By Gabby Ahlzadeh

I will begin this senior column by apologizing to every single teacher, adviser, administrator, student, coach and announcer who has had to go through the trials of trying to pronounce my last name. For your comfort, I have no younger siblings so unless you end up teaching me later on, have to call my name out in court, plan on attending my wedding, encounter my cousins/relatives or obviously desire to create a novel/poem/ode/screenplay/play/rap/lyrics/painting/drawing/still life/computer program/invention about me, then you will likely never have to encounter that eight letter conundrum ever again. However, if we do cross paths in the future, it’s pronounced ALL-ZAY-DUH.

Another apology goes out to my fellow classmates and seniors who I never had the opportunity to speak with or get to know. And it’s nothing personal I promise (unless of course you made an effort to avoid conversing with me, well, then it may become personal.) Maybe we were never in the same classes and if we were we sat on opposite sides of the room and if we didn’t then it was too dark to notice each other and if the lighting was perfect well then I’m out of excuses.

Hi there for what it’s worth. I guess I feel scatterbrained, kind of like my brain was cooked over easy during the past year especially and is now sizzling and waiting so I’m left rambling because I don’t want to be a mushy gushy sentimental buffoon and because I am avoiding something I just don’t know what but the plain fact is I don’t know if I’d do it again, if I’m going to miss it, how I’ll describe my high school experience, what my favorite memory is and whether or not I left some sort of mark. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t know what to say because the reflecting hasn’t happened yet but honestly, has it really been four years since I joined the swim team, three years since I first went up those stairs by Munger that lead nowhere, two years since the beginning of SAT preparation and AP Chem and one year since I first began thinking about my common app essay?

Right now, my high school experience seems a bit like an Impressionist painting: I can see the individual strokes but am having some trouble taking a few steps back to grasp the whole scene. And even though you may chuckle when those folks in the art museum take a few steps back to admire, it’s crucial.

So what’s the resolution, conclusion, light bulb moment, big a-ha and final reflection?
I’m still kind of in the dark. I’ve always seen the trees but have a difficult time seeing the forest, and towards the end, that’s what really matters. It’s all about that final scene in those cliché teenage movies when the main characters are walking in slow motion through their high school hallways.

Maybe my slow motion walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” on my mom’s video camera will give me some sort of clue.