What Made Your Week?

A lot can happen in a week. Maybe that important basketball game got you one step closer to a second league championship. Perhaps you learned your new friend Alex shares your passion for Blondie. Or your meme-inspired math project taught you linear, quadratic and exponential equations once and for all. 

 
Cyrus ’14:
Math class, pre-season lacrosse training and music conversations.

I’d never thought of myself as a math guy before. I’ve always liked history; I did a summer class at Stanford in the humanities. That was really my lane. That’s until I got here. In my old school it was the class that you sort of had to bring yourself to go through, sit through, endure. Whereas at Bay, for the first time, the way the math program is taught, all of a sudden I started enjoying math again. I still think I’m better at reading a history book, but I’m jazzed up to go to my math class. You find everything out yourself, it’s as hands-on as it can be. That’s definitely been an academic highlight.

I’ve had the good fortune to get really involved with the lacrosse team here in a leadership capacity. We recently started locking down one of the first off-season training programs any Bay team has ever done. That’s been fun; we’ve been running, doing core circuits, pretty basic stuff, but it’s a good step for teams at Bay to start taking ownership of their off-season. It’s a good way for me to bond with some of the younger guys and mentor kids younger than I am, which I think is really invigorating.

At Bay your social experience isn’t defined by what you do, it’s defined by who you are. One of my best friends is a big music guy. I used to be a music guy, but I had to give it up for sports at my middle school. Here Alex and I will talk about a band for an hour or go jam down in the band room. Last week we were playing Blondie downstairs just for fun. I’ll sit with him and talk about what was the first real hard rock band of the 80s. You get a lot of perspectives that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.

Rosalyn ’15: 
Civic action project, volunteering with Eco Club and lunchroom conversations.

I started my research for my civic action project in Power in Participation class. It’s a really cool project because you get to pick anything that you want and take action on it. I’m doing the Keystone XL pipeline. What stood out to me was the freedom in my research – I could really pick any topic that I wanted. It wasn’t like any other research projects that I’ve done.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Eco Club went up to Rob Hill Campground in the Presidio by the bridge. It’s really scenic and beautiful. We got to put mulch – a woodchip/dirt mixture – around trees. We’re in a drought right now, and that’ll help the trees grow. It’s the whole group experience that makes it fun.

 

At lunch last Friday, I had a cool conversation with people I don’t always talk to. That happens a lot after clubs; there are a couple freshmen in Eco Club who come and sit with us. I remember that was really exciting for me when I was a freshman.

 

Shiva ’16: 
Light painting, basketball victory and the upcoming Breaker Bash.

I learned about light painting in Digital Imaging 1B, which is something I’d never even heard of. We worked as a group of people in the lighting studio. The camera takes the picture for 15 or 30 seconds – a long time – while it’s taking the picture you can move the flashlight around and draw things; I had no idea it would show up as this bright, colored line. It’s part of our larger project about the essence of motion.

We beat Waldorf in basketball – they’re one of our league rivals. It was a big win because it’s been pretty competitive game, and we’re the defending league champions, so we have to try and go undefeated this season to get the number-one seed. We executed well offensively and defensively; our team played very cohesively.

I’m looking forward to the varsity basketball Breaker Bash because I’ve never played in a Breaker Bash before. It’s one home game out of the year where we try to get a lot of fans, parents and students to come out. Often at home games there are people there, but at Breaker Bashes it’s packed completely. There’s food and balloons, and it gets really loud in the gym, which is fun.

 
Mavis ’17: 
Math project, Intersession sign-ups and the fall dance.

I just submitted a math project that I’m really proud of. It was about lines and patterns; we had to identify linear, quadratic and exponential equations and make a video or presentation about it. I used a whiteboard like [the meme] Draw My Life on YouTube. I took a whiteboard and recorded myself writing out everything and did a voiceover. In general, I think the class is really well structured; I like the way Lucci teaches.

For Intersession there were so many things to choose from that I didn’t know what to pick! My top choices were backpacking, camping and the road trip — I’m excited to find out which one I got. I’m excited to meet new people and learn a lot outside of the classroom. I never had that experience in junior high, and I think it will be really fun.

I’m really excited about the winter formal. I’m excited to go and to find a dress. It’s the first one, and a lot of people are going too.

Even though it’s a small school, I see different people every day. You think you’d know everyone, but I still meet new people. Everyone came from a different school almost, so the transition was really easy.

Wynn ’17: 
Fun fly sticks in physics, lunch with a new friend and the Winter Musical.

Do you know what a fun fly stick is? We were experimenting with those in conceptual physics. It’s really fun because they repel tinsel, which floats around so you can play games with it. You can hold hands in a circle and touch the fun fly stick, and it shocks everyone. We’re talking about negative and positive charges and electrostatic charges. We’re trying to balance the charges and see how to polarize and de-polarize. The explorations are hands-on, but a lot of them are very conceptual because it is conceptual physics, but this one is very direct. It’s fun because I really understand it.

I just started hanging out with this one girl; it’s fun and I really like her. I had a lot of fun at lunch today because we were walking around, she was taking photos for class and everyone was making funny faces. At lunch there’s so much community because everyone’s sitting together – it’s nice to see other people, look across the room and smile at them.

In the Winter Musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” we’re learning some choreography and I just started to get the dance moves down. It’s coming together. I also got my costume, which is crazy – I have these tight sleeves that bubble out and have these ruffles. We have long skirts and boots. My favorite thing about the musical is all the people because everyone’s so happy and full of energy. It’s serious but playful.