Elizabeth Choi

Valedictorian

Dear Class of 2023,

After a freshman year cut short by COVID-19, a sophomore year almost entirely online, a junior year marked with masking and weekly pool testing and a senior year that felt surreal, we can proudly say that it’s all over.

Part of me feels that our years at Boston Latin School have passed by in the blink of an eye, but after reading my sixie year letter, I realized how much I have changed. My handwriting has altered (for the worse) and my priorities have shifted (arguably for the better), but the most striking difference is my mindset. In seventh grade, I felt little connection to BLS and could not wait to leave. Now, I’m glad I graduated, but I feel so much gratitude toward this place, which, despite having wrecked my sleep schedule and caused me extraordinary amounts of stress at times, has given me so much growth and love. I have attended new classes, joined new clubs and made new friends. I like myself more than I did when I was a sixie (or a freshman, if you’re a B-sie reading this), and I hope you do too.

These changes, however, did not just happen in isolation. Thank you to all of the hardworking faculty members who have guided and rooted for us. Thank you to our families, without whose support we would not be here today. And, most importantly, thank you to the students of the Class of 2023, who have shaped each other into being better people.

Even if I have not met some of you personally, BLS has imparted to us a bond that encompasses but transcends the shared experiences of declamation, 22- minute lunches and Junior Research Papers, and that’s something to celebrate. So, congratulations — we did it!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Choi

P.S. Thank you to the wonderful Editors-in-Chief of the Argo, Jenny and Joanna, for granting me six (?) extensions.

P.P.S. Shoutout to my lunch table, Lauren Choy, Sofia Francisco, Annabelle Lee and Julia Yuan, who have put up with my ravings about the cheese pockets for a year and who have forced me to include this.

Mira Yu

Valedictorian

Dear Class of 2023 and lost readers looking for the Senior Survey results, it’s time for a new era. An era where we can use the bathroom without a pass and take longer than 22 minutes to relish our cheese pockets. An era where we can leave behind our ball and chain (Chromebook and charger). With the end of an era, it’s time to reflect on all that Boston Latin School has given us.

I remember reading these farewells as a sixie, back when saying goodbye to BLS seemed unimaginable. Yet somewhere along the way, perhaps in the Zoom void between the main and breakout rooms, a creeping nostalgia for our earlier memories developed. It’s with this nostalgia that I recall my first Catapulta article, my first swim meet (it was S-U-P-E-R great) and my first misdemeanor mark. Now, as seniors, we’re ready to take a step closer to the Real World™️. It’s now up to us to build on what we’ve learned about ourselves in our next era, and I know we’ve got it in the bag. Hopefully, the bag in question isn’t as heavy as a sixie backpack.

I couldn’t write this farewell without recognizing all the incredible people I’ve gotten to know here. I think of teachers and coaches who were dedicated mentors, fellow students and “upperclasspeople” who were inspirational role models. I think of goofy club camaraderie, both in-person and online. I’ll miss quiz show Discord calls and Zoom speech sessions filled with laughter. “Underclasspeople,” I’m thinking of you too. Mock trial minions, I better see you soon.

Class of 2023, I love that we’re as varied as the possibilities of 23 chromosome pairs. Each of us is a multiverse of madness with future timeline branches unknown to even ourselves. Our class comprises artists, scientists, athletes and rappers (Big Ev and Ice Spice collab when??).

Yet as we move forward, our extracurriculars and honors will define us less than the kindness and respect that we show to ourselves and others. Others’ expectations may represent only a singular perception of us, one possible timeline branch of many. We may have been born with 23 chromosome pairs, but who we are will be determined by the many choices we will make. What we’ve discovered about ourselves at BLS will enable us to expand into new dimensions, to pursue our dreams and adventures and to seek out people that push our perceptions.

Class of 2023, I’m so grateful to have shared these past few years with you. Valete!

Lauren Choy

Salutatorian

The past six years at BLS flew by. It feels like yesterday when I was a nervous and excited sixie, sprinting through the hallways as I dragged my rolling backpack with my pigtails aggressively bouncing behind me. Yet here I am, six years later. Although I haven’t grown an inch, so much has changed, both in who I am and my relationships in school. 

Words can’t properly describe my past six years at Boston Latin School, but if I had to sum it up in three words, it would be these: secure, evolving and loving. 

During our freshman year, when we were just beginning to feel comfortable in high school, the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone home to experience school behind a screen. Going into my sophomore year online, I expected to feel detached and uninterested in school. Instead, the opposite happened. My friends came over to do online school with me, my teachers reached out to have individual check-ins and the school ensured that all three of my sports teams continued to play. Without a doubt, the pandemic was in no way easy. The world experienced immeasurable grief and tragedy. There were lots of times I felt scared, confused, lost and stressed out of my mind, but BLS was a place that I knew I could fall back on. Somehow, we figured out how to be a community even when we weren’t physically in school together.

A global pandemic abruptly shutting down schools for more than a year was, of course, extremely unexpected, but BLS was surprising because the pandemic forced us to adapt and evolve — individually and collectively — in new and important ways. As we graduate, each one of us is a very different person from what our sixie selves expected us to be. We have picked up new extracurriculars, made and broken friendships, developed new interests and so much more. For example, coming into BLS, I was convinced I was going to become a math teacher and never would have chosen to run for fun. In sophomore year, however, I joined the Argo and really started to find a purpose in writing. Then, I also joined the track team — both were surprising but the right choice for me in the end. 

And finally, loving. Despite all the hard days, I got through them because of the love and support that makes up the BLS community. My sports — soccer, track and especially basketball — teams really taught me this. No matter how bad my day was, my coaches and teammates were able to erase the worries from my mind. On bus rides, my buddies (shoutout to Paige, Selina and Maddie) never failed to make me laugh (although I do also admit to falling asleep on many of those rides). Whether we were 0-10 or 10-0, we came in with the same attitude of determination and togetherness. To those of you who haven’t yet graduated, I hope that you look for your own community wherever that may be for you. 

Love at BLS takes shape in the amazing people that make up the community. I feel so grateful to be able to say that many of my closest friends from middle school are still my best friends now. I also made new friendships, such as the one with my favorite co-Sal Selina (aka Yeg), who became one of my best friends junior year. So, in all things, BLS is a place to both stick with the old and try the new. 

Leaving here, I might not look like the same sixie (thank God I lost the braces and the glasses) but I still have the same excitement and eagerness that’s at the heart of who I am. My hope is that, like me, you stay true to who you are even when this place makes it feel hard, and that you take every opportunity BLS gives you to be inspired and be the person that you dream of becoming. Faster than you can imagine, this moment will be here for you too.

Selina Tang

Salutatorian

After returning a book by her “favorite” author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ms. Moon and I chatted it up. While reminiscing, as old folks do, she told the story of our first encounter. She had asked sixth-grade Selina if she was interested in joining the Argo, to which sixth-grade Selina responded, “Maybe, but I don’t know if writing is my jam.”

Ironically, I am now graduating as a six-year veteran of the Argo and humanities major. Lesson being: none of us entered BLS and left as the same person. In fact, you might not even have finished certain assignments and still been the same person, (at least that’s what all the Physics 1 students say after the flashlight project). Undeniably, BLS is a place of information and transformation. Thus, here are my top three takeaways.

One: never overlook the power of BLS faculty. They may pretend to be humble or BPS’s minions, but they are always secretly cooking up assignments or empanadas. More importantly, if you are willing to corner them (or be cornered), you are bound to receive an interesting story. Whether it be stories about college mistakes, childhood ballet lessons or former student drama, you’ll find your jaw dropped. Life at BLS became much more enjoyable when I could drop by teachers’ or Mr. Greenidge’s rooms to take a breath or sneak a donut or candy from administrators like Mr. Chen. It was a little awkward at first, but they are humans who (at least pretend to) enjoy our company too.

Two: your purpose at BLS was partially to learn about the world, but more importantly, learn how to educate yourself. You (hopefully) discovered what’s the smartest and easiest way for you to consume information. Even if there were classes you found less useful or irrelevant, they taught you a specific skill set. Math projects taught me blackpenredpen is better than Khan Academy, the Junior Research Paper taught me to reach out to upperclassmen for guidance and Capstone taught me I widely overestimated my self-discipline and the consequences of procrastination. You will unlikely need to engineer a rollercoaster or explain the importance of architectural symbolism again, but you will need to be an empathetic, self-sufficient and flexible human being. I’d argue that the friendships, partnerships and mentorships we create at BLS have taught us that.

Three: in the words of a wise one: “Quit, don’t quit, noodles.” None other than Master Oogway delivered this scholarly statement. Since we are emotional and impulsive adolescents that live in a chaotic world, we thrive off of breeding more drama. Nothing will ever go smoothly or perfectly, and you will feel confused and frustrated. You will want to quit trying or caring, but let yourself take a breath and grab a snack before you decide anything (the cereal from the school breakfast is fire). I swear after you fulfill that random craving, you’ll figure it out, whether that be to push through APUSH notes or let go of an unhealthy relationship.

Now hopefully you started and ended this farewell as a slightly different person as well. You might be tan from this ridiculous heat, your mascara ruined from this totally moving farewell or your fingers exercised from flipping by this page to find the surveys. We all experience the same places and people, but find ourselves with vastly different memories and impacts. Regardless, I hope we will all embrace those changes for the better. Congratulations to Class of 2023, it’s truly all over!