The Best Buds

I started my freshman year at college not having many expectations. I still had not gotten over how great my high school years had been, specifically, my senior year. In my mind, nothing could ever come even close to my time in Panama. I was right. I don't know whether I should be happy or sad about that. I am happy because I have so many memories with my best friends that will forever stand out in my mind. But I'm sad because I want every year to seem like it has been the best I have ever lived. Life is great, but not that great. I do believe, however, that I have lived each moment to its fullest.

I have made new friends and they are fun, even entertaining. But, I still hold on and cherish my friendships with my best friends from High School. What is it about them? We fight, make fun of each other, can sometimes barely be standing in the same room, let alone be friends. And yet, people often think I NEED them. As if I cannot go on living without them. I seriously doubt that. But I do know that we have the greatest times together. This summer, we had a two week long reunion where we went to San Blas and Contadora, different sets of islands that look like they have just walked out of a postcard. It was truly the most beautiful crystal clear water and perfect sandy beaches with palm trees along the shores. But what made it so great was being able to share that experience with my favorite buds, Dominique, Sam, and Juliet. It's always a vacation with those three, who wouldn't want to hang out with them all the time?

As we get older, and further away from our high school years, I should be fearing the end of us. But no worries, this summer reassured me that such a thing would NEVER happen. I know each of us has our doubts that we will one day grow apart, but I think that that just shows us how far from losing our friendship we really are. There were a couple of shaky times this summer, where all four of us were about ready to call it quits, but we pulled it together--we wouldn't have broken up the gang anyway. How often do you find friends that you can be beating up one second and be taking funky pictures with smiles from ear to ear in the next?

Now, we are starting all over again, ready to start off year two of college, each of us far away from one another. I don't know when we will see each other next, but I do wonder where that will be.

What I've Learned This Year

A friend from college recently asked me, "So what have you learned this year?" I responded, without skipping a beat, "I have realized just how important it is to treat your family right." I mean, I have always known this, but I am finally mature enough to be able to follow through with it and not just stand back and say it. This was may answer because living away from home taught me that some day, everyone is pushed out of the nest and forced to fly. This year, I had to fly, all on my own. And, I must say, that I have done pretty well for myself. I have washed my own dishes, did my own laundry and folded my own clothes, among many other chores I did not realize actually is tiring and time consuming. Oh, my Mom did all that for me? She really loves me.

Then it hit me. Why have I spent so much time being nice to my friends (okay, so friends are a lot of fun) while coming home and acting like Grumpy of the Seven Dwarves? I always thought that no matter what, family will be there for you and love you always. But it didn't mean that I could take advantage of that and use and abuse them just because I knew they'd stick around. No, it is family that should be treated especially well exactly because they are the ones that deal with you and vice versa everyday. Am I right? Or, am I right? I'm right.

Love your family, and treat them the way they deserve to be treated. Family, in my definition are those few people that have and will always stick by your side, not necessarily a blood relation. Those are the ones worth keeping and the ones worth loving.

A Glimpse of Many

“Hi, I’m from …” was how we were supposed to introduce ourselves on the first day of school. As each student told the rest of the class where they had lived before, I was amazed to hear that almost everyone had come from a different part of the world. And now, as we have all become great friends—as close as family—I feel that I can say that they help define my world.

Balboa Academy in Panama City, Panama, is more than just your average school: it’s a crossroad for people from many different places, and of all sorts of backgrounds. I have friends from Peru, Jamaica, Colombia, Canada, France, Chile, Spain, Ecuador, Taiwan, India, and the list goes on. Meeting these people, my friends, has opened my eyes to the rest of the world. They are the link that connects me to different cultures and languages. It is through them that my world has expanded.

Never before have I felt that I could offer more than just my own heritage. Now, I have knowledge of so many other worlds. From my friends’ stories, I have acquired a grasp of many cultures and traditions. And compared to when I was growing up in Torrance, California, I have a new perspective on life, one of open-mindedness. Because of my experiences living in Panama, my world has expanded far beyond what I thought possible.

Juggling

It’s just who I am. I’ve been called many things before: busy body, perfectionist, hardest worker, nerd, jock, and other things. What have I done to receive these names? I have an intense sense of passion for everything I do. And, trust me, I do more than your average person. I do so much I even scare myself sometimes. I tend to seize every opportunity and somehow gain control of it.
My life, in short, is like a juggling act. If each ball represents something I do, I could work in a circus as a juggling master. High school is tough as it is, but unlike actually juggling, I somehow manage to make time for every activity I’m interested in.

Keeping up my grades is also a top priority, not that I can rank which activity is the most important. In my book, everything I do is important. It just means I have to work a lot harder, but that has worked all my life so it isn’t a problem. The key to my success is determination.
I love everything I do. I also believe that life is short and that I should make wise use of every spare moment of my precious time. Thus, every action taken has to come from my heart and soul, because I invest every ounce of energy within me. No matter what I do, I give my all and never give up until the job is done.

What makes me proud, more than anything, is how I feel that this aspect of my personality is what people most like about me. But gaining their respect hasn’t been easy. Being nearly two years younger than my classmates was at first a disadvantage. Nevertheless, I now know that they support and respect everything I have achieved. My drive to excel in everything I do is what defines me today.

Oh, How Time Flies

As the last of the bumps smoothed out and the plane completed its descent, my stomach tingled with excitement, happy to be back in California. It had been exactly one year since I moved away to Panama and I felt good to be back.

The summer of 2007 consisted of beach outings, grunion hunting, a trip to Disneyland, and a long drive to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. Does that sound like fun? Perhaps not, but for me it certainly was.

Surprisingly, on this trip the history of California started to fascinate me. When I had lived there I didn’t think much of it, but visiting Manzanar really opened my eyes, especially due to my heritage. As a Japanese-American, I felt my time there was a valuable cultural and educational experience. All this I had once taken for granted. And that summer, to see my home-state in a different way, after living abroad, taught me that I should approach all places with the same open-mindedness.

This visit made me want to explore my culture further. Never before had I felt the need to learn more about myself. Who my ancestors were and what was my family history were questions that started to come, and often, to mind. So, the summer of 2007 may not have been the most productive use of my time—in terms of academics—but it was definitely worthwhile.

The summer of 2008: another fun vacation? Not really. Senior year was right around the corner and college wouldn’t be much further behind. High school sure had gone by fast, and I had no time to waste. There were many things to do over the summer. No time to relax, everything was serious business.

I visited several colleges, met with college counselors, took SAT and U.S. History classes. Of course, this was all very interesting, but in terms of fun, it was the exact opposite of how I spent my vacation the year before.

I woke up every morning at 6, went to history class until 12:45pm, and then rushed over to my SAT classes until 6 in the evening. Everyday was jam-packed with studying, except the weekends and the Fourth of July, when I was fortunate enough to attend a delicious barbeque dinner. At least I had one holiday during my “vacation.”

Over the last two summers I learned that time is precious, and that regardless of how I spend my time, it’s important always to be trying to grow as a person.

The View at the Top of the Stairs

This was the speech I gave at Balboa Academy's 2009 Graduation.

I would like to thank Juliet for her strength and support to get this speech done. Without her confidence in me I doubt I would have had anything more than a piece of paper filled with angry scribbles and funny drawings.

I would also like to thank Dr. Sirias, who, for one more time at Balboa Academy (I plan on asking for his help in the future as well -- just because I graduate doesn't means he's off the hook), went over this speech for me. When I asked Dr. Sirias for ideas for this speech, he said I should go up in front of the crowd and talk for an hour about how amazing he is. Obviously, I didn't. Instead, this became the final product. Thank you for all your help Dr. Sirias.

The View at the Top of the Stairs

Everyday students at Balboa Academy have to climb at least three flights of stairs to get to their classes. Along the way, the walls are decorated posters that have corny sayings on them. On days when we are full of energy, excited about our classes and ready to learn, we don’t notice these posters. Nevertheless, I know that everyone of us has read at least one each day because every time we climb those stairs we need to rest to catch our breath. And all of us at Balboa Academy know and respect those stairs: they are probably the hardest workout most of us get.

Anyway, back to the clichéd posters: one in particular always catches my eye. It says, “Teachers can only show you the door, but you must enter by yourself.” When I see this one it usually just means there are only about ten seconds left to get to class before the bell rings. But when I stop to think about it, the lessons we have learned from our teachers go far beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

What’s more, when I say teachers, I don’t just mean those at Balboa Academy who have dealt patiently with us these past three years, five days a week—and for this we are grateful; but I mean our parents, our siblings, and our friends—they have all taught us something throughout the years.

Our parents have stuck by us and cared for us unconditionally, even when we did something wrong. But think about this: Did they really have a choice? Regardless, they have been our teachers since we were born, helping us differentiate between right and wrong, nurturing our development for the day—which has arrived today—when we will have reached the top of these stairs and stand before that door into adulthood, poised to make our own decisions. For this, parents, we are also eternally grateful.

Our siblings, even if they are very annoying—like my brother Aaron—love us dearly. We need to remember the good times, as we’ve helped each other grow and mature. At the end of this summer, our paths will begin to diverge.

And now, Class of 2009, I want you to look at your classmates. At Balboa Academy we have become a family of our own. One of my favorite moments was during Field Day this year, when we made a giant huddle, jumped around and chanted, “Seniors! Seniors!” The ringing roar of our voices and the terrified look on the faces of the freshmen will be etched in my memory forever. We are, I believe, the most united class Balboa Academy has ever seen.
So here we are today, at the top of the stairs at this crucial stage of our lives, standing in front of that door that leads into the future. All we have left to do is open that door, enter on our own, and become adults others can rely on. But for now, let’s just say goodbye and, more importantly, let’s always remember the lessons we’ve learned from all our teachers—at Balboa Academy, at home, and among friends.

In the Spotlight

“Your personal experience essay is due on Monday. Don’t forget,” my teacher, Mrs. Wieser, told me on a Friday afternoon.

“Okay, thank you. Bye, have a great weekend.” I said this as if I remembered. But what was really going through my head was, “Nooooo, I completely forgot. Oops, oh well.” Back when I was in fifth grade, I wasn’t such a great student. I always did my work, but I didn’t really like it. I figured it just wasn’t the thing for me. But this time it was a little different.

I had never really written an essay before. Sure, I did my occasional book reports, but nothing on the personal level. Since I had just gone to Australia the year before, I decided to write about the Great Barrier Reef. The hardest part of it all was to start it; after that, it all just flowed out of my fingertips. There were times when I had to dig deep inside myself to really tell everyone how much fun I had. I mean, when would I get the chance to tell people the cool stuff I do? Something like that doesn’t easily come up in conversations between fifth graders.

These are reasons why I would rather write. With this assignment, I realized that when I write, I have complete control. No one can tell me what to say or do. I get to tell my story how I want to and the person reading would have no choice but to follow along. I liked that power.

It turned out that I received the highest grade in the class and Mrs. Wieser wanted to read it to the class. I was so happy; but at the same time I became very nervous because everyone was going to hear what I wrote. My heart started to beat louder than my teacher’s voice, but not enough to block it out. When she finished, I looked around to see my classmates’ reactions, and what I saw was good. I heard, “Wow, that was awesome,” or, “I liked it” throughout the classroom.

This experience changed me completely as a student and person. Those who know me today would probably have a hard time imagining me as someone who didn’t really work hard, or was quiet in school. But this is what writing did for me. It made me fall in love with being noticed and respected. The sudden burst of self-confidence drove me to excel far beyond everyone else, in everything I did. Today, I write and enjoy it for two reasons: I like the power of control, and I can’t help but enjoy the spotlight.