NVHS Grad X
Saturday, June 11th, 2005 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydToday was New Vista High School's tenth graduation. I've been to all of them. I plan to continue the trend, even though I don't think I've met anyone who's graduating next year. Partly this comes from my slightly obsessive sense of completeness, but mostly it gives me a chance to reflect on the passage of time.
New Vista has come a long way since 1996, when graduation was held at the Flagstaff Amphitheater and 16 (or was it 17) students and a dog crossed the stage in a mishmash of graduation colors. The next year (the first with people who'd spent three years at NVHS) was scheduled for Flagstaff, but was moved to Unity Church a week before the ceremony. Despite much kvetching, everyone was glad for the decision when on graduation day a tornado touched down in Baseline Reservoir and the drive to the church featured foot-deep puddles. My graduating class decided to move the ceremony to Chautauqua Auditorium, which has served the event well for the past eight years. We're safe from the rain, fit everyone's family, and the building's natural chilling effect keeps it from being a sweaty mess.
New Vista is unique in many ways. This becomes clear to grandparents from out of town when they learn that it's not the valedictorian who gives a graduation speech (for we've abandoned the concept of class rank as outdated), but rather anyone who wants to. And it doesn't need to be a speech -- this year featured two students with a bagpipe and drum duet. New Vista' may also be the only graduation where teachers could work Austin Powers jokes into the speech or compare the students to Teletubbies. And since the graduating class is usually in the 50-60 range, waiting for your favorite student's name to be called is not a chore.
I got to see most of my favorite teachers and staff members. They were all surprised but congratulatory when I said I got married. Diana, my advisor, asked if there would be little Stones... I got to see my circle-mate Andy for about the second time since last Dragonfest. He was there to support his "improv protogés." I had an extended discussion with Andrew Pfouts (in whose honor I might call myself pflwyd) ranging from PowerPoint to adapting Don Quixote to film. I didn't see anyone I recognized going to school with, but that's okay -- I think I had a better relationship with the teachers than most of the students.
Even seven years after graduation (wow!) I could identify with a lot of elements in the speeches. The story about the student who got a Domino's pizza delivered during class brought me back to the original building. This year had several speeches on par with the speech I gave.
I noticed the evolution of New Vista video editing special effects. Back in the fall of 1995 I and four other students made a short documentary about the Spokes for Folks Program. We shot it all on VHS tape, and did the editing on analog equipment out on Arapahoe. Today's graduation, on the other hand, featured a video of seniors dancing with simple iMovie effects and a slide show that ended with the audience getting a view of an iPhoto window. I remember when we got our first video editing computer. By my recommendation, it was named melies (in honor of the father of film), but it after some time it was renamed speilberg so that people could remember how to spell it. The number of snowboarding videos edited on that computer is staggering.
I reflected on the changes the school's undergone. I think there were 212 students in the Multi Purpose Room (a combination crappy gym and makeshift theatre constructed out of large wooden blocks). That number shrunk, as the classes of '97 and '98 were both in the 40s. We were in an old primary school building, across the field from my elementary school. Students in the smoking area got into parking fights with frat boys from ΖΒΤ. The drinking fountains were knee high. I was in a combined production of Medea and Camelot; since we never made it through a dress rehearsal, opening night lasted four hours. There was a Walking class, our cool computer was a Centris, and we had two hour blocks of advisory every week. The next year, New Vista graduated to an old elementary school building. The facilities were better. While there was only one drinking fountain, it was higher than our knees. I learned a lot about computers in that building, but it would be some time before I realized how little I knew about people. Now New Vista is in a middle school building. I haven't visited it yet, but I took a math class there in sixth grade. They're back across the street from CU, which I think is a good move. I decided to attend New Vista instead of Fairview's IB program for several reasons. One was that the bus route was more manageable. But as it turned out, New Vista was probably a better college preparation experience than any AP class. Its focus on designing curriculum around the student, rather than the other way around, meant that when I enrolled at CU full time, I already knew I wanted to spend most of my time in the Engineering Center and Hellums. The focus on self-directed learning meant I didn't have any trouble knocking out essays and staying in on Friday nights to program. Looking back, it seems IB would have taught me how to exert great amounts of effort reading books and preparing for tests. But New Vista taught me how to examine a subject matter and truly grasp it.
I also felt a little disappointed in myself. In high school, I had dreams of doing great things, helping my fellow humans and the Earth. I didn't think I'd be married, living in south Jeffco, and writing tax software. I still want to do great and wonderful things (not that being married isn't great and wonderful), but I seem unable to make time for my glorious ideas. Perhaps I should select a culminating project each year and attempt to accomplish it. (For those of you new to the game, New Vista requires all seniors to do a project which takes at least 120 hours and is related to their Path.)
Part way through college, I realized I'd missed a big chunk of high school. Sure, I'd helped administer a heterogenous network and been a stellar seminar participant. But I hadn't really learned to make friends. Later in college, I realized I hadn't made the most out of my first two years. I should've gone to the Conference on World Affairs; I should've spent more time with friends; I should have pursued research opportunities. I suspect in a few years I'll have a realization on how I could have been doing more interesting things in my first two years in the workforce. (I could start by regularly leaving before 7...) In a way, I wish I could go back to New Vista. A lot has changed (no mini courses, no students with root access everywhere, not as much freedom to take CU classes...), but I think I now understand how to learn what I missed out on. Perhaps some day I'll move back to Boulder and have a flexible enough schedule that I can teach a programming course.
New Vista graduation is an annual ritual. Like any good ritual, it gives me an opportunity to reflect on how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. To everyone who has contributed to my New Vista-related experience, thank you oh so much.
Edit: I have a special reverence for ten year reflections, due to the line from Pink Floyd's song Time:
New Vista has come a long way since 1996, when graduation was held at the Flagstaff Amphitheater and 16 (or was it 17) students and a dog crossed the stage in a mishmash of graduation colors. The next year (the first with people who'd spent three years at NVHS) was scheduled for Flagstaff, but was moved to Unity Church a week before the ceremony. Despite much kvetching, everyone was glad for the decision when on graduation day a tornado touched down in Baseline Reservoir and the drive to the church featured foot-deep puddles. My graduating class decided to move the ceremony to Chautauqua Auditorium, which has served the event well for the past eight years. We're safe from the rain, fit everyone's family, and the building's natural chilling effect keeps it from being a sweaty mess.
New Vista is unique in many ways. This becomes clear to grandparents from out of town when they learn that it's not the valedictorian who gives a graduation speech (for we've abandoned the concept of class rank as outdated), but rather anyone who wants to. And it doesn't need to be a speech -- this year featured two students with a bagpipe and drum duet. New Vista' may also be the only graduation where teachers could work Austin Powers jokes into the speech or compare the students to Teletubbies. And since the graduating class is usually in the 50-60 range, waiting for your favorite student's name to be called is not a chore.
I got to see most of my favorite teachers and staff members. They were all surprised but congratulatory when I said I got married. Diana, my advisor, asked if there would be little Stones... I got to see my circle-mate Andy for about the second time since last Dragonfest. He was there to support his "improv protogés." I had an extended discussion with Andrew Pfouts (in whose honor I might call myself pflwyd) ranging from PowerPoint to adapting Don Quixote to film. I didn't see anyone I recognized going to school with, but that's okay -- I think I had a better relationship with the teachers than most of the students.
Even seven years after graduation (wow!) I could identify with a lot of elements in the speeches. The story about the student who got a Domino's pizza delivered during class brought me back to the original building. This year had several speeches on par with the speech I gave.
I noticed the evolution of New Vista video editing special effects. Back in the fall of 1995 I and four other students made a short documentary about the Spokes for Folks Program. We shot it all on VHS tape, and did the editing on analog equipment out on Arapahoe. Today's graduation, on the other hand, featured a video of seniors dancing with simple iMovie effects and a slide show that ended with the audience getting a view of an iPhoto window. I remember when we got our first video editing computer. By my recommendation, it was named melies (in honor of the father of film), but it after some time it was renamed speilberg so that people could remember how to spell it. The number of snowboarding videos edited on that computer is staggering.
I reflected on the changes the school's undergone. I think there were 212 students in the Multi Purpose Room (a combination crappy gym and makeshift theatre constructed out of large wooden blocks). That number shrunk, as the classes of '97 and '98 were both in the 40s. We were in an old primary school building, across the field from my elementary school. Students in the smoking area got into parking fights with frat boys from ΖΒΤ. The drinking fountains were knee high. I was in a combined production of Medea and Camelot; since we never made it through a dress rehearsal, opening night lasted four hours. There was a Walking class, our cool computer was a Centris, and we had two hour blocks of advisory every week. The next year, New Vista graduated to an old elementary school building. The facilities were better. While there was only one drinking fountain, it was higher than our knees. I learned a lot about computers in that building, but it would be some time before I realized how little I knew about people. Now New Vista is in a middle school building. I haven't visited it yet, but I took a math class there in sixth grade. They're back across the street from CU, which I think is a good move. I decided to attend New Vista instead of Fairview's IB program for several reasons. One was that the bus route was more manageable. But as it turned out, New Vista was probably a better college preparation experience than any AP class. Its focus on designing curriculum around the student, rather than the other way around, meant that when I enrolled at CU full time, I already knew I wanted to spend most of my time in the Engineering Center and Hellums. The focus on self-directed learning meant I didn't have any trouble knocking out essays and staying in on Friday nights to program. Looking back, it seems IB would have taught me how to exert great amounts of effort reading books and preparing for tests. But New Vista taught me how to examine a subject matter and truly grasp it.
I also felt a little disappointed in myself. In high school, I had dreams of doing great things, helping my fellow humans and the Earth. I didn't think I'd be married, living in south Jeffco, and writing tax software. I still want to do great and wonderful things (not that being married isn't great and wonderful), but I seem unable to make time for my glorious ideas. Perhaps I should select a culminating project each year and attempt to accomplish it. (For those of you new to the game, New Vista requires all seniors to do a project which takes at least 120 hours and is related to their Path.)
Part way through college, I realized I'd missed a big chunk of high school. Sure, I'd helped administer a heterogenous network and been a stellar seminar participant. But I hadn't really learned to make friends. Later in college, I realized I hadn't made the most out of my first two years. I should've gone to the Conference on World Affairs; I should've spent more time with friends; I should have pursued research opportunities. I suspect in a few years I'll have a realization on how I could have been doing more interesting things in my first two years in the workforce. (I could start by regularly leaving before 7...) In a way, I wish I could go back to New Vista. A lot has changed (no mini courses, no students with root access everywhere, not as much freedom to take CU classes...), but I think I now understand how to learn what I missed out on. Perhaps some day I'll move back to Boulder and have a flexible enough schedule that I can teach a programming course.
New Vista graduation is an annual ritual. Like any good ritual, it gives me an opportunity to reflect on how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. To everyone who has contributed to my New Vista-related experience, thank you oh so much.
Edit: I have a special reverence for ten year reflections, due to the line from Pink Floyd's song Time:
And then one day you find / Ten years have got behind you / No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun. Apropriately enough, I was introduced to Dark Side of the Moon in 1995 (sophomore year) after my dad showed me pictures of their Division Bell tour setup from Mix Magazine. This year is therefore my opportunity to reflect on that lyric ten years after I first heard it. But that's for another post.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 12:22 am (UTC)But I guess we can make an exception. You did marry one after, all. Does it work like national citizenship?
no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 06:38 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing.