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In Uncertain Times, Valedictorians Look Ahead
The New York Times
June 28, 2009
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Call them members of the Obama generation: Seven of New York City's
valedictorians, invited to discuss the future ' theirs, the city's,
the world's ' could not help circling back to themes resonant from
President Obama's historic campaign: diversity, globalization,
cooperation, hope.
`We're that high school class that was there when Obama got elected
and that's going to be there forever,' said Christian Monsalve, who
was chosen by his classmates at Regis High School, one of the city's
most prestigious Catholic schools, to give the commencement
address. `Who knows what, in the next 5, 10 years, what's going to
happen. We're going to be that class that's going to make that
history.'
Before tossing their mortarboards into the air, all graduating seniors
are spoon-fed equal parts inspiration and responsibility. But for the
class of 2009, laying claim to The Future can be a disquieting
proposition.
Unemployment is discouragingly high. Wall Street is
downsizing. Icecaps are melting. America remains at war. And
politicians are still feuding ' or in New York State's case, locking
one another out of rooms.
Yet, these best and brightest flip all this negativity into
opportunity: to cure, to defend, to counsel, to heal, even to make a
buck. `It's not like we'll be in recession for the rest of our lives,
until we die,' noted Jenae Williams, the valedictorian at the Celia
Cruz Bronx High School of Music.
A few expressed skepticism that profound change was possible in the
short term. But more often they spoke of uniting, rather than
dividing, reshuffling priorities instead of belaboring past mistakes.
These seven valedictorians ' the five from public schools ranked
highest in their class; Mr. Monsalve and Adrienne Edwards of the elite
Spence School were selected to give the valedictory ' are a tableau of
American ideals. Four are from immigrant families ' Uzbekistan by
menia, Colombia, the Dominican Republican and Lebanon. Their parents
include an elevator mechanic, two hotel banquet servers and a
limousine driver, along with the chairman of the neurology department
at Mount Sinai Medical Center. They speak Spanish, French, Russian,
Arabic, a little Hebrew.
Like all good New Yorkers, they bemoan the subway system, the hordes
and the city's willful indifference to personal boundaries.
This summer, some are working to pay for college and some are sleeping
off high school as they prepare to live their next chapter.
`For our entire lives someone or somebody or some entity somewhere has
been controlling what we do,' Ms. Edwards said. `I can't imagine how
liberating it's going to be.'
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------
The Students
KRISTINA ARAKELYAN
LIVES IN Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
COMING FROM Midwood High, 705 seniors
GOING TO Harvard
HOPES TO study philosophy and literature
SAT SCORE 2070
A self-declared pessimist, Kristina was editor of the school literary
magazine and opted out of gym after she hit the teacher on the head
with a basketball. She arrived in New York from Uzbekistan with her
Armenian parents at age 6, and imagines herself someday living in a
`little house with the white picket fence kind of thing.'
- ?
ADRIENNE EDWARDS
LIVES IN St. Albans, Queens
COMING FROM Spence School, 49 seniors
GOING TO University of Pennsylvania
HOPES TO be a litigator
SAT SCORE 2160
Outspoken and assertive, Adrienne commuted 90 minutes by bus and train
to Spence, where she enrolled in 7th grade and was head of the hip-hop
dance group and the multicultural awareness club. `I don't think I'll
be able to function at my highest anywhere else but New York because
I've met all my challenges and had all of my progressions here.'
- ?
CHRISTIAN MONSALVE
LIVES IN Bogota, N.J.
COMING FROM Regis High School, 134 seniors
GOING TO Fordham
HOPES TO work in economic development in Latin America
SAT SCORE 2030
Christian i at makes every mother's heart skip a beat: curious,
outgoing, confident, caring. He loves to dance salsa ' `It's like my
passion' ' and is enamored of his parents' native country, Colombia,
as well as travel generally. He has a `baby sister' ' she is 16 ' who
is `like my best friend. I love her.'
- ?
MUHAMMAD SAFA
LIVES IN Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
COMING FROM High School of Telecommunications Arts and Technology,
class of 282 seniors
GOING TO Fordham
HOPES TO become a doctor
SAT SCORE 1850
Muhammad, a fraternal twin, has ranked first in his class since
freshman year, and has volunteered at a hospital, doctors' offices and
a program to help people with developmental disabilities. Flashing a
rebel streak, he shrugged off many questions. He dislikes imposing his
views on the world: `I never make generalized opinions.'
- ?
JORDANO SANCHEZ
LIVES IN Corona, Queens
COMING FROM Townsend Harris High, 251 seniors
GOING TO Yale
HOPES TO develop a breakthrough in pathology
SAT SCORE 2250
Sweet and self-assured, Jordano said he led a `sheltered' life and was
not allowed to venture into Manhattan until 10th grade; his father
drives him to school. `I don't know if they're exceptionally paranoid
or something like that, but they're just very protective of me. They
know they can trust me, but they can't trust people that they don't
know.'
- ?
ADAM SEALFON
LIVES IN Brooklyn Heights
COMING FROM Stuyvesant, 791 seniors
GOING TO Harvard
HOPES TO do theoretical science/math research
SAT SCORE 2400
Home-schooled through eighth grade, Adam met President Obama this year
as one of 40 finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search contest. On
Stuyvesant's awards day, Adam received 13 prizes and an overwhelming
ovation. He plays piano, soccer and ultimate Frisbee. His favorite
painting at the Met: ` `The Death of Socrates' by Jacques-Louis
David. I really like Neo-Classicism.'
- ?
JENAE WILLIAMS
LIVES IN Soundview section of the Bronx
COMING FROM Celia Cruz Bron
ty, Lakeland, Fla.
HOPES TO become a marriage counselor
SAT SCORE 1700
Jenae, a percussionist, has Type 1 diabetes, and her parents' divorce
shaped her aspirations. `If I could help at least one family,
especially a family that has a child, especially that age or even
younger, to not have to go through what I went through for those
years, and even now, I will think I have really succeeded.'
------------------------------------- ------------------
Excerpts from the Conversation
President Obama became an almost immediate topic as the valedictorians
chatted around a conference table in The New York Times Building this
month.
ADAM If people think Obama can do things, then they're going to work
harder. The amazing thing about Obama is how well he was able to,
during the campaign, to mobilize enormous numbers of people.
ADRIENNE I definitely think we're turning toward a more
working-together kind of society.
ADAM I think he's exciting and inspiring.
KRISTINA I think our generation is really hyping things up. I mean, I
understand that with Obama there's a lot of change, but I really think
we're putting so many unrealistic expectations onto him. He doesn't
have a magic wand, he can't just tear away all the problems, but
that's what we're expecting and people are just going crazy and it's
just not fair ' it's just not fair to him, and it's just not fair to
us. All this change, and everyone keeps saying change, change, but
it's not really change. It's a slow progression, maybe, toward change,
but we're just expecting too much.
ADRIENNE I think he's kind of more symbolic in nature, kind of on a
world scale. I don't think we should expect Obama to wave a magic wand
and fix everything, no. That's not what I meant when I said `change.'
I think people are starting to think differently about things.
JENAE He could do two things: He could live up to the expectation or
he can crumble.
CHRISTIAN Expectation isn't a bad thing, because from expectations
comes action. Expe ations are hope, and that's a beautiful thing.
Asked what one thing they would change about New York City, Kristina
immediately answered: the school system. The others chimed in.
KRISTINA From the bottom up. I think if you really want to get
anywhere in the school system you have to really work hard, or get
out. You have 35 kids in a classroom. Even the best teacher in the
world couldn't possibly handle giving the attention to each child that
he or she deserves. You're not really pushed, because in order to look
better they stupefy the curriculum and they stupefy the Regents
exam. I took the physics Regent last year, and I didn't even have to
study and I got 100.
ADAM I definitely agree that the curriculum has been watered down a
lot. I mean, for instance, in mathematics, in eastern Europe, they
learn what we learn several years earlier. And it doesn't really work
to have a lot of standardized tests, because first of all the ones
that they have are pretty ' there's not a lot of content to
them. You're now getting teachers that teach to the exam instead of
teaching the material. So, like, you learn how to fill in bubbles on a
multiple-choice exam, instead of learning how to appreciate and
understand physics or whatever.
JENAE I think certain teachers in my school definitely have prepared
me more than I actually wanted to be prepared, but the bad thing was
that I didn't get those teachers until junior, senior year. Some
things some teachers have done like passing kids because they have to
get out, and not actually helping them, it makes me feel kind of bad.
ADRIENNE When I first got to private school, I was amazed I could
write in the books. In public school, it was a major rule that you
could not write in the books because somebody else had to use
them. And I think that's a good mentality, sharing, but it's kind of
like being able to take control of your education: This is my book, my
class, this is my experience, I need to learn this.
CHRISTIAN There's one thing that schools should eem and
confidence. They never taught me, for example, the motivation stuff in
schools, it was something I picked up outside of school, in
books. When I started doing that stuff, a bunch of new stuff started
opening up for me. Some of the students had already delivered their
valedictory speeches (excerpts are at nytimes.com/nyregion). Some were
still mulling.
ADRIENNE I quoted Asher Roth, and I said, `Do something crazy,' and I
meant more, like, break barriers and think unconventionally and move
away from your comfort zone and do something crazy.
CHRISTIAN I made people laugh, also made the moms cry, even some dads,
too. I told them about the importance of happiness and I talked about,
you know, I think you guys can all have happiness if you first have
humility. Because that's what our school taught us: faith in yourself,
and faith in God. I told them that if you believe in yourself, then no
one can deny you your dreams. That if you trust yourself, you can do
whatever you want. So that was the message I left them.
JENAE At first I was so excited, then I realized I would have to
deliver a speech, and it scared me. And I went to Google, and Google
didn't help at all. And then I talked about my next resource, that
wasn't Google, it was my friends, and that they didn't help at all
because they gave, like, so many different answers. They were like:
`Make it short!' `Make me cry!' `Make me laugh!' `Don't make
clichés!' And they were all like, `If you don't do this, I'm
going to boo you off the stage.' I was so frustrated.
JORDANO I don't think I could have come as far as I've come without
all the help that I've received from not only my teachers and the
faculty members, but my fellow classmates, so I wanted to leave them
with that message: that there's so much we can do together. There's so
much more we can accomplish if we work together rather than work
independently. I quoted something judge nominee Sonia Sotomayor said,
which I actually read in a New York Times a ire to be greater than the
sum total of my experiences, but I accept my limitations.' And the
purpose of using that quotation was to show that we all have our
limitations, but we have less of those limitations now than we had
four years ago, and even more as we continue to gain knowledge and
mature.
MUHAMMAD I didn't start yet. I was reading a few speeches, one by
Steve Jobs, and he wrote a speech in 2006 and it was about death. I
mean, it was a good speech, like, really good, like very intriguing
and such. But it was just about death, the overall thing, so I don't
know.
KRISTINA I have a pretty pessimistic view on life in general. It's not
about death, but I basically said that whatever we may accomplish,
we're all going to make mistakes, and the important thing is to try to
fix them, and if you can't, you can't. But the important thing is to
never cross your morals. I think that, in general, human morality is
deteriorating, because people are willing to do anything to get what
they want. And I think that at the end, when you're looking at life 70
years from now, that's one of the things you're definitely going to
regret.
ADAM Well, all my friends have told me, `Just make it funny,' because
there are going to be a bunch of other speakers who are going to go
for, like, the serious moral message, but just as long as it's funny,
everyone's going to like it. And I was thinking, like, the one way to
make sure that your speech is not funny is to try to make it funny.
We asked their favorite New York City spots.
JENAE Down on 14th Street, or Astor Place, there's this restaurant
called Bamn and I love that restaurant. It's an automated restaurant
where you go in, you've got to get $2 in coins, put the $2 in, pull
down the little lever and get your food. And I'm just, like, that's
amazing, I love it. Because when I'm downtown in the Village, I don't
really want to stop and eat, and I'm just like, `Let's just do Bamn,
let's just go put $2 in and get some curly fries a NA Herald
Square. Because they have the Mrs. Fields store and they have the
pretzel cart, and they have all those shopping malls, so it's a full
day right there.
CHRISTIAN I like the bike path on the West Side Highway, like on the
Upper West Side/Washington Heights area, because, like, I can see
Jersey. And the bridge, and its like a family recreational area.
MUHAMMAD The Brooklyn Bridge, because I first walked there when I was,
like, in seventh grade, and ever since I've walked down there ' I
don't want to say countless times, but at least, like, 20 or 30 times
with my family. And we always take pictures by that little thing with
the plaque where they say who built it or whatever, and we just stand
in front of it and see the ocean and stuff. Or in Brooklyn there's
this place called Shore Road, and I know that's, like, dirty or
whatever, because my uncle and I would go fishing and all the fish
would be already dead, or, like, mutated or whatever.
JORDANO Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadow Park, and I went to the
highest point on that building, and I was able to see a view of the
entire city, which was a breathtaking sight. What is one word that
best sums up how you're feeling at this moment ' about to graduate
from high school and embark on the rest of your lives?
CHRISTIAN Motivated.
ADRIENNE Oh, you stole mine!
JORDANO Anxious.
JENAE Ready.
ADAM Hopeful.
KRISTINA Unsure.
ADRIENNE Driven.
MUHAMMAD Finally?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/nyreg ion/28valedictorians.html?_r=1
The New York Times
June 28, 2009
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Call them members of the Obama generation: Seven of New York City's
valedictorians, invited to discuss the future ' theirs, the city's,
the world's ' could not help circling back to themes resonant from
President Obama's historic campaign: diversity, globalization,
cooperation, hope.
`We're that high school class that was there when Obama got elected
and that's going to be there forever,' said Christian Monsalve, who
was chosen by his classmates at Regis High School, one of the city's
most prestigious Catholic schools, to give the commencement
address. `Who knows what, in the next 5, 10 years, what's going to
happen. We're going to be that class that's going to make that
history.'
Before tossing their mortarboards into the air, all graduating seniors
are spoon-fed equal parts inspiration and responsibility. But for the
class of 2009, laying claim to The Future can be a disquieting
proposition.
Unemployment is discouragingly high. Wall Street is
downsizing. Icecaps are melting. America remains at war. And
politicians are still feuding ' or in New York State's case, locking
one another out of rooms.
Yet, these best and brightest flip all this negativity into
opportunity: to cure, to defend, to counsel, to heal, even to make a
buck. `It's not like we'll be in recession for the rest of our lives,
until we die,' noted Jenae Williams, the valedictorian at the Celia
Cruz Bronx High School of Music.
A few expressed skepticism that profound change was possible in the
short term. But more often they spoke of uniting, rather than
dividing, reshuffling priorities instead of belaboring past mistakes.
These seven valedictorians ' the five from public schools ranked
highest in their class; Mr. Monsalve and Adrienne Edwards of the elite
Spence School were selected to give the valedictory ' are a tableau of
American ideals. Four are from immigrant families ' Uzbekistan by
menia, Colombia, the Dominican Republican and Lebanon. Their parents
include an elevator mechanic, two hotel banquet servers and a
limousine driver, along with the chairman of the neurology department
at Mount Sinai Medical Center. They speak Spanish, French, Russian,
Arabic, a little Hebrew.
Like all good New Yorkers, they bemoan the subway system, the hordes
and the city's willful indifference to personal boundaries.
This summer, some are working to pay for college and some are sleeping
off high school as they prepare to live their next chapter.
`For our entire lives someone or somebody or some entity somewhere has
been controlling what we do,' Ms. Edwards said. `I can't imagine how
liberating it's going to be.'
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------
The Students
KRISTINA ARAKELYAN
LIVES IN Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
COMING FROM Midwood High, 705 seniors
GOING TO Harvard
HOPES TO study philosophy and literature
SAT SCORE 2070
A self-declared pessimist, Kristina was editor of the school literary
magazine and opted out of gym after she hit the teacher on the head
with a basketball. She arrived in New York from Uzbekistan with her
Armenian parents at age 6, and imagines herself someday living in a
`little house with the white picket fence kind of thing.'
- ?
ADRIENNE EDWARDS
LIVES IN St. Albans, Queens
COMING FROM Spence School, 49 seniors
GOING TO University of Pennsylvania
HOPES TO be a litigator
SAT SCORE 2160
Outspoken and assertive, Adrienne commuted 90 minutes by bus and train
to Spence, where she enrolled in 7th grade and was head of the hip-hop
dance group and the multicultural awareness club. `I don't think I'll
be able to function at my highest anywhere else but New York because
I've met all my challenges and had all of my progressions here.'
- ?
CHRISTIAN MONSALVE
LIVES IN Bogota, N.J.
COMING FROM Regis High School, 134 seniors
GOING TO Fordham
HOPES TO work in economic development in Latin America
SAT SCORE 2030
Christian i at makes every mother's heart skip a beat: curious,
outgoing, confident, caring. He loves to dance salsa ' `It's like my
passion' ' and is enamored of his parents' native country, Colombia,
as well as travel generally. He has a `baby sister' ' she is 16 ' who
is `like my best friend. I love her.'
- ?
MUHAMMAD SAFA
LIVES IN Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
COMING FROM High School of Telecommunications Arts and Technology,
class of 282 seniors
GOING TO Fordham
HOPES TO become a doctor
SAT SCORE 1850
Muhammad, a fraternal twin, has ranked first in his class since
freshman year, and has volunteered at a hospital, doctors' offices and
a program to help people with developmental disabilities. Flashing a
rebel streak, he shrugged off many questions. He dislikes imposing his
views on the world: `I never make generalized opinions.'
- ?
JORDANO SANCHEZ
LIVES IN Corona, Queens
COMING FROM Townsend Harris High, 251 seniors
GOING TO Yale
HOPES TO develop a breakthrough in pathology
SAT SCORE 2250
Sweet and self-assured, Jordano said he led a `sheltered' life and was
not allowed to venture into Manhattan until 10th grade; his father
drives him to school. `I don't know if they're exceptionally paranoid
or something like that, but they're just very protective of me. They
know they can trust me, but they can't trust people that they don't
know.'
- ?
ADAM SEALFON
LIVES IN Brooklyn Heights
COMING FROM Stuyvesant, 791 seniors
GOING TO Harvard
HOPES TO do theoretical science/math research
SAT SCORE 2400
Home-schooled through eighth grade, Adam met President Obama this year
as one of 40 finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search contest. On
Stuyvesant's awards day, Adam received 13 prizes and an overwhelming
ovation. He plays piano, soccer and ultimate Frisbee. His favorite
painting at the Met: ` `The Death of Socrates' by Jacques-Louis
David. I really like Neo-Classicism.'
- ?
JENAE WILLIAMS
LIVES IN Soundview section of the Bronx
COMING FROM Celia Cruz Bron
ty, Lakeland, Fla.
HOPES TO become a marriage counselor
SAT SCORE 1700
Jenae, a percussionist, has Type 1 diabetes, and her parents' divorce
shaped her aspirations. `If I could help at least one family,
especially a family that has a child, especially that age or even
younger, to not have to go through what I went through for those
years, and even now, I will think I have really succeeded.'
------------------------------------- ------------------
Excerpts from the Conversation
President Obama became an almost immediate topic as the valedictorians
chatted around a conference table in The New York Times Building this
month.
ADAM If people think Obama can do things, then they're going to work
harder. The amazing thing about Obama is how well he was able to,
during the campaign, to mobilize enormous numbers of people.
ADRIENNE I definitely think we're turning toward a more
working-together kind of society.
ADAM I think he's exciting and inspiring.
KRISTINA I think our generation is really hyping things up. I mean, I
understand that with Obama there's a lot of change, but I really think
we're putting so many unrealistic expectations onto him. He doesn't
have a magic wand, he can't just tear away all the problems, but
that's what we're expecting and people are just going crazy and it's
just not fair ' it's just not fair to him, and it's just not fair to
us. All this change, and everyone keeps saying change, change, but
it's not really change. It's a slow progression, maybe, toward change,
but we're just expecting too much.
ADRIENNE I think he's kind of more symbolic in nature, kind of on a
world scale. I don't think we should expect Obama to wave a magic wand
and fix everything, no. That's not what I meant when I said `change.'
I think people are starting to think differently about things.
JENAE He could do two things: He could live up to the expectation or
he can crumble.
CHRISTIAN Expectation isn't a bad thing, because from expectations
comes action. Expe ations are hope, and that's a beautiful thing.
Asked what one thing they would change about New York City, Kristina
immediately answered: the school system. The others chimed in.
KRISTINA From the bottom up. I think if you really want to get
anywhere in the school system you have to really work hard, or get
out. You have 35 kids in a classroom. Even the best teacher in the
world couldn't possibly handle giving the attention to each child that
he or she deserves. You're not really pushed, because in order to look
better they stupefy the curriculum and they stupefy the Regents
exam. I took the physics Regent last year, and I didn't even have to
study and I got 100.
ADAM I definitely agree that the curriculum has been watered down a
lot. I mean, for instance, in mathematics, in eastern Europe, they
learn what we learn several years earlier. And it doesn't really work
to have a lot of standardized tests, because first of all the ones
that they have are pretty ' there's not a lot of content to
them. You're now getting teachers that teach to the exam instead of
teaching the material. So, like, you learn how to fill in bubbles on a
multiple-choice exam, instead of learning how to appreciate and
understand physics or whatever.
JENAE I think certain teachers in my school definitely have prepared
me more than I actually wanted to be prepared, but the bad thing was
that I didn't get those teachers until junior, senior year. Some
things some teachers have done like passing kids because they have to
get out, and not actually helping them, it makes me feel kind of bad.
ADRIENNE When I first got to private school, I was amazed I could
write in the books. In public school, it was a major rule that you
could not write in the books because somebody else had to use
them. And I think that's a good mentality, sharing, but it's kind of
like being able to take control of your education: This is my book, my
class, this is my experience, I need to learn this.
CHRISTIAN There's one thing that schools should eem and
confidence. They never taught me, for example, the motivation stuff in
schools, it was something I picked up outside of school, in
books. When I started doing that stuff, a bunch of new stuff started
opening up for me. Some of the students had already delivered their
valedictory speeches (excerpts are at nytimes.com/nyregion). Some were
still mulling.
ADRIENNE I quoted Asher Roth, and I said, `Do something crazy,' and I
meant more, like, break barriers and think unconventionally and move
away from your comfort zone and do something crazy.
CHRISTIAN I made people laugh, also made the moms cry, even some dads,
too. I told them about the importance of happiness and I talked about,
you know, I think you guys can all have happiness if you first have
humility. Because that's what our school taught us: faith in yourself,
and faith in God. I told them that if you believe in yourself, then no
one can deny you your dreams. That if you trust yourself, you can do
whatever you want. So that was the message I left them.
JENAE At first I was so excited, then I realized I would have to
deliver a speech, and it scared me. And I went to Google, and Google
didn't help at all. And then I talked about my next resource, that
wasn't Google, it was my friends, and that they didn't help at all
because they gave, like, so many different answers. They were like:
`Make it short!' `Make me cry!' `Make me laugh!' `Don't make
clichés!' And they were all like, `If you don't do this, I'm
going to boo you off the stage.' I was so frustrated.
JORDANO I don't think I could have come as far as I've come without
all the help that I've received from not only my teachers and the
faculty members, but my fellow classmates, so I wanted to leave them
with that message: that there's so much we can do together. There's so
much more we can accomplish if we work together rather than work
independently. I quoted something judge nominee Sonia Sotomayor said,
which I actually read in a New York Times a ire to be greater than the
sum total of my experiences, but I accept my limitations.' And the
purpose of using that quotation was to show that we all have our
limitations, but we have less of those limitations now than we had
four years ago, and even more as we continue to gain knowledge and
mature.
MUHAMMAD I didn't start yet. I was reading a few speeches, one by
Steve Jobs, and he wrote a speech in 2006 and it was about death. I
mean, it was a good speech, like, really good, like very intriguing
and such. But it was just about death, the overall thing, so I don't
know.
KRISTINA I have a pretty pessimistic view on life in general. It's not
about death, but I basically said that whatever we may accomplish,
we're all going to make mistakes, and the important thing is to try to
fix them, and if you can't, you can't. But the important thing is to
never cross your morals. I think that, in general, human morality is
deteriorating, because people are willing to do anything to get what
they want. And I think that at the end, when you're looking at life 70
years from now, that's one of the things you're definitely going to
regret.
ADAM Well, all my friends have told me, `Just make it funny,' because
there are going to be a bunch of other speakers who are going to go
for, like, the serious moral message, but just as long as it's funny,
everyone's going to like it. And I was thinking, like, the one way to
make sure that your speech is not funny is to try to make it funny.
We asked their favorite New York City spots.
JENAE Down on 14th Street, or Astor Place, there's this restaurant
called Bamn and I love that restaurant. It's an automated restaurant
where you go in, you've got to get $2 in coins, put the $2 in, pull
down the little lever and get your food. And I'm just, like, that's
amazing, I love it. Because when I'm downtown in the Village, I don't
really want to stop and eat, and I'm just like, `Let's just do Bamn,
let's just go put $2 in and get some curly fries a NA Herald
Square. Because they have the Mrs. Fields store and they have the
pretzel cart, and they have all those shopping malls, so it's a full
day right there.
CHRISTIAN I like the bike path on the West Side Highway, like on the
Upper West Side/Washington Heights area, because, like, I can see
Jersey. And the bridge, and its like a family recreational area.
MUHAMMAD The Brooklyn Bridge, because I first walked there when I was,
like, in seventh grade, and ever since I've walked down there ' I
don't want to say countless times, but at least, like, 20 or 30 times
with my family. And we always take pictures by that little thing with
the plaque where they say who built it or whatever, and we just stand
in front of it and see the ocean and stuff. Or in Brooklyn there's
this place called Shore Road, and I know that's, like, dirty or
whatever, because my uncle and I would go fishing and all the fish
would be already dead, or, like, mutated or whatever.
JORDANO Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadow Park, and I went to the
highest point on that building, and I was able to see a view of the
entire city, which was a breathtaking sight. What is one word that
best sums up how you're feeling at this moment ' about to graduate
from high school and embark on the rest of your lives?
CHRISTIAN Motivated.
ADRIENNE Oh, you stole mine!
JORDANO Anxious.
JENAE Ready.
ADAM Hopeful.
KRISTINA Unsure.
ADRIENNE Driven.
MUHAMMAD Finally?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/nyreg ion/28valedictorians.html?_r=1