High school has been the greatest and worst time of my life. Being a teenager itself is hard enough. Pile on advanced classes, extra-curriculars, a social life, and the pressure keeping an Asian American mother happy and you’ve got one sleep-deprived, angsty teenager.

If I could tell one thing to my freshman year self, I would say “Don’t worry, it will all be worth it in the end.” I would never tell myself to not work as hard as I did, because it all paid off.

I’ve learned that the only thing you can control in life is yourself. I wasted too much time worrying about things that were out of my control. Whether it was stupid boyfriends or a bad grade on a test, I stressed out too much. I wish I could give myself that piece of advice, so that it could have saved me some piece of mind.

My junior year was the most academically rigorous year of my entire education. I took all International Baccalaureate classes and was grumpy the entire year. I remember waking up in the middle of the night with the side of my face pressed up against a notebook on my bedroom floor. Coffee was my new god and HA1 in-class essays were the bane of my existence. My junior year helped me realize that I was actually really bad at math despite my Asian American stereotype of mathematical superpowers.

Throughout high school, attendance was my biggest struggle. I was always that kid in class that never showed up on Mondays or Fridays because I didn’t think it was necessary or I needed to catch up on sleep. I wish I would’ve gone to school more often when I needed to. I got into the habit of always playing catch up and doing more work than I would need to if I needed to.

My high school experience wasn’t just full of terrible sleepless nights and groggy mornings. High school was also a wonderful experience filled with crazy memories and amazing new people.

I started attending Tracy High my sophomore year as a transfer from Kimball. It wasn’t difficult making friends. I’m ending my senior year with the same group of amazing friends that I made in the beginning.

I’ve had several favorite teachers through out my time at Tracy High. One of them being Madame Maria Poszar. She was the funniest, most unpredictable teacher I’ve ever had. Her hilarious personality and love for the French language are what drove me to succeed through IB French 3.

Another teacher I adored in high school was my IB English teacher Lisetta Wallace. I have never met a more kind and sweet lady whose love for teaching trumps any other teacher I’ve had. I went into IB English terrified that I had no idea how to do a poem markup or write a proper commentary. She taught me how to have confidence in my writing skills.

History of the Americas 1 has to be the most terrifying and stressful class I’ve ever signed up for, but Dr. Steven Drouin made it a little more bearable. Drouin was always a serious and difficult teacher to read. His dedication to his students and unique way of teaching really shaped me as a writer and a person. He was always dressed spiffy in a bowtie, and one of the few teachers I could talk to about weird indie bands. Getting an A on my Beast paper on Women of the 1950’s was the biggest validation of all my hard work. Any student who gets Drouin as a teacher is completely blessed in knowing that they will not fail.

Of course, my journalism teacher is one of my favorites. Whether it was letting me watch movies in the classroom during lunch or writing me a wonderful letter of recommendation, Wayne Thallandar has helped me out a lot this year.

I’ve recently been accepted to Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. I’m so excited to spend the next four years of my life in one of the greatest cities in the world. I’ve been lucky enough to receive scholarships and financial aid in order to pursue my dreams of working in the fashion industry.

After college I hope to become a creative director or a fashion journalist for a major fashion magazine.

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Wayne Thallander

Maxine Almendra, senior