Graduation time is upon us and we at the Danville Weekly wanted to sit down and chat with some graduating seniors. We contacted Monte Vista High, San Ramon Valley High, and Venture School and asked to speak with students who had exceptional stories or were going on to do exceptional things or were just plain exceptional people. One student, Steve Kaye, had contacted us to write for our newspaper. He mentioned that he had tried to recall the junior class vice president at SRVHS – we had to talk to this kid! One afternoon last week we got the chance to chat with the seven students at our newspaper office, who all expressed excitement and a healthy dose of apprehension about the future. At the end of their high school careers, all sensed that they had grown as people.
There are many paths to the future
Our seven seniors all have different backgrounds and have achieved different things in different ways. Amy Meng moved here from Vietnam with her family just four-and-a-half years ago. She struggled with learning English, but with the help of some dedicated teachers, she was able to learn English and make it through high school.
Bryan Rocco, who goes by Rocco, admitted he wasn’t always well liked in school. He said he used to be picked on when he was young because he was short. The experience taught him to value true friends, the ones who will always be by your side. Now, the kid who was teased is going off to become an officer in the Air Force.
Amanda Carpenter, after illness and leaving “normal” high school, feels she has returned to being herself. In fact, she really likes who she is.
Whatever path these students took, and wherever that path leads, the future looks bright for all of them.
Before they start college Andrew Gardner and Angelica Kelly are each exploring Europe, then they head off to American University and Harvard, respectively.
Amanda, armed with carpentry skills she learned from her parents and her carpenter brother, is helping her mother refurbish her family’s home near Copco Lake. She plans on attending Diablo Valley College before she starts her education to become an avian veterinarian.
Steve Kaye is planning a big adventure to Yellowstone. He hopes to shake things up along the way. “We’re hoping to get chased out of at least three towns on the way there,” he said.
Bryan is attending the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and will start boot camp soon after graduation. It has been his dream since he saw the film “Top Gun” to be a fighter pilot. His summer will be shorter than the others. “I have a whole whopping 13 days of summer vacation so I don’t get to do much,” he said.
Amy is headed for the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. Amy is no stranger to the sewing machine. “My family can make clothes. My grandmother made my mom’s clothes and my mom made my clothes,” she said.
Kelly McDonald will be attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston and plans to major in music business and industry.
Thanks for the memories
We asked the students to share some of their fondest high school memories. Andrew, Bryan and Kelly immediately thought back to an influential or quirky teacher. Andrew recounted his AP history class with Julie Sindel. She was a tough and demanding teacher, but she got the best out of students, he said. “Looking back, there were a lot of good memories. We were always working on projects, at each other’s houses bonding.”
Bryan remembered his English teacher Lisa Sabatini. “She was a crazy teacher, a very unique teacher. She made you think.”
Kelly appreciated her AP music theory class. “That was the point when I knew what I wanted to do.”
For Amy it was just hanging out with friends, and for Amanda it was her experience working as a camp counselor for fifth-graders. She got to share her love of nature with the kids and also learned a lot about herself. “I learned I’m not so horrible around kids. I kept them alive!”
Steven’s fondest memory was the POG club he started at San Ramon Valley High. The POG club’s mission was to bring back pop culture from the ’90s. “We had an old Nintendo system and we had a duck hunt tournament,” he recalled. “The winner got a Mario bobble head that we bought at Target for 10 cents that we spray-painted gold.”
Steve also fondly looked back on a joke recall election he staged at his high school. “We tried to recall the junior class vice president. Our basis for getting rid of him was so absurd and yet he believed we were going to get him kicked out of leadership.” Steve and his club even staged a rally for the recall.
Freaks, geeks or none of the above
Our seven seniors didn’t like the idea of being labeled, but most admitted it was inevitable in high school. Where there are high schools, there are cliques.
Andrew felt he had transcended cliques in high school. “I’m friends with people from all over the place. Labels are overrated. In my case, I’m that ‘newspaper guy,’ or the ‘nice guy’ or the ‘tall guy.’ I would never label other kids.”
Steve and Bryan from San Ramon were quick to disagree. They pointed out that there were definitely cliques at their high school. “There are definitely people you can label. There are the drunkards, the Goths, or the art people,” said Bryan. All agreed that a person is more than his or her label. “As clichÈ as it is, there are people you think are a certain way but they’re really totally different. I know some people who I would think are the most prissy, girly people you would ever meet and they would like some of the most hardcore action movies you could ever see. ‘Wait, you dress like that and you like “The Punisher”?'”
“The cliques are identified by who eats lunch together, but in class it’s totally different,” said Angelica. “It depends on who you hang out with outside of school. It’s really the groups that hang out on weekends that they really identify with. I can see faint lines of cliques.”
Amanda felt her experience was completely different at Venture, a K-12 independent study school. Because of the way Venture is set up, she felt her school was devoid of cliques. A close friend of hers is a freshman, something unheard of at other schools. “Everybody talks to everybody. You’ve got all different types of people. People go there for different reasons: acting, sports or people go there because they’re sick. You just hang out.”
Even though most acknowledged that they at one point or another had a label, they now feel liberated as seniors. “For the first year and a half, I was ‘The girl who moved from Scotland,'” said Kelly. “Now, I can get along with anyone. I’m a senior. That’s cool.”
It was fun, but…
The transition from high school in the Danville-Blackhawk-Alamo area to university and beyond is a huge one. Bryan called it “leaving the bubble.” While most of these students seemed to have genuinely enjoyed their high school years, there were aspects they were not going to miss. “I will not miss my parents trying to regulate, but I will miss my free time,” joked Bryan.
Andrew will miss his family home and all the food in the fridge. Angelica will miss her bedroom and having personal space. Steve worries that at college he might overstep the boundaries. “You’re not going to know what you can’t do!”
Kelly expressed concern about rooming with someone she doesn’t know. “I’m moving in with a stranger. What if they’re an axe-murderer?”
A clean slate
Imagine leaving classmates you’ve known your entire life, teachers who know you and have nurtured you every step of the way, and a community of supporters. It’s a daunting endeavor. But the future, for our seven seniors, is an exciting place to be.
“I can start over. It’s a clean slate,” said Angelica.
“I’m excited to meet new friends and being my own boss,” said Kelly.
Bryan acknowledged his life would be a lot more structured at the Air Force Academy, but he is looking forward to eventually learning how to fly.
Andrew is looking forward to life in D.C., but both he and Angelica worry they’ll sign up for too many clubs and activities. “Knowing me, I’ll overextend myself,” said Angelica.
While most aren’t married to any careers, they have some idea. Angelica is interested in being a lobbyist. She enjoys politics, but doesn’t want to be a politician. Amy hopes to be a fashion designer.
Andrew is enjoying school too much right now to think about what lies beyond it. “Being in school is awesome,” he said. “I’d be a student forever.”
Amanda Carpenter
Venture School
Alamo
Activities in school: Venture School 2005 accreditation; book club
Activities outside of school; 4-H; Carpenter/Robbin’s Commercial Real Estate
Proudest accomplishment: 3.8 GPA; coming back to being myself
Plans for next year: Diablo Valley College
Andrew Gardner
Monte Vista High School
Danville
Activities in school: Editor-in-chief of the school paper; model UN; Link Crew
Activities outside of school: Volunteer at the Museum of San Ramon Valley; work at Susan Foord Catering; intern, 2004 Democratic Convention
Proudest accomplishment: Awarded the “Mustang Award” by school staff
Plans for next year: American University
Steve Kaye
San Ramon Valley High School
Danville
Activities in school: POG club; mountain sports club; school video bulletin
Activities outside of school: Making videos; discovering music; going to concerts; creating elaborate stories about fictional characters, then making Web sites about those characters
Proudest accomplishment: Forming the POG club and accomplishing at least 60 percent of our goals
Plans for next year: UC Santa Cruz and doing … things, I guess
Angelica M. Kelly
Monte Vista High School
Danville
Activities in school: Black Student Union; speech & debate team; NHS
Activities outside of school: Club soccer; Jack & Jill of America
Proudest accomplishment: Getting through AP chemistry
Plans for next year: Harvard University
Kelly McDonald
Monte Vista High School
Alamo
Activities in school: Chamber singers; concert choir; animal rights club
Activities outside of school: church; work at Barnes & Noble, road tripping; going to La Scala for coffee
Plans for next year: Berklee College of Music
Amy Meng
San Ramon Valley High School
Danville
Activities outside of school: Barbizon
Proudest accomplishment: Graduating this year
Plans for next year: Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco
Bryan A. Rocco
San Ramon Valley High School
Danville
Activities in school: editor, yearbook; band; cross-country; track & field; California Scholarship Federation
Activities outside of school: volunteering; lifeguarding
Proudest accomplishment: Acceptance to U.S. Air Force Academy
Plans for next year: Attending the Academy
