6. Sauerkraut 2025

During my freshman year at American High school I never really understood the importance of participating in school activities, meeting new people and trying new things. I was so used to the routine way of doing things that I had maintained all my life, and never felt like going out of my way to bring something new into my life.  I can now understand how what we do as teenagers shapes us and the more experience we receive, contributes to how much we improve as people. We are only teenagers once so it is important to enjoy our time and explore new things. You never know how much the skills you learn will help you, or when certain activities will come into use. The memories that we make in high school should be something we can look back on with positivity; even though we experience stress and hardships in school, now that we are heading into our senior year I want to be able to remember all the good parts of high school.  Memories and stories that will remain with us forever. I...

APENG was the class that I was the least excited for at the beginning of the school year. Going into it, I was genuinely so scared—I had heard so many stories about how hard the course was, all the essays we had to write, and about Mrs. Smith being extremely strict. Yet throughout the course of this school year, I’ve come to realize that this has become one of the classes that I look forward to the most. Well to be completely honest, I still don’t really like writing essays and doing timed writes…but what I love the most about APENG Period 6 are the people there. I genuinely feel like I’ve become close with every single one of my classmates, and I love all the conversations, jokes, and discussions that we’ve shared together throughout this year. So with this being our last blog of the school year, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite memories with everyone in this cohort 😛. Avni : Although I knew you before this year, I’m really happy that we were able to become so m...

  One of the things I hope to never experience in my life is Alzheimer's . And to anyone who has experienced a family member or a family friend who had Alzheimer’s, my heart goes out to you. As you all probably know, Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that not only affects memories, but also a person’s behavior and thinking. Alzheimer's is caused by genetics, lifestyle choices, and environmental factors. I have a brother-in-law whose father suffers from Alzheimer's, and as much as I dislike the guy, it makes me feel terrible. This is one of those “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy” situations (btw if you were real haters, then that quote would not exist). Alzheimer's completely changes a person—both the one who has to undergo the terrible disease, and the ones who suffer from slowly losing someone they love. It is insane to think that a person becomes an entirely different version of themselves when suffering from Alzheimer's. They forget names, faces, pl...

The emotion you feel after finishing an AP exam is always pretty memorable. It could be a form of relief (which is one of the more common ones), exhaustion (another common one), or even regret, as you later realize that you could’ve put a better answer to some of the questions. Nevertheless, with the ones I have finished so far, I’ve gotten used to the unusually philosophical thoughts I get afterward, despite not having too much time to process my excitement at being done with each test, because the next one is coming soon. After I finished the AP World History test last year, I remember being insanely relieved because I had finished my first ever AP exam, preparing myself for those I would inevitably take next (this year), and I could finally relax after watching so many Heimler videos. I also remember feeling really bad for the people who had to take AP Spanish the next day. This year, however, I have to save my relief for after my last exam on Friday instead of celebrating after my...

      As I tread through the final days of my junior year, I start to realize the significance of my high school and why making so many memories is so important. This is partly because of the fact that I realize how my senior friends are feeling when they are graduating, and that is because they re feeling regret and other emotions as they feel that they did not make enough memories. Then, I ask myself, what steps could I take to ensure this same outcome does not happen to me? Well, the answer is quite complicated.      School has many functions . The main purpose is to thrive academically and ensure that one's grades are good and a student is actually able to pass and excel in their classes. Students should be able to learn a lot of new material which would allow them to use that knowledge and material in future endeavors when they graduate from school. So, coming into high school, a lot of my focus was on academics and also making sure I am able to get my...

  Michael Timms on his TED Talk about building/reinforcing leadership qualities Similar to Juliette’s blog topic on shared experiences, I feel compelled to ask: does anyone else find certain experiences are simply too convenient or uncannily relevant? I find I wonder this more and more. It doesn’t happen often, but it produces an odd feeling—something like Deja Vu. I had an experience like this during the League of Leaders (LOL) leadership event on the fifteenth of April earlier this year. Aside from personally visiting Irvington High School for the first time, I was completely blown away by the day. Between having team-building workshops and school spirit rallies, the event was a well-balanced mix of education and fun. What especially stood out was an informational presentation we were given by Ryan Willer, the Activities Director at Irvington.  After about an hour of lining up by schools, each leadership member filed in to be seated in Irvington’s theatre. After a few sch...