On Saturday, we took our senior trip to Disneyland. I hadn’t been since around 1999 at Disneyland Paris, and many more since I had been to the San Diego location. I realized that I failed to mention I lived in Belgium for two and a half years when I was in first grade. My dad works for Solar Turbines and his company offered him a temporary position there. It really gave me a different perspective of the world. We traveled to about ten different countries in Europe during vacations and I was able to see their different cultures, and at such a young age, I think it was very beneficial to how I see the world now. Anyway, back to Disneyland, it was a load of fun because I didn’t remember any of it. Probably one of the biggest things was that I hadn’t been on a rollercoaster in probably over a decade. It was exciting to be able to go on all the rides and an added bonus was that lines weren’t long at all. The picture below shows me on Splash Mountain, a ride I went on five times, which caused my right foot and leg to be wet all day.

I'm the second one back

So after we got back from Disneyland at around midnight to a neighborhood in a blackout, I went to bed and woke up early for the next day’s big event. We had our ROTC Awards Night Sunday night which turned out really nice. I’ve posted a link on my website to the newsletter that I made. I started the very first newsletter in our unit three years ago and have been creating/editing/publishing it ever since. You can view the most recent one here: Awards Night Newsletter.pdf (You need Adobe Reader to view the file). This was the first time I used Adobe InDesign to create a publication, which was a huge step up from Microsoft Publisher. The night went well and there were many freshman who were very excited to win some of our special awards.

I just want to mention one more thing; if you haven’t seen the movie Up, please do. If you did see it, but not in 3D, go back and watch it again in 3D. I went yesterday and it was a really neat movie. I love graphics and technology anyway, and the credits at the end told me exactly how much work it took to produce that movie. It’s perfect for parents and kids alike 🙂 Graduation is in two days, so I expect I’ll be writing again in a few days.

Summer.  The word floats through the halls of the high school with a sacred fervor.  Every year, I do the exact same thing.  Towards the end of the semester, I get so stoked thinking about summer, and how I’ll be able to relax and chill, with no homework or school or drama.  And every year, at the beginning of summer, I remember how stupid I was thinking that I’d have ANY free time whatsoever!  What time I gained by not doing homework is time I lost with coaching little girl softball teams, EFY (Especially For Youth), working at my dad’s office as a receptionist, attempting to organize my room that without a doubt looks like a tornado blew through the area, and training for volleyball at ERAU this fall.  So, my plans to scrapbook the past two years, watch a few good movies with my little sibs, and read my favorite books are put on hold for a while.  That’s okay with me.  I love being active, so I can’t complain.  Well, except the activities that involve cleaning.  I can complain about those!

I’ve had an absolutely action packed senior year!  What started with a great volleyball season ended with a great, state-winning softball season, and everything in between makes the year all the better.  I’m still on a high from softball.  We’d never had an especially good  season before this year, but having eight seniors who’d had enough and a new coach with high expectations, we made a goal to win state.  I’ll admit it was a high goal, seeing as Blue Ridge softball didn’t have a banner for winning CONFERENCE let alone STATE, but it was a goal that we worked hard for and we knew we could accomplish.  We’d done it before in Little League, and it was our turn again.  It was a Cinderella story for our team.  We ended up winning conference, the FIRST time in the history of our school, and then went on a couple weeks ago to defeat Winslow in the championship game, 7-3, for the first ever state banner in Blue Ridge softball history.  Go Jackets!  (See?  I told you I was still on a high!)  😉

Even my dad, who in February had a massive stroke in his brain, was healthy enough to go and cheer me on.  Many people die from the kind of stroke my dad went through.  I now see where I get my stubborn, I-will-never-quit nature.  It was from my wonderful dad, who never gave up, who would not accept that he was weakened at all, who refused to actually lean on his walker like he was supposed to.  HE CARRIED IT.  Even on the pavement.  This was very much to the disapproval of my mom, who scolded him like he was one of her kids.  Right away, he’d put it down like a child who’d gotten caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.  (Well, at least until she turned around.  Then he’d carry it again!)  Through the dirt and gravel, to my softball tournaments he would go without failure, even though he was weak to the point of collapsing.  Sometimes he would have to sit in the car because his nausea was so miserable, but he still went.  He’s a trooper!  I’m so happy that he was healthy enough to watch his former team, who he’d coached since we were nine, win the state championship for him.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the whole stadium.  He is such an inspiration to me, as well as the rest of my team.  He is doing well, and he even goes to work part time.  What a champ.

So here I am, anxious for the new action-packed chapter of my life to begin, thankfully with my dad right beside me to watch and teach life lessons along the way.

“He didn’t tell me how to live;  he lived, and let me watch him do it.”‘

-Clarence Budington Kelland

This is one of the happiest news I have received in a long time! $5,000 for my first two years! That means this year I will be up a couple thousand which can help me for my apartment that I will be living in! Oh yeah, I never told anyone that I somehow got to live in an apartment instead of the dorms, so I guess this blogger has a different kind of story to tell than the other freshman who will be living in dorms. 😀

So, today was the last day of my senior year! And last day of high school. It was so sad, but at the same time so exciting. I’m going to be moving up in my life, going to a beautiful university and get a great education. I just cannot wait to get this new life started, but it does pain me to have to leave my family and friends far behind! From Cali to Arizona. About 6 hours away!!! I guess I really am going out on my own.

My final project in calculus went awesome! Not only did I get 98% on my two powerpoints, I also got extra credit on my 3-page report about Galileo Galilei! 😀 So I will be getting an A in AP Calculus AB. This will raise my G.P.A up a lot!

Everything seems to be falling into place. I have my lifeguard job and now this blogging job is awesome. I love being able to help others along the way. And I got scholarships and good grades. I know it may get tough in school, but please know the better it will be when the time comes to scholarships and school applications!

Well, got to go. Have a great weekend! Talk to you guys later 😀

Sincerely,

Cassie

Tomorrow is my last official day in class as a senior, but for some reason seniors have to show up for class on Monday.  Anyway, here at Westview it’s easy to tell the year is coming to a close.  Senior pranks are being planned, everyone is relaxed and ready for a good long summer.  Earlier this week we had our Senior Awards Night, where any senior who has scholarships or qualifies as an “AP Scholar” is recognized in front of the rest of the attendees and their parents.  It was pretty cool, and according to one of our counselors, Westview students have accumulated more money in scholarships this year (over $7 million) than the rest of our district (4 other high schools) combined!  It was fun and interesting to see where and how other students were going to college.  This year in our graduating class, we have two students going to Harvard and another to MIT.

This weekend the seniors have our trip to Disneyland on Saturday, and the ROTC cadets (myself included) have our Awards Night on Sunday.  Next week includes all of our senior activities like the senior breakfast, picnic, yearbook signing party, graduation rehearsal and finally, graduation.  That reminds me; our yearbook this year is, well…amazing.  A person can easily tell how much effort was put into making the book with a $90 price tag.  This year it features over 300 pages of full color including 10 glossy pages in the front with awesome photos of the school.

The front cover of Westview's 2009 Yearbook

The ROTC Page in the Yearbook

In regards to Steven’s post recently about whether he should buy a mac or pc, I have been through that.  Last March I purchased a laptop PC.  In the next 9 months, it had been sent in for replacement parts, reformatting and troubleshooting a total of 7 times.  Finally in December, the company (who normally makes great computers) issued me a refund.  In no way am I saying that this happens to everyone, but it really turned me off of PCs.  I believe the main issue was Windows Vista, a common problem by now, along with high process programs I use for graphic design.  Immediately after the refund was issued, I purchased a new 15″ Macbook Pro.  Apple sure doesn’t give their products away…this one cost twice that of the PC, but I have had no problems and am a very satisfied customer.  I think a lot of potential Mac customers are frightened by the thought of having to relearn an operating system.  Apple has now integrated a right click on all of its mice and is easy to get used to except maybe the dock (where programs are kept on your screen).  If you still aren’t sure on what to buy, go ahead and check out the commercials on Apple’s website; they’re at the bottom of the homepage.

Hi everyone, as you may already know, my name is Cassandra Logan- (You may call me Cassie if preferred), I’m attending Embry-Riddle in Fall 2009 to major in Aeronautical Science. I am currently going to Desert Hot Springs High School, located in So-Cal near Palm Springs. We are also the Golden Eagles and our colors are blue and gold!!! It was destiny 😉

I actually found out about ERAU September 2008 thanks to my high school. My plan before was to attend the Air Force Academy, but as soon as I learned about ERAU my heart was settled. It felt like a hug boulder was lifted off my shoulders now that I knew where I wanted to go for sure. I was always afraid I wouldn’t find my dream college, so I just settled for an academy I knew that could take me where I wanted to go, but then I was blessed with finding my dream college. Trust me, when it gets to the time where you need to find a college that suits you, you will know which one to choose, it will just feel right- go with your heart and instincts.

So, I found where I wanted to go, but I had to find a way to pay for it. I worked my booty off and filled out as many scholarships as possible and FAFSA gave me A LOT of money. Even ERAU gave me a few grants. One was for my high G.P.A that I kept throughout high school. (Being a 4.13 right now I believe, but it’s going up since I aced my Calculus AP class) YAY! Anyways, at this moment I’m only $2,000 short of what I need for the first year and I’m still waiting to hear from a $5,000 scholarship! I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I’ll definitely post a blog when I hear something!

So I have about 3 days of school left. It is crazy! I just finished going to all these award banquets and I still have a couple more to go to in order to receive my scholarships. On top of school and all these appointments, I work as a lifeguard for Knott’s Soak City. It’s a lot of fun, but it gets very hot! I also flew to Phoenix just recently to go to Prom with my boyfriend, that was great. (I have pictures)

My senior year has been awesome, but sad and stressful at the same time. Although it’s a lot of hard work, it definitely pays off in the end. I remember how much I kicked myself for filling out scholarship applications instead of going out with friends, but when I was chosen as a winner I now know it was worth it! It’s stressful to find money and finish homework, but keeping yourself organized is a big help. It’s also sad when you realize all the people you will leave behind, but at the same time, it’s still worth it- living out on your own and living your own dreams!

I have more things to discuss, such as graduation coming up next Wednesday, and my finals due tomorrow, but I think I can blog about it tomorrow since it’s about 11pm. he he.

It’s been nice talking to you, I hope my advice can somehow help you get through your senior year! Have any questions you can always write to me, I’m here to help. Take care!

Sincerely,

Cassie

Hey everybody!
Summer is off to a good start, this last weekend I drove out to Omaha NE (about 5 hours away) to visit my old roommate and see him and a friend play Piano/Saxophone Jazz gig.
I ended up seeing pretty much everybody that I hung out with over this last school year so it was a very worthwhile trip, I will miss living with a crazy good jazz pianist and composer, although I’ll probably get a lot more sleep not having jam sessions in my room until 4:00am.
My other big experience of the weekend was that while I was there, I went to a sushi bar and tried some very strange things. The first thing I ordered was Uni, which is Sea urchin, and it came floating in this brown liquid, with a raw quail egg….it Turns out that even though sea urchin looks like a pickled human tongue and squishes in your mouth like caviar it’s really not that bad, but it was a nice ego boost to have the manager come over and tell me that I was one of  maybe 10 people who had ever been brave enough to order, much less finish it, honestly the raw egg was the hardest thing to get down. After that I Tried Octopus for the first time, nothing too eventful there.
Being inspired by awesome food I decided to make some sushi for a goodbye party tonight, and I think it turned out pretty well…
Nice huh?

After all that I went and had softball practice on a really muddy field, which gave me the idea that it would be fun to go mudding on some back roads, which was awesome, although I spent half an hour cleaning off Kate (My 4Runner)
Last weekend after helping out at a camp my friend Chance and I were on the way back home with these two sisters, one of them in each of our cars, and Ashley decided that she and Chance should go mudding, so about 10 minutes later I get a call asking if I have a tow rope,  Jordan and I go out and see what’s up, and manage to get stuck, and we had to call a friend with a tractor to come pull us out, Chance had his jeep in so deep that the doors wouldn’t open.
 Lesson learned…. Don’t bother trying to tow out other people who have 4wd and got stuck, it doesn’t work.

That’s all for now, later folks.

The summer is here and I am here at Prescott with a lot of cool students working as the Summer Camp Coordinators. It is a lot of fun! We just had a spaghetti party as well as a leadership recreational course. Both went really well.
Here are the pics:
Despite what the pics depict, the food was really really good. 🙂 Thanks to our expert cooks. That 70’s Show just made it all the more ‘interesting’.

The leadership recreational course was conducted at the LRC by a couple of Air Force students. Using a set of drills, we were educated about the importance of communication and active listening skills for a successful leader. It was hot there and sunburns were a problem. I got lucky there. 🙂 A set of three drills were conducted and we did amazing in two of them! That drill for some good food at In N’ Out later on.

Why would anyone want to take a 24 hour long flight from Prescott to Delhi and stay there for 6 days and come back on the same long tiring 24 hour flight? I don’t know. But I did it and it was amazing to say the least. Homesickness got the better of me and I wass off in a ShuttleU van on the 14th March to the Phoenix Airport. My parents were waiting for my flight that was to land at the Delhi International Airport at 2055 PM. However, we landed 15 minutes early and I managed to sneek in through another exit gate than the one assigned. I knew where my parents would be waiting for me. So, I sneeked in behind them and asked a question ” So, who are you waiting for?” The hugs followed suite and I was on the way back home in our car with both my parents. I would have loved to drive back home, but my parents thought otherwise.

I didn’t went on a picture taking spree because it felt like home. 🙂 Oh, nostalgia. Well, I reached home at around 2130 and went to my friend’s place before I even got my suitcases out. 🙂 Spend a lot of time there and thus managed to get scolded by my parents on the first day itself.

The next day, I went to my school, met my teachers and some of my friends. Then, I met one of my classmate in the mall and we spend a lot of time talking and getting updates about every one of us. After a lunch with my friends, I was back home at around 1700.

I met some of my friends in their college in Delhi. I spent almost the complete day with them.  Then, at around 1900, I went to my church and met all my friends as well. On the way back, some of us stopped at the popular hang-out among our group, the Domino’s Pizza, and shared some pizza and laughs.

On Wednesday, my aunt came from Bangalore and it was time to visit some family and family friends. Thursday called for a long and tiring day of shopping. Friday was the ‘family’ day. Everyone stayed at home and we did our packing and shared a lot of time and stories with each other. Saturday, I finished with my packing and on Sunday, I was off to Prescott. 🙁

So, the Spring Break came to an end. I reached Phoenix airport, switched on my cell-phone and talked to all my friends till the battery ran out. Then, I reached Prescott at around 12.30 and it was time for another month of gruelling studies, fun times, day dreaming, procastinating and just doing all possible random stuff with Kevin and every one else. Fun Times Indeed.

And that’s the view outside my home. Pretty packed, huh? Well, that is what makes it interesting. Kids playing cricket, fighting over umpire’s decision, racing on bikes, flying kites and so much more!

Hey there!  My name is Liesl, and yes, it is from the Sound of Music.  Over the years I’ve been called anything from Leslie and Lysol, to “Hey-you-where’s-your-Nazi-boyfriend-Rolph” and “Li…sss…leiseliele?”  So I’m just clarifying.  In English, it’s pronounced lee-sul.  Liesl.   Now that we’ve got that settled, I’ll begin my introduction.

I just recently graduated from Blue Ridge High School in the tiny town of Pinetop/Lakeside, Arizona, a town on the map that could easily be mistaken for a crumb dropped from lunch.  In this tiny mountain tourist hot spot, I grew from toddler to teenager, not ever once going hunting or even catching a single fish.  I try to look at it, not as pathetic like many may think, but as unique and original in the fact that I don’t follow the crowd.  Or it may be a result of my parents’ wise judgment to keep any and all weaponry and sharp objects from me as far away as possible.  That being said, I have attended every softball tournament, volleyball camp, and vice versa that has come to town.  Sometimes we’d even chase them down to the valley to make sure that my summer was as packed with action as it could be.  Athletics?  It runs in the genes.  Outdoorsy activities?  Not so much.  (Note weaponry and sharp objects: above).  Clumsiness also runs through the family.  Thanks, Great-Grandpa Penrod.

The latest excitement to hit my hometown was before-mentioned graduation.  The entire high school gymnasium was filled to the brim with locals wanting to congratulate the Class of 2009.

Graduation was a bittersweet experience.  It was so exciting to finally say that I was officially out of high school and that I was able to make my own choices, but there was also a tinge of sadness that I had to move on, away from a loving family, close friends, amazing coaches, and a close-knit community that all supported me in everything I did.  However, I am just as excited and thrilled for this fall as I am sad about leaving.  So this draws the conclusion that I’m pretty much on an emotional roller coaster, and unsurprisingly, I forgot to buckle my seat belt.

“Life makes the best story.”

Liesl Hall