Elsa, Week 16 - APENG Memories
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 much closer during our junior year. I loved the little conversations we would have before and after class about our APENG work, and when we would sometimes randomly make eye contact in the middle of class. It was nice to be able to have someone that shared my sense of humor, and it was really funny hearing all of your goofy brainrot jokes.
Ayush: Ayush, I think that my favorite memories of you in APENG this year were the times when you actually came to class 😅. Whenever you were there, you were always able to make the whole class laugh with your jokes and silly comments, even when we were all stressed about a test or a timed write. It was also extremely fun playing Mafia with you today, and I’m sorry for doubting you T-T. I know to trust your intuition now!!!
Dionne: Dionne, my favorite memory with you this year was your POAS presentation because it was actually SO GOOD. You’re absolutely amazing at playing the piano and I really enjoyed you playing for us during the Gatsby party, in your presentation, and after school for me and Max. I honestly think it’s so impressive that you’re able to play more than one musical instrument, especially because I’ve tried and failed at multiple…But more than just your musical capabilities, I loved getting to know more about you this year and I’m really happy that we became friends.
Juliette: I’m really glad that we were able to become close friends this year because of our classes Mr. Sigmund Freud 🫡. Walking with you from 5th period to APENG was honestly one of the best parts of my Mondays, and I had a lot of fun talking to you about the most random topics on those days. I loved your psychoanalysis and your psychology jokes and our conversations about psychology—I’m not really sure but I think you might like psychology!! Also, I really appreciate you for always being there to quiz me with vocab words right before our tests because you’ve probably saved me from failing more than once!!
Rafael: Having been in the same blog cohort as you for both semesters, I feel like I can say that you were one of the people that had the most interesting blog posts every week. I looked forward to reading your writing every week, and I loved how you talked about everything from your personal experiences to brain rot to politics. But I think my favorite memory of you during APENG was when you read as Giles Corey for the Crucible, because I think that the Southern accent you gave him was really fun and honestly really fitting.
Sohila: Sohila, I’m really glad that you were in my APENG class this year because I honestly don’t think I would have made it through the first few weeks of this class without you in my table group. I think that both of us were so scared of the timed writes at the beginning of the school year, and I can clearly remember the fear in your eyes when we got our scores back for the first time 😭. I also enjoyed your POAS presentation and the way that you really got into character—I didn’t know anything about Tupac before your presentation but I can only imagine him with your face now!!
Svitra: Svitra, I’m also really really happy that you were in my APENG class because I feel like we were able to connect again this year. It’s crazy how you, me, and Ruhika all ended up in the same class after being together for Science Olympiad in 8th grade, so it was really nice to say “hi” and to talk to you again. Although we’ve been friends for three years already, I think that I only really got to know you this year, especially because I was able to learn so much about you through your blogs. Your blog posts were really different from everyone else and extremely insightful, where I was able to learn a lot about the way that you think and perceive the world.
Yuhaen: Yuhaen, my favorite memory with you was when we played Geoguessr with Colin, Suhas, and Devyani before Spring Break 🤫. It was honestly the most fun that I’d had in APENG at that time and I really really really enjoyed playing these silly games after we definitely finished all of our work… I still can’t believe that me and Devyani beat you even though you had WAY more people on your team, so I think that maybe you should work on your Geoguessing skills if we every play in class again 😛.
6th period APENG is a class that I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life, and it’s not just because of how much stress I went through for this class. I feel like I was able to get close to every single person in here, and this is probably the only class where I’m able to just walk in and talk to anyone. Our Mafia game today really reminded me of just how close we all are, because I don’t think getting more than half the class to play a game together would have worked for any other class except for this one.You guys all made this class so memorable and so fun for me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to share my experiences in APENG with. Now, I love walking into APENG at the end of the school day and talking to all of my friends. I hope that I’ve contributed to some of your happy memories in this class as well, and I really want to thank all of you for making this year so memorable.
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Hey Elsa, I can heavily relate to your apprehension before APENG started since I also heard a lot of horror stories from upperclassmen. It definitely lived up to my expectations for the first few months, but after getting the hang of the timed writes, critical event summaries, blogs, and annotations, I found it to be my most personal class. I felt that I could openly express myself to my classmates, and of course, to Mrs. Smith.
ReplyDeleteI also greatly appreciate your effort of writing your favorite memories with everyone in our cohort! I had so much fun playing rip-off Geoguessr with you guys even though I’m exceptionally awful at it. I’ll get on the grind to hone my Geoguessr skills for the next time we play in class. 💪Thanks for sharing, Elsa!
Hi Elsa, reading your blog really made my day, and I thought it was so sweet of you to express the positive impression you’ve gained of all of us this year. I’m glad you enjoyed my performance during my POAS presentation and at the Gatsby Party because I felt really awkward doing both at the time, but hearing that at least one person thought it was cool gives me much more confidence as a musician than you think. Also, it’s nice to hear that you’ve tried playing music before too! I’m sure you didn’t actually fail at learning to play instruments; it’s never too late to start an instrument, and it’s never too late to continue learning one if you’ve already started. If you ever have anything you want to talk about music-related, feel free to just reach out over text or talk to me in-person. Overall, I thought your blog was so wholesome because I can really tell that you’ve paid attention to all the little moments that add up to the bigger positive experience of being in the same class as everyone else this year through the expression of your gratitude towards these little moments. I admire your dedication in writing so many personalized reflections about each and every one of us, and in APENG this year, I’ve always admired how you always carry an optimistic, empathetic attitude, even when meeting new people. I’m glad we became friends this year too, and thank you so much for your heartwarming message!
ReplyDeleteHi Elsa! This was such a sweet last blog and I really appreciate what you said about our time together! I am also really glad that we got close together this year, and that we were able to learn so much more about each other. Through this class together, we were able to make unforgettable memories and grow as juniors. My favorite part was also probably randomly seeing you during class and sometimes even sending each other a wink (haha). But I also really enjoyed spending time with you when we were in the same group and I got to learn about your love for ducks.
ReplyDeleteI think this class will definitely stay a defining moment of my writing style being developed for the rest of my life and it is cool to know that lots of people feel in a similar way in the sense that we all went through these things together and got closer with these shared experiences that we would hold in our hearts for a long time.
I know that the seniors still talk about it and reminisce the Gatsby Party and the hundreds of annotations. I have also learned that apparently APENG students have an ego about this class and always talk about it, but it becomes an inside joke within ourselves of why we keep this ego and emphasize how much we have learned and done. Thank you so much for sharing your fondest memories!
Hey Elsa. Thank you for the kind words and encouragement. Seeing your blog topic touch on sharing something positive about everyone in the cohort is refreshing seeing as I haven’t seen it done before! I’m laughing as I’m writing this. I just saw how out of place I look in the POAS costume pictures we took in front of the portables. Everyone was so creative with their outfits. I still remember walking through school and seeing some of our classmates in costume!
ReplyDeleteLooking back on my blog choices, I think I wrote what weighed most on my mind that week or month. However, to say that I wrote from my heart would be ingenuine. To be honest, I did write with the goal of getting the most views in our cohort in mind. This ended with the Ye and Bianca West blog I wrote. It was clear I wasn’t writing authentically, so I consciously shifted my blogging process.
The Crucible was a whole ‘nother can of worms though. After initially reading the play, I felt Giles Corey was given the harshest out of the cast (most likely the average punishment given to real victims). I felt I wanted to have a bit of fun with the voice I visualized for Corey before seeing him played cinematically.
Overall, I feel this year has been humbling and informative. Seeing American High’s APENG Curriculum was a challenge, but no less than a standard for junior year. I still have you and every one of my classmates to thank for supporting me. Thanks, Elsa. See you Friday!
- Rafael Montes Barrera