2023 Senior Columns

For many, freshman year is not much beyond a fond memory of youth, a cringeworthy point in life from which they grew as the rest of their high school years bloomed. When I think back to ninth grade, however, I bitterly try to push the subject out of my mind.  I still vividly remember my first week of school and the disaster that P.E. class was as a student who didn’t know any of his classmat...

Throughout my whole life, whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I confidently proclaimed, “I want to be a neurosurgeon.” Yet, as I started exploring more subjects in high school, I quickly realized that my passions lay in a completely different field: political science. This realization left me at a crossroads when applying to college, torn between following my heart or following...

Hello! I’m in eighth grade right now, but you already graduated high school. You’re off to college! I’m thinking somewhere still in Calif., and definitely in the U.S.  Williams is in a rural corner of Massachusetts. Maybe it will clear my head and help me focus. Or it will be one isolated delusional bubble — the latter isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Do you still want to be a teacher? I ...

In the beginning of my senior year, I had no idea where I would end up after high school: whether I would be staying or leaving home for college. As I weighed my options, my friends and peers constantly talked about moving to a different state or country. I felt like everyone would look down on me if I stayed home because I wouldn’t get the same experiences as them. Amid discussions and periods of...

Why did the scarecrow get an award? Because he was out-standing in his field. [Cue laugh track.] I know; that was a really bad joke. It probably didn’t even make you laugh, but I swear my humor is usually much better than this. But these jokes (and much funnier ones) helped me cultivate a positive attitude to help overcome Lynbrook’s academic stress. I still remember that fateful day in freshma...

Stepping into a bustling fifth-grade classroom, I embraced a life-changing move from Chennai, India to San Jose, California, hoping for better education and brighter opportunities, but unaware of the challenges that would test my resilience and shape my identity.  The language barrier proved a major hurdle as English, not my first language, hindered effective self-expression, particularly in es...

Music is an unmoving constant in my life. As I became taller, my to-do list longer, my career ambitions uncertain and my stress levels soared, my ears remained plugged with the sounds of Jeff Buckley’s guitar, J. Cole’s reassuring voice or Kaytranada’s uplifting beats. My playlists, in themselves, are mini-pools of memories, each associated with a specific time in my life.  Entering high ...

Tears flowed down my face as I walked through the San Francisco Airport security check alone. Gazing out the plane window, I was terrified of the four weeks I would be spending at summer programs on the East Coast. Little did I know that this trip would help me truly understand just how vast and diverse the world beyond the Bay Area is. After landing, I sat in the baggage claim with a girl from Monta...

“You never know what someone is going through” is a phrase that I’ve heard throughout my life, usually at the center of some moral lesson. Never did I imagine that I would be that “someone” — unfortunately, my intestines and brain had other plans.  In the summer of 2021, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an autoinflammatory digestive disorder that brought months of stomach pai...

Link Crew Orientation. Club Info Day. Homecoming. While all my friends were finding out about these opportunities for the first time, it was nothing new to me. I already knew the details of these events by heart, and I was close to finishing my plan for what activities in which I would participate.  Moving into high school, the  knowledge that my older brother passed down was one of my prized...