The Last Assignment.

The assignment was to reflect upon the year by responding to one of ten prompts.
The prompt I chose was "Who have you enjoyed knowing or observinf this year because you recognized something that seems entirely unique to them. Who may have startled you with how interesting they are?"

So here it goes.

Darrel Phong
AP English P.4
June 6, 2009
Ms. Hahn

Personal Reflection #4

I’ll diverge from the typical senior story of, “I finally talked to this person after four years and I regret it woefully so because he or she is so amazing.” No, my story of observation for this year focuses not on just one person, but rather a group of people. They are the youngest class, but apparently also the largest class. They are the class of 2012. The freshmen I got to know and love this year were one of a kind. They are the upper echelon of students in their class. They are shy, they are smart, they are the all around types, they are everything that I saw in the class of 2009 when we were freshmen.
Coming into my senior year, we knew about some of the freshmen already. It wasn’t because they had done anything worth notoriety, but it was because they were kin of fellow seniors or alumni. From the siblings, I began to make friends with not only them but with their fellow freshmen friends as well, and what I found was that they were an intriguing group of kids. I’ll go in depth with three of them.
First off is Jennifer Tu. She is the shyest of the group, or so it seems. She quietly goes about doing her thing, she’s apologetic about virtually everything, but there can be times in which she is adamant about something and becomes rambunctious because of it. She’s intriguing because you never know what you’re going to get from her, making it all the more exciting getting to know her over the course of this year.
Next up is Alex Friedl. Besides her cool last name, she is one of the most intelligent kids I know, and that’s including the senior class, the junior class and the sophomore class. She’s just naturally smart and if she doesn’t know something, she’ll strive to learn it ASAP. She tends to pick things up things easily and is just an interesting person to be around. She swears she was born Asian inside a White person’s body, and in all honesty I don’t blame her. At times, I feel she has more Asian tendencies than I do.
Lastly, but definitely not least, is Phoebe Tran. She is the sister of a past student, Anh Tran of 2008, and she is just the all around type of person. She is on the track team, she’s a good student, she’s involved with the Red Cross, and she is just super friendly. Anh had been like a sister to me when she was a senior, and well I felt like Phoebe was my little sister this year. We didn’t get as close as me and Anh were, but it is ok, because she knows that I’ll always be there for her, like her sister was for me. Ok, I’m starting to sound like a blog. Back to the business at hand, she came into high school with out knowing many people. She didn’t go to El Rancho like the rest of the freshmen class, but she made friends quick, and in all honesty, I saw a little bit of me in her. I went to El Rancho, but it seemed like the path I took freshman year was almost the same as hers. Sports, honors classes, making new friends. It’s nice to see.
There were many more freshmen that I knew and were equally amazing but these were the three that stood out and had most of an impact on me. I don’t regret not talking to them sooner because well, I couldn’t have. Minus Phoebe, I’ve known her prior to this year. But I appreciated them being apart of such a big year of my life. Will I sorely miss them as I journey off into the world of unknown? Most definitely. But we all knew that I was leaving at the end of this year, it was just a matter of whether or not we wanted to accept it or not.



till next time.
take care guys.

Should have been.

The end has come.
I don't want to post what I'm really feeling.
So I'll post the graduation speech I was supposed to submit, but didn't because I forgot to.
It's not great at all, it was just for me to reminisce.

“…and remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” This quote was once spoken by Chinese philosopher, Confucius. I am here in front of you today, reciting the very same quote, four years removed from finding this quote, at the very end of the fourth year of my high school career. Four years ago, during the summer after being promoted from eighth grade, I was in my garage, slaving away at the labor that is shoe cleaning. I had finished my Vans and moved on to the Nike portion of my collection. I got to my favorite pair, a pair of Nike Vandals designed by Jason Luedecke and I just happened to take a look at the inside of the shoe as I cleaned it. On the inside was the very quote by Confucius.

Whether I was heading through a frivolous freshman year, a sophomore slump, a not so jovial junior year, or a spectacular senior year, this quote has remained in the back of my mind. After four years of high school, this graduating class of seniors sits before a crowd of people who love them, ready to move on to the next part of their lives. The past four years have molded us into what we have become today, able bodied adults, parting ways into the real world. Some continuing with education, some choosing different career paths, but what remains ahead is still a mystery. As we look forward to new beginnings, I beg you to look back on your past and remind you to never forget the past four years of your life. Because no matter where we go in life, there will always be the past, that very past that has led us to Fred Kelly Stadium on the eve of closing one chapter of our lives. Some of us will end up in the health care field, others will end up teaching, we’ll end up in various facets of life, making a difference. But never should we lose sight of what got us here in the first place. Don’t ever get caught up in the pursuit of tomorrow. When you get caught up is when you forget to realize to live for today, and forget about what made us who we are today.

Never will I forget making parodies of Romeo & Juliet in Ms. D’s class. Never will I forget winning Century league when everyone doubted our Sophomore basketball team led by Mr. Anderson. Never will I forget the first day of APUSH in which Mrs. Ellis scared all of us into thinking we would never survive her class but would end up being like my mother from another grandmother. And never will I forget anything about my senior year. From Mrs. Rommelfanger caring so much about our political welfare, to Mrs. Torneo caring about the welfare of our future as chemists, to Mrs. Hahn always wondering how we were mentally and if we had contracted senioritis yet, to Nellis caring about, well our welfare in general. I know, as much pain as I felt going through the process, I will never forget the times that I had at Canyon, because I know I would not be the same today. I know Mr. Harrison would be proud, he never had much to praise of my basketball skills, but taking a page from Machiavelli, the end really did justify the means. And with that, I shall bid you a fond farewell with this, Class of 2009, no matter where you go, there you are.

TOK 09<3


Till next time.
Take care guys.