and so we talked all night about the rest of our lives…

Heaven knows I’ve written enough sentimental entries about my final year in high school to fill a blank novella, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully get over the fact that I’m finally graduating and leaving this place. Well… it’s not like I’m terribly sad to be leaving; I’m seriously overjoyed that next year I’ll be far away up North in Massachusetts having the time of my life in college. But the sheer reality that I’ve already suffered four long years in this cesspool of education is hard to grasp.

I think in my past four years I’ve complained enough about the sucky aspects of my schooling, so for once I figured I’d go back and talk about the few things that made senior year completely and totally worth it.

1. AP Computer Science
Okay seriously. I don’t know how else to express CS except an extreme case of love-hate. The class itself gets so tedious and annoying at times, but at the same time it’s awesome because we all suffer together, collaboratively. That’s exactly the same type of feeling I get from MIT’s environment; even though it will probably be gruesome and difficult, the sheer notion that we’re all going through the same thing together is something that I really enjoy. And besides, there are so many fun moments in CS every single class period, whether it’s picking on Alex Innes or listening to Clayton’s bad jokes or having Ms. Pittman tell Nate to shut up.

2. AP Biology field trip
The AP Bio field trip in September down to Port Aransas was, to put it lightly, freaking awesome. So what if I had to do a bunch of biology labs I didn’t care for? So what if I was freezing in my bed every single night? So what if the floor was disgusting old tile and the bathrooms had to be shared by four people? So what if the bus ride there and back was 7 hours long? I had a blast with a bunch of people that I daresay I ended up being extremely close with. Walking on the beach in the moonlight, fitting 10 people into our cramped room to play ERS, eating cookies and chips & dip, staying up late talking about relationships and being the first to drift off to sleep (and sleeptalk), picking up hermit crabs and ctenophores, swearing colourfully during games of Chinese poker and Presidents, fitting 10 people into the tiny booth at the pizza place… good memories were made, I will confess.

3. Science fair
Nothing can really top scifair in my list of awesome stuff from senior year, honestly. School fair was fun. Regionals was exciting and we came up with more inside jokes (such as eating our lunch in literally 5 minutes before 2nd-tier judging) - it was so amazing to stand there in a circle with everyone in the Biochem aisle and listen as they slowly, teasingly announced all the first place winners. That was some serious tension and really got the adrenaline going, haha. State was even more amazing since we had such an amazing group of people this year, and even MORE inside jokes were made (Faith getting arrested, partying in Ashley Covington’s room). And then, of course… Intel ISEF 2008, seriously the best week of my LIFE. I met so many awesome people and it ended on a very good note =) I’m going to have to make a scifair post going all the way back to the beginning and discussing how I’ve grown throughout the years…

4. MIT acceptance!
March 15th, about 3pm. “On behalf of the Admissions Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to the MIT Class of ‘12.” I think that in itself is enough to explain why this was a highlight of my senior year. Just think about it… it’s freaking MIT! I get to study under great professors, be in a place with students who are on my same wavelength and value that same collaborative spirit that I do. I’m just SO. VERY. GRATEFUL. that I was given the chance to attend. I’ll have to copy/paste the letter I originally wrote to attempt to convince MIT to accept me; I don’t know if it did any good, but looking back at it now, I feel really accomplished because I truly feel like it expressed my real sentiments towards MIT and I’m confident that I was accepted because of the characteristics I expressed in that letter.

5. Senior prom
So those who know me also know that I’m not really social. I don’t attend get-togethers and parties often. But I’m really glad that for one single night, I actually stood up away from the computer and went and had FUN with all my friends. Dinner at Carino’s was awesome (table of 14, anyone?) and even though I didn’t dance at prom itself, I had a lot of fun just socializing with people in general, and the evening ended very well. I feel proud that I actually ENJOYED a school event, haha.

6. Random things during the school day
So many little things also made my year truly unforgettable. Such as.. skipping French to work on science fair, playing cards with Chris and the others in the library, phone-stalking Steven with Ashley Covington, walking around with Steven during student aide, sharing peanut-butter cups with John Veloria, invading the food boxes in Mrs. Mann’s storeroom, and various other items. Good times.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 am and is filed under Sentimental. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.