Growing Up: The Highs and the Lows

May 17, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

By Upper-School Blogger Alyna Rei

I have been at Palm Valley since the 6th grade, and, throughout the years, up till now, I have mixed emotions for every year. Here is how I rate my middle and upper school years.

6th grade:

In my first year at Palm Valley, I remember making my parents come with me inside on the first day of school to help me with my locker lock and to show me the way to my class. We had an advisory class in the morning, so my parents would see me off in my advisor Ms. Farley’s class.

Throughout the year, I adjusted pretty well in school and had a small group of friends (which I was totally okay with). This group of friends was fine, but I feel now in that time I just needed people to hang out with. I was intimidated by pretty much everyone.

My favorite memory was when my friends would decorate my locker when it was my birthday. I would keep those decorations up until the end of the year.

My least favorite memory was when I had to find my classes when I still wasn’t familiar with the campus and had to ask around.

Overall I give 6th grade a 7/10.

7th grade:

By my second year, I was adjusting well to school. Some of my friends from the previous year left the school, so it was time to find new friends. I made a new friend group, which I was able to be comfortable with.

This was also the year where I had classes in the high school, so I had to see scary high school people. That was new to me.

My favorite memory would be meeting new friends and people. I gained friends who had similar interests to mine.

My least favorite memory would be science class. Life Science wasn’t my strong subject. It was a subject I needed a lot of help with.

Overall I give 7th grade a 6/10.

8th grade:

My 8th grade year was cut short due to Covid, so that was upsetting. Again, some of my friends left the school, but it didn’t matter to me because I still had a good amount of friends. I don’t really remember the first part of online school, but I do remember it being confusing trying to figure out Google Meets.

My favorite memory was when I was able to be in the comfort of my own home and do school work. I felt like I could do work at my own pace.

My least favorite memory was leaving my friends and only having to see them through a screen. But, I was able to chat with them through the internet.

Overall I give 8th grade a 6.5/10.

9th grade:

Alyna celebrates her great-grandfather’s “drive-in” birthday during Covid.

9th grade is probably my least favorite year. I pretty much did the entire year online. I was scared of Covid and was also not willing to go back. It’s safe to say 2020 was the year that took a big toll on me, so I would say I did not like this year at all.

My favorite memory would have to be staying in my house. Since I stayed home a lot, I was able to come up with new and different hobbies that I still carry on to this day. These would include reading and drawing.

My least favorite memory from 9th grade was changing my lifestyle to an existence online. I feel like 2020 is why I’m so attached to the internet.

Overall I give 9th grade a 5/10.

10th grade:

10th grade redeemed almost everything in 9th grade. I went back to in-person school, and my grades and my education improved a lot. I met many friends and lost many friends, but, thankfully, I was able to learn true friendships. I made friends I envision will be my friends for a lifetime. They were friends in and out of school. 10th grade was what made me actually enjoy school and attending.

My favorite memory would be changing that year for the better by being more motivated and focused on my studies and extracurricular activities. I completely redeemed myself from 9th grade.

My least favorite memory was the end of the year. Even though this year was really good, I had really high expectations and always got a high honor roll. But, at the end of the year, I got just an honor roll (instead of “High” honors), and I remember being really disappointed in myself.

Overall I give 10th grade a 8/10.

11th grade/ my last year

This year was also one of my favorites. I did not love this year as much as I did 10th grade, but I would say this was the most exciting year.

In November, my parents and I were joking about graduating early because my parents both graduated a year early. I also thought about graduating early because I want to go to med school and want to get a start on that. At first I thought about getting a GED, but instead I am taking another class to reach graduation requirements. So now, I am on the road to graduating this May 26th.

My favorite memory WILL be when I graduate. I am excited to start college and can’t wait for the future.

My least favorite memory WILL be leaving my friends. My friends have been so supportive of me, and I will miss them a lot.

Overall I give 11th grade a 7.5/10.

I can see how I changed through the years mentally and physically. I would say school here gets an 8/10. I am ready for college and can’t wait to see the new possibilities I will meet in the future.

It’s a bird? No. It’s a plane? No. It’s Jocelynn Montoya!!!

May 16, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Luke continues our senior profile spotlights with a look at Jocelynn (Joss) Montoya–master kayaker, big fan of extra-credit Jeopardy, and AP Calculus lyricist.

By Junior Luke Sonderman

Joss, Class of 2023, has recently committed to the University of California Irvine (UCI). There’s a lot you may not know about Joss, so let’s take a brief moment to talk a little bit about her.

Joss Montoya was born in Glendale, California, in 2005. Joss spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles, moving to the desert and enrolling in Palm Valley during 10th grade. Joss’s favorite part about moving to the desert has been “the better school and better friends.”

Throughout her time at Palm Valley, Joss has been a member of the Varsity Girls Volleyball Team and the Varsity Baseball Team. She achieved an athletic award for her dedication to the sports program at Palm Valley. “I’ve made lots of friends through the sports teams I’ve been a part of . . . . The athletics I’ve participated in have helped keep me active throughout the school year,” said Joss.

Graduating Senior Joss Montoya will head off to UC Irvine.

Aside from her sports career at Palm Valley, in her senior year, Joss held the position of Vice President in Student Government. Her leadership helped coordinate successful events over the course of this year such as the 2022 Upper School Homecoming, the Middle and Upper School Winter Dream Dance, the 2023 Upper School Prom at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Resort, and many others. She even, on occasion, dressed up as the school mascot Phineas the Firebird during school activities! Joss joined student government because “she wanted to make student life more fun, bringing more events for students in the Middle and Upper Schools.”

In the fall of 2023, Joss will be attending UC Irvine, planning to major in medicine. Joss intends on pursuing a career in dermatology. “I want to attend UCI because it is a great school and has a great campus,” said Joss. Some of Joss’s other college acceptances included Hawaii Pacific University with a full tuition scholarship, University of Arizona with a $30,000 per year scholarship, Oregon University with a $10,000 per year scholarship, and Azusa Pacific University with a $20,000 per year scholarship. Must be some genius, huh.

Joss’s parting words for Palm Valley staff and students are, “I know school won’t be the same without me, but try to have some fun.”

From the Archives:

December 2, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Non-COVID-19 Passports That Reduce Your Risk to Society

A prompt inspired by Zach Zimmerman from the April 19, 2021, New Yorker

Image may contain Human Person and Text — Illustration by Luci Gutiérrez

While electronic vaccine passports are being debated, consensus is forming around several other passports that would communicate the level of danger you pose to the world. Here are some “passports” from The New Yorker and thebirdonfire.org staffers:

Flip-Flops Passport

Discloses when you last wore flip-flops in a non-nautical setting.

Sobbed-During-“Nomadland” Passport

Identifies that you cried during Swankie’s farewell monologue.

Magic-Trick-on-a-First-Date Passport

Confirms that you have never performed a card trick on a first date with a potential romantic partner.

From alumnus Erik Bearman:

Joe-Mama Passport

Documents how often you tell jokes about someone’s moms.

From senior Sara Habibipour:

Unseasoned Chicken Passports

Documents what spices you use to season your chicken. If you only use salt…get out.

Toilet-Paper Hogger

Documents how much toilet paper you hoarded from the shelves. Don’t think that we didn’t notice, Karen…

From current blogger Roman Rickwood:

Do-you-even-lift bro passport

Confirms that you are telling the truth about your PRs in the gym.

From alumnus Hannah Hall:

Long-time-no-see Passport

Marks the amount of times you have told an old friend you should “get coffee sometime” and not spoken ever again.

From alumnus Elizabeth Shay:

5-Second Rule Passport

Demonstrates the last time you have justified consumption of a fallen food using this “foolproof” argument.

From alumnus Jake Sonderman:

Dasani Passport

Confirms that you drink Dasani water. Gross.

Diet Coke Passport

“I have never seen a thin person drinking diet coke.” – Donald J Trump

Country-Music Passport

This passport gets you discounts on Stagecoach tickets but doesn’t let you within 200 miles of the Capitol Building.

From alumnus Evan Spry:

Dog-Approval Passport

A passport that discloses the overwhelming opinion that dogs have about you.

From the Archives: A Villain Speaks

October 20, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Last year’s Blog class was assigned the following prompt:

“First, grant me my sense of history,” writes Agha Shahid Ali in his poem “The Wolf’s Postscript to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’” in which he reimagines the classic fairy tale from the perspective of the story’s villain. “And then grant me my generous sense of plot: / Couldn’t I have gobbled her up / right there in the jungle?” The poem offers a complicated portrait of the “Big Bad Wolf,” including disturbing confessions and provocative questions that reexamine this allegory and consider the power of perspective in storytelling.
Poets&Writers

Write a brief story, recollection, or poem that explores the perspective of a villain in a children’s story. What new information will you include about this character? What, perhaps, was left out of the story?

Now-graduate Jake Sonderman wrote the following reply. Can you guess from which villainous perspective he writes?

I often think back to what the turning point was. Obviously it was a special situation, we had to survive on our own on that island. I have a lot of respect for Ralph in recollection. He was truly an adult and I think we would’ve all made it if we had just listened to him. I think we had all been so sequestered from the real world growing up, that once we got a taste for the hunt, the adrenaline, we became entranced. We crossed the line with Simon. I think about him everyday. It was all of us, collectively and individually, that killed him that night. I’ve thought about confessing, for all of the murders. When we were rescued, and the families of those boys didn’t see their children, there were many questions. We had no answers. As a boy, you don’t appreciate the importance of confessing. I have no doubt in my mind that every boy, even Ralph, thinks about Simon every day as I do, and will never have peace until they confess. I’m sorry, Simon. You were innocent in every possible way and were murdered for it.

HOV

October 14, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Occasionally, The Bird on Fire is gifted with work from our PVS alumni. This famous alumnus (initials J.D.), who writes under the pseudonym “Ajax,” sends us the following poem on the “high occupancy vehicle” usually found in the carpool lane on the freeway. In this lane, however, you’ll find talk of love. He says of the poem, “This is a piece about finding love when love isn’t ready for you. Whatever that means to you, that’s your truth. Read this as if it was yours.”

By Ajax

it was the drive that had me.
I never really minded it; the red upon red;
the blasting of harmony in my ears drowned out the monotony of the wheels on the 405 asphalt.
the driving.
the driving to you.
I would pull into your driveway, my horse drawn carriage hitched as I fell into
you.
Your smile.
Your hands.
You.
As laughter filled the finite space of time and mass that was us,
I knew that I didn’t want to leave. I couldn’t.
But my horse drawn carriage reared, and
Reality told me it was time to go.
I would drive through the twilight, away.
Away from you.
And that red upon red would grace me again.
I peer over to the express checkout. The HOV’s.
And the music no longer drowns out the monotony.
I peer, and the HOV’s peer right back.
High Occupancy.
Occupancy.
Occupancy.
I remember a time; a time of express checkout.
A time of flying over the red upon red, the music not simply drowning out, but flowing with the beat of my wings.
Of our wings.
A time where I can look over and all there was, was you.
And your smile.
And your hands.
And You.
A time before the shift.
Before the silence.
Before the “you” just simply left.
Left me.
And my carriage.
And my harmony.
And me.
All alone, on the asphalt again. Chipping away at the “once-was.”
As I sit, and ponder on why my occupancy was not enough for you, I peer again at the HOV’s.
My wings are clipped.
I cannot fly like I used to.
You grounded me and then you grounded me.
You.
You.
You.

(Jackson Dean, Class of ’19)

Team Romo

October 21, 2019 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

The Romo’s–a longtime Palm Valley family–have been busy. Christina has been writing poems and song lyrics. We have two to share with you here. Daniel is an intern writing sports articles for the LA Peach Basket. His first article came out last month. We have it linked below.

A connection?

By Christina Romo

Tell me you can’t live without me.
Whisper everything you’re dying to say.
Your words, how they flow, so gently;
I get lost in your eyes by a gaze.
Kiss me, I want to feel your lips.
Hold me, just like this.
Our hands intertwined, you feel like you’re mine
It’s just in my eyes.
The light is on you tonight,
Moonlight, the shadow just covering one eye.
Your smile is so bright, brighter than the moonlight.
The light shines in my eyes and it’s as if I’m feeling it inside.
Do you realize?
It’s just in my eyes.
The room is silent. The only noise is our breathe.
Your head is on my chest, your mind is at rest.
Lying down, I watch you forget.
A clear head with a clear heart, and you chose me.
Maybe it is just in my eyes,
or maybe you might just feel the same thing.

Mind Clutter

By Christina Romo

Wonderful differences
Silence in distractions
One sigh you know what I’m asking.
Life gives us fortunes,
most that come true.
Fortunes of what we should be, what’s to come, and what to do.
You were a fortune that came into my point of view.
I held onto it to see what it could turn to.
I always knew it was you.
An observed perception
no one knows what lies in between
all that’s there is lies and assumptions of what it could be.
Silence falls before us, it’s only you and me.
Heavy breathing, slow dancing, lost in the heavy color of your eyes.
Blank stares, a thousand thoughts rushing
All wanting to speak up at once
too many rushed, nothing said.

* * * * * * *

This from Ms. Romo in the Business Office: “I think I told most of you about Daniel’s internship writing a sports article for LA Peach Basket. Well, here is his first one and he would love for you to see it!
Proud mom”

https://www.lapeachbasket.com/2019/10/1st-nba-power-rankings-2019-20-are.html?m=1