MY YEAR IN REVIEW: 2007

In the not so distant future.  The Year Two Thousand… Eight.  Here we come. 
But as we enter the vast unknown, let us look back on the year 2007.

But before we dive into this, I just want to prepare
you.  First and foremost, I do not expect
anyone to read this entire
thing.  I don’t even think I will read it
all.  Please feel free to pick and choose
what interests you, or don’t read it at all. 
I really don’t care.  This
essentially is for me; the only reason I post it is in case you are home alone
on a Saturday night and have nothing to do. 
This is the only paragraph that I wrote for you, the reader, so enjoy it
while it lasts.  I want to have some sort
of memory for the year, and this is my way of doing it.  The writing is not the best, but that is not
the point.  If you do have a response to
what you read, I would like to hear it. 
At least let me know what you read, because don’t you think it’s creepy
if you know things about me that I never knew I told you?  I could tell you the same story twice without
even realizing it, and that would just be horrid.  I don’t plan on doing anything like that
until I’m at least 65.  With that, ladies
and gentleman, without any further ado, I hereby present to you… 2007!

To give this all some historical context for any future
readers, I’ll first give a short update on the current situation of our nation
and world.  The news is in, and the world
will end in the next hundred years. The only question is whether it will be by
global warming, terrorism, avian flu, nuclear warfare, Armageddon, or robots
taking over.

…that is, unless we elect Barack Obama as the next President
of the United States.  I like Clinton,
but she is way too divisive, and we need someone who can bring our country back
together.  And can I just say how
strongly I dislike Mitt Romney?  This year
is about the youth, and Obama and Ron Paul are showing that.  Unfortunately, I won’t even be able to
vote.  I miss it by two months.  But on ASB we are doing a mock primary
election for the school at the end of January.

Adventure in the City

 With my 16^th birthday on January 15, and Carlo’s
on January 19, we started our year off by going into San
Francisco for a birthday adventure with Emma and
Stacey.  I can’t remember exactly
everything we did, but I know at one point we walked from the Metreon to   Pier
39.  We basically saw half the city on
foot.  I live only 10 minutes from San
Francisco, but I rarely go, so this was a really cool
way to see the city as a tourist.  That
night, we went to an under 18 club called Glow. 
We started in about the middle of the line, but about two and a half
hours later we were somehow the very last people in line.  We obviously were not very good at working
the line.  Since then, I have mastered
the skill.  Because of my experiences at
Glow, I now realize that lines have a ‘cut or be cut’ mentality, so I can now
effectively ease my way into the front of any line with ninja-like
precision.  Anyway, we ended up leaving
with some new friends we made in line, and walked to the Metreon instead.  My dad couldn’t believe we still hadn’t
gotten in, so he had a little chat with the guy running the show, who I’ll call
Ray Dawg.  He said if we came back, he
would let us in for free and give us VIP access to the next event.  He must have thought my dad was in the mafia,
because he was very apologetic when we came back.  It was pretty sick, Ray Dawg hooked us up.  After we went with our new friends and Leo to
Mel’s Diner and had a midnight
birthday dessert.  We spent the night at
a nice hotel, where we played elevator tag (what else are you supposed to do at
a nice hotel at 2am?).  It was a sick birthday.  Carlo and I plan on celebrating together
again this year.

Lions Club Speech Contest

Over Winter Break of last year, I wrote a speech for the
Lions Club Speech Competition on the topic of Global Warming: Fact or Fiction.  I researched the facts behind global warming,
and attempted to prove in my speech in an entertaining and informative way that
global warming is in fact occurring.  At
the first round of the competition, I scored the highest and so moved on to the
Zone level, where I was required to have my speech memorized.  I had the option of using a note card, but I
didn’t use it.  I usually have fairly
realistic expectations of myself, but I felt confident after hearing the other
speeches and delivering mine.  I ended up
getting the highest score from just one of the three judges, so I did not
advance to the next round, although I got a lot of positive feedback
afterwards.  The principal of McKinley
elementary school heard my speech, and asked me to lead an assembly at the
school.  That was definitely the highlight
of the entire experience, and I went to McKinley so it was really cool to go
back in a different capacity.

The Birth and Subsequent Decapitation of the KARMA
Initiative

When we got back to school for the spring semester, Carlo
and I started an all out advertising campaign for the KARMA Initiative.  We had over 20 members at the first meeting,
30 at the second, and 40 at our third and unfortunately final meeting.  That made us the largest ‘club’ at Burlingame
High School.  We tried to make our meetings fun, so we saw
a very high retention rate in members.  We had competitions for KARMA Points, videos, and handouts about the ‘club’.  We even elected officers at our second
meeting.  I put club in quotations,
because we weren’t technically approved as an official club at this point.  I wasn’t too worried though, because there
were about 45 clubs and only one had been denied all year.  Also, Carlo and I were both on the 13 member
ASB, and ASB makes the decisions about club charters.  You might have guessed by this point that our
club charter was denied.  This happened
for a few reasons.  One was that I made a
mistake in the phrasing of the purpose of our club.  What we were actually going to do were fun,
random, viral public stunts.  I was
thinking big picture though, and saw these things as a way to unite the school,
bring people together, and generally raise morale.  So I wrote that as the purpose in our
constitution.  Apparently you are only
allowed to have one organization on campus that does each of those things (because
competition is bad in our capitalistic society), so our goals conflicted with
those of the Human Relations Commission and the Student Impact Team.  The presidents of both organizations were
also on ASB.  The hardest part for me was
telling the club the news, because they had been coming every week and seemed
to enjoy it.  As ASB President-Elect
though, I had to stand by the decision, however much I disagreed.  We ended up using one of our ideas, the Rock
Paper Scissors tournament, in the Buddies program.  It was a huge success, and we are planning on
using it again this year and in the future. 
We also did a mini version of the Free Hugs Campaign with the people
from Camp Everytown
through the HRC.  I would still like to
see some of our other ideas like the MP3 Experiment happen, and I would love to
see a resurgence of KI, but neither of us really have the time to start it up
again, at least not right now.  One day,
the KARMA Initiative will rise again…

Random Highlight: Basketball

I
filled a March Madness bracket on a whim. 
I ended up doing really well and really getting into the games.  Somehow my dad and I were able to get tickets
pretty cheap to the sweet 16 games in San Jose.  The back-to-back games were unbelievably
exciting, especially the Kansas
game vs. the underdog Southern Illinois.  This was a year of very exciting basketball,
as I got to go to game 4 of the Warriors victory over Dallas
in the playoffs, and the recent intense BHS vs. Serra game.

Burlingame Theater

In the spring, I decided not to do the musical so I could
focus on tennis.  When I was trying to
decide, I paid 99 cents to watch it on Google video.  It was horribly boring.  So I didn’t audition, but I signed up to crew
the show.  The show ended up being a lot
better than on the video.  I think it was
good for me to crew, because it really opened my eyes to all the work that crew
does and made me appreciate it a lot more. 
On an unrelated note, I won Best Actor for the Fall Play Inherit the
Wind at our annual Drama Awards.  That
was pretty cool.

Skipping ahead a few months to our Fall Play this year, we
once again had a new director.  I have
never had the same director for more than one show.  She choose One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as
our show, which worried me a little because of how male-heavy it is.  It ended up being one of, if not my favorite
show to be a part of though.  The cast we
had was fantastic, and I really enjoyed working so closely with the other crazy
guys in the mental ward.  I was cast as
the stuttering, depressed Billy Bibbit, so it was a great part for me to really
test my acting range.  We had a number of
rookie guys like Max, Jordan, and Stephen, but they all were fantastic.  Fran of course did an amazing job as Nurse
Rat-Shit, and Soren worked really well against her as McMurphy.  It was awesome doing the show again with Leo,
who just got into it last year, and is hilarious all the time.  And of course my lovely prostitute
Emily.  I always knew you’d be the one to
steal my stage virginity.  And our new
director was great.  She really knows
what she is doing, is not crazy (this is a huge plus), and has credentials that
make me wonder why she is directing at Burlingame High.  She amazingly is staying on to direct our
Spring Musical, Into the Woods, which she has already cast before Winter
break.  I actually did this show in 6^th
grade at Nueva.  I was Cinderella’s
Prince.  This time, even though I don’t
sing, I was cast as the Baker, probably the biggest male role.  My goal is to hypnotize the audience to
believe that I can sing even if I actually can’t.

Random
Highlight: Quiz Kids

I
was on the game show Bay
Area Quiz Kids.  We didn’t do very well.  I’ll leave it at that.

Tennis

While I was on crew for Working, I was playing on the fringe
of the Varsity tennis team, playing at #3 doubles.  I hadn’t played at all really during the
fall, so my game wasn’t as good as it probably could have been.  I am pretty disappointed in myself because I
haven’t played since the end of tennis season. 
Between not having practiced, and having a lead in the musical, I really
don’t think I’ll be able to play on the tennis team this year.  That’s pretty disappointing, especially
considering that’s essentially the only exercise I get besides walking to and
home from school.  If it were up to me, I
would add a few more hours into the day to make room for it all.  I mean really, whoever decided that we have
to have 24 hours in a day?  I say stick
it to the man.

Random Highlight: Flea Market Montgomery

Talked to the actual Sammy Stephens from the commercial Flea Market
Montgomery with Carlo and Andy Santana. 
As soon as this call ended, we raced to the classroom of a just as
spectacular man, Mr. Morgan, to share the wonderful news.  This topped the list as one of the most
exhilarating experiences of my life.  If
you are not familiar with this glorious man, please sit back, relax, and enjoy
this wondrous Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk  You can even call the number on the truck
yourself if you want a chance at the same life changing experience.  (PS. He sang for us.) (PPS. There are fan
clubs on Facebook for both of these fine men. 
Join them.)

Camp Everytown

  I could never do Camp
Everytown justice in writing.  The emotions that you feel and the empathy
you learn defy description.  Saying that
you learn about prejudice and gender relations and accepting others as they are
and celebrating diversity makes CE sound hokey and brainwashing, when it really
is deep and core shaking.  We also had a
lot of free time, where we could hang out, play games, and just enjoy each
other company in a beautiful natural environment.  Some of my fondest memories include playing
mafia, eating delicious cookies, and singing together at the campfire.  I was sent to CE with 50 other students and 8
teachers from my school.  The group of
students was ethnically and culturally diverse, including many immigrant
students and students who I had never met before.  I made so many new friends that I could smile
at or hug in the halls when we came back. 
I even became friends with the teachers, who we called by first names
(Nueva flashback) and got to know as people rather than as figures.  We built an unbreakable trust in four days.  Sharing you inner soul with other human beings
for one moment can bring you closer then you would get by sitting in the same
class with them for four years.

They told us that we would probably never come back, because
they want as many people to get the experience as possible, so they can’t have
people going more than once.  Abdel and
Lucie, as the coordinators of the Human Relations Commission this school year,
would go again so they could lead the effort to spread the Camp
Everytown message when we got
back.  Somehow, I was also invited back
again, this time as a staff member.  It
was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I was able to have twice, with an entirely
new group of people.  The second time
around, it proved to me that this works every time, regardless of the people
that go.  I once again instantly bonded
with this new group, and even though I was doing many of the activities for a
second time, it always felt new.  One of
the most rewarding parts of the trip the second time around was getting to work
so closely with the teachers and administrators.  This time more than ever, I felt like they
talked to me as a peer and it was enormously eye-opening to see things through
a teacher’s eyes.  In the end, they are
people just like you and me, even if you don’t want to believe it when you fail
their tests.  I got to see first hand how
much they care about their students, and I even got to play basketball with
Brent Daniels, who is as chill a guy as you will meet.  And Shane Karshan will never beat me in ping-pong, no
matter how hard he tries.  I would say
that Camp Everytown
is the type of thing that every child should be able to experience.  It might… heal the world; make it a better
place for you and for me and the entire human race.

Random Highlight: Interviewing Committee

I
was the student representative on the interviewing committee to choose our new
Assistant Principal.  It was a great
opportunity to see how professional interviews are run, and what potential employers
look for.  It absolutely helped me to
reform the way we do our ASB interviews, and gave me an idea of what to expect
when I applied to be the Student Member on the State Board of Education (you
can read more about that below).  I felt
like my opinion had equal weight to that of teachers and administrators, so I
really felt like the student voice.

With that… it finally brings us to the summer of 2007.  Definitely one that I will never forget.

Discovering Prague
and a Bike Trip to Vienna

In June, I spent a week in Prague
with my family and my grandpa, and then I biked for one week from Prague
to Vienna.  I really connected to my heritage on the
first part of this trip, because both my grandma and grandpa on my mom’s side
lived their childhood in Prague.  There is so much rich family history there
and my grandpa had so many amazing stories to tell.  The very first night we were there, before my
grandpa arrived, out of all the places in Prague,
we happened to eat at a restaurant that my grandpa later told us is directly
underneath where my grandma lived (picture at right).  It
was mind-blowing and bizarre, almost as if we were drawn to that place.  The next day he took us to have lunch in the
same building where he grew up, right down the street from my grandma’s.  We got to see my great-grandpa’s leather shop,
the place my grandpa got his first suit, the steep, winding hill that my
great-uncle rode down without holding on to the handlebars, the place by the Vltava
River where my grandma taught my
grandpa to dance, and other family landmarks around the city.  We also saw the movie theater where my
grandpa would sneak to with his brother and friends after removing his Star of
David and leaving the Jewish Ghetto under Nazi rule.  The penalty if they were caught could have
been death.  We went to the Pinkas
Synagogue, where my great-grandfather was head cantor and my grandpa was bar
mitzvah’d.  It is now a memorial to the
80,000 Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust. 
Their names are engraved in the walls, including the names my grandma’s
entire family and countless other relatives and friends of my
grandparents.  We also visited the Spanish Synagogue, where we discovered a photo of my grandmother and her school
class when she was 11-years-old on display (she is sitting in the second row, second from the right). 
Almost all of her classmates were later killed.  We visited Terezín (Theresienstadt), a garrison town for Jews during the
Holocaust where my grandmother was kept with her mother and sister.  Her father was held at the Terezín concentration camp, where he died.  It was extremely sobering to walk through
this ghost town and prison where thousands of people died and were sent to die
in concentration camps.  My grandmother,
Eva, was loaded like cattle onto traincars with her mother and sister to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most deadly of the
concentration camps.  Her mother was
killed upon entrance, and her sister later died of typhus.  Somehow Eva, who was only in her teens, about
my age actually, managed to miraculously survive the unthinkable
atrocities.  She escaped during a death
march near the end of the war, when she stayed behind at a stable and hid in
the hay.  Nazis came around stabbing the
hay, but they did not find her and she was soon rescued by Russian
liberators.  Even though they were Jewish
as well, my grandfather Peter and his family escaped the more severe atrocities
of the concentration camps and were instead held at a prisoner of war
camp.  They were there because my
great-grandfather Paul was a professional soccer player (who played in the
Olympics), and was playing in America when my
great-uncle Jerry was born, making him an American citizen.  For some reason, the Nazis followed the code
of the Geneva Convention that protected their family because of Jerry’s
American citizenship.  Paul however, was
falsely accused of blackmarket trading, and so was imprisoned by the Gestapo
along with 11 other men.  He was the only
one that survived the turture and beatings in prison, and was eventually
released and sent to Theresienstadt.  He
would not have survived had he not been such an athlete.  His family members were traded as prisoners
of war, and so were sent to America, where Paul joined them after the war.  My grandparents were eventually reintroduced
in New York City and fell in love.  Like
I said, rich family history.  

I did not expect to write all of that about my family history… but as I
was typing it just started pouring from my fingers and I couldn’t stop.  I’ve debated whether or not to keep it in
this public entry, because it is a very personal part of my background that
very few people know about.  I decided to
keep it in, because what is a story or a lesson that cannot be shared.  It’s important that my grandparents’ stories
live on so that future generations can learn from them and be inspired to
persevere through their own struggles. 
Also, anyone who has read this far in this entry probably cares enough
about me to be a good friend with whom I can share this part of me.  This year was a lot about discovering who I
am and where I came from.

Back to the trip… Prague is an amazingly
beautiful city, and my favorite in the world that I’ve been to.  It is one of the most well preserved cities
in Europe, because it is known for surrendering before it can
be destroyed.  The part of the city
called the ‘New Town’ is from the 1400s. 
Cobblestone designs line every street, and it is really clean.  The people are also extremely kind, and might
I add, the women are probably the most beautiful in the world.  I had been noticing that there were a lot of
dance clubs in the city, but I didn’t have anyone to go with.  One afternoon I walk out of our hotel into a
relatively deserted street, and who do I see but Doug Bojack and his mother
sitting at the one table right outside the pub next door.      I didn’t even know he was going to be in Prague, but they just
happened to be staying right down the street. 
So that night, I went club hopping with Doug Bojack.  But that’s not all.  As we are walking along the streets of Prague, we nearly run
right into Eric Mann.  He had nothing to
do, so he came with us, and we went to three or four different nightclubs,
including one that had 5 stories with 5 different types of music, that they
said is the biggest club in Central Europe. 
I ended up going again another night with my cousin’s Czech friend that
was showing us around the city.  The city
is so safe that I felt fine walking around at two in the morning.

After a week of connecting with my past, eating heavy dumplings, and
drinking pivo (Czech beer), we set off on a bike trip to Vienna.  My grandpa went to go speak in Vienna, and we were
joined by my cousins Kendyl and Kacey, and my aunt and uncle for the
biking, with a company called Backroads. 
I had never really biked very much before, but I really enjoyed it on
this trip.  There is no better way to
really take in a landscape and enjoy nature than on a bike.  We biked through small towns that we never
would have visited otherwise, and could go at our own pace to really take in
the beauty.  We biked anywhere from 10 to
40 miles a day, which made the food taste even better.  We made a stop in Český Krumlov during the
one weekend of the year where there is a nonstop medieval festival.  Our hotel was right in the main square, so I
could hear and see the festival and all the people dressed in costumes from my
room.  On the last night of this annual
festival, there is a fireworks show at midnight, so I opened the ceiling window
of the room and watched the spectacular fireworks show from the roof.  At our second stop, now in Austria, they had
Austrian bowling in the basement of the hotel, so of course we took advantage
of that.  It’s not at all like American
bowling, and I think near impossible to get a strike.  During dinner one night, we were surprised
with a special dance by traditional Austrian Schuhplattlers, who specialize in slapping parts
of their body (there is a short video of this on my Facebook page).  There were other families on this trip as
well, and we always had dinner together. 
This is where I realized that I enjoy lying to people about pointless
things like the 1000-year-old bear that mauled the king.  I know it’s horrible, but you would do the
same thing to keep your senses when the other possible conversation is about someone’s
pet potato.  When the bike trip was over,
we stayed for a few days in Vienna. 
We met up with Ben (one of the other kids on the trip and just about the
only one who could tell when I was being sarcastic) and his family and did a
Segway tour around the city.  There is no
better way to get everyone to look at you than to have 15 American tourists
riding around a foreign city on Segways.

The Global Young
Leaders Conference: Washington DC and New York City

    Two weeks after
we came back from Austria, I got to have another once-in-a-lifetime
experience at GYLC (is my life charmed or what?).  It started in Washington DC, with 360 students from about 60 different
countries.  Meeting so many amazing kids
from all over the world was absolutely priceless and eye-opening.  In my small country group alone (The United
Kingdom), the group leader was from India, there were two from Britain, one
from Northern Ireland, a girl from Germany, a guy from the Cayman Islands, a
guy from Chile, three from the Netherlands, two from Canada, a girl from
Jordan, one from Hong Kong, a girl from Singapore, and a girl who is half
French, quarter Spanish, and quarter Filipino, but was born in Venezuela and
lives in Singapore, who speaks American English but considers herself
French.  There were only three other
Americans, so I was constantly surrounded by people from around the world.  They all spoke amazing English though, and we
had more in common than anyone would think. 
One thing that I found almost everyone had in common was a strong
dislike for George W. Bush.  Everyone
seemed to get along so well, which made me really hopeful, because if we as
teenagers can find international common ground, it shows it’s possible in the
world.  We just have to understand each
other’s cultures and spend some time together to realize that we all want the
same things in the end, like friendship, love, and happiness.  In DC, we saw most of the memorials and went
to a few museums including the Holocaust museum, which was great to see and
discuss with an international group. 
Some people were really upset with it because of how it focuses so much
on the Americans as heroes, and yet had nothing about the current genocides
taking place in the world and our responsibilities to stop them.  One time when we had a choice of places to
visit, I changed my mind at the last minute and went to the headquarters of the
International Republican Institute
because the president of the organization, Lorne Craner, was going to speak to
us.  When we got there, we introduced
ourselves and said where we were from.  I
had my hand raised for the entire question session and he never called on me
(he even waited a few seconds at one point when he saw that mine was the only
hand).  I’m certain this was because I
said I was from San Francisco.  It was
interesting to hear him speak though. 
Anyway, about six days in we took a bus to New York City (bus counts:
aiiiiiiggghhhttteeeeeeeen).  We stopped
in Philadelphia for lunch, where everyone went on a mad
rush for the new and final Harry Potter book that had just come out.  Those Brits sure love Potter.  In New York, we visited Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Chinatown and Little Italy, saw The Drowsy
Chaperone on Broadway, and I chose to go to Ellis Island. 
Meanwhile, over the course of the conference, we were listening to
speakers, learning about global affairs, coming up with solutions to global
problems, and simulating international conferences in which we represented our
country group.  There were also eight
commissions of about 50 people each that prepared proposals that each country
group voted on at our culminating Global Summit at the United Nations.  I was in the Health Commission, and decided
to run for Chairman of the commission.  I
was elected Chairman, and so ran the meetings where we came up with our solution
to make clean water readily available in all countries.  At our last commission meeting, we had the
opportunity to elect one person to serve on the Global Summit Team, who would
run the final conference.  I threw my
name in, and ran on the platform of “If you liked my leadership style, vote for
me.  If you didn’t, vote for me.”  I was elected, and was immediately rushed off
to meet with the other seven delegates from the other commissions to start
planning the Global Summit.  When I got
to the meeting room, the other seven were all there already, including my
roommate and buddy Tristan.  They were
all for the most part really tall, which confirmed in my mind the idea that
height matters in creating a sense of prominence and power.  Poor Dennis Kucinich.  I was also the youngest in the group.  There were seven guys and one girl, and it
was geographically diverse, with two Norwegians, two British (or was one
Australian?), two Americans, one Dutch, and one Canadian.  We had about a day to plan the entire
logistics for the event, for example I made the seating chart for the country groups,
and then before we knew it, we were there. 
When I got there it hit me… I am planning and overseeing an
international conference at the United Nations Headquarters.  Not many people ever get an opportunity to do
something like that.  It was absolutely
surreal.  We were rushed through security
so we could begin setting up before the delegates arrived, and then the alarm
went off that said there was a security threat, so we had to evacuate.  When we got back in, we had to get everyone
inside in double time so we would stay on schedule.  Delegates made speeches in favor or against
proposals from the point of view of their country, and each resolution was
approved or denied by a vote, like a real UN meeting.  One thing that I thought was interesting
about the process, and concerns me a little, is that every country had already
made up their mind as to how they were going to vote before the Global
Summit.  I got to thinking that UN
meetings are probably just a formality and very few really listen or attempt to
compromise.  Anyway, that night was our
final night, and we had a dinner dance cruise. 
It was the perfect way to celebrate an amazing two weeks with new
friends from all over the world.  I miss
them all so much (especially my UK group, you are all amazing), and hope
that I can see at least some of them again someday.

At the end of
GYLC, I needed to go back to where we saw The Drowsy Chaperone, because that
happened to be the same building that my family was staying at.  I was going to share a cab with Tristan and
two more Brits, Ed and Jamie, but Ed’s dad booked a limo instead on
accident.  We left GYLC in style.  When I met up with my family, we stayed in
NYC for a few days and saw two more Broadway shows, Spamalot and Avenue Q, both
of which were fantastic.  We then went
(back) to DC, so my family could see the memorials and museums, and I could see
it all again for the second time in two weeks. 
This time I got to go to the Spy Museum, which was very interesting and I
definitely recommend it.  I also kicked
off the college search by taking my first tour at Georgetown, where the ‘French’ girl from Singapore, Claire, currently attends.  We flew home from DC, and as soon as I got
home, I started reconnecting with my GYLC friends through Facebook, which apparently
is popular all over the world.

CASC Leadership
Camp

To end the
summer, I was again sent by my school to CASC Camp at Stanford for four
days.  Since I did it last year, I was in
Track Two, which moved on from the curriculum to focus more on the community
and service.  Since I already wrote about
CASC in last year’s reflection, I won’t write too much about this.  Basically we relearned a lot of the same
silly curriculum, but then there were more fun activities, for example some
great teamwork challenges.  I loved the
Track II people of course, but I felt like I met less people this year because
we were separated a bit from the majority who were in Track I.   The dance was so much fun.  It was definitely worth going again.

 

Back to School: Classes

I have been really happy with my classes and teachers this
semester.  Even though it is a lot of
work, it is so much more bearable than sophomore year because I enjoy it
more.  In History especially, I really
disliked the teaching style of my last teacher, Mrs. Costa.  I told my counselor that if I was in an AP
class that was taught the same way as Costa, that I would drop AP.  Now I have Mr. Gnass for AP US History, and
his teaching style includes discussion, debate, and the ‘Big Picture’.  He doesn’t make us memorize stupid dates or
battles or anything like that, he just cares that we understand the Why, which
is exactly what I love about history. 
  He’s also really funny and caring, so I like going to his class.  The difficulty of Precalculus doesn’t even
compare to the ease of Algebra 3-4, but Ms. Krepple is a really good and chill
teacher, unlike Stoehr who has OCD and takes a third of your points off for an
incorrect heading format.  I have Mr.
Martinez again for Spanish, and I am starting to feel like I really don’t know
anything for this being my third year of the language.  I think maybe we need to start speaking less English
and more conversational Spanish in the class. 
He really does not like our class though; he says we make him
uncomfortable…  Physics is so much more
fun than Chemistry, and there is a lot less work too.  My class is so abnormally quiet
(understandable since it is first period) that Mrs. Lindgren told us to go sit
wherever we wanted in hopes that we would talk more.  Weird to have a teacher that says we don’t
talk enough…  English is great; I really
like Ms. McClain (nothing can compare to Mr. Morgan’s 3^rd period
class sophomore year though).  I feel
like she’s really taught me a lot and I find myself using the tips that she’s
given me, and the American Culture Project is a really good idea for a long
term project.  I did mine on cliques,
researching aspects of them like how and why they are formed, and what the
effects of them are.  She just told me I
have the ‘and’ virus in my writing, as you can probably tell by how I use ‘and’
to connect my sentences, even if they are unrelated (look two sentences
back).  I really need to learn how to
consolidate…  Next semester I am adding
on Advanced Drama in my 7^th period so I don’t have to take seven
classes senior year.

Random Highlight: San Diego

My parents rented a beach house in San
Diego around my dad’s birthday (August 31), and Carlo
came with us.  It was so much fun going
to Del Mar racetrack, boogie
boarding in the ocean, eating amazing food, and just hanging out in the
beautiful fresh air for a few days.  Plus
Carlo took some amazing pictures, of course (they are in an album on my
Facebook appropriately titled San Diego
(from Carlo)).

ASB and Leadership Class

As Student Body President this last semester, I was able to
play a big part in reorganizing the structure of the Leadership class.  One big idea I had coming into the year was
to give people specific jobs and responsibilities to create buy-in and give
every aspect of Leadership someone to oversee it.  I created a list of jobs we needed people to
do but never had anyone assigned to in the past, like a Historian, a Buzzicist,
a Techie, and a Spirit Chip Chief, and everyone in the class who was not on ASB
or a class cabinet got one.  Each
position falls into one of three clusters that meet once a week to check-in
with each person: Activities, Communication, and Outreach.  It has worked extremely well, because you
know who to go to when you need something, and everyone always has a personal
project or responsibility to be working on. 
We’ve effectively covered our bases and a lot more is being
achieved.  I still hate filling out the
weekly leadership reports though…

Our ASB team worked together extremely well.  I started the year by doing an ASB Overnight
at the school where we could bond, share ideas, and plan for the semester.  We played some games, ate pizza, baked
cookies, and did some teamwork and leadership building activities including a
secret one I learned at CASC.  We
brainstormed and voted on our goals for the semester, and we came up with our
main goal being to improve communication across campus and amongst
ourselves.  Publicity had been a major
setback in the last school year, and this semester our Publicist Brendan was
amazing and really stepped it up.  Good
publicity and communication was a huge reason why we had such successful events
this year, so it was a perfect goal for us to have.  We also had another goal which was to focus
more globally and philanthropically, and we did that thanks to our Service
Learning Liaison Emma who put on Pennies for Peace and One Dollar for Life,
with more global plans for next semester. 
We also voted on our theme for the Welcome Back Dance: Black Light, Wear
White.  This was almost identical to the
theme that was denied last year, but we got it approved this year by giving
administration the second choice of Cops and Robbers.  That’s politics baby.  The dance was the most successful Welcome
Back Dance we’ve ever had, with over 500 people.  A large part of the success was One Dollar
Wednesday and the publicity for it, which let you buy your ticket for $1 on the
first day of sales if you bought the $25 ASB card.  By selling a lot on this day, and with two
amazing videos by Brendan (http://hs.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=6443051062&oid=4762013642),
word spread that this was going to be HUGE (ßword of the semester
for ASB).  This was our first big team
project, and its success led us to even more successes throughout the
semester.  In addition to our activities,
we made some changes in regards to how we operate.  One thing I wanted to do as president was add
a time for public comment at all student council meetings for people to voice
their concerns or give feedback, and people have really begun to use this time
to make their voices heard.  I also
wanted to change the way we do appointed position interviews to make them fairer
and consistent, so we went through the process with much more organization and
precision.  With our new class structure,
we have three people working on clubs compared to what used to be just the Vice
President, so the club Point System that I made back when I was Vice President
in fall 2006 was finally implemented (I wrote the details about the Point
System in last year’s entry).  Clubs are
now approved and denied objectively depending on how active they are as long as
they follow school rules (sorry Students Teaching Others New Ethnic Rituals,
aka STONER Club).  These five months were
the most I have enjoyed ASB since I have been on it.  I felt like we really worked as a team, and
helped and encouraged each other to make the semester a success.  I felt like I was able to oversee to make
sure every aspect of our school was running smoothly, and delegate to make sure
everything we planned on accomplishing was done, and I am proud of the work our
ASB and Leadership team was able to do.

At the end of the semester, I decided to run once again for
ASB President-Elect.  I made flyers with
taglines such as Don’t Stop Believing and Embrace the Future, and I gave my
speech as Doc from Back to the Future, warning BHS that the future is doomed if
they don’t elect Adam Klein.  I won the
election, so I will go back into training as President-Elect in the spring, and
then I will once again be President in the fall.  I have really enjoyed working with Anaselia
as my President-Elect this semester, so I’m excited to see her to take over and
run with it, and still get to work with her and help her out.  I’ve noticed that since I got on ASB as a
sophomore when there was me, three juniors, and nine seniors, that ASB has been
getting younger.  There are now only
three seniors left on ASB, with seven juniors and two sophomores.  We have many great new people on ASB, so I’m
pumped for the upcoming year.  My
personal project for this semester is to finally update our constitution, which
we have been trying to do ever since I joined ASB.  I will not leave ASB until we have a working
constitution that we actually abide by.

Relay for Life

For the second year, I was on the planning committee for Burlingame’s
Relay for Life as Youth Chair.  This year
Alex and Emily joined me which made it even more fun.  They also took over as presidents of the
American Cancer Society Club for this school year, because I didn’t have time
to take it on again and do it well with everything else going on.  I did still head up the club up through Relay
though, getting people to go and running the meetings that led up to Relay.  It is unbelievable how many youth we were
able to get to come this year.  It
absolutely exploded, or reached the ‘Tipping Point’.  At one meeting alone, we had over 250 people,
out of a school of 1400.  Leading these
meetings was a fantastic public speaking experience for me, because if you
haven’t ever tried to hold the attention of 250 teenagers in one room without a
microphone for a full 30 minutes, it is very, very difficult.  I couldn’t miss a beat, or I would miss my
chance to get out important information. 
I was red and in a sweat by the end of every meeting.  Our ACS staff partner said to me after one of
the meetings that we may possibly be the Relay with the largest youth
contingency in the state of California.  When you compare our 37 youth teams to that
of 2005, when Team Nueva was one of only two youth teams at Burlingame Relay,
that is a fantastic statistic.  My team alone, Panthers for a Cure, had over 40
members and raised about $5000.  The whole event raised about $100,000 to
go towards survivor services and the fight against cancer.  This
unheard of growth though is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, because
it brings up tough questions of safety, security, and responsibility for
hundreds of youth when we have a committee of one about ten.  We did not have the resources or solid
logistical plans to enforce the youth guidelines that we set, and I am slightly
worried about people not taking these guidelines seriously in the future.  Checks were supposed to happen during the
night for chaperones that never really happened, along with other problems such
as the one group that will always bring alcohol and the general apathy when it
comes time to clean up.  And although it
sounds funny, Relay Babies have absolutely crossed my mind as a concern.  With some of our committee members, including
Dorene who does everything, not returning next year, we desperately need to build
up a larger committee so we can effectively deal with these youth issues that I
know will come up.  We have to solve the
problems before they happen. 

  The day of Relay was of course a great day as it always
is.  I loved seeing so many young people
out there fighting for a good cause and having a good time.  It really makes all my work seem worthwhile.  I felt so proud of so many people.  I could do without having to round up people
to go watch the Luminaria ceremony though, which I had to do with too many
people, including a group that I was very surprised to see playing poker during
the ceremony.  It’s completely
disrespectful to the event, and I was very disappointed that I had to do
that.  I missed almost the entire
ceremony because of it.  I expect every
single Burlingame High student that comes to that event to be respectful and
remember what they are there to do.  I
hope everyone who came had a good time and was inspired to continue the fight
against cancer, and we’ll see you at Relay again in October!

California State
Board of Education: Student Member search

I applied to be the one Student Member on the California
State Board of Education for the 2008-2009 school year, and I was selected from
my application as one of twelve semifinalists. 
They called me one Friday in early November while I was in Spanish class
(I didn’t care, I picked up the call), and told me to pack my bags, because I
was flying to Sacramento the next
day for a five-day conference and selection process.  It was the SABE (Student Advisory Board on
Education) Conference, with about 100 students from all around the state coming
together to reform our state’s education system.  I roomed with three of the other finalists,
so I really got to know them well and it is amazing how accomplished but at the
same time unique they all of the semifinalists were.  The Student Member position is a paying
position that has full voting rights. 
They said it is the only position in America
in which n underage person can vote on policy, so the process was intense.  The first step in the selection was an
election by the delegates at the conference. 
We delivered six-minute speeches, had a question and answer session, and
had to make and justify a decision on a theoretical board vote.  This gave me an excuse to really get out
there and meet people, and strike up conversations, so I had a lot of fun with
it.  It was almost like participating in
a reality show.  After about three days
of this and participating in the drafting of reform proposals to the board, we
had a vote, and I was elected as one of the seven finalists.  The next day the seven of us got interviewed
by the State Board of Education. This was different then the previous round in
that I could not rely on my personal relations or conversations, it was all on
the line in a fifteen-minute interview. 
Instead of looking for someone to represent them like the students were,
the Board was looking for a coworker, with each member hoping that person would
fit into their own vision.  Each person
on the board has different goals, so selling myself to the whole group was much
more difficult.  At the time, I felt
extremely pleased with my interview, as I felt comfortable and managed to get
across what I wanted to say, but of course in  retrospect I wonder if I should
have said something else.  I was not
selected to be in the final three, whose names were sent to the Governor’s
office and they will return to Sacramento
in a few months when Governor Schwarzenegger will appoint one to the
position.  But I have no regrets, because
I know I did everything I could, and I was amazed that I had even been selected
as a semifinalist, let alone a finalist. 
I was even more amazed by the other people that were going for the
position.  For example, the guy who was
the director of this SABE and is also the Educational Policy Director for CASC,
along with the President of the California Association of Student Leaders both
got out at the same time as me in the process. 
The accomplishments of these people were endless, and mine were
completely insignificant next to theirs. 
For example, one of the girls I made instant friends with and was also a
semifinalist had made an award winning documentary about Wallenberg and his
efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust, interviewing people such as former
Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan.  The current Student Member even found a way to
detect melanoma, and currently takes about nine AP classes.  And of course, I had the opportunity to meet
the members of the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent Jack
O’Connell.  The entire process was
extremely surreal and I learned so much from this amazing experience.  Even though I didn’t get the position, I
would do it all over again in a heartbeat if I could.

 

In Closing…

I think that pretty much covers every big event that I did
this year.  The one thing I haven’t
really mentioned is my social and family life. 
I think this goes without saying, but my love life is essentially
nonexistent.  Another uneventful year for
Adam Klein and relationships.  I don’t
really understand it all, but that’s just the way it goes.  I think I’m too picky in who I like.  Plus, I think the fact that I’m not really
one to spend all of my time with one group of people plays a part.  That goes with friends too.  Recently though, I have started to spend more
time with friends, and I’ve grown especially close to Carlo over the year with
everything we have been through together. 
And my relationship with my parents is still one that I cherish so
much.  They have supported me once again
in so many ways this year, and I am so grateful that I can consider my parents
my friends.

This has taken me countless hours to write, as I’m sure you
can tell.  I think this year I need to do
what I did in 2006, which is split this up into two six month entries, so I
don’t kill myself over something like this again next year.  If by some decree of God, you somehow read
this whole thing, I hope you can find some comfort in the number of nights I
stayed up until at least 3 am writing, which was at least four.  So you are not the only one that went through
hell.  In review of my review, I really
don’t know how I feel.  I feel
accomplished that I actually did it, but disgusted at how long winded I
am.  There is no way that this should be
as long as it is.  But if I keep slaving
over this, trying to edit it down to something feasibly readable, I will not
get it posted until I have to write next year’s review.  So this is it, I will leave it like this, and
leave it to myself to judge in twenty years. 
For now, I will close the year with finality that this year was more
than I could ever ask for.

To close, I want to explain why I am not going to tag anyone
in this entry (on Facebook).  Not because
I don’t care about you, but because I do not want to compel anyone to read
about me.  If one really cares to know,
these 8995 words will find that person, as it apparently did for you.  If you have read this, even parts of it,
either you are really bored and have no life, or you care enough to be a part
of my life, and I love you for that.  My
friends and family mean the world to me. 
I would not be who I am without your love and support.  Thank you for 2007, and here is to 2008.  L’Chaim!

~Adam Klein

Hi there.  I figured since it is New Year’s Eve, and I haven’t updated in 7 months, this might be a good time to give closure to the year.  I am in Lake Tahoe right now ready to ring in the new year.  I’ll start from where I left off.  My summer was fantastic. 

At the beginning of summer, we had our Nueva reunion party at the beach, and that was a ton of fun to see most of the grade again.  To my surprise, we actually played Survivor (and I wasn’t even the one that suggested it!) like we did on the 7th grade backpacking trip.  This time I wanted to play instead of host, so John hosted.  I had a blast, and I actually ended up winning against Brian in the final two (I won all of the individual immunities so they couldn’t get rid of me).  I hope we have the beach party again next year.

Africa

Then, I went on the most amazing vacation to Kenya with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and two cousins.  We went on a safari out in the bush, and also stayed at two ‘lodges’ in between the national parks.  In total, we went to 5 different locations in Kenya: Samburu National Park, Laragai House, Lake Nakuru National Park, Shompole Lodge, and the Masai Mara.  Each of the three National Reserves had their own unique characteristics and wildlife.  Samburu had elephants all over the place; we even saw them bathing one time.  We spent 3 days there, but I spent one of them resting because I had been sick for the week before we left, and I was just getting over it when we got there, fortunately.  There were also a bunch of monkeys in Samburu, and we even saw some lions lazing around at sunset.  Laragai was amazing, the rooms were so big and luxurious, and we had the entire place to ourselves.  I even got a room to myself!  At night by the pool at Laragai, my cousin Dave (who does film stuff for a living) took some incredible star photos.  He took over 7000 pictures throughout the entire trip.  Everyone took so many photos; it was ridiculous how many we all had.  When we flew over Lake Nakuru, you could see thousands of flamingos all across the lake.  One morning, we woke up early to watch the sunrise right by the lake.  We played a bunch of Frisbee golf at our campsite at Nakuru (it had just enough trees spaced perfectly); I even put together a double-elimination tournament that one of our guides ended up winning.  We lost a Frisbee in the trees two or three times though, and one time to get it down, they brought over the huge truck that transports the entire camp from site to site.  That kept us busy and very entertained.   Shompole was like nothing I have ever seen before, and will probably ever see.  It was built on the top of a mountain, so every enormous room is open and looks out at the beautiful sight.  Even though the room is completely open on one side, there is a sense of privacy because you can’t see any of the other rooms.  Each room has its own little pool, and it is just the most amazing thing ever.  The shower was so cool; it was like a waterfall.  Shompole would be anyone’s dream honeymoon location.  My description doesn’t even do the place justice.  While we were there, we had an amazing experience.  The local Masai tribe performed a dance for us, chanting, singing, and jumping all the way through.  It was the coolest thing ever; the highlight of the trip for me.  I wish we had more contact with the locals, because I would have loved to learn from them more about how they live.  Then we were off to our last location, the Masai Mara.  Just as a side note, while we were staying at these beautiful resorts, there were people packing up the entire campsite, driving it to the next location, and setting it up in time for us to get there.  These guys were so nice, and I felt uncomfortable sometimes because they did so much for us.  I think I tend to be uncomfortable with people serving me, because I don’t feel like I deserve it.  For example, when they would try to carry my bags for me, I would thank them but say no thanks, because there is no reason why they should be doing it when I am perfectly capable.  Maybe I would feel more comfortable with it if I had been the one to earn the money to pay for it, instead of someone else’s charity.  Anyway, at Masai Mara, we saw a cheetah kill a hare, which was crazy to watch.  It’s not that often people get to see a kill on a safari.  It was also my parent’s 25th wedding anniversary on the last day we were there, so we had a celebratory feast, and they even made a cake.  When they first brought out the cake, they had my parents cut it together.  They were having a really tough time cutting it, and then when they got through it they saw it was elephant dung with frosting on it!  After we all had a laugh, they brought out the real cake that looked exactly the same.  Speaking of food, the food we had every day was out of this world.  There wasn’t a thing I didn’t like the whole time, even when we tried ostrich one night.  I have never ever eaten so well.  How they prepared all of it out in the middle of nowhere in such a tiny portable kitchen is beyond me.  We saw so many animals over the course of our trip, including lions, zebras, baboons, giraffes, cheetahs, topis, gazelles, elephants, hyenas, dic-dics, and all kinds of birds, just to name a few.  Even the tents we stayed in were amazing, and they had this thing where they lifted up a bucket of hot water that then goes into a section of the tent for a shower.  It was an experience I will definitely always remember and cherish.  I feel so lucky to have been able to see and experience what I did, and I thank my parents for that.

…Jeez, I meant for this to be sort of a summary entry, but I guess I got carried away thinking about our Africa trip.

Tennis Camp

The rest of my summer included going to the Nike Tennis Camp at Stanford for the second year.  I had an even better time this year, mainly because I clicked with the people a lot more.  Last year there were extremely few people my age, and it was basically all guys (it was the lowest amount of girls they ever had, so I heard).  This year though, there was a good mix and a lot of cool people my age.  We took a trip one evening to Great America, and I don’t know how they did it, but these two really nice guys Peter and Evan somehow convinced me to go on my first loop-to-loop roller coaster.  I was scared out of my mind, but I’m really glad I did it and I think it helped ease some of my fears.  I am a very stubborn and individual person, so I am still impressed they were able to get me to go.  They encouraged me to face my fears (in a very supportive way), and I thank them for that.  Another night, we did a Dating Game type thing, tennis style, and I had a lot of fun with that when I was one of the ‘bachelors’.  I got a lot of laughs from my responses, and I ended up winning the ’date’, so that was cool.  Of course, we played a ton of tennis, any my game improved a lot.  Unfortunately, I have been so busy this school year that I haven’t played at all for months, which really is no good.  My floor also kept having to do wall sits at night because someone would show up just like a minute or two late to walk to the courts.  One night I think we had to do 6 minutes of wall sits and lunges down the hall and back.  A lot of the staffers were really cool, but there was one in particular that was completely power-hungry and never treated any of the campers with respect.  I expect people to treat others with respect, no matter what their status or authority is, and I will always give the same respect in return.  It’s a matter of being human, and understanding that others, regardless of everything, are people too.  When he was on a particularly unreasonable rampage, I told him he needed to calm down.  He threatened to make me do wall sits, but it never happened.  At some point my honesty will probably get me in trouble.  I had some really good conversations with some of the other counselors though, and I appreciated that they could talk to me as a person, regardless of my age or that I was a camper.  Anyway, I want to go back again next year, hopefully with some of the same people.

ACS Youth Summit

I also got to go on some trips as a member of some of the groups I am a part of.  The day after tennis camp ended I got to go to Los Angeles for an American Cancer Society Youth Summit.  The entire thing, including the flights, was paid for by the ACS.  It was a lot of fun and they treated us very well.  There was a big sort of banquet when we got there, and they had a Superhero theme for the 2 days.  At night we got to go to an Anaheim Angels game in the nosebleed seats, which was fun.  I got a wave started with the help of some of the people sitting with me, and it went a good way around the top section.  I met a lot of great people who were all obviously very caring, since they dedicate their time to helping other people’s lives.  I also met 2 girls who had faced cancer, and it was very insightful and inspirational to hear their stories.

CASC Leadership Camp

The other trip was again, at Stanford, but this time it was for a CASC (California Association of Student Councils) Leadership Camp.  It was a 4 day camp and this too was also mostly funded by the Parents Group at my school.  My favorite thing about the camp was definitely the people.  Imagine the leaders of schools from all over California coming together; talk about a great time.  I especially met some amazing people from San Mateo and Notre Dame, both local schools.  I was hoping I could plan a reunion, but I have just been way too busy and I haven’t talked with most of the people from CASC for a while.  The activities at CASC were not really what I expected.  I expected more games and teamwork activities, but instead it was more curriculum based.  I was a little disappointed that we spent most of the time with small groups in a small room learning leadership ‘lessons’.  I wouldn’t have minded a day of that, but 4 days was a little much.  I think we went into a little bit too much detail, for example we learned what colors were best for writing down ideas when brainstorming.  I have used some of that curriculum in facilitating a student focus group, but just the basic ideas of it, not the completely structured details.  I really enjoyed the general sessions however, when we had a speaker or saw a presentation or something.  Micah Jacobson, who I have seen speak now on five different occasions, spoke at CASC and he said and had us do some really cool things.  On the last night, we had the sickest dance ever, although unfortunately it was only an hour long.  It was outside, and unlike dances in other places where it takes a while for the dance to get started, as soon as the music went on all of these leadership kids went crazy.  It made me so happy to be with a group of people who just wanted to have fun and don’t care about the possibility of embarrassing themselves.  After the dance, Micah did this thing with candles where we each had one lit, and he talked about how we need to protect our flame.  He also gave everyone what he calls a ‘warm fuzzy’, and then we went around giving people warm fuzzies and getting them in return.  That was an awesome thing, something I might want to try to bring to our school if I get the chance.  Another night we saw a video from a camp in the 70s where they discussed race, gender, and orientation stereotypes, and other general problems that effect a lot of people, like abuse and inner struggles.  It was an extremely thought provoking and moving documentary, and we had some great discussions about it afterwards.  Overall I had a great time and I would go back just to be with those types of people again.  The people from my school didn’t really get much out of it though this year, so I’m not sure if we will go back next year.

Focus Group

The focus group I mentioned was something I had the idea for when I was up doing homework at two in the morning, and I had been working for like the last six hours.  I thought it was ridiculous, with all the busywork, so I thought about getting together a group of people who had an interest in changing the way the education system works, especially the honors program at Burlingame High School.  Since everyone interested in the group has very busy lives, we are taking it slow and we understand that change will not happen instantly, but it will take time. We have only met twice, but we have some good things down on paper (in the CASC style of course) that we can hopefully make an impact on.  At our first meeting, we listed what works and some problems, and at our last meeting we came up with specific goals that we want to tackle.  The biggest thing that I think I took from CASC is that when I’m facilitating, I make sure that what I do and say is to try to get out what the group really wants, not what I want.  The group really drives what we do.  Our next meeting is in January and we are going to figure out some action plans to achieve the goals, and also I am going to try to get some people from some other schools to come and talk about what works and what doesn’t at their schools.

ASB Vice President

I was ASB Vice President this last semester, and that was a really good experience.  I enjoyed working with ASB, although I wish we could have met more regularly and for a longer chunk of time, so we could talk about some goals and student life issues.  I was in charge of clubs, Club Faire, and the Blood Drive.  Unfortunately, our school district has a major budget crisis at the beginning of the year; they thought they had $3 million more than they actually did.  This meant they fired teachers in the middle of the year, and had to make a lot of other cuts, including recently limits on teachers’ healthcare.  The teachers, in protest of district decisions, temporarily would not write college recommendations, closed their doors before school, after school, and during lunch, and could not be advisors to clubs.  This made a big problem for clubs who could no longer meet in their advisor’s room.  Because this happened right around the time of Club Faire, we postponed it for a few weeks.  Where we postponed it to however, was the week before the Fall Blood Drive, which put a lot of stress on me.  I put together four competitions between clubs for the Club Challenge, including a scavenger hunt, a competition called Mummy, a watermelon eating contest, and the final which was the Extreme Club Relay, which had 6 different elements.  The Relay was definitely the hardest to plan, but I think it was the participants’ favorite activity.  The elements of the Relay included charades, a bat spin followed by shooting a basketball into a trash can, a orange pass with their necks, a water pass to fill a cup, a cucumber pass between the legs, and then a teamwork thing where they had to get a marble into a bucket by rolling it through little pieces of PVC pipe.  On Friday was the Food Faire, and that was a huge success.  About 25 clubs sold food, and there were a ton of people out there buying it.  The very next Tuesday was the Fall Blood Drive.  I had been getting signups for it for the last few weeks.  The Blood Drive was even more successful than Club Faire.  Last year, at the same time, there were 45 pints of blood donated.  This year, we got 96.  In the spring, we should get even more, because more people will be old enough to donate.  I will be old enough, but it still won’t be a year since I traveled to a malaria infected area, so I still won’t be eligible to donate.  Ryan Buckley will be Vice President next semester, so I know he’ll do a great job on the Blood Drive.  It was challenging to manage all of the clubs because there are about 45 of them.  I have been working on a point system proposal for all new clubs.  It would give all new clubs a one semester probationary charter, and in order to become a permanent charter, they have to obtain a certain number of points.  The idea behind this is to give clubs a push to remain active and contribute to the school or community, and also give ASB an idea of which clubs are flourishing.  They would earn points by turning in minutes of meetings, putting on a fundraiser, advertising their club, and so on.  As long as they are serious about the success of their club, then reaching the 20 points needed by the end of the semester shouldn’t be a problem.  The problem about the proposal however, is that since we didn’t meet very often, especially at the end of the year, I never got the chance to talk about it with ASB.  Now it’s not technically in my hands anymore since I’m not in charge of clubs, and I think some people see me as too controlling as it is, and that I am trying to impose what I think should be done on everyone else.  I have talked to Ryan about it and he likes the idea, but I think it is possible it still could be voted down at our first meeting just because I wrote up the proposal and not Ryan.  One thing I feel I am still lacking on ASB is respect, and I think that mainly is because of my age, and also probably has something to do with the fact that I tend to talk a lot about issues I care about, as you can see by my already 3200 word entry.  I have felt a certain bit of doubt and possible animosity coming from a few members of ASB ever since I ran for Vice President as a freshman.  I am hopeful that as I grow older, learn from my mistakes and experiences, and continue to prove my capabilities like I did for the Blood Drive, that I will gain the respect I desire from ASB.

Elections

My term as Vice President was only one semester, so I had to run again for office, and I decided to run for President.  I felt like if I ran for Vice President, I might be stealing the place of a very deserving senior on ASB, like Ryan.  VP is only one of two elected positions in the whole school that is only one semester (obviously seniors can only run for those or one of the two semester long appointed positions).  Plus, I feel like the school is gradual downward slope right now with all the budget problems and general morale, so I want to see if I can do anything to help the situation.  The position is actually President-Elect, which means I will kind of be the apprentice to Ian next semester, who will be president, and then I will take over as president for the fall semester of my junior year.  I actually ran unopposed, which just shows the general apathy of my school right now.  At the same time last year, 7 people ran for the position.  I was actually very disappointed that no one would run against me, because I actually really enjoy campaigning, and I think the president should be someone who the people choose, not someone who just lucks into the position.  If the school likes what I have to offer, then I should be president; if not, then I shouldn’t.  Simple as that.  Also, during the process of campaigning and talking to people, it helps me to realize what the student body actually is interested in, and what they would like to see in their leaders.  It’s easier to represent people who choose you to represent them.  I also don’t think I will have gained any respect from ASB by winning unopposed.  My friend Carlo is the new Treasurer-Elect, meaning that we will both be on together for the next full year, and another very smart sophomore is the new Secretary, Caitlin.  It is very unusual to have one sophomore on ASB, and now we will have three.  This should be interesting.

Relay for Life

I was on the committee for Burlingam e’s Relay for Life this year, which made the actual event even more rewarding.  When people just go to Relay, I don’t think they realize how much planning actually goes into it.  The committee starts meeting months and months before, and there is a lot of planning that needs to happen every single year, especially when you are a nonprofit group and need to find donations for most of what we do at Relay.  The committee is mostly a bunch of ladies who had been doing this for years, and they are the nicest people ever.  The only other guy, Eddie, is extremely rational and even works as an event planner, so he knows what works and what doesn’t, and always brings us back to the main idea when we get too far off topic.  The committee chair, Dorene, lives right around the corner from me and is one of the nicest and most supportive people you’ll ever meet.  She worked so hard on the Relay and she really doesn’t get enough credit for all that she does.  It was a lot of fun to be a part of the behind the scenes process, and since I am only a sophomore, I have two more years as a part of it.  I hope in the years to come I can get more of an idea of what needs to be done so that I can be more helpful and take more initiative.  I was the captain of Team Nueva for the 3rd year in a row, and I was really excited to get a Nueva group together again to Relay.  I was a little disappointed with the Nueva turnout and the amount that was raised, but such is life.  You can’t force people to come; they come if they want to.  For the people who did come though, we had a great time.  I actually spoke twice on stage during the event.  The first time I wrote and delivered a speech about Prop 86, if you interested you can read it, if not just skip it:

I would like to take a minute to talk about why we, as a community, are here today. It is because every one of us is here to fight cancer.  We are here because our personal experiences or observations have driven us to act. Because our contribution, multiplied by over three million others nationwide participating in Relay provide a tremendous opportunity to gain the upper hand in this fight against cancer.

 

But we have more working for us than just Relay. We have the greatest opportunity California has ever had to fight cancer, and it is headed for the ballot this November.  Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable death in the country, and lung cancer is the number one most deadly cancer.  We can do something about it.
 

When the tobacco tax initiative, Proposition 86, passes this November, it will boost our fight against Cancer to new heights.  This initiative will tax each pack of cigarettes by $2.60 which will raise more than $500 million a year to directly fight cancer.
 

Where will the money go?
 

Proposition 86 will triple current state funding for Cancer research. 

It will triple funding for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program.

It will establish a new program for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

It will protect the prostate cancer screening program from funding cuts.

It will establish a new program encouraging nutrition and physical activity.

It will reinvigorate California’s tobacco control programs by tripling the budget for many of the programs funded by a proposition passed in 1988 that has successfully cut adult smoking from 25% to 14%.

Lastly, the Tobacco Tax initiative will provide access to health care for every child in California.
 

Obviously, tobacco companies are doing everything they can to fight this proposition. You may have seen the campaign ads on TV.  But remember that what you are watching is coming from a BUSINESS, whose sole purpose is to make money for personal gain.  The organizations in support of Prop 86 however, including the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association are nonprofit, meaning they have no personal monetary vested interest in the outcome of this vote.  The only motivation is saving lives.

But don’t just take my word for it.  Think about it, and what a vote one way or the other could mean for you, and for future generations.

To help you do that, I want you to think for a second about a world free of smoking, free of cancer.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  Now think of your children, your grandchildren, the teenagers out here today.  This generation, my generation, our generation, is the future of this country.  We will not accept a world void of progression.  Progression.  Progression.  That is the key.  We must move forward, and continue to make greater and more meaningful achievements.  We must build on the successes of the past, so we may one day live in a world of peace, a world without fear, and a world without unnecessary death.  What is our purpose on earth if we can’t make it better for future generations?  This proposition will help to do just that.  Prop 86 will reduce teen smoking by almost 50%, and I consider that an amazing form of progression.

I also spoke briefly at the Luminaria Ceremony about what a luminaria is, what the significance of it is, and why we light them.  Overall, it was once again an amazing event.  The message is still powerful and moving, even the third time.  Plus it is so much fun.  I even met some people at Relay, one in particular, who I am really glad I met and had a great time with.  I’m excited to start planning for next year.

KARMA Initiative

My friend Carlo (the treasurer) and I are planning on starting a club next semester at BHS called the KARMA Initiative.  The original idea for a club was inspired by ImprovEverwhere, but over some time the idea has grown and become our own.  The original name we came up with was ‘Beyond Improv’, but when we figured out the main goals of the club, we thought Improv gave off the wrong impression.  Basically the idea of the club is to make people happy.  It is our way to try to raise morale at BHS which is seemingly pretty low right now.  We will achieve this through events that are either really fun and random, that make people feel accepted and part of a group, and satisfaction with themselves and with helping others, or that just make people go ‘Wow, that’s so cool!”  We have a whole page full of ideas, including The MP3 Experiment, The Free Hugs Campaign, Mission: Random Acts of Kindness, and the School-Wide Rock Paper Scissors Tournament.  These are the types of events that will hopefully make people’s day.  I am really excited about this; I think it will be a great thing for our school, and I think we already have a lot of people really excited about it.  We had our first mission, which was a trip of nine agents to the offices of Smalltown.com for a focus group.  We were welcomed with pizza, drinks, and cookies, they gave us free t-shirts and mugs, and they paid us $75 dollars for each person.  All we had to do was give them an hour of our time and feedback.  They also set up a promotion for us, in which if people go to http://www.smalltown.com and register with the promotional code KIP, they will donate $2 to us for every review that person posts, up to $20.  After five reviews, that person will also get a $10 gift certificate to Century Theaters sent to them.  It is a fantastic deal, all it takes is about 10 minutes, and it’s a great website too that has a real potential to become the next big thing.  Go try it out.  We also set up a website for the club, located at http://karmainitiative.googlepages.com.  It is a work in progress, but once we start with the missions, it should be a pretty cool site.  I’m excited to get this thing started; we have a lot of really exciting plans.  Expect to see a lot of advertisement and buzz at the beginning of the semester; we want to start with a bang.

Inherit the Wind

This year’s Fall Play, Inherit the Wind, is a very good show and is also very current, as the theme of evolution being taught in the classrooms is unfortunately still an issue in today’s world.  I auditioned, and to my complete surprise, was cast as the lead, Henry Drummond, the defense attorney.  It was a fantastic role and I had some great lines.  It certainly was a lot to remember though, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to remember it all with everything else I had going on.  I was surprised at the choice of show because it doesn’t have very many big parts for girls, and honestly I was a little skeptical that we had enough talented guys at our school to pull it off.  Fortunately, there was a whole batch of rookie guys this year that were so much fun to work with and did a fantastic job.  Everything had a much different feel than the play last year.  The whole cast in general was a very new group.  Out of a cast of 32, it was the first show at BHS for 19 people.  Don’t ask me why I know this; I have no life, so I count.  There were only 5 seniors and 5 juniors, and then there were 15 sophomores and 7 freshmen.  I think some people just assumed that the show wasn’t going to be any good because the typical ‘drama people’ weren’t in it, but this group definitely proved any doubters wrong.  They all did an amazing job, and I consider them the true drama kids.  We also had a new theater that was finally reopened after the building was under construction for about 3 years.  The theater looks exactly the same though; they didn’t do any work on it at all.  We had a new director too!  This was my third director in three shows at BHS, and she just quit, so we are going to have a fourth for the musical.  The cast and crew had a really tough time come show time because the flu was going around within our group, and it was bad.  The night before our first show there were four leads out with the flu, throwing up at home.  We had never run the entire show all the way through without stopping until our preview performance.  It continued to spread, and the majority of the cast had gotten sick by the time we were done.  Just about everyone who got it threw up a few times.  I think we had three people throw up backstage during one of our three shows.  That is called hardcore theater.  I got sick on Saturday, but I managed to not throw up I think by convincing myself that I was ok.  Someone came up to me during intermission and said “I heard you’re going to blow any second,” so I was able to laugh it off by telling people “Word on the street is that I’m about to blow.  That’s what I’ve heard anyway.”  A lot of people really toughed it out, and I was so proud of everyone for getting through it and still giving a great performance.  I really hope these people continue with the drama program, because even though it felt so few, it also felt promising, and I can sense we have a building   program.  For now, we have no director for our musical, no musical chosen, no date set for auditions, not even a drama teacher.  I just hope it’s not another Cinderella.  Plus, I still have to decide what I’m going to do about the tennis and drama conflict.  Here we go again!

This has been an amazing year in my life.  Thank you so much to everyone who was a part of it.  On to even bigger and better things in 2007.  Happy New Year!  May it bring you peace, happiness, health, amazing experiences, and the time of your life.  Lechiem!

~Agent Klein

PS.  Oh wow, this took a hell of a long time.  I’m really glad I did it though.  It gives some closure for the year.  Just in case you care, this whole entry is 5850 words long.  If you read this whole thing: 1) Wow, and 2) I’m sorry.  It is so late in the morning though that I am embarrassed to even say what time it is.  I’m not even that tired, which just shows how screwed up my sleeping schedule has gotten this break.  Happy 07!