Prospector Senior Issue 2013

The Prospector

IT’S A

MAGICAL

WORLD Senior Issue 2013

TOTEMS

Scattered throughout these two pages are some interesting items students in the class of 2013 treated as their Hobbes.

“Decapitated head of my Baribie”

“My first watch” “My grandfather’s coin”

“My ukelele”

“My stuffed manatee”

“My mom’s perfume”

Letters from everyone The folks inside

by Shel Silverstein Inside you, boy, There’s an old man sleepin’, Dreamin’, waitin for his chance.

Inside you, girl There’s an old lady dozin’ Wantin’ to show you a slower dance So keep on playin’ Keep on runnin’ Keep on jumpin’, til the day That those old folks Down inside you Wake up…. and come out to play.

Seniors, as you reflect upon your four years at Cupertino, I sincerely hope you remember the amazing teaching staff that created opportunities for contemplating the deeper meaning of life. Whether it was the pontificating Meursault from The Stranger, DNA discussions in science, the musings of Teddy Roosevelt, or just a Tuesday in Mr. Timmreck’s class, your teachers all pushed your intellect towards the discovery of your life’s direction.

In my opinion, the secret to life, and a satisfying future, exists in this simple poem by Shel Silverstein (he did write a poem about a hot dog for a pet, but the man is still a genius!). The Class of 2013 consists of bright, ambitious, diligent students focused on achievement and success. These traits are admirable, and humbling to me; however, sometimes the rush towards lofty goals in life, causes us to forget the runnin’, playin’, and jumpin’ that make life enjoyable. As you move on from Cupertino, take Shel Silverstein’s words to heart: there is an old person lurking inside you, and if you forget to include joy in your life, that old person will arrive all too soon. Good luck Class of 2013, and keep those old folks inside you as long as you can!

-Mr. Walczak

Impossibilities are endless.

We once thought it was impossible to stay awake for an entire day of school without a second of sleep the previous night.

We did not believe we would ever experience watching a football team with a winning streak.

Once upon a time, we thought it impossible to have over two hundred facebook friends.

Four years ago, we could not comprehend the physics of high school dancing.

We only broke school records, won races, aced tests in our dreams.

As we participated in club events, it never crossed our minds that we had the ability to one day run these clubs ourselves.

We didn’t think we would find a best friend.

We didn’t think we would ever grow up.

Impossibilities are endless, unless we change them into possibilities.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to lead a class that has shown us that nothing, is truly impossible.

Best wishes, Class Council of 2013

Dear Class of 2013, We have enjoyed getting to know you, watching you grow intellectually, emotionally and personally. Sometimes maturity comes with ease but more often it comes with some pain and frustration. But it has always been with grace and poise that you moved forward with new and wiser perspectives.

We wish you the best in the future and know that it will be bright. You will be faced by difficult decisions as individuals and as a generation. You will face hurdles in the coming years that will cause you to question who you are and where you are going. At these times, remember those who guided you and loved you along the way and know that you are strong. We are proud of you and it has been a privilege to advise you. You have brought much to our lives and we will always remember you.

Class of 2013 Advisors, Susan DesJardin and Samantha Southerd

Dear loyal readers, We chose Calvin and Hobbes as our senior issue theme for a plethora of reasons, but we have one that stands out among the others: it represents the never ending childhood we don’t want to let go as we move on from high school. We’re sure that everyone has a Hobbes: a best friend, a toy, a place that we don’t want to quite let go, but the sad part is that we’re going to have to; it’s all a part of growing up.

So, knowing that we’ll have to carry on, we’ve decided to immortalize the message of what’s most important to us at Cupertino through this dynamic duo. But we still have our fair share of goodbyes to make.

Thank you to our parents, who allowed us to trash our homes with pizza boxes, tolerated our loud screams of frustration and sleepless laughs and provided emotional support during our late night send-offs. Thank you to the most amazing staff anyone could ask for.

We will greatly miss Chris Yoon’s endless charm, Nikhil’s undeniable wit, Laura’s calming presence, Natasha’s enjoyable sassiness, Abhishek’s impromptu rapping, Michelle’s amazing hugs, Victoria’s supportive demeanor, Anand’s quotable humor, Katie’s random video links, Alya’s clever jokes, Jason’s limitless thoughtfulness, Diana’s awesome cat obsession, Michael’s stalker-like comments, Vinitra’s hardworking attitude, Trina’s unknown social references, Chris Cai’s magical voice, Kevin’s kind soul, Ashley’s sophisticated loveliness, Keely’s passionate speeches, Thu’s generous attitude, Youseph’s political penchant, Nirmit’s sweet dance moves, Tanay’s wizardly computer skills and Jessica’s contagious laugh. That was a mouthful, but it was necessary. Thank you all.

Most importantly we would like to thank our amazing advisor, Mrs. Peck. Her endless patience, limitless compassion, infinite wisdom, and unconditional love made this class that more rewarding.

We couldn’t have accomplished any of this without her support.

It’s been a journey of one thousand miles, but you know what? It was worth it. If you’re a senior, best of luck to wherever you’ll be for the next four years. If you’re not a senior, remember to come back for the latest scoop next year. The new EICs will make it worthwhile; we know it.

Until next time, Editor-in-Chiefs Azadeh Rongere and Jesse Zhou

Catchphrases of 2013

Did you know this about 2013?

The Prospector

SENIOR ISSUE 2013

741 There have been

“Ain’t that the truth.”

school days since Pioneer Day, 2009

-Alex Ho

“Squeak!”

-Irene Wang

“What’s the stats homework?”

What is your preferred

Social Network?

75% said

-Danny Kim

“Aiyah!”

-Aaron Ching

12% said

“Chicken nuggies.”

4% said

4% said

?

-Jesmane Sanches

“Anubhav!”

One-third of seniors agreed to have pulled at least one all nighter

-Anonymous

“Struggles.”

11

-Everyone

12

1

What is 2 the latest 9 3 you’ve stayed 8 4 up?

10

“Swagtip.”

-Susan La

“That’s embarrassing, cupcake.”

5% said other

7

-Joseph Oschner

6

5

“You think you’re swole but you’re not.”

-Anonymous

Hours of sleep per night

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10

California State Universities Chico Gregory Brazil Lauren Hayes Jeffrey Riehl Courtney Sharrah Benjamin Whited Fresno Tyler Sharman Pomona Adeline Yeh Jeffrey Liando San Diego Aurin Ghosh Nicole Reichenberger San Francisco Jonathan Brizuela Keren Erlich Jhon Herrera Khalife Amber Patterson Annie Vo San Jose State Jessy Chang James Chen Avantika Chotani

Tiffany Gao Shanon Han Daniel Hou Paul Johnson Irina Kim Benjamin Lee Keilagh Higham Se Hee Kwon Cassie Kwong Jae Sung Lee Nicole Mardesich Ihad Mezerreg Meghana Sastry Maurice Truong Elizabeth Valencia Tabitha Yuen San Luis Obispo Melissa Baena Alona Bruter Alexandra Castro Evan Drake Kevin Herhusky Magdalena Maldonado Sonoma Alicia Arranaga Isabella Vasper

In State Private Universities Academy of Salon Professionals Alina Hassan Azusa Pacific University Rachel Viloria

Reedley College Jeffrey Yen San Diego Christian College Miracle Santiago

Community Colleges Berkeley City College Jesmane Sanches Cabrillo College Adriana Franks Cuesta College Isaiah Castro De Anza College Ziad Ahmed Jacob Andrade Damil Azim Priyanka Bhatt Rania Blaih Paul Blank Robert Burton Jonathan Bruns Michelle Cady Hong Kai Chang Bao Ngoc Le Che Kuan Lin Chen Yaqing Chen Chih Yang Cheng Dahyeon Cho Joori Choi Sapin Dahal Nhu Thi Quynh Dinh Hannah Fraser

Xueyao Gao Sergio Rodriguez Giron Dimitri Gonzales Michael Huang Vivian Hwang Amy Hyodo Parmida Irani Eileen Javadi Amir Khan Derek Khaothong Kooroesh Khozairy Esther Ki Jonathan Lee Sarah Lee Daniel Lepe Diana Liu Mingrui Jin Kavin Mistry Thanh Nguyen Tung Nguyen Fernando Nunez Jessica Oliva Stephania Owumi Nakorn Pairesmee Arash Panah Woo Park Thinh Pham Chaiwat Potjanamat Zachary Prince

London School of Economics Chris Cai

California Culinary Academy Jordyn Roe

Scripps College Meghana Ravikumar

JAPAN

California Institute of Technology Kshitij Grover Shubhankar Jain Irene Wang

Stanford University Selina Her Sophia Jung

Sophia University Yuka Yokoyama Issei Yusa

Dominican University Nicole Bell Harvey Mudd College Lisa Yin International Culinary Center Dmytro Dron Loyola Marymount University Bahar Ghaderi Kaeya Shah Christine Chow

University of SF Alyssa Wu University of Southern California Rachelle Kretchmer Daniel C. Lee Osker Lu Alya Omar Azadeh Rongere Aanchal Shahani

Gavilan College Darien Campi LA City College Blake Hoffman Mission College MyThao Nguyen SJ City College Banafsheh Azima Samantha Jervis West Valley College Emma Beall Trameela Burks Miriam Chavez Cassie Del Rosario Alaina Hawkins Ksenia Koulechova Barbara Machado Justin Mariano Ela Mjavia Laura Poupart Alexandra Rinaldo Chloe Woods

UC Davis Aatef Baransy Trina Bhattarai Zijian Chen Margaret He Mithya Jayakumar Laura Kao Hye Min Kim Soo Ji Kim Matthew Lin

Emma R Anastas Abhishek

UC Irvin Akshita Hillary C Jenny K David Lu John Ro Srinivaa Prachi S Anubhav

UC Los Daniel K Julia Se Iyal Sur Emily W

UC Mer Mariam Trey Bill Shravan Reza Gh Cyrus So

G

EXPLO

Senior De

Tama Art University Tomoyo Tsurumi INDIA Anna University in Chennai Shwetha Srinivasan

Westmont College John Wong

Mills College Kenly Bicht

Unlisted

Occidental College Billy Schmidt Pepperdine University Michelle Cheung David Hong

University of California at Berkeley Eric Chen Julie Chen Yuzhang Chen Aaron Ching Aman Chopra Kevin Chu Siddhanta Dange Aditya Gande Richard Liaw Paige Liu Jerry Lo Manpreet Tiwana Joyce Wahba

LET

ENGLAND

California College of the Arts Neha Dharkar So Dam Juon

Claremont McKenna College Kelly Ngo

Foothill College Michele Chan Jadelyn Abigail Bacalso Jessica Griffith Sean Howard Pitney Gina Krupowicz Elise Kruse Ihan Jun Rubi Lisalde

Brittney Lundquist Jarred Rodriguez Jamie Wong

Out of Country Universties

Santa Clara University Akash Anavarathan Daniel Hoang Patrick Johnson Shachi Kakkar Xiao Han Zhang

University of the Pacific Susan Whang

Alexandra Romo Juan Rosales Alexandria Sellers Andrew Shin Brent Smith Bryan Smith George Solorio Tuan Tran Faisalbhai Vohra Min Zhi Wangsun David Won Andrew Wong Maria Yanakieva Sung Jin Yeo John Yooun Kai Hung Yu Christina Yuan Ta Wei Yun

Uni C

Jacob Anaya Adam Apolinar Justin Bae Shahriar Bastami Adair Belton Schure Hayley Sara Brahy Ryan Caballero Shravan Canchi Radhakrishna Corinne Carmalt Steven Carter Jacob Castillo Joshua Chavez Navarrette Karandeep Cheema Hok Lun Cheng Ping Ju Chiang Sarah Chin Estela Chinchilla Landa Chrystal Chow Thomas Coder Tatiana Connelly

Jonathan Davidson Casey Dawson Yann De Bleecker Jessica De la Fuente Anna Deh Jessica Denny Ritvik Dhavale Caleb Disney Jessica Duggan Stanley Dye Aisha Elmeligi Alexa Flores Shuhei Fukawa Monica Garcia Fernando Garcia Nunez Thomas Gaynor Alexandria Gee Victoria Gee Sergio Gonzalez Mary Grafilo Ginger Griffin Amezquita

Don Ha Seok Jin Ha Elijah Hawk Xuyun He Avery Hicks Kim Hoang Monique Ho Ellison Huan Amy Hyodo Gilbert Irahe Pourya Irani Christian Irv Alex Jin Mizuki Kato Ryoko Kato Azam Khan Sameer Kha Dong Ki Kim Jacqueline K Matthew Kim Tom Kimchi Brent Knaac

The Prospector

iversity of California UC San Diego Lucy Chian Joyce Chih Ganesh Datta Ophelia Ding Alexander Ho Nikhil Kanthi Susan La Timothy Lee Nikita Mahatme Chetan Potu Rinoka Sato Emily Shung Terri Tsai Jesse Zhou

Ronne sia Starostina k Zaveri

ne Agrawal Chansavang Kim u owe as Sekaran Shah v Tripathi

Angeles Kho eaton resh Wang

UC Santa Barbara Kate Anvick Enya Chang Patrick Facelo Prachi Joshi Sasha Karelsky Eun Young Kim Myron Kwan Hao Cheng Liang Ranice Luo

rced m Beg lerbeck n Radhakrishna h Jahanbani oong

SENIOR ISSUE 2013

Jennifer Pai Justin Shieh Calvin Yin UC Santa Cruz Nima Agah Victor Ardulov Nir Avrahamov Shun Kuwashima Michael Huan Le Daniel Y. Lee Brian Lin Ada Madejska Arati Manogaran Aman Mangalore Dhruv Patel Kelly Tu Victoria Votino UC Riverside Jennifer Chen Qingwen Liang Han Xiang Shi

T’S

Calvin: Wow, it really snowed last night! Isn’t it wonderful?

GO

ORING!

estinations

Hobbes: Everything familiar has disappeared!

The world looks brandnew!

Calvin: A new year, a fresh clean start!

Hobbes: It’s a big white sheet of paper to draw on!

Calvin: A day full of possibilities! It’s a magical world, Hobbes ol’ buddy...

Let’s go exploring!

Out of State Universties ARIZONA

OREGON

FLORIDA

Amy Lu Clark University Bethlehem Phifer Houseman Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Juanita Desouza

Ringling College of Art and Design Alan Yang

University of Massachusetts Amherst Tom Coder

Oregon University James Stiles

GEORGIA

Smith College Varsha Prabhakar Natasha Sharma

University of Arizona Omri Hazan Samantha Repetti

Georgia Institute of Technology Bianca Walsh OHIO Case Western Reserve University Albert Chen Prasham Shah HAWAII University of Hawaii at Manoa Luis Lai Shivani Ranganathan Jose Uribe ILLINOIS University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Edward Chou Sarthak Grover Chang Kun Li

/ Unknown / Other Plans

an kins

ollings ng

eta Bolanos i vin

o

anna m Kim m

ck

Hatsune Kondo Edem Kpatakpa Nikita Krikota Matthew Kuhl Ashley Kumar Amit Lakamsani Seraphina Lam Amanda Le Chung Lee Ganjian Li Katheryn Li Elizabet Lopez Elizabeth Lorenzo Matthew Lu Darlene Lumantas Jacob Martin Brandon Martinez Takuma Matsui Ryan McClintick Gregory McLaughlin Samia Mir Lasha Mjavia

Ahmed Mohamed Katherine Moore Trevor Moore Yuka Moriya Sierra Murphy Dunning Joshua Myerholtz Takion Nakamura Archimedes Nehaniv Martin Khiem Nguyen Joseph Ochsner Desree Pakzad Andrew Phung Vinay Ponnaganti Brittani Railey Christian Rendon Salena Reyes Jocelyn Robertson Beher Bianca Rodriguez David Rokhlin

Brenda Romero Carrillo Christopher Rossi Michael Ryan Karina Schuler Da Costa Ferro Alexandria Sellers SooMin Seo Matthew Shamshoian Luke Shih Brian Shin Sophia Skarpelos Ali Soltani Lotfabadi Prabhav Sriram Daniel Stone David Sun Vladimir Tarasov Yuliya Tarasova Saran Tokuda Julian Tran Graciela Trejo Sneha Vaddadi

Samantha Valkanoff Jasmeet Virdee Lee Ann Vuk Abbigail Walters Leo Wang Qiu Ya Wang Caleb Young Wincy Yu Alvin Yudhiswara Kaila Zager Darinka Zaldivar Martinez Moran Zandman Tal Zandman Zhong Zhao Tina Zhang

Loyola University of Chicago Riti Bedi Northwestern University Minji Seok Purdue University Min Kyum Kim Jasmine Su

Williams College Anand Hemmady MICHIGAN Michigan State University Matthew Workman Pulkit Anand

George Fox University Emily Barnard Lewis & Clark College Rena Wang

University of Portland Tanya Rego PENNSYLVANIA Carnegie Mellon University Jason Chen Chris Ying Drexel University Erica Perez Lehigh University Bhavishya Devireddy

MINNESOTA Carleton College Joon Kim University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Hae-in Lee MISSOURI Washington University in St. Louis Jaydee Lee Carolyn Lou NEW YORK Columbia University Jonathan Chen The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone Jae Choi

TENNESSEE Vanderbilt University Ariana Banks VIRGINIA George Mason University Fatema Elbakoury WASHINGTON University of Washington Kevin Chu Victoria Duan Arthur Siew Washington State University Chandler Cornell Whitman College Andzu Schaefer

KENTUCKY

Mercy College Jaclyn Ballin

Saint Katherine College Stanley Sumibcay

New York University Sunwoo Jeong

Georgetown University Youseph Pavlovic

MASSACHUSETTS

St. John’s University Vivian Chen

WEST VIRGINIA

Boston College Charlotte Chang Elisa Kang

Syracuse University Eric Chuang

WASHINGTON D.C.

Marshall University Autumn Ward

The Prospector

SENIOR ISSUE 2013

1 3 20 Final Words

Senior Positions

Azadeh Rongere and Jesse Zhou NIkhil Kanthi Luara Kao Abhishek Zaveri Natasha Sharma Michelle Cheung Jason Chen Victoria Duan Alya Omar Anand Hemmady Trina Bhattarai Chris Cai Kevin Chu Youseph Pavlovic Sunwoo Jeong

From the Senio rs Staffe rs

Editors-in-Chief Opinions Editor Features Editor Sports Editor Lifestyles Editor Flipside Editor Photo Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Op. Assistant Op. Assistant Business Manager Ls. Assistant Former Staff Member

Jesse

Azadeh

Nikhil

Laura

My biggest regret so far is trying too hard to be like my brother. From sports, to clubs, to AP classes, to even joining the staff of The Prospector, there was always a voice in my head that pondered, “What would Derek do?” and I always allowed that voice to control most of my high school career. In retrospect, maybe I would’ve been a different person if I made decisions other than ones already made by my brother in 2010.

However, I ought to thank him, because I’ve realized joining journalism was the best decision of my high school career. It’s taught me that success isn’t measured by intellect, but by passion and the drive to be accomplished and successful. As I now like to think, you can be a smart aleck and do nothing or a hard worker and do something. Maybe what I got out of this ended up being a lot different than that of my brother. I’m not his carbon copy after all.

The journalism staff is my second family. We cry, we laugh, we work, we stress but, most importantly, we love.

We love The Prospector, we love the school, we love our faculty, we love our peers, and we love each other. When I look back on my three years at The Prospector, I don’t just think about staying up late for send-offs, slaving over pounds of mac n’ cheese for fundraisers, or editing my articles until they were finally publish-worthy. I reminisce on the never fleeting friendships, the hilarious quote board, and the remarkable advisor, whom I look up to and aspire to one day possess her selflessness and compassion. The irony, however, is that journalism has taught me to make any information newsworthy and yet I still can’t find the words to accurately summarize my unforgettable experience in journalism. All I can say is that every time I walk into room 611, I am finally home.

Read my bio, I’m way more charming than the others on this page. I’m a endorphin addicted bookworm who writes adequate editorials in his spare time. I manage the Opinions page for fun, as well, and I’m proud of my designs, but Kevin Chu could probably do a better job, as is the case with most things in my life. Journalism is an amazing class because it taught me how to communicate better and took me to Disneyland when I least expected it. Okay, I’m at the 100 word mark, so that means it’s time for elderly advice. This class has taught me one extremely valuable lesson I feel obliged to pass on to the next class: if you spill mango nectar on a girl’s computer, the world will never let you forget it. Don’t do it. Okay, the word count is approaching, so I hope you liked what I wrote here, and for the past three years; I enjoyed writing it. Take care, Cupertino.

If asked to sum up my high school experience at Tino in a word or phrase, I would stare blankly before eventually muttering something vague/nebulous.

From being on the Dance Team to Aida to surviving AP Bio and APUSH to leadership roles in JNHS and Journalism, my life has never been completely constant. Many events inside and outside of school have forced me to alter my interests, attitude and perspectives on life. Ironic, as I don’t like when my plans don’t go accordingly.

Would I change anything if I could?

Of course – who wouldn’t. But there’s no use thinking about what could have been – “ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Besides, often the most trying times yield the best memories.

When life gives you lemons (as it too often does), eat them. No one will expect that. Plus, you’ll get a refreshing dose of citric acid.

Abhishek Natasha Michelle Witnessing a group of individuals evolve into their current selves over the past three years felt like an experiment of sorts, where my peers and I were the test subjects. The circumstances of this experiment? Place around 25 students in a classroom with some computers, a whiteboard and a cupboard of snacks expecting a full 12-page newspaper in the next three weeks. Sounds flabbergasting at first, but somehow after relentlessly switching all the dashes to em-dashes in articles and making sure everything is one pica apart (unit of measurement created by self-absorbed journalists), the paper always seems to come together, even when the editorin-chiefs turn into zombies while sending off the paper. This sudden change from scribbles on a piece of paper to an entire newspaper never ceased to amaze me, and is what I’ll never forget about Journalism. Oh yeah, and sports.

My involvement with The Prospector has come to define who I am. My growth, in large part, can be attributed to working with a team of the craziest, most passionate, intelligent and off-thewall characters. My experience in different jobs on the staff has empowered me, and has given me the ability to come up with an idea, pitch it to a group, develop it, create a story, create supplementary media to support it and see it through.

More than anything else, Journalism has given me the gift of execution: I can get things done, and I can scale it, flatten it, convert it into a TIFF file and email it to you before 7 p.m. Now, as I start my new chapter of life at Smith College, I feel ready to take on the world and share my voice to all who care to listen.

Victoria

Alya

After every issue of The Prospector, our staff does “tear-up,” a process in which we go through the newspaper page by page and meticulously pick out typos and stylistic errors. As graduation draws closer I’ve been tearing-up my high school career, sorting my experiences into two categories: “What rocked” and “What sucked.” Volunteering with Interact Club, competing in marching band reviews, getting dressed up for formal dances and attending Journalism conventions: rocked. Taking and retaking the SATs, cramming for AP tests and staying up late studying for exams that I ended up falling asleep in the middle of anyways: sucked.

Tear-up helps our staff zero in on mistakes in hopes of perfecting the next issue. Lucky for me, I have no “next year” of high school.

Chris For everything I wrote for the Prospector, I never did get to talk about myself. Surprisingly, now that I have the chance, I find now that I have little to say. Since this is the first time we actually meet, allow me to introduce myself.

I am Chris. I wrote a few of the articles you read in the paper. I interviewed your friends, talked to your teachers, bothered you for ideas. It was good at times, bad at times, through it all, though, it was always fun. I wrote, I thought, I tried, I cried, now it is over. It was nice getting to know you. It was nice of you to listen.

With these 100 words or so, I say, best regards, goodbye.

Jason

I grew two and a half inches in high school. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you know me, every inch was another precious step towards what I thought would make me acceptable. I entered high school with the mindset that if I molded into what everyone seemed to be, I could finally fit in and achieve satisfaction. My vertically challenged trait was one thing that hindered this naïve goal of mine and for a while this is what governed my days. Then one day a friend said to me, “Dude don’t even trip about being short, without it you wouldn’t be Michelle. It’s part of your charm”. My attempts to be like everyone else had somehow managed to push me into my own self. I’m known as being the weirdest one of my friends, yet if my weirdness makes them laugh, it makes me happy, and I would stay weird forever. What I learned in high school: you don’t have to be normal to fit in.

It is rather amazing how a small black box can give you so much power, or at least it makes me feel like I am special with all that “special access.” For example, I did not really expect that I would be able get on the roof during the Westboro Baptist Church protests back in 2012. It has been a great pleasure to be able to document many of the big events of Cupertino High School: be it the Topping-Off ceremony or Mr. Lawson’s Hall of Fame induction, to say for the least.

To me, taking photos for The Prospector is my way of giving back to the school because I am not the most active in terms of school spirit. I am not really a person to participate in activities like rallies, so towards the end of sophomore year, I resorted to taking photos.

And I kind of liked it. Now when I look back, I am glad that I picked up photography.

After changing my dream job from a fireman to a pillow to Oprah, I decided the best way to help people was to be a journalist. In January of 2011, I watched as my grandmother’s house in Egypt flashed on CNN, overrun by radicals and people throwing bricks at each other.

This world that I came from recently grasped the concept of democracy without fully letting go of corruption and violence. It occurred to me then that as lost as I felt sitting 7000 miles away, the things I’ve done in my life put me in the position to help. The world in which I live is one where leadership was possible for girls, and education about human rights, journalism and politics were accessible. My two worlds are miles apart with me in the middle, but I have been given the education, journalism skills and leadership qualities to bridge the gap between the two. I can’t wait.

I feel like high school has been incredibly kind to me. I’ve never felt threatened or unsafe at school and I always knew that there were people, both classmates and adults, who cared about me. For that, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to the school, and to everyone involved with journalism in particular. Having journalism during 6th period has discouraged me from driving off of campus and not coming back during lunch because I knew I had a supportive, friendly and Oxford comma free environment to look forward to everyday. I’ve met amazing people, made amazing friends and never regretted joining this class for the past three years.

Even the late nights working on deadlines have been fun. Every step of this journey has been completely worth it.

Thank you, Cupertino High School, and thank you, journalism.

Dead End. That phrase has such a negative connotation to it; nonetheless, journalism is a dead end for me. After three years of writing numerous articles, I’ve realized that I’m just not a journalist. However, at the risk of sounding extremely corny, I’m going to say that it was more about the journey than the destination for me. Raving to Sandstorm on the 12th floor. Pizza at 3am. Vadering pictures. Acts against humanity. Disregard women, acquire currency. City Lights. All these clips of memories form an unforgettable mosaic that only enhances my high school experience. Sure I pursued a path that was a “dead end,” and I’m positive this is a first of many.

Yet, I would do it all again for the unique experiences and the talented people I’ve met. The end.

It’s easy to stand back and watch the flurry of campus activity unfold in front of you. Our reporters are in the trenches, getting spat at and hung up on for the sake of their stories and photos. These brave souls have faced it all, and day after day, they come back wanting more.

Love is what keeps our staff here till all hours of the night bickering with their editors about the wording of a headline. It’s a deep commitment to this place, to the power of the written word, to the feeling that we’re actually doing something that makes a difference.

This publication is more than its print copy. It’s formed from the collective vision of our staff and our school community. It’s the reader that keeps the love alive. Thanks for reading. Kevin is going to seize the day.

People call our generation lazy, self-centered, narcissistic, but I have seen my peers work harder, sleep less, and study more than is humanly possible. The truth is we’re all scared of that big question mark that taunts us from our visions of the future. We pour our souls into schoolwork, sports, music – trying to prove that we’re intelligent, or athletic or worthy somehow. Worthy of what? What is it we’re all striving for?

We’re likely the most stressed out generation that has come around, or perhaps we are just the best at sharing it. But we are also, I think, the most compassionate, the least judgmental, sexist, racist.

We are leading the charges to break down the social barriers that were put up way before we were even born.

And to those underclassmen who may be feeling the burdens of teenage angst rightnow, don’t worry. Everything is fine. It’ll be alright.

Kevin

Anand

Trina

Youseph Sunwoo And after singing about 525,600 minutes, the final year of high school has finally come to an end. No, I am not a part of journalism anymore as I decided to pursue Cappella choir in my Senior year, but this does not change the fact that my heart has never left room 611 along with the best adviser, Mrs. Peck, and the talented group of individuals in the class. This class has not only helped me to become a better writer, but it has prepared me for the future as the class has taught me how to create friendships through not what a person can offer, but through cherishing the unique personality that each individual harnesses.

There were no cliques in this class as journalism was the epitome of nonexclusive companionship. As graduation day inches by, I am with comfort with the certainty that these are the friends I will keep in touch with throughout the major steps in my life to come.

IF GOOD THINGS LASTED FOREVER, WOULD WE APPRECIATE HOW PRECIOUS THEY ARE? -HOBBES

Thank you to Shubhankar Jain, Prachi Joshi, Jason Chen, Natasha Sharma, Lucy Chian, Azadeh Rongere, Nikhil Kanthi, Thu Dam and Jesse Zhou for contributing photos and graphics to our Senior Issue.

Calvin Model: Billy Schmidt Stuffed Tiger Owner: Susan La Wagon Owner: Youseph Pavlovic