06 07 08 09 10 11 12
6th grade Kalkidan Demisse Olly Konez 7th grade Sophia Lee Alexander Goff 8th grade Leanne Pham Bria Austin 9th grade Murphy Bradshaw Dare Poling 10th grade Bernard Andrade Mubarik Alfablondi 11th grade Sahara Jones Andy Winner 12th grade Jessica Gates Sameayah Pehlke
Kalikidan Demisse
Sixth Grade
“I just really like VSAA’s community because I’m just a sixth grader and I never actually thought I was going to actually talk to any seniors before the year was over, and now here I am chatting about the VSAA community with a senior, and it’s kind of mind blowing, but then again I should have known this was happening. This is an art school and art schools are kind of more community related with other people who go there than regular schools. This is overall a really great school and I know that when I graduate, I’m really going to miss it.”
Olly Konez
Sixth Grade
“When I was turning seven, I was in Turkey. It was my birthday. We were getting a cake, but it was last minute. We went to a cake shop and there was this guy who reserved a cake, but my dad offered like three times as much as the guy paid, so basically we stole a cake. And then that cake was pretty good. So that was a good story, I guess.�
Sophia Le
“I like helping the world. That’s why I think volunteering or nonprofit organizations are very good because they help. Things that try to help people, help the world better than doing things that will help the economy. If you help the world, naturally things will just get better because then the world is getting better and you will have more time to live. I think it’s better to try to help. To do selfless things is not really something you should try to achieve, doing selfless acts, you as a person want to do that selfless thing instead of forcing yourself into doing them.”
Seventh Grade
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Alexander Goff
Seventh Grade
“[Math] makes sense. I actually really like numbers because they are all solid independable. As long as you memorize the formulas and you have a calculator you can pretty much do anything with it. Math can be used to solve every problem and even problems you wouldn’t associate with math. Like, “this door is so heavy I can’t lift it to put it where it goes”. You can be just like “wait a minute if you take the geometry of how you’re”- oh my gosh I sound like a nerd- “if you take the geometry of your angle of your arm to your elbow and shift it, it takes up half the width because it’s right into your back” and yeah. I really like numbers because you can use them for everything and they are incredibly helpful.”
Leanne Pham
“When you’re having to research and take care of people you have to know what you’re talking about. So if you have to learn about medicine and you can learn a lot about it to help people. Not only just the helping people but- it’s kind of like almost selfish but I really like learning things. So if I have to be knowledgeable about the subject then I think that would push me to learn a little. I would meet cool, more knowledgeable people when I’m trying to learn about what I need to know about. I’ve been told by a lot of people that I ask a lot of questions about everything. I ask about, “why this is happening”, I ask a lot of why questions. I like to think sometimes that I challenge society sometimes. Sometimes I feel like that can be a little bit annoying, but I try to get the why to everything.”
Eighth Grade
Bria Austin
Eighth Grade
“I know from experience with having cerebral palsy, which is what I have. I’ve had to deal with- not as much as some- and I’m not saying this is the worst thing ever but like, there’s definately going to be judgement and questions and that can get really old. But I would say, don’t judge someone based off of one surface level conversation. I myself even do that, I sound like a bad person and it’s just not a good quality to have. I’m not saying everyone who does that are horrible people, everyone does it, that is just an automatic thing. If you just meet someone for the first time and you’re like “I don’t like them because of their clothing or the way they talk or what they talked about”, that’s not that way you should base someone off of. Take [the criticism] with a grain of salt because honestly they’re either affected by something else in their life or they just want to say it to be mean, and they’re just mean. Just be you. Do your thing, it’s cool. And if you’re honestly being yourself you become friends with really great people. Just be yourself and it will shine through and it will be great.”
Murphy Bradshaw
Ninth Grade
“I’ve never really been one to seek other people’s help. I don’t know why. I just haven’t done that- I mean i’ve done that before but not like actively do that. So I think usually when I’m sad I will writenot even poems. I think art- even just observing it and being there to see the process is really interesting to me because it reminds me that like I think that art is very subjective. I think it is so cool that everyone has their own interpretation of what art means. Modern art for example is something that I find really amazing because it is like you can be able to attach meaning to such a simple thing. And yeah, I definitely think art is something that I turn to.”
Dare Poling
Ninth Grade
“My PTSD stems from a lot of things. When I was four my great grandmother passed away and I thought up until I was ten or eleven that it was my fault that she passed away. Even though she was older than dirt and really sick. And I was also abused as a child. There was a lot of alcohol in my life and drugs, i’m now like really sick of all of that. Not a good childhood life, but it’s cool. Everything’s fine. The only thing that I really have to say is, if there is nothing else that [someone who is going through a rough time] find works. If they’ve been through every coping mechanism that their counciler has on a sheet of paper that they give you, create a place in your mind that no one can get to you from. Like, if you’ve ever seen Sherlock, the mind palace, yeah, create the mind palace. Just somewhere where you’re safe and nothing can get to you. And when everything has been taken away, that’s the one thing that can’t. And you can find at least some solace if you’re being tortured or abused, beaten, being yelled at, just slip into a safe place in your mind.”
Bernard Andrade
Tenth Grade
“So I guess in reality you have to be the change you want. When I did the mock election, on [the google form] I had the flat tax. Actually I took most of the wording from Ted Cruz’s website and then I typed it out and then I made it kind of pretty. So yellow team, they voted it down and overall I think it got voted down. But red teamers actually approved it because no one had any idea what it meant, but it sounded simple. And what I’ve learned, people want change, but change is not a positive thing necessarily, change is just something different. I think people need to not buy into populism so much. I think the people need to understand the change they’re proponents of. If honest to god believe you’re in any form of change, you gotta make it yourself because other people’s opinions for what they want is different. When I did the mock election, I asked if you’re Republican, Democrat or Libertarian, but there is actually a good swatch of VSAA that is Republican. The reason we never hear their voice is because they’re afraid to speak up because we’re so predominantly liberal and they would be afraid to lose friends or we start thinking of them differently. So actually I made it a point to be a more conservative voice in my classes, when in reality I am extraordinarily liberal, greenish actually. [A message to VSAA] you’re not always right.”
Mubarik Alfablondi
Tenth Grade
“For me, music just expresses emotion. I write all of my lyrics on my own time with myself. And I made the rap book which is like a whole college rule notebook full of raps and there are still some that I haven’t put out yet. It’s just full of emotions of sadness, happy, excited, you know, first love, like all of that’s in there. If I had to think who was my influence that really made me first start rapping, it would have to be N.W.A. Me and my friend really wanted to actually watch the movie N.W.A and we’re like “oh let’s do this” and then we somehow didn’t know how to get in because it’s like, you have to be older. So we just picked some random dude and said “hey can you pretend to be our uncle so we can watch the movie?” And he was like “oh, sure”, and we got in. And we watched it. And then I was like “I want to do that”.”
Sahara Jones
Eleventh Grade
“I come from a very interesting background especially in our area. There’s not too many Indian people in our area. And so coming from a half Indian household, I have so much of this cultural background that like nobody else knows about because, it’s just not very prominent. You just never see any Indian people. I come from a very religiously mixed neighborhood. My dad is very atheist but my mom is very muslim. I grew up muslim and then I kind of stepped away from it. I see myself as agnostic right now. I admire people who use religion to boost themselves up, to make sure that they feel safe, to make sure that they feel happy and fulfilled in their lives. But I also see the negatives of it sometimes and how it can affect other people’s lives who maybe don’t have the same beliefs as you. So I just kind of live a non religious life. I
just kind of believe that, just be kind to everybody and then that is the best way to go. You’ll find fulfillment and a good future if you are just kind and motivated. I always defend the muslim faith. I always defend it because I know my mom is not a terrorist, I know the vast majority of muslims are not terrorists. ISIS is not true Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion, Islam is about caring for other people, it’s about charity. But people see, a brown person or they see a person with a big beard, or they see a woman in a hijab and they think “oh see’s oppressed, she doesn’t have any of her rights”. But especially in the United States, a lot of it is very much a choice. There’s a lot of proud muslim women that wear the hijab because they see it as a sign of “I am a proud Muslim woman, I love my culture”. It’s a sign of modesty.”
Andy Winner
Eleventh Grade
“I think I guess a lot of people will see me just for being a part of the LGBTQA+ community and I am totally okay with that. I’m okay representing some of that, especially because I am so passionate about transgender topics, specifically. I am trans gender myself and I love other trans people, especially older people who had to deal with all kinds of crap back in the- you know, old parts of history. I wish people would know that I care about more things, I guess. I care about my siblings a lot. I really do. I am one of seven and even if I don’t always like them, I care about my family. I care about art, a lot. And I care about people just being themselves and being able to express themselves and it not being a big deal just being who you are. That’s what I care about.”
Sameayah Pehlke
“I never really get mad if people are being ignorant, I guess I could say. It’s not usually purposeful, it’s usually that they’re not around that environment a lot and aren’t used to it. So they’re just trying not to be offensive or anything. I know it’s made me different coming to this school, my other black friends that go to other schools are like “you’re so white” or “you’re so blah blah blah”, and I’m like “it’s what it is”. It’s a school I go to, we’re artists and we’re very cognizant of other cultures and stuff like that. So it’s not necessarily like we don’t know anything, it’s just different. It’s a different environment. We’re all like, everybody being together rather than having to be separate. That’s what I like a lot about this school. Last year I had this huge light bulb, whirl wind, life realization moment because I got into a really big argument with
Twelfth Grade
my friend because, my mom is adopted, she’s african, so half of my family is white, and half my family is black and she got into a really big argument with my grandma about cultural appropriation. She was saying “we can straighten our hair” and then my grandma was saying “but why does it make a difference if white people get braids or white people do things because you guys straighten your hair”. I guess I realized oversensitivity doesn’t help anything. It just creates a lot of discord. Like that whole thing with her just being like “black people can only do this and other people can’t be apart of that culture”. It just makes more separation rather than making people come together. Unless you’re outrightly trying to be disrespectful to someone else’s culture, then I don’t see the point. I just try not be be one of those people.”
Jessica Gates
Twelfth Grade
“I value honesty more than basically everything. I’m also a very trusting person, so when people break that trust I have a hard time afterwards. But I tend to trust them again anyways, but I value honesty so much. Of course everyone has lied. But I spend so much time trying not to lie and of course I have, I’ve said little fibs before. I hate it when people lie to me. My advice to people is, don’t lie because once you do, you can lose a lot. And your word is more important than a lot of things out there and you’re giving up your word for nothing.”
You may just learn something.