Ryan Chau’s Valedictory Address at Helix Charter High School

Ryan Chau delivered this address June 5, 2013, at Helix Charter High School commencement exercise.

High school has been a rollercoaster ride for a lot of us. I started out high school as the kid who was studying hard to be as rich as Steven Barillas when I grew up.

I didn’t really know what to expect in my freshman year, though. Neither did Bobby Chen, but that didn’t make me feel much better. The years really flew by, though.

By junior year, most of us had found our place in high school and were ready for the craziness that would start. That was the year when most people were taking AP classes and the SATs, even Alex Tong. We started procrastinating on our Senior Projects until April 3rd this year and used college apps, senioritis and Mr. Baits’ obsession with poetry as excuses. Well, at least I did.

Who didn’t love Mr. Dartland’s class, though? What I learned most about physics was heat, which mostly means I improved my roasting skills. And after being in Mr. Sutton’s class and hearing about his hatred of lumberjacks and commies it made me consider never wearing red in front of him again. But he would be really disappointed in Kelvin because he was chopping way harder than a lumberjack.

Senior year was really defined by us making our college choices. I learned something about that decision process, too. No matter how much others may try to help and give their advice, the choices we make are up to each and every one of us. Since Berkeley really didn’t like me, going to UCLA was an easy choice for me.

Throughout all of these years, tennis season was something I could always look forward to. Thanks to the superb coaching of Coach Diaz, our tennis team managed a winning season, which was new to me and just every other guy on the team.

For me, though, tennis really tested what I could handle. I could handle the sophomore trolls (somehow), the awesome Asian group, the John Stowes, the Daniel Berhes and even the John Marshalls of the world. Maybe I could even take on my older cousin and doubles partner Roger Fong. But if you’re putting me up against Han Pham, then…I don’t know. You might be asking for a little too much from me.

I really have to thank everyone here, whether you’ve been my friend since elementary school like Joel Ortiz or you’re just Christian Alvarez. There is no high school experience without everyone being there.

And while it might be hard for friendships to continue since everybody’s moving on into different paths, for one more day at least, we’re all together as the Class of 2013. Thanks to all of you for everything we’ve accomplished.