Blogging has been one of the most enjoyable things about this lit class and the year in general. While it’s kind of sad that this is the final one, it also represents the fact that we’ll be moving on in our lives and academic journeys. With that, here’s my answers to a few of the prompts. 

What was your favorite blog to write and why? Which blog were you most proud of?

I think my favorite blog to write about this semester was the one about the time I went to Bulgaria for a competition. When I was there, I was mostly focused on the competition and didn’t have much time to soak in the atmosphere, but writing the blog helped me reflect on my time there and how going to different places and hearing different voices can expose us to new perspectives and ways of thinking of the world, which was incidentally one of the main focuses of the course. It was really picturesque over there but I didn’t take a lot of pictures while I was there, which is something I’m kind of sad about in hindsight. The blog I’m most proud of was the difficulty poem essay. I spent a lot of time on it trying to use the techniques in class to analyze the poem, and it was an eye-opener to me because it was the first time in high school that I tried to analyze poetry.

This is one of the pictures of Bulgaria I found on my phone. I don’t know why it’s rotated like this in WordPress.

What would you say about your voices novel to a senior next year?

I actually really liked my Voices novel, Interior Chinatown. I feel that the main character is relatable because he’s trying his best to achieve his dreams but faces very human struggles and we can see a three-dimensional view of him. The book is written like a screenplay, which makes it confusing at first, but once you get used to it it becomes a metaphor of its own, showing how we all have roles to play in real life as well.

What are the most significant things you learned during your Voices project?

I think that one of the most important things I learned during the voices project was to embrace using sources that aren’t just papers or articles. We were encouraged to use documentaries, TED talks, art, poetry, or any form of communication to back up our viewpoints and enhance our understanding. I think that this not only got me more used to using and citing these types of sources, but it also got me to understand more about the subject. I was also impressed by the variety of sources that were in other presentations; for example I remember one presentation that used an AI generated image, and I thought it was powerful because it’s a reflection of the collective bias of the whole internet that the AI shows us. 

What are the most important things you learned about yourself, your community, and your world during your time at NNHS?

The most important thing that I learned about my community during my time at NNHS is the amount of adults who truly care here. I know that not all of us are the best students when it comes to meeting deadlines and putting our best effort into doing things, so I feel a little guilty in knowing that many of the teachers here are willing to help at all times and put effort into helping us out with our schoolwork and rec letters. I think that another positive thing about the community is that students encourage each other to succeed. I know that in other schools, students try to put each other down in orde to get a higher class rank, but the atmosphere here is thankfully not that toxic because we don’t have class rank. Additionally, I think that there is positive peer pressure, at least in honors classes, to keep chasing different opportunities like clubs, research, internships, etc. 

What advice would I give to future NNHS Seniors?

I would tell them to try to find a balance between taking a lot of hard classes second semester and proving to colleges that you have course rigor. I feel that there are many seniors right now whose brains are in full senioritis mode but still are overburdened with finals and APs when they just want to give up. While I understand that many would prefer an AP class senior year in order to get college credit, I would recommend taking easier classes and less hard APs. I would also advise them to use the time not spent on school work due to senioritis to try to connect with family and explore their interests before going away. In addition one of the main things that helped me visualize my senior year was realizing that in only 9 months, all of high school will be over, which not only helped me push through stressful times, but also made me want to prioritize the time I have.