i believe that an essential part of becoming a comptent, well-adjusted human being is the ability to process one's experiences and what one learned from them. after all, if you can't learn from the past, isn't that time essentially wasted? you have nothing to show for it, physically or intellectually.

so i decided to interview some peers of mine on this last week of school and see what they learned from these past 4 years.

What have you learned from being in Diamond Bar High these past few years?

Leanne Fan: Diamond Bar is like America; it's imperfect, but you know that it's where you come from. You are proud of where you come from. As much as I don't like it, when people ask me where I come from, I say Diamond Bar. I realized that Diamond Bar has made me who I am; molded my passions.

Eliza Pan: To get what you want, you have to put up with a lot of crap.
It's true, I wouldn't be who I am if not for Diamond Bar. But then we're not as special as we think we are. There are people out there just like me, just like you. Wouldn't we be the same if we grew up anywhere else?
I guess it doesn't really matter because there are so many people who are better than me, worse than me, and most of all, the same as me. There is an overall picture of Eliza Pan somewhere else; maybe not the minute details, but the same overall person.

Yufeng Luo: I don't know. It was fun. What is there to learn, except literally?

Reshma Patel: I learned that people surprise you, and not in a good way. But then again, people have the ability and possibility to astound you. You think you know how a person is going to react to something; but then they just pull out something totally different. I learned how to deal with people; I think I've gotten better at that.

Pia Kochhar: Diamond Bar is what it is. Over the past four years, I have finally learned to accept things for what they are. All the things I hated about Diamond Bar were the things that made me think and become the person I am and want to become, at least for now. All the things I hated about Diamond Bar are now things that make me nostalgic. Diamond Bar will forever be my hometown, as lame as it sounds.

More to come...hopefully!