >> i'm a parent. you don't have to tell me. that's right. if you said it, they're not going to pay attention to it. but if their friends said it or they found it on the internet, that's a different story. >> but how was your perspective as you saw, you know, i don't

know if you thought he had a decent chance of getting into more of those schools that we showed on that map that rejected him. but how did it make you feel? >> suddenly disappointing and odd? what what i worry is that whether he's going to be emotionally stressed, luckily he still gets some good results and therefore he's okay with it. and on top of that, i think the google offer really is a lucky turn of event, but it's a luxury that most kids like his situation won't be able to have. >> so you did get into a couple of schools, right? i understand you got into texas and maryland. right. good schools. good schools. are you not attending then, since you got this google job? >> yeah, i actually went to a university of texas orientation , but once the google offer came through, i thought, oh, you know, this is a good opportunity. i'm going to take it. and we'll see in a year from now. do i still want to attend university of texas or should i stick with google? >> right. because a lot of people go to college and then hope to get a job like the kind that you already have. so we'll

see. but look, you have not really done media until now, but your story has gone viral. i understand, in chat groups and blogs and forums that many parents and college kids who are applying to college are visiting . i don't think this makes them less worried hearing what happened to you. right? i mean, in a way, i wonder what you hope telling your story will do for other kids. >> yeah, certainly. well i think one of the main things that we're pushing for is transparency. when our story when my story has been shared, we've heard a lot of speculation about why i didn't get in, what the reasons could have been. right. >> i did see a couple like, oh, did he have terrible teachers recommendations? why are his essays terrible? just full disclosure, you shared your personal statement with me just to look at. i'm no expert, but no red flags, nothing that would say, oh, my goodness, this person should not be on this campus. you're right. there was speculation. so why are you

telling your story? >> well, because we really want to push for transparency, because there shouldn't really need to be a need for speculation. we should be able to, you know, if we get rejected, be able to look at, you know, these are the reasons why and we shouldn't have to just kind of blindly guess in the dark about a black box process. >> i see. so are you saying that you're hoping for some sort of law or some requirement that where candidates can get some feedback? is that what you're saying? because or is it something else? is there something else that you think may be inherently wrong with the system? do you have any thoughts, dan yeah, i think transparency is something i think we can have more of and frankly, in a democratic society , we have to have checks and balances for every power. >> and i think in this case, bringing transparency is a form of checks and balances for this kind of like a black box process . and i've been once stanley story went sort of viral, less than just a week ago, i received a lot of emails from parents

sharing their stories and students was 4.0 gpa got rejected by all the schools. so stanley's case is definitely not alone. and it seems to be striking a chord that a lot of people feel like this is something that we need to look into. >> it's definitely a conversation people are interested in right now how to make the process fair for everyone transparent, less nerve wracking, less stressful. so i'm sure we'll continue this conversation. but real quickly, we got to go. but 10s, what advice would you give to other kids who may be applying this year? stanley start essays as early as you can and really apply broadly. apply to a wide selection of colleges, colleges you think you definitely will get into apply to those anyway and apply to some that you're sure you'll get into as well. all right. gunn high school graduate and google software engineer stanley zhang and his dad, nan zhang. thank you so much for coming in. thanks for having us. >> thank you. >> coming up next from baseball star to the us senate, former la dodgers steve garvey throws his hat in the race. a political expert will join us to talk

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steve garvey announced his candidacy this morning. the former baseball star announced it with a video reflecting his baseball career. garvey admits he voted for former president trump, but says he doesn't play for democrats, republicans or independents. he says he's going to run a, quote, common sense campaign to bring people back together. joining us live now to talk more about this is paul mitchell, vice president of political data inc. hey paul. >> hey, how are you doing? >> i'm good. i'm good. this gets interesting for those who aren't baseball fans who is steve

garvey? well steve garvey was a hero to every, you know, kid like me, 12 years old, living in la in the 70s and 80s. >> he was a prominent star. he ended up playing for the padres as well. and so, you know, voters who are maybe older or maybe come from that era were in la or san diego era area or just even big baseball fans around the country would know steve garvey we've actually done a little bit of polling, believe it or not, because we knew this was coming and about half of california voters have an opinion of steve garvey. positive or negative, but about half of them have never heard of him into. >> interesting. and how does that compare to other candidates ? >> yeah, so for most, the other candidates, there is a good amount of name recognition. i think adam schiff has the highest name recognition with about 80% or or more knowing who he is. uh- katie porter also has good name recognition. barbara lee is not as well known around the state. congresswoman barbara

lee. she's more well known in the bay area and among segments of the population. but but you know, this this 50% do not know figure for steve garvey is actually the highest for all the candidates. >> interesting. and this is, of course, to fill the late senator dianne feinstein seat on a permanent basis. of course, governor newsom has appointed a interim senator, laphonza butler , whose name recognition. have you pulled to see if people at this point know her after her ceremony and all swearing in? yeah >> laphonza butler's name recognition is just right at or a little bit above barbara lee's name recognition. not as high as katie porter or adam schiff. a lot of people, 88% of voters were aware of that appointment and were aware of who she was, which was pretty striking. >> so it really is. but let me just ask you, could the 50% of non name recognition play to his advantage in that he gets a chance to then define himself for the first time? well yeah. >> and if we if we did a poll in a week or so, i'm sure that this

would change a lot. a lot of people are going to know who steve garvey is. i mean, my spell check still changes. steve garvey to steve harvey. so, you know, we've got a little bit of ways to go. but this isn't just to, you know, speak negatively about his candidacy, because the fact is that if he's the leading republican on this ballot, he's very, very likely to be make it through the primary and be one of the final two candidates going to the general election. >> so explain that dynamic. why that is for voters, viewers. so in california about 35 to 38% of the votes go towards republican candidates. >> and so in a multi way field where you have 3 or 4 democrats splitting up that vote and republicans really having maybe one serious candidate in steve garvey, you would expect him to make enough to make it to the runoff. add to that the fact that republicans are going to have a lot of reasons to vote higher turnout among republicans because of the republican presidential primary being so competitive. democrats are going to have less reason to vote because there's not going to be

a competitive presidential race . so with higher republican turnout being the only big name republican candidate on the ballot, you can almost be assured that steve garvey would make it into the general election if things don't change. >> okay, so let's say he makes it to the general ballot, then what kind of a chance does he have as a republican token to win a statewide office in the state of california, given our voter registration and leanings ? >> as i'll just say, it would be very challenging. the like i said, about 35 to 38% of the votes in california go towards the republican candidates. but we haven't elected a republican statewide since 2006. of those two statewide candidates, arnold schwarzenegger has been a thorn in the side of the republican party over the last several years. and the other candidate, the other incumbent actually changed parties. steve poizner is now an independent. so not a lot on the statewide side. stage for republicans in california right now. but if, as an example , steve garvey were to be the

nominee and he was able to convert a lot of independent voters, a lot of voters that remember his celebrity, it could make it more competitive of a race than any other republicans running right now in the senate contest. i can't even name another republican that's running in the contest right now. >> right? right okay. so he said he would run a common sense campaign. what might that look like for a republican in terms of issues? and based on your polling, what might play? well >> well, he says he's going to run a common sense campaign as an example, he said that he's pro-life, but that he wouldn't in the senate vote for bills that would restrict abortion access because he respects the viewpoints of californians. that's a tough needle to thread and it's really tough when you have a presidential campaign, say, on the same ballot, talking about issues around abortion, immigration, january 6th, rigged elections, all these other kind of republican speaking points, it's hard for him to then come up and say, well, i'm a little

bit more sensible than them. he will be kind of swept up and lumped in with them at the same time. so he does want to i think, pull back a little bit and not emphasize his republican registration. it's nowhere in that video that i saw. but the fact is, is that it voters will see him as a republican and it will be really a challenge for him in a state like california. right now. >> right. is he? well funded? and will this race, you think, break all kinds of records in terms of money? >> this race will likely beat all kinds of records in terms of money. we already have about $50 million on the playing field in this us senate contest. it will be a very expensive race simply because california is very expensive. how much money he's bringing to bear on this, i'm not sure, but that will be i think still to be seen. we haven't seen national money or in california, republican candidates getting a ton of money because it seems like such a fruit loose uphill battle right now. but, you know, i don't know his personal

financial situation. i don't know what backers he might be bringing. >> all right. we got to go. but 30s any other players who might jump into this race that you can see and that you're tracking? >> well, i think definitely it's worth paying attention to. laphonza butler, she has said and i believe her, that she doesn't have decision one way or another as to whether or not she's going to run for the us senate. right now she's kind of an unknown to a lot of voters. they know that she was appointed. she they know she was appointed by gavin newsom, her support is most likely tied to a progressive democrats who support the newsom appointment. now what can she do in the coming weeks and months before the december 8th filing to change the viewpoint of her senate, her term there? does she, you know, really do well on meet the press and get some viral moments that really change this race? that's going to be the one to watch. >> all right. paul mitchell, vice president of political data inc, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> up next, a strange symbol is showing up on san francisco's streets, but what are the yellow painted circles for? you asked

in our media partner at the sf standard gets answers

a partner. the san francisco standards set to answer in this new article. it's the latest installment of their ask the standard series, where people get to submit questions about a topic and the standards team goes in search of answers. joining us live now to talk about this story, astrid kane, senior editor at the standard. hey astrid, how you doing? i'm doing great, thank you so much. you were on the beat. people wanted to know, what are those yellow circles that look like the same color as kristen's dress? no, i didn't know we were doing this story, and i wasn't trying to match, but you went looking for answers. so what's the answer? what are they? >> yeah, right. these mysterious

little hieroglyphic looking symbols that are painted all over some city streets. what are they? they are actually put there by the sfmta to help certain drivers or certain muni vehicles navigate through city streets. >> explain how they do that. >> right. so while we think of the bus as just being the bus, there's actually a bunch of different types of mini vehicles and these are put there for the electric trolleys, the ones that have the poles coming off the back that attach to the wires that are strung over the street and they're there because drivers don't just have to look left and right when they're driving. they have to actually kind of operate in three dimensions. and so when those wires hit little tension areas, the drivers have to accelerate and decelerate appropriately. and so the markers are actually placed to let them know to hit a switch that activates the overhead wires in such a way to keep the electric bus moving. >> but it's a visual signal to the driver, right? there's nothing automatic that happens. it's like right, i see the ping pong paddle. i should hit this button and it'll do this.

>> i love that you're calling it that because that's kind of exactly what it looks like. yes. it's a signal for the driver as soon as they drive over it. that means the front of the bus is where the switch is and they have to activate the button. >> these things have a nickname, right? >> isn't it cute? they actually have a bunch. according to muni , some of the drivers call them frying pans. some say hamburgers, some say pancakes. i think my favorite is tadpole. >> tadpole. okay i didn't. can you offer them up my suggestion? you know, ping pong paddle. okay. >> 100% because you're on to something. >> i really am. okay. but how? well are they functioning? i don't know how long they've been there, but do we know yet if they actually have been helpful? >> yeah, they've been there for a long time. you can actually see certain intersections where there's old ones that have faded away and they've repainted new ones. the intersection that i went to most to get some pictures and video is actually 16th and bryant streets in the mission. there's a whole bunch of different kinds of symbols.

there's like six different ones in all. each of which has a specific function for a specific vehicle. okay. >> what are some of the other neighborhoods other than the mission that have them? >> well, that's a good question. they're actually citywide. anywhere where there's an electric bus. so if you're waiting for the bus and you hear that, that twang in the wire, that's the tension is changing. and, you know, if you're a long time san franciscan, that's like the signal that, you know, the bus is almost there. you can look in the street and you'll see them. >> wow. and here i was thinking it was some sort of secret puzzle hunt that i needed to get in on, but okay. yeah, that's true. are there other such ideas coming up for muni? are they just trying different things? >> well, this is part of our ask the standard series and we encourage our readers to write into us with questions about day to day aspects of life in san francisco that you want answers to. okay. >> so h how do people i'll send you a question and i guess also, what kinds of questions are the questions you're looking for? >> you know, it's funny. we're actually open to pretty much anything. and the weirder and more specific, the better, because we have a whole team of

journalists that are dying to do exactly this kind of story. so it's really easy. just go to our website or if you're looking at the story that i wrote, it's right there at the bottom. >> all right, astrid, thank you so much. this is really fun. go to the standard and you can ask your questions. and you folks are on the case. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. always a pleasure. >> all right. you can check out more of astrid and the san francisco standard teams, other original reporting on their website, sf standard.com. and a reminder, you can get our live newscasts. breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. you just download it now and start streaming. we'll take a short break and be right back but do they really? do they see all that you are? at kaiser permanente all of us work together to care for all that is you.

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