(From left to right, top row to bottom) Skyler Bresee, Lexi Borden, David Medina, Devin Hou, Pauline Baranger-Hartwig, Rowan Cooper (Seniors) - Interviews Conducted by Phoebe Shin
This week, your Humans of CPS Team interviewed six lovely seniors— Skyler, Lexi, David, Devin, Pauline, and Rowan for our sixteenth and final week of Seniors of CPS interviews. As the seniors ended school, these interviews were conducted on different days throughout the week—all on Zoom, of course, but they all held the same purpose: to share fun facts about our seniors and memories from their past four years at College Prep.
The Humans of CPS Team—Phoebe, Rina, Nora, and Araddhya—want to give a huge thank you to our seniors for their time here, and for bearing with us as we conducted interviews with all 91 people in the Class of 2022. We hope you enjoy our last issue!
Q: What is something unique about you/a fun fact that your classmates might not know?
Skyler: A fun fact about me…in middle school, I used to do a lot of theater—like, I was a pretty heavy theater kid—and I think people who don’t know me that well wouldn’t expect that from me. But yeah, I used to take it pretty seriously. I think I didn’t do it at CPS because my interests kind of moved on, and my hobbies changed, and also used to be really good at singing but then my voice dropped and I kind of just stopped.
Lexi: Okay so, I don’t know if people know this, but I did competitive figure skating for 8 years, so I guess that’s a really big part of my life, and something that I don’t share very much. I don’t do it anymore; I stopped when COVID hit, but I’m going to probably start again in college, so that’s exciting.
David: Yeah I was thinking about this question, kind of trying to prepare for this…but ultimately I couldn’t really come up with too much, so maybe just that my favorite animal is the sea otter. No specific reason, I just think they’re really cute, and I don’t think people really know that.
Devin: Fun fact…I don’t even know where to start with that question. I’m thinking about it kind of like Never Have I Ever. Never have I…eaten pie before. Ever. I’ve just never had it, for some reason, and I don’t even know where to find pie, actually. *laughs* I guess you could say it’s kind of on my bucket list. It’s really weird.
Pauline: I really like sewing, but I’m really bad at hand sewing. I don’t know, does that work?
Rowan: I guess a lot of people know that I fence…maybe people don’t know that I have three geckos and a frog? Yeah.
Q: Looking back at your experience at CPS, what is something you will never forget?
Skyler: The big one would be from the end of this volleyball season—winning NCS. That, like, moment when the ball just dropped and I realized we had just won—I will never forget that feeling. I looked out at the crowd, and all my friends started rushing out, and I think that’s a feeling that I will remember till like the day I die; I’ll never forget it. I’ll come back to College Prep, in like 30 years or something, and see that banner on the wall and remember how we won that for our school. I mean, that day was probably why COVID got us all right now, but it was kinda worth it. *laughs* I remember I was in disbelief up until we were getting the awards—I just couldn’t process it. It was crazy.
Lexi: I would say—this is pretty recent—Ditch Day and Prom; they were really fun, and they came right after the time when everyone was really isolated and it was so great to be together as a grade, and I talked to people that I don’t usually talk to, so that was really fun.
David: I gotta go with the sports theme—although we didn’t really have proper sports in sophomore and junior year, for swimming, it was still just a really nice thing to do after school. And you get to be with your friends, play games together, win some games, lose some games; it’s just a really nice bonding experience.
Devin: One memory would be freshman retreat—just the first time meeting everybody; that was really memorable. Another would be this year’s intraterm to San Diego; that was really memorable as well. Spirit Weeks are always fun, and…let’s see…anything else? I feel like there’s some days that stand out from COVID—like that orange sky day, for example, when it felt really apocalyptic. Yeah, those are just a few memorable moments, I guess.
Pauline: I think probably the retreats—freshman retreat, and sophomore retreat, especially.
Rowan: Intraterm I generally found really fun, and other school related activities as well.
Q: What is one word you would use to describe your four years at College Prep?
Skyler: I would say…accepting. Maybe not to necessarily describe my four years, but just to sum up my entire experience, you know? Just that—all the teachers are super understanding, and all the students are accepting of everyone’s differences, and I feel like there’s a general idea at College Prep where people understand that everyone has different needs and teachers are always willing to accommodate for those things. I never felt like I had to come out of my comfort zone and tell someone something, or ask someone something because something didn’t feel right for me—everyone was always just super accepting and understanding and I think that was kind of the highlight of my four years at College Prep.
Lexi: This one’s a hard one! *laughs* Probably like…exciting, I guess?
David: I’d have to go with blur, or something like that. It just went by a little too quickly for my liking.
Devin: I had a phrase, but I’m trying to shorten it to one word…I guess I would say unfinished, sort of? It didn’t really feel like a full four years, especially with COVID. It felt like there was so much left undone, so much more we could’ve done. Especially with how it ended—going back to virtual school was such an anticlimactic end. It felt pretty inconclusive.
Pauline: Eventful.
Rowan: I would say…hmm…I don’t want to say the one everyone says—rollercoaster—what should I say? Exhilarating? Sure. Exhilarating.
Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?
Skyler: I’m really looking forward to this summer, just because it’s my last summer in high school, where I get to just spend time with my friends, and play my last season of club volleyball. I actually wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to graduation—not in a negative way, just that I don’t really want it to happen. Like, right now, there’s this two-week period between the end of school and graduation, where we kind of just get to still be seniors but mess around. But after graduation, that’s when we’re really done and in college, and so I think I’m kind of nervous about that. And I know that senior retreat is before that, so I’m really looking forward to that, but afterwards we have graduation. And I feel like graduation really snuck up on me, so yeah, kinda nervous for that. But I’m looking forward to my last summer in the Bay, as a high schooler. The end of summer will be kind of tough—but I’m going to college with some of my good friends, though, so I’m feeling comfortable about that.
Lexi: I’m really looking forward to this summer, because I’m looking forward to traveling, and spending time with my friends. I’m also looking forward to going off to college—I’m very excited to go to Boston, because I’ve never lived on the East Coast, and I’m excited for the weather there and everything. It’s going to be very new and different.
David: I’m more or less looking forward to summers in general—because I don’t intend to drop any of my relationships with my friends, so I’m just looking forward to summers, when I get to just kick it back with everyone, once they all come back, and it’s just going to be a really nice time.
Devin: Actually I was really excited for senior retreat—I’m really hoping that they don’t somehow cancel it or something. I really really hope not, and I don’t think they will. But yeah, definitely looking forward to retreat—especially because we’ve only had…two retreats? Yeah, two, since we missed junior year.
Pauline: I don’t really have anything in particular; maybe just seeing what happens? Just like, seeing how life goes.
Rowan: I would say I’m looking forward to enjoying a summer with no real responsibilities.
Q: If you could say one thing to your grade as you begin to close out your CPS journey, what would it be?
Skyler: I don’t want to be corny, but just…thank you. I feel like the end of the school year was super anticlimactic and disappointing, you know, for us to not have a final day of school where we get to celebrate together as a grade—obviously we have graduation and retreat to do that, but if I had the chance, I would thank people for the experiences I had. Just because, I feel like at College Prep, everyone’s experiences with this school are a lot more personal, because our school is so small. Like, I genuinely don’t think there’s anyone in our grade that I haven’t had a positive experience with, and there’s genuinely something that I could thank each person for. So not only would I say thank you as a grade—I would say thank you specifically to each person for what they did and how they treated me and how they led me to who I am. I think a lot of people definitely said the same thing as me, but for good reason, you know?
Lexi: This is hard because everything’s so different! But I think as a class, even though we had so many setbacks with COVID, and distance learning, we’ve managed to stay really connected as a grade, so I would just say a thank you to that. And yeah, I guess that’s all!
David: Say something to our grade…I think pretty much just like, that I’m here, I’m down to do whatever and hang out, and it’s been really nice getting to know everyone, and I intend to keep knowing everyone even after high school!
Devin: Best wishes wherever you go and whatever you do.
Pauline: Let’s just finish strong!
Rowan: Try to find time to have fun in college; don’t work too hard focusing on your grades.
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