May Recap; Graduation(s) and Reflection
May brought loads of upheaval and change. My years at NorCal SOTA as a Performing Arts Corps member ended. I graduated high school, obtained my driver’s license (finally!) and confirmed that I would follow my Gap Year ambition.
Starting off, May was the month of catching up on late work at school. I have a masochistic need to be more thoroughly researched and developed in all of my assignments and projects than what is required— which meant that after my busy few months of theatre, I was left with loads of unfinished work. Luckily, my teachers were very understanding, and I ended up getting most everything done. An especially interesting few projects I finished up this past month:
IB World Religions: Reports on Inter-Muslim Relations in Mali, and Anthroposophy. Detailed terminology lists for Sikhism and Islam.
IB Language and Literature: A poetry series in which I told the story of Macbeth through blacked-out Emily Dickinson poetry.
AP Government/Economics: A presentation on the history, relevance, and future of Labor Unions.
Academically, this was a very interesting month, despite the impending close of the year. I’m very lucky to have teachers that allowed me to continue exploring what interested me during this month. In the end, I received the English Departmental Award, at a ceremony I didn’t attend because I thought our final rehearsal was more important! My wonderful English teacher Mr. Tastor said some very sweet things about my love of English and activism regarding suppression of the curriculum. At my graduation, he told my parents that he would learn from the things I brought to class from my own research and analysis, which was perhaps the kindest compliment I’ve ever recieved. Life is an English class, and I will dearly miss my classmates and mentor.
This month was the end of our time as seniors with Northern California School of the Arts’ Performing Arts Corps! Also, the end of my time as the Chair of Leadership Institute. We ended the year with a presentation of a devised theatre piece, a mish-mash of all the shows in our season, and with a cabaret! I performed Getting Married Today from Company, which was a blast.
Getting Married Today from Company.
Left to Right: Ila, Sela, and Bella
I’m a bit heartbroken over the end of my time in youth theatre. My family in NorCal SOTA mean the world to me, and it makes me really sad to think that we won’t be seeing each other for Saturday classes anymore. We still have Senior Showcase this June to look forward to, but no more classes :-( That’s why I’m so so hopeful about making The Crucible happen.
In other news, big young adult things have been happening! I turned 18! I got my driver’s license! And, I graduated from high school. Enormously bittersweet. This has been an especially strange change for me, as I’m entering the first year in fourteen that I won’t be in school. Taking a gap year, I’m leaving that structure of learning. Of course, it won’t be an end to my learning. I consider myself the sort of person who needs to learn things to survive. If I go too long without reading a challenging book or researching some facet of Ancient history I’ll feel stagnant and unfulfilled. But, I won’t be forced into it by nature— which is scary!
I had planned to defer from Reed College for a year, but my plan was not accepted. So, knowing I really need this time. I un-enrolled to take my year. I hope to still re-apply to Reed in the fall. This feels like the right direction.
I’ve had a really wonderful Senior Year, the most academically enriching of my time in high school, thanks to my wonderful teachers this year. I’m very sad to leave. Onwards to new adventures, new books, new mysteries!
So much love! All around! 06/04/2023
