What are you looking forward to next year, whether it be for college or for the next high school year?
Having good times, like since I'm going to OU, I'm looking forward to taking more advantage of my freedom, meeting national merit floor people, actually starting pre-med at OU, being able to manage my own life and playing video games
Continuing my relationships with some of my closest friends here at OSSM in college. Also to research engineering solutions that really help people. I’m continuing my mentorship, and working at a robotics research lab. Also doing everything new, and trying everything.
I’m looking forward to creating new memories at OSSM, and getting ready for college. I’m also nervous for the whole college process of sending in college applications, visiting colleges, and getting accepted and rejected. In the end, I know I will end up where I’m supposed to be, though, so I’m really excited for what life has to offer next year!
Being halfway done. Also, being at that point in life where you're taking steps to set up your life and dealing with the stress and the joy that comes with it.
I'm looking forward to new opportunities. Junior year your path is set, but next year I get to take some really cool biology classes. I'm also looking forward to getting our little HOSA chapter off the ground, Envirothon, and robotics, since lots of new juniors are interested in that.
What are you most going to miss about OSSM, whether you are leaving for college or simply the summer?
My crazy dudes, honestly. But I’m also going to miss the academic rigor, but I will have fond memories of these times spent here. I will also miss the late night conversations.
Since I will be back in the fall for senior year, I’m mostly going to miss my friends and all the quirky things we all do, but I will see some of them this summer during IRSP and dorm corps.
The work, the crying, the people. Miss P most of all. Also, the staff here, I’ve become close with some of them.
I'm going to miss the dorm room. Our dorm is really nice and calm, especially the view. Our room looks right onto the Hogan walkway and has nice sunlight. I'll miss all my friends, especially the ones that live far away. I'm going to miss having order, because in summer I just flop around and don't do anything. But not this summer, I have to get a job and volunteer! I'll miss the order to some extent, where we only worry about school.
How are you going to spend your last few weeks at OSSM, and what moments are you going to create?
Spend a lot of my time with friends, watch movies, play games, and just finish strong because that’s just who I am, in terms of grades and APs and finals. Do a lot more fun things.
I’m going to prank some guys hardcore tbh. But the whole point is to make sure that my bonds with my fellow seniors withstand the test of distance and time, because I don’t want to lose the bonds and friendships I’ve created here.
Studying and enjoying what little time I have left here. I’m honestly going to be studying for finals, but the moments I will be creating include stressing about finals with friends and studying together.
I have a minor case of senior-itis, so I'm going to sleep in late. For the most part, the hardest weeks are over. There’s just presentations and finals to do. I'm just trying to finish the sprint.
How are you preparing to transition from high school junior to senior, or high school senior to college freshman?
I’m not going to I guess. Lol. Just kidding. I feel like OSSM has prepared me very well for college, so I feel like I will be good.
Connecting with current students at OU, getting involved early in student life organizations at OU, and definitely sleep and relax a lot.
I think I’m going to just keep myself busy over the summer and relax too, so that when I come back I’m ready for the workload of school work and college application submissions. This year, I have learned so much about myself and I’ve had a huge reality check, so I think I’m very prepared for senior year mentally.
I'm pretty sure this place is really similar to a residential college, so there’s not much to transition to. I'm already used to dorm life, community bathrooms and rigorous courses. The difference will be transferring from a small community of students to a large one.
Coming in with more of a plan. Utilizing my experience here to come up with a plan to better manage my time.
I'm trying to pass these classes so I can go to senior year. Trying to understand things and take good notes so when summer tries to suck the information from my brain, I hopefully won't be too lost.
What is a defining/happy moment from your time at OSSM so far, or that you remember from the past two years here?
This year’s talent show, and everything about last year’s promposals. As for the promposals, I was involved in a lot of them, so that was fun. For example, for mine, all my friends came to my house and we created creative and funny content. I liked the surprise because I like seeing how they react. As for the talent show, I enjoyed it because my friends and I made some good times, and whether it was laughing together, or working hard together, it was a good way to end this school year.
There’s so many. Idk. Like, perhaps rapping in Professor Bodenstein’s class, and getting her to rap with me and for the whole class, and we got it on video. And in general creating a ruckus in the class. We got her to rap Green Eggs and Ham. It was because if we created a rap that was calculus based and if we presented it, she would give us extra credit. It was to help people remember some calculus information, and we (me and Michael Anoke) did it!
A defining/happy moment from my time at OSSM has got to be the deep life talks I have with my best friends, because it just really makes you feel like you can talk about anything with them and they will understand and they just are the best! Also, learning in their perspective.
The spaghetti and meatballs they served the day after the first international dinner I went to.
The talent show performance. Our dance group worked really hard last semester and this semester and did like 4 dances. Seeing it all come together and seeing the crowd love it, it was really cool. I wouldn't have gotten to meet these really cool people without OSSM.
What is something that you will take away from OSSM when you leave for the summer/college?
A sense of humbleness, it gives you the realization that you are not at the top of everything, and that is okay. It gives you a sense of endurance, and that if you really set your mind to something, you can accomplish it. When others say something is too hard or too difficult to handle, I used to think the same, but that changed here. I also grew socially, emotionally, and physically, and that was pretty amazing to see that change.
Being here further developed my love for learning, and it increased my appreciation for all that I don’t know. A continued passion to use my skill sets to help others. Keep it simple stupid, also (from Dr. Underwood)! I value the differences in perspectives and opinions and values more of everyone who is socially, geographically, and culturally diverse.
I will definitely take away a better sense of reality. Before I came to OSSM I was so optimistic that sometimes, I was realistic, but now I think realistically optimistic. As funny as it sounds, this has helped me tremendously in my life.
If you really want to feel accomplished in the future, work hard now. Work your heart out.
The realization that I’m not perfect and that sometimes what I see as a failure was truly the best that I could do and the best of my efforts and I shouldn't wallow in jealously and in circumstances I didn't have.
Really appreciating the time and effort that people have put into my education, both and my home school and at OSSM. Sometimes I’ll learn things here that I learned at my home school. The world is filled with amazing people and so is here."