Senior Chapel Talks, Class of 2011
Part Two

 Megan Hodge '11 | Thilo Boerst '11 | Shelby Brandt '11 | Brianna Gonzalez | Max Zocchi '11 | Vince Banuelos '11 | Woojung (OJ) Ji '11 | Bawen John '11 | Minh-Tam Nguyen Pham '11 | Zachary Tunnell-DiSisto '11 | Giang Jill Nguyen '11

Leah Kobacker '11

The red rocks were the first things I noticed while looking out the car window, heading down an unknown road, going to an unfamiliar place, a place I had chosen to live for the next three years. But the true story is of me leaving all I knew in Italy to go somewhere completely new in Arizona.   This journey taught me lessons through experiences that will stick with me forever.

 The idea of boarding school never occurred to me until my sister applied to a boarding school in Colorado Springs.  At the time we were going to the International School of Florence in Italy.  Living in a foreign country had brought my family so much closer that the idea of leaving and living on my own without them frightened me.  Constant questions ran through my head such as, “Will I make friends?” or “Will my parents be able to let go?”  Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was more worried about my experience in boarding school or how my Mom would cope without me or my sister at home.  I wasn’t the only one of my group of friends deciding whether to continue my education at the international school or pack up our bags and go to a whole new environment without even seeing the campus, apart from what was on the school website. My friend Taisa, a smart girl from Rhode Island, decided to go to a boarding school back East because the lack of challenging classes was driving her to not want to go to class and caused her to begin failing the 9th grade.  I felt as if I weren’t being challenged as well and the lack of enthusiasm for learning was becoming a concern because at the time I cared more about going out with my friends on a daily basis then actually getting my homework and projects done and out of the way. I felt that going to a place where I knew I could be challenged and would have to be on top of going to class and getting work done, being proactive would be what I would have to gain to survive and be on course to graduate.

After the decisions to go to Verde Valley and my friend Taisa to Portsmouth Abbey we gave our final good-byes to our group of friends.  The good-bye was one of the hardest things I’ve done, leaving my school, leaving friends I’ve gained throughout my years at ISF to leaving the apartment my family called “home” but I knew it was only the beginning of a completely new chapter of my life and that there was no turning back.  

Hanging out in Phoenix for a week before heading to Sedona wasn’t what I expected. We had lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, for a little more than three years, before moving to Florence to attend school, but when I saw girls who I used to go to school with they would only blindly stare at me and not even remember me.  It was as if I had never even lived there.
I dropped my sister off at her school in Colorado a few days after our arrival in America and helped unpack her belongings in her dorm room. As I drove away with tears streaming down my face leaving my sister, my best friend, made me doubt the decision to go to boarding school. I wanted to get on the next plane and head back to Florence and go back where I belonged, back to my typical life style. I blamed myself for this situation; I blamed my parents for supporting me on my choice to go to school away from home.

The next thing I knew I was sitting in my unfamiliar bedroom in my parents’ new house in Scottsdale, folding piles of clothes I would take, school supplies in Staples' bags scattered around my room, and my Dad occasionally coming to see if I needed help. I knew that I made this decision for myself and with that I knew I would have to make the best out of it because it was going to be my high school experience.

That year I was a sophomore and had a lot of ups and downs. I met so many outstanding people without whom I don’t even know how I would have survived. There was Carlie, my roommate my sophomore year. Though we didn’t always see eye to eye about things her advice was pretty good. There was Jake, the one friend I knew that I could count on for anything and we would have the most amazing and deep conversations about everything and I knew that I could trust him.  My junior year I became good friends with Diana, Megan and Shelby. Those three girls were the ones who could always make you smile on a bad day or just have fun on a Friday night stuck on campus. But senior year was when I met my best friend Lena. It wasn’t only that our names were similar in pronunciation or that we were capable of finishing one another’s sentences, it was deeper than that.  Lena was the one person in the entire school with whom I felt totally comfortable, she was there for me through hard times I faced during this year, and as a team we were unable to go a day without laughing and enjoying life. Even though I am going to school across the country next year, I know that we will always be friends.

It was not only the students who made my first year at VVS worthwhile -- there were also the faculty that made my first year of boarding school comfortable. My dorm heads Andy and Jen were always there for me when I needed to talk to them about anything. Apart from them I gained great relationships with teachers I’ve had in my classes or those who I saw around campus.  I found that the great bonds that the faculty had with students made VVS feel more like home than a school. The faculty was there to support you whether it was in History with Matt or Visual Arts with Brad and Lucy.  The connection students have with faculty and other students is remarkable. I can’t count the numerous times I would have late night study groups in Dogpatch where it would take three girls to wake one up when they needed a cramming session for Eco.

Most people consider going to boarding school as a punishment, it’s not like that. In fact, going to boarding school is an opportunity some aren’t capable of experiencing. When I go to college I will already know how to be proactive, independent, how to live in a dorm, how to manage my time and how to think for myself.  For those underclassmen, don’t take boarding school for granted.  Make the most out of your years at Verde Valley.  
 

Megan Hodge '11

Hello fellow students of VVS, I’m sure there of plenty of you sitting in those wooden pews with puzzled thoughts, that is if your awake. “She’s not a senior, is she?”, well the truth of the matter is that I am indeed a senior, hence my standing up here grasping at words that will inspire you to make the most of your VVS career. I like to think that my tale of coming here to VVS is that of legend, but its not; rather its one at an attempt of independence.

For those of who you don’t know, which is a lot you, is that I’m from the small town that is West Harrison, Indiana. While I have moved 32 times it has never been outside a 20 mile radius of that town. Yes I know 32 is a pretty intense amount of moves, but what can I say my mom’s fickle. Moving is always partnered by switching schools, I’ve been to 10, three alone in the 4th grade, but luckily for me I had always had my brother in my grade which helped make the awkward transitions much smoother. But all of this is just to say that I’m accustomed to change, moving on to bigger and hopefully better things. Flash back to the end of my freshmen year, for the past semester I was being home schooled in order to travel with my mom more in Florida where her work currently took her. As the summer slowly encroached to an end I was presented with two options: Firstly I could continue being home schooled or Secondly I could attend a new high school in Florida. You see the problem was that my mom was no longer satisfied with my public high school at home, or the ones near by it. She didn’t think it was challenging enough for me, and to be honest neither did I.

Obviously I’m not some intellectual prodigy or stuck-up snob who thinks that I’m too good to go to public school. It’s just that I’ve always wanted more. So since home schooling was the current bane of my existence and I wasn’t willing to start high school without my older brother who is my crutch, I came up with my own option, my escape goat: boarding school. When I first mentioned boarding school to my mom, she wasn’t exactly thrilled; and in fact didn’t actually take me seriously at all. When I told my dad he kindly informed me that Hogwarts didn’t actually exist. If there’s one thing that makes me determined in life its being mocked and told I couldn’t do something. So that just added more fuel to the fire.

You would be amazed how many results you can get just by googling “boarding schools”, I had it narrowed down to three Ojai Valley School, The American School in England, and Verde Valley School. Out of all three Verde Valley School stood out the most to me, it seemed intriguing, challenging, and somewhat relaxed. I took the next step, I showed my mom the school‘s website. She still wasn’t convinced, but I insisted on being taken seriously. I set up a tour with the school in August. That caught her attention real fast, my dad’s too actually. Next thing I knew I was driving past these humongous rocks with the oddest color of red, there were these weird green pointy things that I had only seen on movies and other media. I was in Sedona with my mom and two brothers, but more importantly I was about to tour VVS. To say I was nervous would be an understatement, I had never had to apply for anything in my life and I was somewhat worried of rejection. I wandered around campus in utter amazement, everything was foreign it was nothing like my lush green summer, or snowy magical winter back in Indiana. The scenery was barren and dead, but at the same time oddly colorful and different. I was in love, with everything. The odd surroundings, the campus, the curriculum, everything. I was going to come to this school, I felt it in my bones or at least that’s what I thought. I was accepted and although I didn’t come in the beginning I was to join mid-year.

Making the choice to come to a boarding school, away from my family and everything I knew was probably the hardest decision I have made in my life, however it is also the greatest. In the past two and a half years I have learned and grown the most out of my 17; while this doesn’t sound like much, to me it is everything. VVS presents emotional, physical, and most importantly intellectual challenges. It has shown me independence of both my actions and my thoughts. Because of the educational atmosphere here I have learned to be comfortable around my superiors, like in Griff’s class when I jokingly imply that his heart was replaced with a black hole. Because of TOK class with Hans last year I have learned to not be afraid to ask questions and question facts but at the same time maintain respect, questioning the knowledge from authority. By going to Mexico and building houses for the unfortunate I have found the value of the simple fact of having a roof over my head. More importantly then anything, from VVS I have learned to hope, to hope that I will somehow survive the IB, to hope that we win our basketball game, to hope that more than 12 of you are awake, or to simply hope that I don‘t stumble through this speech. Without hope we have no vindication to try our hardest, to put our all in everything we do. And trust me in the IB you will put your all into it, whether you want to or not. I hope that college presents me with the same opportunity that going here has, that I will grow and learn; both in and outside the class. Verde Valley School is the best experience I’ve had yet, I have both loved and hated it. But mostly loved I hope you are all capable of leaving VVS the way I am; with a smile on your face and a tear tracks on your face because you know you will desperately miss it. Now is the time where you would think I’m going to list off the people who made a difference in my life at my school, but seeing how class starts at 8:15 I don’t have the liberty to rattle off more than a hundred peoples names. And besides you know who you are already.

Now I‘ve probably droned on long enough about my life, while you would rather be getting on with your own, so to be true to the epic nerd that I am I would like to leave you with my favorite quote from the wonder that is Criminal Minds: “There are things we don’t want to happen, but have to except. Things we don’t want to know, but have to learn. And people we can’t live without, but have to let go.” Thank you.

Thilo Boerst

Life in the United States is totally different then life in Germany. I started out with making this statement, because through being here I have learned a valuable life lesson that I can only recommend to you to understand. Germany is such a different academic environment, which is probably hard for most of you guys to understand. The best example that is supporting is if you ask most German high school students what homework is, they will probably reply “Oh yeah homework is the thing you copy from the little nerdy girl over there during the next five minute break!” or another one is if you ask a German high school student “How are you preparing for your history presentation, he will probably reply I’m gonna copy and paste a Wikipedia article and just read from that. Yeah guys honestly that is Germany.

Speaking about my academic high school career in Germany wasn’t that great starting with failing 8th grade. After that year I started skipping classes daily and I had some serious drug problems in the period from 8th grade until 10th grade, which was the year before I was coming here. I had my reasons for that, although there shouldn’t be reasons for it, but I find it important to show you guys that although your life seems like it’s the worst thing ever right now you should never rely on any kind of drug to cover up your problems. So coming back to my reasons, of course I started taking drugs because I thought it was cool and everybody of my friends seemed to do it, so I thought why not do it. It became more of a habit after a while and we would just do it because of boredom. When I was in 9th grade something really horrible happened to a very close friend of mine who died, because of 50€ of drug money that he owed somebody. This horrible experience is still following me today and shaped my life significantly. I lost belief in almost everything and you would think that an incident relating to drug abuse would have decreased the intake of drugs, but It didn’t, it actually made it worse and I went through a period of about three months being a total wreck not going to school anymore and getting high like no other. Soon after I got caught by the dean of my old boarding school and they gave me a second chance to stop my addiction, but it failed. I didn’t stop. I would continue to skip school and take drugs until I left the school in the end of 10th grade, which I failed again because I missed so many classes that it wasn’t really possible for me to pass. Guys why I’m telling you that is to show you how it shouldn’t be done and how you guys should take advantage of the second chances you get in life. I was stupid enough not to do it.

So after I failed 10th grade I knew that it was time for a change I couldn’t go back to that school, because I realized that if I would stay there I would probably never reach anything in my life and end up as a hobo on the street not having anything in life to care about and I honestly didn’t want that. The worst thing about these incidents I just told you about was the fact that I disappointed my parents to an extent that is probably not imaginable for any of you, but I could still feel the love they had for me and they helped me on my journey to get over my past and find a new beginning, which should be here in VVS.

I came to this school in the summer of 2008 for my sophomore year and I still remember how nervous I was when I was getting into that car with Katja and Polina driving up to Sedona where a whole new world would wait for me. I also still remember how I felt when I got out of the car in front of West dorm. It was night, I was scared too and I all for a sudden felt like I’m in prison, a reason for that could be that a huge guy with quite a few tattoos walked towards me and welcomed me saying “Hi I’m Septimus.” Sorry but meeting Septimus first must make you feel like you are in prison. Another problem for me that I was thinking about a lot was that I had trouble speaking the English language properly probably the lack of interest in English classes while being in Germany could have been the reason.

I still remember walking into my first history class in VVS. Bart was teaching it and I was switching in it after 1 week of school. The class had already taken a quiz two days before and once I came in for my first class Bart told me “Okay since you are one week late I’m gonna give you a F and a 0 on the first quiz we had”. My response to that was just laughing at him because I didn’t know what the hell he was just saying to me I thought he said something about me now being here and that he would strongly appreciate me switching into his class and so I just kept smiling saying to myself you can’t do anything wrong with just smiling at him. So the year passed on and my English started improving but the problem was my grades were still not great. I finished the year with a proud GPA of 1.98. Teachers had serious doubts about me taking on the IB program, which was a challenge for me to prove them wrong and finally make something out of my life.

By the way I have to thank you guys for that you inspired me through your hard studies and helped me choose the way I am on now because being the kid with one of the worst GPA’s in school wasn’t feeling very nice.

So the summer before my junior year I was talking to my parents about my plan of stepping it up next year and trying to be one of the top students, while being in the IB program. I could feel that there was little trust, because I have to admit it doesn’t really sound trustworthy if a guy with a GPA of 1.98 in the year before all for a sudden starts talking about being a high performing student. That’s probably what most people thought, but I was convinced I’m going to make it and I will prove everybody wrong. I wanted to finally take advantage of another second chance opportunity that was given to me by my parents through sending me to boarding school in America and I couldn’t waste another second chance like in my old school.

So I came back as a junior and had good grades actually being one of the better students in school and trust me guys very hard working for that. I still very much see that as the turning point in my life and I’m very thankful for everybody that helped me on that journey and that was always there for me. I still remember a quote Andy once said to me after a wild and exhausting soccer practice while we were walking up the hill. “Hey, Thilo, you know that people often say that they want to be better in school and try as best as they can but in the end they don’t have enough gas in their tank to achieve it, but you deserve enormous credit for doing the opposite.”  This finally approved my success of completely turning my life around and it still makes me feel so proud of myself today. I took advantage of a second chance given to me and I’m happy about the decision that I made about coming here. Look at me today I’m going to college, I’m able to procrastinate,  I now know after 10 years how to study for a quiz or test, I got my EE done and I’m also a part of a community that is totally amazing and treats each other with the biggest respect.

Before I’m going to end my speech I want you guys to reflect on what I just told you and I want you guys to think about the second chance opportunities you have in your life and that you better take advantage of them. It is just like in basketball when you grab an offensive board you better put the ball in the basket, because if you miss a second time the ball will most likely be gone.

Thank you very much!

 

Shelby Brandt '11
Senior Speech... OH boy!

I pray that all of you are asleep right now because of how nervous I am and how much I hate speaking publicly. I guess I can begin with a brief introduction to my background. I was born in Tucson, moved to Sedona at 11 months and continued to grow and age here in this spiritual town. When young I was a HUGE tomboy. You wouldn’t guess that from the way that I look today. Before middle school I was always the girl who was playing in the mud and climbing trees. I wanted to be like one of the guys. BOY how things change. I spent my elementary times involving myself in all sorts of things. I did accelerated programs such as ALP and Odyssey of the mind and extra curricular activities such as sports. Any American sport you can think of, I did it. Volleyball of course being my favorite especially because my team took the state championship - first time in school history. I also did church choir. Yes I was in the church choir when young. Then times changed.

From middle school on I have not had the easiest of life. During the most delicate time of anyone’s life, I was tossed away by the people who I thought were closest to me. I spent my 8th and 9th grade year trying to rebuild myself. Because of this I was always the quiet one in the corner scared to talk to people and scared of people talking to me. I spent a year at Red Rock. We all know how that really went. When I say this next thing, I do not mean to be snobbish or arrogant. However, I went to that school sat in the classes and didn’t do anything. I left that school with all A+’s without learning a single thing other than how to make the teachers love you. The summer came and my mom and me both knew that things needed to change. So we went on a search for better schools. My mom already knew what the IB was from my sis and wanted to put me in the same program. I would have laughed at her if I knew what I was getting myself into. Anyway we found some schools in Tucson and started finding a house out there.

Then VVS came into the picture and we started to investigate. I came to the school and went through a tour with not really having a strong feeling that this is what I wanted to do. I still ended up here though, somehow. And MAN am I thankful for that! People do not realize what this school gives to their students. I had some very hard times this year with certain circumstances such as my sister’s VERY bad car accident and other economic issues that appeared, among a large social change that had occurred. I went through another sad time similar to what I went through in middle school. My peers and my teachers around me helped me to recover. I do not know a school where the teachers will sit down and have coffee with you just because your Facebook status seemed depressed. Thank you Sarah! Or have an advisor who will sit and hear of the woes of a recent break-up and all the other very personal things. Thank you for being there Greg. Or even the teachers of the past who will do extra work to help you pass your math internal assessment. Thank you Mark. To all of those underclassmen, Take advantage of the family you have here at the school and know that there really won’t be anything better out there. Those people who I just mentioned are going to help me to succeed in my goal of becoming famous through my intelligence. Watch out because you will see me in the science book that your kid brings home within the next few decades.

I also want to take this time to thank my parents who work their butts off to get me to this great school. Without this school I would honestly be bored out of my mind and doing terrible things with my life because the boredom brought on from no stimulation. This is an opportunity of a lifetime so to all of you take advantage of it, because this is really something that can save you from taking those wrong turns. Go to you teachers when you need help. Talk with your advisor when you are overwhelmed. And keep in touch with those who have gone on to other places. You won’t regret opening yourself up to the safety and support that this school can provide.

And to my closest buddy on this campus and probably in my life, yes that’s you Megan, thank you. You have been there for me through thick and thin with Los Betos, guitar hero, and wine-filled chocolates. I hope to keep in touch with you for the rest of my life because of how close we have grown. I couldn’t have done it without you. and will never forget you and will miss you incredibly when we graduate. Again thank you for being there and thank you to all who have been involved with my life, you have formed who I am today and have touched my life in some way. Thank you!

Brianna Gonzalez '11

As many of you sit in front of me, I have some idea of what most of you are thinking. There are those who are already pondering what free periods you have today so you can get your homework done; there are those who are debating whether or not to actually pay attention as I ramble about something that isn’t necessarily important to you; some simply want to get out of these uncomfortable benches, get up and go back to your comfortable beds— you know who you are. And the rest, well, the rest aren’t even paying attention, you’re thinking, “Great, here comes one of the senior speeches. Next up: a boring speech straight out of the pits of this person’s life.” And it’s OK, I don’t mind — that sort of thing comes with the life we all share at VVS. But this morning, I ask that you give me a chance to let you meet a different side of me.

Some of you have been to my hometown, and about 6 of you are from there so you will know what I’m talking about when I talk about Santa Ana, California, the place that I’ve grown up my whole life. My hometown is populated by many different kinds of people; there are Asians, Mexicans, Americans and others. As some of you might have heard, Vince jokingly goes around calling me a “leva”. For those of you who are unaware of what this term means, it means a Mexican girl gangster. As you can see, the gangs in my hometown have not only influenced men to join, but women have also been a part of the criminal and violent acts a lot of these groups commit on a regular basis. When I was 6, I had a 16-year-old cousin who was influenced by a couple of friends to join a gang. I absolutely loved him, because he liked to take me to the park. I was small, I loved to play, and he was always willing to take me out. I was in love with his company, and I knew I could tell him anything and everything. It was almost as if he was my second dad. I lost my cousin that year to gang violence. At first my mom told me that he had gone to Mexico to live there with his father and I had hope that he would return soon, but after weeks of not seeing him, I knew he wasn’t going to come back. At the age of 13, I finally understood why my cousin didn’t come back like I wish he had. I know the kinds of impacts gangs and gang violence has had on the people I love most but mainly because I’ve learned to cope with the life. The majority of my cousins in Mexico have been shot down by gangs that they were in opposition to, or gang fights they were a part of. There was even a time where I thought I had almost lost my older brother because he had been to a party that had been raided by gang members. There were gunshots being fired and knives brought out. He ended up getting hit in the head by a glass beer bottle and had to be taken to the hospital. As you can see, I’ve had one too many things taken away from me while I spent my first 14 years in Santa Ana; it taunts me to even think about losing another family member. Through the hardships I faced growing up, I then got the opportunity to go to a boarding school of my choice. I wanted to stay close to California, so I looked up schools around the state and came across VVS. I was excited to get away from all the pain I had experienced throughout my childhood.

I realize now that it was a chance to focus on what I had instead of what I had lost. However, through coming to VVS I have also found that my peers and I still have time to focus on things that we have lost or other negative aspects of our lives (especially those who are in the IB). At some point of our lives at VVS, we have all been sleep deprived, lost our sanity, or pretended to pay attention in class even though the majority of us survived on 6 hours of sleep each week.

Which brings me to my next point. The last four years have not been an endless dream of good times like I had always imagined high school would be. Walking through the gravel struggling to find the different classrooms on the first day of freshman year was a nightmare. I barely survived the sophomore year slump: I’d ask myself “we have how many months until graduation?” I lived on 30 minutes of sleep a night my entire junior year as I tried to balance my education with the IB, college searches, and a social life. Senioritis struck me around September of my senior year, although the epidemic has certainly worsened in the past few months for a lot of us. However, through all the misery of high school, I can honestly say that I will always remember those times (yes, even the 2AM ones where I had about 6 different chat conversations on Skype complaining to different people about how I still had to study for a history test), and I will miss them. Above all, though, I will miss all the positive experiences I have had here. Reflecting back on my sophomore field trip to Mexico and working with sea turtles, I now know that this is something rare, something that I couldn’t imagine myself doing if I hadn’t chosen to attend here. Through looking back at the experiences here, I’ve realized that it’s easy to forget how lucky we are, and through looking at the positives in my life, I was ultimately forced to erase all the negatives (even the ones that happened before my life at VVS).

I know that a lot of seniors have said this before (because I do remember hearing it from a number of people back when I was a freshman), but I want to end this speech by emphasizing on how VVS really is a great place to attend. I’ve been given the opportunity to spend the last 4 years surrounded with people whom I can still see myself keeping in touch with. It’s actually funny when I say that. Back in middle school, I told myself that I’d keep in touch with all the people in my class. Guess how many people I actually keep in touch with now? About two, two out of 500 or so 8th graders. Think about it. The person next to you is most likely someone who is close to you, or the teacher you’re going to have for the next class is someone who inspires you enough to actually email when you’re out of here. The point that I’ve been trying to make throughout this entire speech is that looking at what has been taken from us is a bad way to go through life. Our lives are brief, that’s why it’s important to search for meaning. Throughout the four years that I’ve been at VVS I’ve successfully been able to find that meaning. I’ve been able to find it through my really good friends Bawen and Cedric’s ability to make me laugh nonstop, my advisor Hilde’s dinners, the warmth of all my teacher’s dedications to make me a successful student, mine and Jasmine’s inability to stop laughing, knowing that all the four year seniors have watched me grow from the little 14 year old girl who straightened ¼ of her hair freshman year, and the comfort of knowing that I will leave this place successfully going to college (thanks Jen!). Alright, I’m done rambling. But before I sit down, I want to ask a favor from each of you. I’d like for all of you to find meaning in the life you have at VVS. I can assure you that when you find that meaning, you will realize that VVS really is a special place. Thank you.

“Don’t pray to get what you want. Pray to want what you have”

Max Zocchi

To start my senior speech I will start from the very beginning.

My dad and my mom met at a car dealership in 1987 when my dad spontaneously offered to drive my mom back home as long as they could stop at a restaurant first, my mom said okay instead of being freaked out and so she went out on a date with her future husband.

I was born on an oddly warm day in mid October 1991, I was 1 foot and 8 inches tall and weighted about 6 pounds and all I could think at that time was to make bubbles with my saliva.
My dad was not there when I was born nor through most of my childhood as I would see him leave at 7:40 in the morning and come back at 9:30 at night, however his solution to this lack of attention was to spoil me as I didn’t really have to ask for anything and Santa Claus always brought me more than I had asked for each year.

Time flew by and I went from the loving arms of my babysitter to the playground of my kindergarten where all I could do was make holes under the slide that I intended to be traps and take long naps in the afternoon under the care of some really loving nuns. When I turned 6 it was time for elementary school which was just like my kindergarten, also run by nuns, so I assumed that they would be as kind as the ones I had before, big mistake.
The thing I hated the most about elementary school was the food. As most of you probably know I don’t eat any fruits or vegetables which was the only thing that dining hall served because they thought that was what little kids liked.I learned all the possible tricks not to eat the food: put it in my pockets, take a piece of bread, eat the center and stuff the rest with unwanted food, walk out with my mouth full and make a run for the closest trashcan and finally pressing all of that disgusting food against the plate so that it looked like I ate at least a bit.

Nobody really seemed to care for this, nobody except for Suor Paola. Once we had boiled spinach for lunch, something I really hated with a passion, she sat next to me for more that half an hour shoveling food in my mouth until I could not take it anymore and so I vomited. She thought I did this on purpose and so I had to be taught a lesson that I still remember clearly to this day. She thought I was nothing but a little punk and what could have been better for my personal growth than eating my own puke? Yeah that is what happened and when I told that to my mom she wasn’t that impressed or upset that her child had just been fed his own vomit in a catholic elementary school.

My mom, unlike my dad, always thought that I should explore the world as soon as I could because then I would be able to learn about all of the wonderful opportunities that are out there so at age 9 I went to England all by myself and at 13 I went to New Zealand for a month with an incredibly amazing family that I recently found on Facebook. For all of these opportunities I have to be very grateful to my parents because just then I was able to realize how lucky I am to have the chance of seeing some of the most wonderful places on Earth.
Time for high school came and I chose the school because it only required two hours of math a week, four classes a day and I would make it home right on time for the Simpsons; that was a terrible choice. There I had to take Greek and Latin for a combined 12 hours a week which I really hated and instead of trying to fix this by changing schools or working harder I drifted apart: I skipped entire weeks of school and wasted days at bars playing pool and drinking the whole morning, this behavior eventually came back to me and I failed 10th grade.

My parents realized that I had to change environments and so I was packed and shipped to England where I stayed for a year.

My dream however was to go the States, I was fascinated by America so much, I begged my parents to let me go there even though they wanted me to stay in the UK to do my IB.
They eventually gave in to my requests once more and through my education agent I found out about VVS, where I came in August 2009. I still remember perfectly arriving in Phoenix, I loved the weather and also the bus ride with Hugh up to Sedona.

These two years at VVS have had their ups and downs, the downs being woken up at 3 in the morning by Casey, Paul Hansen and Dan Dudley in the middle of the night asking me if I was to have any illegal drugs.

I realized that I had to choose between having fun or finally getting a high school diploma after 6 years. I chose the second one because I think its really time for me to finish high school as I’ve given enough heart attacks and disappointments to my parents who have always been supportive of me.

The moral of this speech is that you only get one shot at life so you have to enjoy it and have fun but most importantly you must not waste the opportunities that you get because those are rare and I probably wasted more up to now than some people will ever get in their entire existence.

Every one of you my fellow students is still very young and full of potential so do not waste what you have in you with stupid decisions because I have already seen more friends expelled than I could have ever thought it was possible.

Verde Valley School is a place that gives you an immense opportunity to really make something of yourself, if you have a dream and the determination to follow it the odds are you will be able to get there so my final words of advice not just to you, but to everyone are these: have fun in your life, but be very wise about all the choices you make.
Thank you, have a great day.
 

Vince Banuelos
The earliest memories of my childhood are filled with things like most kids do, cartoons, riding my bike with friends, and basic all around innocent fun. One part of my childhood that isn’t like most kids was the fact that for the first years of my life till I was 6, I was raised by both my brother-in-law and my sister Alisha.  They didn’t raise me because my mom was out drinking until the sun rose, or behind a building in a dark alley shooting up; no she was consumed by another object that demanded the same loyalty and commitment.
This Addiction was her work. As some of you may know my mom works for the news company ABC or American Broadcasting Corporation. Although her career allowed us to live comfortably in a 5 bedroom, 3-bathroom house with a pool, it couldn’t provide one thing that, as a kid I desperately yearned for, and this was attention from my mom.

Since my mom worked in L.A. and we lived in a suburb roughly 30 miles outside of the city this meant that if I wasn’t with my sister and her husband I was at the day care that my school offered. I was usually the fist person to arrive at this day care, and after school was the last to leave. Because of my lack of parental supervision, it would sometimes lead me into trouble.

One day in the first grade the topic of Santa Claus was brought up in discussion. Being in first grade the conversation most probably consisted of cooties ”a growing epidemic at school at the time” and who had the best lunch. But when Santa Claus became a topic of discussion I felt that the maturity level of the conversation had decreased, and I proceeded to tell my peers that there was no such thing as Santa Claus. Of course hearing this news brought all of the members of the conversation to tears. Shortly after this I was suspended for a few days because of my actions. This meant that my mom had to leave work to come and get me. Of course this meant that she wasn’t the happiest of campers. This also began to make me think about the public school system in general. After a few years of this schedule my mom decided that it wasn’t the best way to raise me because she felt that she didn’t have the time to give me. Her solution to this problem was military school. Imagine being a 3rd grader and finding out that you will be leaving all of your friends and everything that you know. I cried for about 2 weeks.

As my mom and I moved all of my belongings into my new dorm I begged and pleaded with her to allow me to return home I promised that I would be the best behaved child that she had ever had and I would never complain about her never being there. To my surprise she also began to cry. This was the first time that I had ever seen my mom cry. I guessed that it was as hard for her to see me off as it was for me to live there. 

That entire night I cried in my bed along with one other kid who was in my grade. Us two were the only third graders in our company, for those of you who aren’t familiar with military terminology “a company” is the group of people with whom you live, eat, march, and do pt with. I will explain PT later.

This boy who was crying was named Eddie Diaz, and as our sentence at Saint Catherine’s Military Academy continued we would become very good friends.

As the days continued both good times and bad times would pass. One example of a good time was when a black hawk helicopter landed on our football field and we were able to go up to it and examine the interior. And an example of a bad time would be the 5 am PT sessions held by Sgt. May.  P.T. Stands for physical training, this meant running, push-ups and every other tortuous physical activity you could think of.

One interesting aspect of this “school” was the fact that it was both military and Catholic. This meant that I was yelled at by nuns for one part of the day and then jarheads the other. One of my fondest memories of these women of God comes from one named Sister Sandra. Sister Sandra was not known as the nicest woman in the world. When I was in 4th grade, I had my first run in with the wrath of Sister Sandra. It all happened in the dining hall. I had some milk left that I didn’t want to drink, and at my school we were required to finish every single last bit of food and drink. So being the genius that I was, I decided to mix the milk with the ketchup that was left on my tray, after a few minutes of mixing I decided that the coast was clear enough, and that I could make a quick dash to the trash can. The first half of my trek went by without a hitch, and I felt that I was in the home stretch. As I got within 10 feet of the receptacle, I suddenly hear a screeching voice calling BANUELOS; I froze, and turned around very slowly. By this time my heart rate was hovering around 300 beats per minute. As I walked over to where she was sitting, I set my tray down in front of her. She asked me to sit down and finish. Never have I ever eaten such a vile concoction in my life. This was the point where hatred for the school turned into utter hatred. 

As school continued, and years passed the time to search for high schools began. There were only two requirements that a school had to meet to gain my attention. The first was it had to be the total opposite of Saint Catherine’s, and I meant in every way. The second requirement for me was equally as important as the first. It has to have girls, I was so tired of sitting in a class, where the only woman was 50 and smelled of tuna sandwiches and garlic.

This is how I came to VVS. After receiving my first view book I knew that this was the place for me. After getting my acceptance into VVS all I could do was count the days until I would finally arrive.  I still remember the small little words of advice that my mom gave me. The first was that girls were nothing but trouble and that they would take up not only my time, but also my money, and the second was that I would only have one chance to make a first impression on these people and that if it was bad, I would have to live with it for my entire high school career. 

Well if you haven’t heard the stories, I was the worse freshman in the world. Five vios a week was a good week for me, and I spent more time in Kevin’s office than I did hanging out with my friends. I guess with height comes maturity and as I began to grow from 5 foot 8 to 6 foot 5 slowly but surely my maturity level began to rise.
Not being in trouble all the time has really allowed me to come to enjoy this place, not only because of the people, but also because of what they offer. Here at VVS you will be offered experiences that most would consider once in a lifetime occurrences, and I hope that you will take advantage of what is being placed before you.

Woojung (OJ) Ji

    I’d like to talk about what I have learned in VVS for the past  three years.
    VVS is the first place to teach me the importance of hierarchy. When I came here as a sophomore, I was at the bottom of the Korean society; not only because I was the second youngest, but also because I was the most clueless. Kay was the first to arrive as well, but she was sly. She had previously talked with Rachel about school and built a sort of friendship with her beforehand.

Korean hierarchy works in a mysterious way. All of the boys hung out together and were friends, but there was a boundary that was not to be crossed. I noticed this articulate line when I went to a Korean dinner at Szechuan for the first time. We were having such a good time until one of the waiters from the restaurant hunted down the older SK. Apparently, the younger SK who had calculated the bill had forgotten to include taxes and tips, hence paying about $50 less. The older SK, confused as he was, paid the money to the waiter who followed him to New Frontiers. He was furious. I mean, furious. The older SK dashed towards the younger one and started accusing him of stupidity and crassness and cursing him in such malicious ways that I wanted to crawl over and die. What was worse for younger SK was that he was smoking in front of New Frontiers. The older SK was so mad that I thought he was about to shoot him in the head. I was feeling nauseous. After all, the younger SK was only trying to look cool in front of the underclassmen. He burst into tears, apologizing like a maniac. In my first year, every Korean was expected to have his best behavior; evidently, this included correctly calculating tips and taxes at a restaurant.

The older SK had a tight control over the Koreans and this wasn’t all bad. No one was drinking or getting dismissed. They all smoked, but that is not the worst that could happen in schools.

VVS has also taught me the importance of social adaptation. There are several occasions in which I have adapted myself. About two months ago, Rachel Lee and I have exchanged some interesting ideas about being environmentally friendly, such as recycling and drinking tap water. I’m not much of an environmental person. First of all, I don’t have biophilia; I don’t feel this fuzzy sense of bonding when I see living organisms such as plants and animals. I feel completely comfortable being surrounded by computers and iPods and awkward around cacti and javalinas. I certainly don’t feel the necessity to protect them. Also, the changes that I make are not conspicuous. The environment doesn’t change if I use plastic bags and throw them away. It may have an impact in the future when people like me keep using plastic; but for now it doesn’t. Anyway, I don’t necessarily agree with Rachel and other environmental extremists, but in order to fit in, to certain extent, I needed to be environmentally friendly. I recycle, don’t use paper cups and plates, and try not to use plastic bags at a grocery store any more – because if I don’t, then I’ll end up getting Eco-vios, which I think it’s the most VVS thing ever, and Rachel will give me the foulest look.
The second example is Contemporary Classical music. When I first heard one of the songs using 12-tones, which is basically using every note and missing a tonal center, such as major and minor, I couldn’t stand it. There was no meter, harmonies, or stable musical features; everything was so out of place and unexpected. I did not understand the composers creating music beyond tonalities, solid forms, and harmonies. In my opinion, Mozart and Brahms were so much superior to any of Contemporary Classical composers. However, once again, I needed to change and adapt from last year’s music class in which we only dealt with Baroque and Classical composers to this year’s. Every week in our listening journal, Contemporary Classical music was included, and despite my repulsion, I needed to open up, listen to it, and analyze it. After a while I could feel my ears adapting to contemporary music and wasn’t as much repulsed by it as before. I still hate it but I don’t have to gag anymore.

I appreciate Verde Valley School for changing me in such a positive way. There have been some terrible moments, I understand, but because of them I have changed. During the three years I have spent at VVS I have had as much joy and excitement as frustration and anxiety. I appreciate every single moment because it has matured me into a better person.
 

Bawen John

When I was about 8 years old, I thought that there were only two countries in the world, the first being Malaysia and the second: America. The only reason I knew America existed was because of the English movies and shows on TV. I was a very ignorant child mainly because what they taught in Malaysian schools was only about Malaysia. We didn’t even have a map of the world in class; we only had a map of Malaysia.

One day, my father told us something that would forever change our life. I was 9 years old when my father announced that we were going to move to Holland because he had a job offered to him there. I didn’t know where Holland was but it sounded very foreign and exotic. I thought it was in America so I was very excited to see the land where the Power Rangers, Batman and McDonald resided.

The plane ride was great. We flew first class sponsored by my father’s company. I was amazed by a button, that when pressed, a pretty lady with a soft voice would come over and ask me politely what it was that I desired. I thought I was king of the world then. It was not until we finally landed that I became very confused. My father told us that we have arrived in Holland but it didn’t fit my image of “Holland”. All the signs and directions in the airport were not in English but in a different language. We got into a taxi that drove us to a small town name Assen, which is two hours away from Amsterdam. I remember telling myself that this was not America. All I saw during the car ride were farms and flat lands filled with cows and windmills. I felt homesick and cried that night. I stopped feeling homesick the next morning because there was a channel on TV in the hotel we stayed in that showed only cartoons. We didn’t have that in Malaysia. Cartoons only played during the weekends in the morning or 5.30 in the evening during weekdays so this was like striking gold for a 9 year old. 

My father started work immediately the next day, we didn’t have a house yet and my mother was too afraid to go outside of the hotel because it’s also a new environment for her. We didn’t eat that whole day until my father took us out for dinner. I remember my mother telling me that thank God for the television that captivated us for hours that we forgot about our hunger.

The first day of school was very strange for me but all the kids were very friendly. It was a British school named after a British woman astronaut. It was the first time that I have ever interacted with white people as well as black people. I didn’t know much English back then so I was a very quiet kid that sat in the back of the room. I had friends though because I was able to draw very well and I would draw illustrations of my classmates’ favorite cartoon character for them.

I needed to better my English in order to keep up with the school’s curriculum so I took it upon myself to read English books. I started out with the easy stuff from authors like Roald Dahl who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Big Friendly Giant and so on. Eventually I moved on to novels like Harry Potter. As my English proficiency grew, so did my confidence in interacting with my peers. As a result, I joined the Cub Scouts.

My family took the advantage of the fact that European countries were so close together that they were just a car drive away so my father would take us to different places like Germany, Italy, Denmark and so on during the summers. I was just a child back then so I didn’t appreciate the amazing places we visited such as the Eiffel Tower and the leaning tower of Pisa.

Leaving Holland after four years of living there was very hard for me. At first I was excited to go back to Malaysia because I haven’t been there for so long but when I did leave, I realized that I would never have the opportunity to go back which upsets me but I was glad for the experience.

The level of education that I received in Holland was much higher than that in Malaysia. There was no such thing as skipping a grade or taking advanced classes. I had to enroll in whatever classes that the school assigned me that went along with my grade. I didn’t stay in Malaysia for long though, my dad announced that we were moving to Saudi Arabia this time. Once again my ignorance struck. The only thing I knew of the Arab world were the pictures I had seen in newspapers with people holding rifles tin the air after the event of 9/11.

I didn’t like Saudi because of the heat, dust and sand everywhere. People were also terrible drivers. I am thankful though because Saudi Arabia was the reason that I found Verde Valley School.

I never thought that I would actually come to America and now I have the opportunity to study in America. My father always reminded me that education is the most important thing in life. My father grew up in a village deep in the forest of Borneo. My grandparents, his parents, were farmers that made less than two dollars a day. With a successful village boy, comes a son with high expectations.

Being in VVS is a golden opportunity for me. A good education leads to a good future but only if you are willing to work for it. I am presented with this opportunity and I am planning to take full advantage of it and I recommend that all of you should also. The IB isn’t something to fear or hate. It’s the opportunity to a better future that requires you to work efficiently and hard at times. In my perspective, the IB is the key and all you have to do is get up and open the door. 
 

Minh-Tam Nguyen Pham

I think I have a great father, who is pretty knowledgeable. Yet he was really impatient with me when I was young. One of the reasons was because among the immense amount of knowledge he held, I never picked any of those to ask. I always asked foolish cheesy things that he never thought of, and therefore, didn’t know…something like what color does happiness have.

Since he could not answer my questions, he let me discover them myself. One of the most wonderful things about him is that since I was young he has let me make my own decisions, totally aware that giving me the right to choose is giving me the obligation to be responsible for my decision. If I chose to adopt a dog, I had to take care of her, scooping her feces every morning and washing her every weekend.  And when I received my acceptance letter from VVS three years ago, I had to make my decision too. Once I said yes, I had to follow it until the end. And I did. I wanted a better education and new experiences. And my father let me go to VVS at the age of 15, hoping it would help me explore the answers for all of my questions for which he had no answers.

Sometimes, no, lots of times I asked myself if I have made the right choice. This school was not heaven, in other words, in was hell. The IB squeezed the last drop of energy out of me. Although my BS skills improved incredibly fast, my procrastination skills improved at a greater speed. School was stressful, friends were  mean, and I myself deliberately or unintentionally made tons of mistakes, both academically and socially. I was not happy.  I went here for a better education. But is education worth exchanging my happiness?

I remembered the most stressful time in my junior year, when I was like a corpse moving around the campus. I hated school, teachers and people who were mean to me. I hated myself for making the choice to come here. I wanted to give up. And right at the moment when I felt like burning this school to ashes, Jim the person who loved picking on me, asked me a question:”What is the probability of making a right choice?”  I thought for a while then answered “½”. He smiled and said:” So there is no such thing as wrong choice or right choice. With every choice you make, you always have 50% chance to make it a right one. Whether a choice is right or not, depends on you.”

I felt like he had turned on a light in my brain. I looked around and I found my advisor - Brad, keeping an eye on whatever I was doing, Greg giving me advice to do Yoga and write in my journal in order to balance my emotional and physical life, Andy coming to my room telling me about his pie theory, and how to balance between work, family and myself, and Hilde buying me ice-cream.  I realized that I was never alone, and VVS did not deserve being burnt to ashes. It had these amazing faculties who took care of me like family. It was me who chose to come to VVS, so it should be me who would take advantage of my 50% chance to make my choice the right one. I could not give up.

And right now, at the end of my high school career, I am glad they I have decided to come here. I feel thankful for all the mistakes I have made, since they taught me not to repeat them again. A mistake is like a vaccination. It might make us slightly sick, but our bodies learn how to deal with that pathogen the next time we are exposed to it. If I had not been stressed out at the end of last year, I would never have learned how to balance myself this year. I feel thankful for every time I stumbled since I could learn how to stand up, finding life more meaningful than ever. I feel thankful for everyone who has helped me go through all the troubles, who has loved me and let me know they would always be with me. But I even feel more thankful for people who have made my life uneasy, because I learned how to accept differences, tolerate, forgive and grow up. Thanks everyone for making VVS as terrible but wonderful as it is.

Tomorrow, when I open another door to a different world, I know I will enjoy my life a lot. All the choices I will make, the entire world I will be entering, will be exciting. VVS is not heaven, but it taught me how to accept imperfection and see the bright side even in the most depressing aspect of life. Although VVS has not answered all the questions I have raised, it answered the one that my father could not:”What color does happiness have?” “Happiness is transparent. Although you cannot see it, it is always with you, in your hands, on your shoulder, in the person sitting next to you.”

Zachary Tunnell-DiSisto

Many of you might not actually know me, so I’m going to go through a typical day for me.
Wake up, take a shower - while in the shower discuss with myself why hydrogen bonds work and why water is sticking to the glass. Then belt out whatever song is stuck in head. No, that is not always gangster rap.

Then decide to throw on some PJ’s, because they are the most comfortable thing I have, and I honestly have come to the belief that by now, everyone I care about won’t judge me, and won’t waste the effort to evaluate me by what I wear.

Go to class and during a bio exam am able to recall the entire white board with all the answers for the quiz on it. Then wait patiently for a question that no one else can answer, I live for these moments to sort of show off.

Have a conversation with someone that I litter with sarcasm, and then have to immediately explain that no I wasn’t being mean I was just joking, I never try to be mean for fun.

Between classes if I am getting bored I go through all the squares of numbers starting from thirty up.

Go eat lunch, then after have some alone time, it is always good to have some time to think.  During this time I think about a plethora of things but, the most notable of these is probably love. Yeah I know what you’re thinking, “He has the capacity to have feelings, and doesn’t just have a black hole for a heart” well the answer is yes. Now I don’t really think about the trivial things such as: I