The Day Times Year Begins!

As the Day Times starts to begin layout for our second issue of the year, I have started to become accustomed to my role as a Senior Editor. To be honest, there is more work than I anticipated; I expected more of an advisory role to young, inexperienced Day Timers, but have received actual assignments they need work and much thought. For instance, this issue my fellow Senior Editors and I are responsible for both the editorial on Plum Market and the design of the back page. In order to be successful, I needed to fully embody IB learning outcomes 4 and 5: working collaboratively with others and showing preservance in my activities. As a senior, a bit of “senioritis” has threatened to creep into my formerly diligent work habits. I know the effects will first be seen in an activity like newspaper, where perceived less responsibility would cause me to “slack off” and neglect my duties to the paper. I have to actively remind myself that I still have to serve out the last year of my time on the newspaper and do so with energy and enthusiasm for my love of journalism.

Nirali, Sunny, Nithya, Lulu, and I have put in hard work this issue that we maintain the quality of the editorial and back page to the high standard it has always been kept. Though we suffered some setbacks in regards to meeting deadlines, we got the work done and we did it well.

The Conclusion to My Tennis Career (Written 10/16/10)

I just came back from my final states, which was a bittersweet experience. It was the perfect culmination to a great season with a great group of guys, who I had the pleasure of leading as captain. Though we did not perform up to the high expectations we set for ourselves, the season was a success in my mind because we bonded as a social unit and made some new friends along the way. Winning the tennis matches is only part of the equation when it comes to being a captain; I also need to promote a good team environment (which for the most part I was able to do) where we get along and can count on each other for support about issues off the court.

States started well for us; every flight won a tough match on their way to the semifinals. However, we were not as lucky the next day, with half our flights (including me) losing in tough semi-final matches. To be honest, I saw that coming; our practice habits disappointed me throughout the year and the Cranbrook doubles teams which defeated us worked harder. For this laziness, much of the blame should be attributed to the captains, including myself, who all too often emphasized having fun over being serious (indeed it was a false predicaments we put ourselves in). With that said, I think that all of the members on the team appreciated the family-like atmosphere we instilled. I know that the young freshman on our team made some new, dependable friends which eased his transition into the high school. So while we may not have come in 1st place at states, I know that we had the closest, most friendly team around.