(From left to right, top row to bottom) Sonia Sobel, Avi Helft, Miriam Lerner, Marius Mahshi (Seniors) - Interviews Conducted by Phoebe Shin, Rina Huang, Nora Wagner, Araddhya Tibrewall
This week, your Humans of CPS Team interviewed four lovely seniors—Sonia, Avi H, Miriam, and Marius—for our seventh week of Seniors of CPS interviews. These interviews were conducted on different days throughout the last week of the third quarter, but they all held the same purpose: to share fun facts about our seniors and memories from their past four years at College Prep. We hope you enjoy!
Q: What is something unique about you/a fun fact that your classmates might not know?
Sonia: Um, I'm not really sure! I don't really have a good sense of what people know about me, so this might not be something people don't know, but after summer of sophomore year I went on a two week backpacking trip in the Sierras––no, in the Trinity Alps. It was right, like right during COVID, so everyone got tested and we went, and it was really fun––we hiked like ten miles one day––there were lots of uphills and I really liked swimming in the lakes there.
Avi: Wow, that’s a hard question…I would say a fun fact about me that a lot of my classmates do know, but maybe other people don’t, is that my dad and his family are all from Argentina, and so I visit them a lot. I consider them a big part of my identity.
Miriam: That’s difficult, because I feel like a lot of our classmates know a lot about me in general, but…I help my friend run a crochet shop on Depop that was featured in—I forget which one it was—some sort of magazine. And I can play five different instruments.
Marius: Okay, um…I don’t know, I’m not that fun of a person. I guess I have two dogs, who are super cute—that’s my fun fact. One of them is named Leo, and he’s six, and super bear-like, and one of them is named Mochi, and she’s really young; she’s ten months old.
Q: Looking back at your experience at CPS, what is something you will never forget?
Sonia: Um, I feel like everyone who’s been in drama tech has said this, but drama tech! I really enjoy it––it's really cool to see something that you made onstage, and be part of a team working to make that happen. It's a lot of time you get to spend with people, and tech week more specifically is really fun.
Avi: One of my fondest memories is definitely river rafting on sophomore retreat. You know, that’s probably an answer a lot of people have, but I remember going through one section of a pretty flat river when my friends started jumping onto other people’s boats and pushing them off, like pirates. I don’t even remember what we were doing but…it’s not very often at College Prep when you can let go and not think about school and academic stuff. I remember sophomore retreat being a really great time to be with the school community, relax a bit more, and have a little more unstructured fun.
Miriam: A memory…a more general memory would just be my time in drama tech. I feel like I found such an amazing group of people to be friends with, and I think it’s just given me a nice and fun space at CPS to be with people that I love. I guess a specific memory would also be going to freshmen retreat as a senior. I think some people might have mentioned this already, but it was just such a fun time, with a very random group of around 15 people who just immediately bonded. I think we might’ve had more fun than the freshmen, actually, *laughs* but yeah, that was definitely a good memory.
Marius: I have a few. First, I would say this past weekend, when we won the volleyball tournament—that was really exciting. I would say sophomore year intraterm—I was in Bay Area Backroads, and that was a great group of people. Yeah, I’d say those two are some of my fondest memories here.
Q: What is one word you would use to describe your four years at College Prep?
Sonia: Um, this is kind of basic but like, change? I feel like it's been––I feel like I've been kind of different each year––at least a little bit––and there's kind of been like, like things are changing every year, you know?
Avi: Um, one word. Man. I would honestly say…I might say something along the lines of diverse but unexpected along the way. When I came, I knew that the academic experience was going to be great. We were going to be in really engaging classes and stuff like that. But honestly I didn’t think the social scene would be as vibrant as it is. I feel really close with a lot of my classmates, which is something I didn’t expect in freshman year from the school. The admissions people are always like “academics and friends,” but I was like, “How true can that really be in a grade of 90 people, school of 360?” But I really did find that I was able to branch out and engage in a lot of opportunities and friendships outside the academic space.
Miriam: I feel like I can’t choose a word without sounding cliche. Probably just…discovery? Discovery because—ugh, I don’t want to sound cliche—I feel like everyone has changed so much over the four years, and also I think there’s been so much character development for everyone, just because we didn’t get to see each other for over a year…so I think there was a lot of just discovery about who we are as people, and maturing as adults in the CPS community. So yeah, lots of discovery as a community! Something like that.
Marius: That’s tough. I would almost say humbling, you know? Just because I get to be around so many genius kids. *laughs* I mean, I like to think of myself as somewhat capable of these academic things, but just being around so many smart kids, I feel like I’ve learned so much. Even with my friends, I’ve learned so much from them. And I was telling people, when we were doing the grade-wide speed dating activity—I was talking to some people who I was in English class with in the past, and I realized that I’ve learned a lot, just from talking to them in class and hearing what they have to say.
Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?
Sonia: I’m looking forward to more communities to be a part of, and um, for all the new people I'll meet. And no offense, this isn’t supposed to be targeted at the people here, but I'm excited to make more!
Avi: What am I looking forward to? That’s a really big question…I’m looking forward to a lot of things. Honestly, in college, I’m looking forward to being introduced to a completely new environment that I have just never been exposed to. Even here, it’s a pretty small community; I knew a good number of kids coming into College Prep. College will provide an interesting opportunity to kind of diversify my interests a little bit and expand socially. All of that is to say that I love my class. I look forward to being second semester seniors with my class and having fun.
Miriam: Currently I’m trying not to think about college, *laughs* so I’m just looking forward to the rest of this semester, as well as the summer—getting one last hurrah of childhood, I guess, and getting to spend a lot of time with my friends. I know there’s a lot of senior things coming in the last couple of months of school, so I'm excited for that. I’m excited to have a real prom, too. And senior sunset.
Marius: I think I’m kind of looking forward to seeing where everyone ends up. Like, going back to what I was saying earlier—I think everyone in our class is super smart and capable, and I think everyone is going to end up where they are meant to be, and I’m excited to see where that is.
Q: If you could say one thing to your grade as you begin to close out your CPS journey, what would it be?
Sonia: Um, I wish I kind of started talking to people before this year. Because I feel like before this year I didn't like, talk to more people. I think the people are pretty cool, and I wish I put myself out of this bubble earlier.
Avi: I mean…maybe it’s a little cheesy, but honestly, it’ll just be a massive thank you for everything, every way in which people have helped me grow as a person. You know, it’s interesting because I’m not going around telling everyone “Oh, thank you so much,” but even to the people who aren’t like my closest friends—maybe it was something we said in class or spoke to each other in passing that really helped me come out of my shell, become a little bit more outgoing. Yeah. A big thank you to everyone for helping me along the way and discovering myself.
Miriam: I think it would just be to please stay in touch! I think the connections formed over these years have been so special and important to everyone, and I just really love our grade—we have such a great group of people. And although I don’t want…ugh, I don’t know how to explain this…I think people shouldn’t look back to high school as “this is the time that I always want to live in,” but I hope that everyone can take their experiences and connections and memories from this time and bring them along with them, because I just think that everything we’ve done here has been so important, and so essential to everyone’s character. And I hope no one forgets it! And the people!
Marius: I don’t know, maybe just like…it’s been really nice getting to know you. It’s been nice, it’s been fun, it’s been a ride…but, you know, all good things have to come to an end, and that’s sad, but I think it’s natural. So yeah, I’d say that—all good things have to come to an end, but it’s been really fun.
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