Tag: high school

Goodbye, Volleyball

rangerthecatLeave a comment

Have you ever had a day in your life that you wish you could do over?

Today was one of these days. Nothing tragic happened, thankfully, nothing life-changing either. But, today was my very last high school volleyball game; my last loss in a high school volleyball game, to be exact.

We lost, and although I wish we had won, that’s not the biggest disappointment.

I just really wish the varsity team had something to show for all of our effort.

We were not the team I know that we could have been. If I could have changed something, it would have been our attitudes, our willingness to try even though we know we might fail.

I will not deny, though, that this season has had its great moments. We have all grown as individuals on and off the court and we have grown together as a team. Even against the toughest public high school varsity teams, we kept fighting until the end. We might have had a losing season, but it was still an amazing one.

There are no words to describe how much I will miss playing volleyball and what an amazing time I have had with the other 7 girls this season. I am so proud of us 🙂

Boston Bound!

yrreskrap1 Comment

Around me, the chatter of many different people diverged into one dynamic buzz. Cash registers ring, papers being printed, suitcases being dragged. Noise engulfs me as I sit in a grey pleather chair in the Charlotte Douglas Airport.

 

I sit here, a venti Starbucks black iced tea (with two Sweet’N Lows and easy ice) and a packet of organic dried mangoes, and I can already tell the difference in the environment.

Although this is just an airport, I can feel the change in the vibe. I am on the East Coast. I am not in California. I can tell in the way people walk, talk, and gesticulate that the city I am in is absolutely different.

I guess I my awareness of all of these differences is especially heightened because this is my first voyage to Boston. As high school senior, I am applying to numerous colleges, many of which are situated in the East Coast. I am scared, nervous, excited, and curious of how different life in Boston will be.

What will the food be like? Will I stand out, strike people as different just as I do them?Who knows?

I’ll let you know how I like it soon:)

Beginning of the End

rangerthecat1 Comment


I can picture myself on June 8th, 2012. I’ll be standing on stage, in front of my peers and my family, accepting my high school diploma. And it will officially be over. These four dreaded years we call high school will OFFICIALLY be in my past. I have dreamed about this moment for so long.

I should be feeling happy. Actually, I really should be feeling overjoyed. Completely ecstatic. And a part of me is very excited for that moment to come. A small part.

The bigger part of me is feeling overwhelmed, nervous, and sad.

Ojai Valley School has not been my only high school experience. Public school came first. Back then, I never pictured anything different than walking out with about 500 other students accepting our diplomas on the gigantic front lawn of my public high school. And thank God I was wrong about that.

This school has taught me everything I know about myself, really. I have discovered so much more than I knew existed within myself. I remember the day that I showed up here. I wanted to leave more than anything. I wanted my old life back and I wanted to go home.

Now, this is home. This place is my home. Not just a place that I live, but much more than that. I have made countless friends, some of them who I hope I will know for the rest of my life. I look up to some of the faculty at this school more than I look up to anyone I have met before. They have really pushed me to be my best self. Without them, I would not be who I am today, and I really owe everything to them; they are truly a second family.

With them, I have laughed, I have cried, and I have laughed and cried some more. I have argued, I have slacked off, I have worked hard, I have tried new things. I have sang, I have danced, I have met amazing people, I have been pushed to my limits. But the most important thing that I have done here at OVS is I have found myself.

I know, 9 months seems so far away, but really I know that it will come much too quickly. Time really does fly by, and for once in my high school career, I wish it would just slow down so I could enjoy the amazing moments of my senior year that are to come.

So, with a heavy heart I say to you all, here’s to the beginning of the end. Because before I know it, it will be June 8th, 2012, and I will be standing on stage in front of everyone, saying goodbye, looking back at all the good memories I have of this place. Bitter-sweet is the only way to describe it. And who knows where I will be headed after then? As the saying goes, “when one door closes, another door opens.” As much as I look forward to everything in my future, I just wish this door would never have to close.

What will go on my first page?

vabenissimoLeave a comment

This will be my last post on OVS Journalism Blog.

But, as Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us,” I will be heading off to college. FUN. And, I will definitely need some mental preparation and set plans for the next few years of my life even if my future may be highly unpredictable and spontaneous. I had pondered over my strengths and weaknesses and how they would influence me in the future along with the importance of life, college experiences, relationships, and the whole universe, and then guess what happened to my brain.

It went KABOOM.

I have FINALLY figured that too much thinking evokes my allergy to the universe. But, too little of it causes some troubles along the way. So, I wrote exactly two things on my first page of life that will become my legend, history, and everything.

First, actions over words.
Second, I am OUT, of high school.

And, the rest will be written as my life unfoils in the midst of surprises. I also want to thank this OVS Journalism Blog for entertaining me and stimulating my curiosity for my surroundings throughout the school year. The experiences that I gained from this blog will surely be unforgettable.

To that end,
VIVA LA VITA.

Justice Against Me

vabenissimoLeave a comment

I want to take my behind-the-wheel driving test.

But, my visa expires on my graduation date, June 3, 2011. And, DMV requires the test takers to possess visa that guarantees the next sixty days of entrance to America. So, here goes the conflict. As I will be entering my college located in California in fall 2011. I will be released with a new visa that covers the days after June 3, 2011. Because my sister is having an annual grand performance in South Korea, I fly back on June 3, 2011 immediately after the graduation. So, I must take the driving test before I leave.

Currently, I am scheduled for an appointment for next week.

By the way, why would DMV allow people to make an appointment without checking these major qualifications in the first place? What if I went to DMV after getting a permission from my high school with much difficulty and be notified that I cannot take the test? Are you kidding me?

So, I made exactly eleven calls to the DMV office, Sacramento, and NIF (nonimmigration Information Form) Office of my college for a solution.

At some times, I was put on hold for exactly 26 minutes 23 seconds. Thankfully, I was well-trained for such incidents when I applied for “Sogiorno” or residence in Italy, where everything is just “relax, and take it easy. Things will happen some day at some time. But, no one knows when.”

My college recommends me to bring my letters of acceptance along with a completed form of NIF which should pretty much prove the delivery of my visa soon, very soon. DMV, finding this problem out of their hands, gave me a number for the main office in Sacramento. When I called several times to Sacramento, my calls were, okay, I do not even go there. To simply put, the experience was horrid.

No matter how many times I explained how I am a high school senior graduating on June 3, 2011 and transitioning into my college in fall 2011, they suggested me to fill out Optional Practical Training (OPT). Well, I called my college to request the completion of this form. Then, they spoke that I ought to have complete some kind of program and practically completing the form as an entering freshman is an impossibility. Suprise!

Now, I am going to enter the DMV office with my letter of acceptance and completion of my visa request in my hand just like the NIF office of my college suggested. And, if the DMV office refuse me to grant such opportunity,

Something is wrong. I mean,

Something is VERY wrong in the system.

Just because I am a young adult gradually experiencing the “practical” reality, I will not let my complaints for such ridiculous system slip away. If California set up to ensure the legitimacy of the test takers, then am I suppose to forgive this insanity and let myself kneel down to the law set for the benefits on only one population and not for the other? Should I be submissive to these laws with ironical respect, or not? Maybe I need an answer to this question more than to provide a solution to my visa problem.

Surely, my future looks bright with this justice by my side.

I Can’t Believe It.

yrreskrapLeave a comment

I can’t believe it.

In a matter of days, the seniors will be on that stage, giving their speeches and receiving their hard-earned diplomas. They will be wrapping up their four years of high school and go onto college as freshmen.

And I will become a senior.

God, it’s just so hard to wrap my head around.

It feels like just yesterday when I was 14, braces-clad, and had just come out of eighth grade. High school was so new to me. These three years escaped me.

It’s funny how four years make the perfect stretch of time to help students learn, grow, and move onto the next stage of their life. Freshman year I felt totally unprepared-I was still shocked that I was actually in high school.  Sophomore year, I felt like I was still a freshman and I didn’t (or couldn’t) realize that I was growing up and that I was more mature than I was the year before. This year, I still can’t believe that two years of my high school has past and gone and that I am already almost three quarters of the way done. I will be a senior and write college essays in my sleep until!

That means:

I will be heading tables at dress dinner.

I will be making announcements at milk & crackers.

I will be writing college essays.

I will be taking the SAT‘s again.

I will probably lose hair.

I will be graduating.

I will be in college.

I still can’t believe it. I don’t suppose I will until I am on that stage next year.

Life as a Teenager

vabenissimoLeave a comment

Just a year ago when I was striving to survive my junior year, comtemplating about my life was considered as an act of luxury.

Now that I have gotten so much time to kill, I brood over making right “choices.”

How much should I allow my parents, friends, and other mentors to interfere with my decision-making?

How do I know if I tried my best?

And, am I on the right track?

Since I have to put an end to my teen phase soon, I ponder, ponder, and ponder once again about EVERYTHING. I am pretty sure some seniors experience the same.

All my dilemmas sprout from this single fact; I soon will not be considered as a child, but as an adult.

My life as a teen was fabulous. My immaturity and childish ignorance had been the best excuses for my mistakes. But, the thought that these excuses will no longer be valid terrifies me.

On the bright side, my mind-processing skills have improved vastly over the time. As I look back, the questions that I had during my middle and high school years sound so inane, except for a few that I still struggle to answer.

Hopefully, I will find a balance soon between this sense of ambiguity and assurance.

Until then, my migraine will probably to linger. Urgh.

Dear Gangsters, Please Go Away

Paloma Spencer3 Comments

You know who I have a problem with?

Gangsters.

Those people who think they are so tough.

Those people who speak in such arrogant tongue.

Fine, so I’m being completely judgemental, but I dont care. I’m not saying they are not good people and I am definitely not defining all of them with these characteristics. But I have sadly yet to see one that has proved my opinion wrong.

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Finally, my train is here

shredicusmaximus2 Comments

With the window to my next four years open and the endless possibility flows in like the rays of sun through a dark room, I ask myself, “what do I make of the previous three?”

Like many of my colleagues in their final year of high school, I too have had the fortune of anxiously tearing open a letter to read the words dedicated students wait to see since they began the process oh so many months before, “congratulations, you have been accepted.” At this moment, one may experience a leaping sensation in their heart as the rate increases.

Some may not be able to breathe or speak with excitement. The eyes may start to smart as tears of joy flow freely like persistent waterfalls and some may reveal a small grin while feeling their own sense of great emotion. Maybe you’ll jump maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll scream, maybe you’ll break into random song. Maybe you’ll hug the first person you see. For those of us in boarding school, the cell phone on your dresser drawer rings continuously for hours as family members and friends congratulate your impressive accomplishment. You try to take the moment in while at the same time you try to express yourself, and as you celebrate, you know that for the moment, the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders.

Today I’m another one of those lucky people. I’m a person who an institution of great prestige said “yes” to. 14,000 other hopeful applicants completed the process with me and the fact that I made it makes it that much sweeter. Did I mention that it’s my #1?

I came back from the Honors Ski Trip in Yosemite National Park to find an email telling me of my good fortune. The email was from the University of San Francisco. I can yammer on and on and on about each and every detail of the process and the story behind it like I usually do but however, this is not my prerogative.

The significance of this to me is that the chapter of my life lingers as I am about to turn the page. It is the feeling that you get when you’re waiting in a train station you hear your train coming down the tracks, and you think to yourself, “could it be? finally, in this moment, MY train has arrived.” Now it seems that all I have to do is step on. It is a new beginning taking me to destinations not yet treaded and not yet known and not just to San Francisco.

Times like now only add the incentive for me to count down the days until we as a senior class commence under the hot sun of an early June day to accept our diplomas. Yet I can’t help but think back on the past three years and question them, reminisce on them, ponder them, and to contemplate my exact emotions. I can’t say that I approve of all that’s gone down since I came to OVS as a 15-year-old, but for now, I try to stay away from senioritis, keep the grades up, and think about all the future holds while trying to live in the present. Still, it’s hard to keep your head in the moment when your mind’s a million miles away, or in this case, just up the state.

The Return of the Lin.

yrreskrapLeave a comment


Best friends never grow apart, no matter the distance between them.

Wendy Lin has been a part of my life ever since my first year at OVS. Wendy was a prefect in my wing-she lived right across from me. Living in such close proximity, it was just a matter of time before a friendship blossomed. I was new, scared, and excited to come to this new school but Wendy let me feel just at home. She showed me around, and explained boarding school life to me. With her kindness, living away from home was easy and my life at Ojai Valley School began.

I don’t remember really fighting with Wendy. We have gotten mad, annoyed, or overwhelmed with each other at times, but we’ve never raised our voices at each other. Wendy and I generally agree on everything, or settle on things. We have a lot of things in common and a lot of things that make us individual people. I think that is a key factor to our friendship. We both look out for each other’s benefits, we make sure we don’t make stupid mistakes (and tell each other when we are being stupid), and we are sisters.

For the first half of the school year, Wendy decided to take her life in a new direction. She went to Santa Barbara High School for one semester and that was her first public school experience. She loved it, but she realized that this year, her junior year, was an integral part of her high school curriculum and her future college acceptances. Wendy, now, is back and we don’t feel any strange awkwardness or distance between us. I love her, and I am glad to have her back.

Four years strong, our friendship has only grown from the young, naive eighth grade girls that we were. Four years strong, and we can boast that we have never fought before. Four years strong, Wendy Lin has left and grown up in the public school’s eye. Four years strong, and she has returned to the school we had first met and next year, we will be five years strong, graduating on the same stage together, just as we had our 8th grade year.