The Panther VoiceBy Victoria Sheridan

They said we couldn’t do it. They laughed when they heard. They rolled their eyes. They scoffed. At first, we certainly didn’t blame them. It was different. It was crazy. It seemed like a pointless and unproductive use of time. No, at first, we thought we were crazy, too. Annie Sourbis and I were about to spend an entire month creating a prom dress...out of duct tape. As you may already know, this year, the senior externship was required of all seniors. From May 14 to June 8, all seniors were given the mandatorily unique op-portunity to do and to experience for

at least 120 hours. While some people chose to volunteer, research and work at hospitals, labs, schools, and more--all noble pursuits--we decided to spend the extended time taking the “personal inter-est project” route. In all honesty, we thought that our application forms to do this project were lost among the many great proposals. We imagined that somehow, we got past the watchful eyes of Dr. Haubner and Mrs. Tina. We were very much expecting a flat-out rejection, a laugh in the face or even some form of public humiliation

at the very idea- we were to create a duct tape prom dress. Surprisingly, we received no notification of a denial and on May 14, we began. My friend and fellow senior, Annie Sourbis, and I wanted to do this project for a number of reasons: for one, we like spending time with one another; two, we wanted to do something unique for a formal event that thrives on conformity; and three, probably the most defining fac-tor, our other externship ideas had fallen through. I also knew that I wanted a “nice” dress for my senior prom. Months before, I began my search to find the perfect one. Unfortunately, I was met with “nice” dresses at steep prices. I also became too tired to find a good dress that was in the price range I was most comfortable with. So, I guess that’s why I decided to dedi-cate a month to work the hardest I ever have on almost anything in my life. I had heard of the “Stuck at Prom” col-lege scholarship competition by “Duck Brand” duct tape years ago. It sounded like a funny--albeit slightly stupid--thing when I had first heard about it. I also thought the dresses were horrific. How-ever, as my search for a dress became progressively hopeless, I remembered that silly contest. In the depths of my despair over not finding a dress, my rationale for creating a duct tape one was that it would cost less and would be more fun.

Now, I knew that the idea was a little bit out there even when I decided on doing it. I also knew that even my creative partner (my wonderful mother) would not go for it, and we’ve had a history of collabora-tive projects that were a little bit out there. Still, I was not about to spend another minute perusing another prom dress web-site. That was reason enough for me. Despite my belief that I was actually tak-ing the easy way out, it was quite apparent that there was little expectation of us. The doubt was palpable even in the voices of those who offered words of encourage-ment. A lot of advice was thrown in our direc-tion; there was the suggestion of colors to use and there was the opinion of how to create it. However, the most common piece of advice, by far, was to have a back-up dress. “I know most people did not believe in particular since my wardrobe mostly con-sists of plaid, button down shirts, sweat-ers, sweatshirts and only jeans,” Annie Sourbis says, “they probably are shocked, but I think I shocked myself the most.” Even from the beginning, we were faced with the kind of adversity we did not ex-pect. Upon hearing about our project, one teacher proclaimed: “This is what is wrong with society.” “I care about both of you and I think you’re both great people. And I am sure that you both will be successful in life, but it will probably take you guys awhile,” one friend said. Of course, we took all of these com-ments in stride, but they definitely pushed us to work harder and we did. We ended up spending a little over three weeks on the dress and accessories. It added up to 139 hours and 57 minutes of designing and creating. It concluded on Monday, June 4--the day before prom. Using under 15 rolls of the official col-ored duct tape, some dollar store duct tape for underneath, super glue, some fabric underneath, some paper bags and a lot of

paper towels underneath, we created our vision of a fun and classy duct tape prom dress. Along with the dress, we created a duct tape clutch, a duct tape corsage, a duct tape cocktail ring and covered my shoes in duct tape. All the flowers (including the ones on the dress) are completely duct tape. I also had duct tape “nail polish.” After all is said and done, we can honestly say that we haven’t worked that hard in a very long time. Each day was a challenge. We definitely would not call ourselves artistic masterminds or fashion prodigies, which made it all the harder.

Inside This Issue...Opinion.......................pg. 2News............................pg. 3College Map............pg. 4-5Reflections..............pg. 6-7Class of 2012..............pg. 8

Stuck at Prom Competition: Two Students Pull Off the Unexpected

By Abby Golfo

A few weeks ago, some of you may have noticed a group of teach-ers sitting in your French, Spanish, or Italian classes observing your lessons and taking notes. For those of you who did not know what was going on, these teachers were part of the Tri-States Consortium.

The Tri-States Consortium is a group of teachers from similar schools throughout New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Ev-ery few years, the Ardsley School District chooses a different depart-ment for the consortium to evalu-ate—this year they selected the language program.

To get feedback from parents and students about the language pro-gram, the district sent out an online survey while the Consortium met separately with panels of parents and students. Although the school district has not yet received the evaluations from the Tri-States

Consortium, they will be receiving them soon. When the Tri-States Consortium does make the recommendations,

the district will, according to Superintendent Dr. Lauren Allan, analyze the report and suggest a plan to incorporate the changes. What changes can we expect to see for the language program in the future? On the strengths of the language program, Dr. Allan says she is proud of Ardsley’s “push for

oral proficiency,” so there will defi-nitely be an emphasis on speaking in language classes throughout the future. She also commends the fact that language classes are available from middle school until Advanced Placement in the High School. As for improving the language program, Dr. Allan would really like to expand to include lan-guages like potentially Arabic or Mandarin. She says the school is currently looking at Mandarin and that it would probably “start as a club,” because it is hard to find certified teachers. Meanwhile, a recent change to the language pro-gram was made regarding honors classes. There will no longer be honors classes available for lan-guage students in Levels 1 and 2, because, says Dr. Allan, the class

sizes would be too small for single sections like French and Italian that don’t have a large number of students to begin with. However, the honors classes will be resumed for Level 3 language students. Hopefully, future emphasis on in-class speaking and the addition of new language programs will help students become fluent and able to communicate in a very diverse world.

Evaluating Ardsley’s Foreign Language Program

(Above) Annie Sourbis and Abby Golfo show off their creation

Heather Sommer, Dima Chaar, Jennifer Ognibene and Abby Golfo smile for pic-

tures during pre-prom

The shoes, clutch and corsage cre-ated with the use of duct tape by

Annie and Abby as accessories for prom

Continued on Page 3

The Panther Voice

Read this article because #YOLOBy Becca Leibowitz Rumor has it, you only live once. Anyone who may have forgotten this very important truth has cer-tainly been reminded of it in the past few months, thanks to singer/rapper Drake. He has informed us of this vital fact of life in his recent hit song “The Motto,” with the lyr-ics, “You only live once, that’s the motto: YOLO.” Lately, YOLO can be seen and/or heard everywhere we turn. For ex-ample, #YOLO has been trending on Twitter nonstop for weeks on end. Scroll down the newsfeed on FACEBOOK and you will see nu-merous photo albums titled YOLO and status updates that end with the now infamous phrase. You’ll hear it probably at least once a day just walking through the school hallway or in your class. So what’s wrong with a little reminder that life’s short and we should live it to the fullest? Well, maybe nothing. However, you are much more likely to hear YOLO used in the context of, “omg took 20 shots last night, YOLO” instead of “Wow, climbed up Mt. Kiliman-jaro, what a beautiful view, glad I did it because YOLO.” Consider-ing the context of Drake’s song, the lyrics of which are not even close to appropriate for me to print here, I think it’s safe to assume that Drake probably uses YOLO as an excuse to party hard. I must dwell on the irony of this. Since YOLO, wouldn’t it only make sense to ensure the longest life possible? So using it as an excuse to do whatever it may be doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

Then again, sometimes YOLO is just used to mean “why not?”…and “why not?” moments are of-ten some of the best moments. Here are a few randomly se-lected best (or worst) examples of YOLO I could find on Twitter and elsewhere. (Some of them might even be your own posts!):

Tweeting in the shower bcz YOLOAlmost died at a furniture store today by getting trapped underneath a couch recliner. #YOLOWhen life gives you Justin Bieber, take him & run. YOLODancing around in ma garden wearing my bikini pretending to be nicki minaj in the star-ships video... #yoloWaking up at 1am to get oraange juiceee yoloAbout to mountain bike through a thunderstorm #YoloI’m not bringing my notes to class. YOLOSo proud of myself. I built the lego version of the White House #yoloSaying yolo after saying yolo, because yolo.

Then there are those who YOLO in the following manner:

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. YOLO

Now that’s a YOLO I can live with.

Photos: Google Images

*Disclaimer: Content that appears in The Panther Voice does not necessarily represent the views of the paper or of Ardsley High School.

Just Be YourselfBy Emily ChoiThe weather is getting hot and the students are getting restless. For the seniors, though, life is pretty good. They’re working at their externships, have gotten into col-lege, and are waiting to get out of this tiny town called home. Before the impending exodus of the seniors, I wanted to get some parting thoughts from three senior girls who I had met through sports. Senior Simone Webb, whom I had met through spring track, answered my questions with ease. When I asked if she had any advice for un-derclassmen, she said, “The best high school experiences are had when you become comfortable with who you are and when you don’t compromise your beliefs for anyone. Once you do that, you’ll enjoy everything that comes your way.” She also added the positives of being actively involved in athletics: “I’ll miss volleyball the most. Volleyball basically defined high school for me and if it wasn’t for volleyball then I don’t know who I would be as a student or as an Ards-leyan in general”. Another senior named Madi Di-naso, who I had met through soccer, also gave me her input. She is actively involved in athletics, student govern-ment, and is an overall caring person. When I became a part of the soccer team, she helped me feel included. When asked if she had any advice to give to the underclassmen, she said, “My advice is to stay loyal to your close friends and take advantage of any opportunities that come your way to make your experience in high school fun and enjoyable.” When I asked her looking back what she would have done differently, she said, “I wish I learned quicker that being cool isn’t so important and that I had tried to become friends with a greater amount of people.” Similar to many others, it seems

sports were an important part of her high school life: “I will miss my varsity sport teams the most to be able to play with and become friends with so many different girls, and learning and grow-ing together, was amazing.” The third senior I talked to was De-nae Kassotis who I had met through soccer. She said that the funniest experience she had in all her years at AHS was “seeing the guys dance at senior revue. They danced to “I Want You Back” by N’Sync and it was hilarious.” When asked if she had any words of guidance for the underclass-men, she said to “have fun with your friends and do not be concerned with what other people think.” Her favorite class and teacher of all was “freshman English and my favorite teacher was Mr. Baird. Mr. Baird did a great job at acclimating my classmates and me to high school. I looked forward to going to his class every day because he’s such an inspirational and interest-ing person. I trust him completely and have always taken his advice without question.” Denae said that if she could do anything differently “[she] would have focused more on school work freshman and sophomore year.” What seems clear is that the seniors find Ardsley akin to a lepers’ village—something to be avoided at all costs and fled from immediately. Sports played a huge part of their lives during high school. Most importantly, one thing that all three girls stressed was the significance of being yourself and not caring about what others think. Unsurprisingly, they all had great things to say about the amazing teach-ers who we couldn’t succeed without. We will definitely miss the seniors. I personally will miss Simone, Madi and Denae. Thanks for your advice; we underclassmen will take all you have said to heart and will be better for it.

Continued from page 1

Stuck at Prom Competition: Two Students Pull Off the Unexpected

My senior externship project, which I completed with Ali Bohrer, took me far from Ardsley, to a district of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Ka-trina, the Lower Ninth Ward. This ward of New Orleans Parish (the Louisiana equivalent of “county”) is a little bigger in size than Ardsley, but now is home to less than 2,000 people; down from 14,000 prior to Katrina. Juxtaposing the Lower Ninth Ward with a town in the neighboring Saint Bernard Parish (an area that had even worse flooding) elucidates the tragic effects of Katrina lingering in the area. Many places where houses used to stand in the Lower Ninth Ward are empty plots with overgrown grass, schools are closed down and falling apart and not one business has re-opened after the storm. In the neigh-boring area, a new school welcomes its students with an Olympic-sized pool, football stadium and fully equipped library, more similar to a college cam-pus than a public high school. Strip malls line the main avenue of this area and houses fill the streets. The differ-ence is blatant and highlights socio-economic and race divisions in the country. My externship helped me under-stand how these differences arise and gave me the opportunity to help the community rebuild itself. My volun-teer hours consisted of working in the Lower Ninth Ward Village Commu-nity Center. Mostly I helped organize

the center, file papers, clean out rooms, and set up new applianc-es: menial tasks. However, the people I met during my stay—workers at the center and children who came to a weekend long camp run out of the center—re-ally shaped my experience. All three of the center’s workers do not look upon their work at the center as a job, rather a calling, something they were born to do. One of them goes as far as say-ing that without working in the center to help improve the lives of others, he would not be able to sleep at night. The dedication these men have to the center and to changing the way the US approaches natural disasters is infectious. This experience opened my eyes to a whole new world. I was raised in a town where everyone (or nearly everyone) completes high school and then continues their education

at college. In the Lower Ninth Ward, most children do not aspire to attend university, but they are not the ones to blame. They are bussed to schools up to an hour from their homes, return after dark and switch schools frequent-ly. For me, AHS was more than a school; it was a community, a place to learn with my peers, but also from my peers. The people in the Lower Ninth Ward have no sense of community—children attend different schools and

there are no town parks or stores to build relationships and turn neighbors into friends. If the Community Center continues to expand its services and house volunteers, hopefully the Lower Ninth Ward will start to resemble a town like Ardsley with a strong sense of community and a far-reaching sup-port network.

The workers at Michaels, Jo-Ann’s and the dollar store probably saw us more than our own parents during the three-week period. Some days, we spent up to 14 hours in my badly-ventilated basement with the fumes of duct tape and Krazy Glue overwhelming us. There were days when 4AM was our studio-closing time. Both of us are night owls, so those 4AM days began at noon. The one day that we tried to have a 9AM start, we ended up having a 5 hour nap on the two uncom-fortable couches in my basement that suddenly became heavenly clouds. At times, this project was intensely stressful. We would try something out and it wouldn’t work. Then, we would try something else and that wouldn’t work either. We would question ourselves, why we were doing this, and give in to all the negativity we were surrounded by. How-ever, we kept on going. We had to experi-ment and take chances. We had to think about getting it right and not about how much time we would lose. We had to get it done. We even had a picture of Tim Gunn with his trademark “MAKE IT WORK” phrase captioned underneath, hung on our wall of ideas. Annie and I spent an average of 10 hours a day together doing something that we both had never even imagined trying before. Spending that much time with one person in such a stress-inducing environ-ment could drive both parties insane, but somehow, we made it out with our friend-ship still intact. “I do not think I’d be able to spend this much time with anyone else. Abby and I as

partners works. She puts up with my hab-its and I think she’s entertaining …. and her mom feeds me,” reflected Annie. I believe the same of Annie. We worked it out together. After all, it was about the dress. It was about proving ourselves. It was about getting it done. We had a mutual goal that we passionately wanted to attain. Passion was a big part of this that I don’t think everybody truly understood during the process. Many people that know us pretty well thought that we would not take this seriously. After our final product, many confessed their initial hesitance and doubt. I don’t think that I’d be able to put into words how passionate we were during the whole experience. We were genuinely in-vested in this project. We didn’t take short-cuts. More often than not, we took the longer, yet more efficient path. We would get frustrated and feel completely hopeless at times, and we kept going. The senior externship is supposed to be a teaching and learning experience. The administrators encourage us to intern at a place that would allow us to experience a prospective job. Annie and I agree that we both won’t be entering the duct tape prom dress business (and hopefully never see duct tape or super glue again), but this was an experience that we definitely don’t regret. We wouldn’t do it a second time, but it was well worth it. As we made our way to pre-prom, we were nervous and excited. It was every-thing we had been working for. I imagine it’s how parents feel when showing off

their newborn baby to the world. Interest-ingly, the dress is 6.4 pounds, which is equal to 6 pounds and 6.4 ounces. I was about that weight when I was born. We wanted people to be as excited about it as we were. We were not disappointed by the reactions. In fact, it made us feel extremely good. We were so overwhelmed with pride when people voluntarily took pictures of it instead of just having our friends take pictures. We’re both not huggers, but that was a hug-wor-thy (and though we won’t admit it, tear-worthy as well) moment. Even now, we’re still kind of gushing. We’re still so prideful of our creation and the response to it. We worked hard and the days following prom, we were fatigued. Unfortunately, Annie became sick from the amount of Krazy Glue she was exposed to and we could not complete the matching tux. That meant that we could not enter Duck Brand’s “Stuck at Prom” competition. Still, we are so, so happy that people liked the dress. It made for an unforgettable day and an unforgettable experience. So, a big thank you to everyone. Special

thanks goes to: our supervisor, Julie Reifer, who took us on; our mentors, Nedda Schoenfeld and Señora Spina; our friend, Emma Boisitz, who helped extensively when we needed it; our friend, Kady Ar-thur, who put up with us when we needed her to be “the tux”; our parents; our teachers; our friends; and all those who expressed their support! Thank you and carpe diem (which, they tell me, is just the fancy way to say YOLO).Watch the video we made! Search “Abby-pants Wears a Dress” on YouTube or type in the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PjvS-vJw8tE

(Above) Sketches of the dress and (to the right)

the actual duct tape prom dress

Externship Project Takes Two Seniors to a Different World

Allie Wainer (Upper Right) and Ali Bohrer (Upper Left) completing their externship in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

By Allie Wainer

photos: Google images

Seniors 2012:Where Are They Going?

Compiled By Dima Chaar

New York

Annie Sourbis

John Petrellese

Emily Greenwald

Emma Stein

Erica VolpeLiam McHugh

Dima Chaar Isabel Michaelides

Lauren KlarsfeldKate MonkovicAli OlsewskiTatyana RobertsHannah Smith

Devon BadolatoZohair DeenMichael SykuBrock Wilson

Hailey Wynn

Christina Scaramella

Blaine Naftelberg

Theodore Lyons

Benjamin PolskyVincent Reda

Aiden DreskinDan Hemerlein

Emily Weiss

Anthony Kim

Micherre Matras

Jake Schiappacase

Emma Conroy

Kevin Chen

Andrew JoungJennifer Ognibene

Will AaronKady ArthurPatrick GreeneEvan ManiotisSabina SarubbiMichael Wank

Rebecca Fishman

Hannah GrossmanAlec SeidenbergWhitney SmithKatie WalshCharles Weinstein

SUNY

Danielle WoolisHeather Sommer

Abby GolfoAlexis KassotisJoe PotischmanAndrew SchunkAlix Seskin

Dana Reifer

Roberto Ayala

Elias ChesyJacob Zive

Alanna GinsbergSam Katz

Codruta AntonoviciJulie KimMaleeha Siddiqui

Rachel FlammJohn Monteverde

Rachel Ahn

Kimberly Goldstein

MarylandAli Bohrer

Adam PaulNicole SchoenbrunDaniel SteinAimee TandoiJessica Tilles

Rebecca Lehner

Michael Farrelly

Saumik Rahman

Alec Eisenberg

Note: This list is subject to change.

Pennsylvania

Robin Klein

Laura BlumenstockGavin Buckland

Justin Shapiro

Nick HahmAnna Peverly

Matthew BonomoJoseph Zacchio

Jill Castellano

Andrew FishmanZachary GlickJacob LiebersohnJohanna Seitenbach

Adam DeAngeloLaura Belle Oberlander

Rachel Weinstein

North Carolina

Samantha Lee

Larissa Bundziak

Ryan Rosenberg

Off the Map: Canada

Remy Stern

Forest Edwards

Alexa Ozemba

Blake Hudson

Rhode Island

Massachusetts

Madi Dinaso

Jack Hoffman

Justin CheungSara Li

Oren BarkowLori MillerMelanie Schneid

Sherin Thomas

Emma Boisitz

Jaron Hickman

Allie Wainer

Andrew Barbato

Allie CammisaMolly Gaynor

Steven BachJacquelyn McKenly

Hayley Abadi

Bettina Cheung

Connecticut

Josh Berlowitz

Ariana BulgarelliSebastian Cabaret-MertelSarah MarshallEmma Buegeleisen

Maxine CarrascoJohanna JanDenae KassotisAndrea LehnerAllie ModicaKimberly RiveraEmily ShapiroMichael Wachs

Daniel Charles

Adam Gross-Leczycki

Ethan AderAlex GelbRebecca HarrisHannah Siegel

Simone Webb

Nicole Galletta

Lucas Cahn-Evans

Marc Getzoff

Daniel Weber

Ishita Vohra

Marc Sayegh

Josh Muhlbaum

Tyler Fodiman

Marley DeutchmanAndrew Versace

By Ilana Goldstein

Sophomore year is the beginning of firsts: I started driving this year, I took my first AP entrance ex-ams, and I started to think about college. We are students in transi-tion between lower classmen and upper classmen, leisurely hours to hard work, honors to APs, grow-

ing up to grown up. This was the year, we slowly began taking control. Some of us literally took the wheel this year without a driving permit in our pockets, yearning for the day that we can ride freely without parents and age-based rules. Even though it feels like high school just begun, in two years we end high school,

and in four we begin facing “the real world”. We stood up in front of our English class—or maybe on the auditorium stage—and we slammed down our thoughts and feelings for peers to judge and vote upon. For some, it may have been the first time they were alone on

a stage—or even in front of their class—though I doubt it will be the last. Many of us took the PSATs earlier this year and got a look at what will come next year. This year is also when we learn to take responsibility. Innocence is igno-rance of the impact

our decisions make: a child is not aware of the significance of his or her life and actions. At this new threshold, we must shed more of our innocence and become closer to that cryptic form of adult. The school believes that after sopho-more year, we will be faced with a variety of decisions. Whether in academics, relationships, or

decisions regarding our futures, we must learn what decisions will bring us closer to the futures that we want. While we are not adults, we can no longer be children. We think, we act, we choose and therefore, we create, who we are. We control our decisions and we own their implications. Thus, we must learn, before we enter the harsh and unforgiv-ing climb of the real world, how to make decisions. That is the challenge we face today. I’m looking past the end of my sophomore year towards the begin-ning of junior year. Towards the begin-ning of AP courses, studying for SATs, taking drivers’ Ed, getting into R

rated movies (legally), and start-ing to decide what will happen after high school. After all, even though this year was great, next year is a whole new beginning.

Freshman Year Reflection: The Year of “Firsts” As I sit writing this article, I still cannot believe it--I am writing a reflection about my freshman year of high school. It is slightly surreal that we, the class of 2015, have just finished ninth grade and summer has arrived. It is very hard for me to put all of my thoughts about this year into words because of all the memories and friendships that I have made. Yes, I know; I sound quite cliché but I have befriended many awesome people at this school and have had many great experiences with them all. For me, this year started with practice five days every week at the girls’ swim team. The first practice

was quite intimidating because the older girls are much better than me and I only knew my friends in my grade. Over the course of the season, I became friendly with practically the entire team, including many of the upperclassmen. The team is strong in its strokes, sportsmanship, and con-nections among the members. Partici-pating on the swim team allowed for me to improve my skills, confidence, and much more. My summer plans include more time at a pool because someone, no name mentioned, needs to brush up on her skills.Along with the swim team, my year was also filled with non-academic

activities such as the Concert Band, the Criterion, and the Panther Voice. Concert Band has been a great addition to my saxophone career because everything includ-ing the sectionals, pieces, and seating arrangements dur-ing class were fun

and exciting. I am a proud member of The Criterion, the school’s literary maga-zine, and The Panther Voice as I love both creative and informational writing. In both of these clubs, I met new people and learned how to write newspaper articles (somewhat well), to create basic types of pages on In Design (the program used to design The Crite-rion), and much more. Next year, I definitely will be a part of these great clubs. Academically, this year was quite the change coming from middle school. The work and expectations were much higher and harder than in middle school and the stress grew to insane levels. I might be exaggerating a little too much but this year was slightly stressful. Honestly, I’ve enjoyed practi-cally every moment of school. Yes, that sounds extremely cliché and dorky but it is true. All of my classes were exciting in some shape or form and I found the information pretty cool and interesting. However, despite my excitement towards the material

prior to now, finals week does not make school or the subjects learned more exciting. Freshmen year is embodied within the name: it is beginning of something fresh, something new. In the past, people went from high school to a job, beginning life as independent adults. Obviously, today this has changed--college has replaced what high school once was. Regardless, high school still retains the essence that it embodies in the past--high school is the final threshold into a wider pastures, a whiff of the “real” world. We, freshmen, just received our first whiff; some of us recoiled from it, but I know that I and many of my friends cannot get enough. I cannot wait for next year.

photos: Facebook and Google images

Sophomore Year Reflection: Getting Ready for So Much MoreBy Nina Joung

Student

By Emily Shapiro It’s June 3rd, two days before my senior prom, and I can’t believe this year is over. We started off still worrying about test-ing scores and which colleges to apply to, and are ending with thinking about roommate selections and course selec-tions. While it’s pretty safe to say ev-eryone has come to a happy conclusion, senior year was definitely one of stress and confusion, but also one of excite-ment and hope for the future. When we entered high school four years ago, we all had different goals…some of us wanted to be the captain of the soccer team or the president of Key Club; some wanted to make Honor Roll every single quarter, and some wanted to simply get into a good college. Whatever the goal was, it was all focused on senior year and mak-ing a final mark on Ardsley High School. Junior year, I think most seniors would agree, was one of the most stressful, with SAT/ACT scores, drivers education, and beginning the college process. But as we kicked this year off with the senior chalking and barbeque, college was still always at the back of our minds. Walk-ing through the hallways each day I usually saw a few seniors sitting in the guidance office waiting to bombard their guidance counselors with a million different questions (I was often one of those seniors). Some of my friends were done with the application process by October and were able to relax, but a lot were still working up until the February deadlines, and by the time the deadlines came around, were seriously stressing

out. Once the applications were in, we sat around twiddling our thumbs while waiting for our results. I know I person-ally ransacked my mail every day once March 15th hit, waiting to see what let-ters I would get and which colleges had answered me. Once we all got our first letters and knew kind of what to expect, we began to breathe again. Of course, we still had

to focus on our classes and our teams, clubs, and commitments, being role models to the younger members. We found the time to actually enjoy our-selves in these activities, without having to worry about rushing home to make sure we had actually proof read our supplements for XYZ University. Allie Wainer, a senior who next year will be attending Tufts University, said, “Dur-ing senior year I was able to ease back

on studying and enjoy myself on sports teams, in clubs and with my friends.” As spring break passed and we had only a few weeks left walking through the hallways, there was a sense of nos-talgia among many seniors, as well as a sense of elation. Our class had the op-portunity to be the pilot program for the now required senior externship, and for the most part, people were very excited

with the opportunity to be independent and have the chance to work in a field they were interested in. Allie Modica worked at Solomon Schechter with a second grade class for her externship, and says that it was “a great experience because I got to interact with children in a different way from a day camp. I watched them learn and knowing that I helped them to understand their work was a great feeling.” Allie will be study-

ing Elementary Education at the Univer-sity of Delaware next fall. There were moments during this year when I would pause during a cheerlead-ing practice or put down my pencil while taking notes and just think about what I was doing…why was mastering a par-ticular cheerleading stunt or making sure that I had copied down exactly what Ms. Nunes wrote on the board important? And then I would realize that it wasn’t about the actual notes or the routine, but about what I was learning – how to be organized, how to engage my thinking, how to be a role model, and most impor-tantly, how to achieve my goals. As I said earlier, there are only two days left until our Senior Prom, and as I’m writing this, I’m also simultaneously planning exactly how I’m going to style my hair and do my make-up (as I’m sure many other girls are also doing right at this moment). But it’s also just hitting me now that this is it. This is the final stretch of senior year, beginning with prom, followed by senior awards and the varsity dinner, and ending with gradua-tion, and the next few weeks will simply be a whirlwind of emotion. But I think that Ardsley has more than enough prepared us for what comes next. Alix Seskin, a senior who will be attend-ing SUNY Geneseo, put it simply: “We had to go through high school making mistakes and learning along the way in order to get to the next step in life.”

Photo: Google and Facebook

Senior Year Reflection: This is it!

I remember during the first week of junior year thinking, oh this isn’t that bad, I can totally handle this. Just a few days later, I dis-covered that I was wrong—I was really, really wrong. Or rather partially wrong, after all some-how I survived junior year and 9 months later, I am still breathing. A big accomplishment since there were a few points during the year when I honestly thought summer would never come and I would die, drowning in a pool of stress. So, I would like to congratulate my classmates for surviving too. Sophomores—this is my advice for next year—drink a lot of caf-feine or develop super human strength to stay awake, but please go to sleep if you find yourself forc-ing your eyes open multiple times. Use time as efficiently as possible or just invent a time machine; considering that this will not only allow for more efficient time us-age, but also add another line to your Common Apps—a double

whammy. Find music that will keep you going. Give up regularly watch-ing your TV shows, and instead watch them online or DVR when you actually have the time. Force yourself to find the time to just relax and hang out with friends.

Treasure vacations and weekends but beware of Sunday nights. You may feel pressured to figure out your future now but don’t worry, just explore your interests now. Be afraid, be very afraid but not too afraid because you will survive. The combination of school, homework, SATs, ACTS, college searching, driver’s ed. and extracur-ricular activities coalesce together

into 100 foot-tall water wall of headaches, a tsunami of stress. Despite my harsh rant, being an upperclassman actually has benefits such as leading clubs and sports teams. I would get more involved in school clubs or outside activities because they give you a chance to explore new hobbies, interests and perhaps future passions. Even though the college process is tedious, overwhelming and once again stressful, I liked visiting colleges in new places that I have never been to before. Additionally, during 11th grade you have the op-portunity to take electives, classes that interest you, AP classes or just have free periods (which I success-fully utilized to do more homework and studying). For me, taking AP classes allowed me to explore subject areas that I am interested in and enjoy. The ultimate highlight of junior year for many is learning how to drive and getting a license although driver’s ed is probably the

most boring part. Junior year was a journey, with highs and lows. This year was only a precursor to what is to come and valuable lessons were learned. As I finished the last two weeks in May, before my AP exams, I nearly didn’t make it. Yet, I did. I sprinted toward the finish line and even though I still have lots of work and finals, I know that the end is almost here. I’m looking forward to next year and senior year traditions. Though it is a relief to be inches away from the finish line, it is also bittersweet, soon our class will part ways and the our once so distant futures will begin.

Junior Year Reflection: A Year Like No OtherBy Felice Segall

Reflections

Senior Class of 2012 at the traditional “Senior Chalking” event in September

Photo: Google and Facebook

(Top Left) Seniors and their dates smile pose for pre-prom pictures; (Top Right) Senior boys smile for the camera; (Bottom) Girls line up for a special pre-prom photo.

CongratulationsClass of 2012!