Choate’s student newspaper runs an article, Choate Quiz Bowl Wins Online Quiz Bowl. The Quiz Bowl team that Anya and her friend Emma started has come a long way since the start of the year. This semester, the team has been participating in online tournaments, and won their first tournament ever in April.
Our favorite part of the article are the quotes from Joy, Anya’s friend and a freshman on the Quiz Bowl team. “I honestly think Quiz Bowl has become an even bigger part of my life during the COVID-19 quarantine… Choate Quiz Bowl is a lot more than a club. Honestly, this club is a second family to me. I’ve met some of the most important people in my life through Quiz Bowl and made connections strong enough to last a lifetime.”
Washington’s state parks are open again, along with a number of city and county parks. Jan and Lyn go for a morning walk along Coal Creek. The trail is lined with forget-me-nots.
Later, Lyn asks: “What were those flowers called again?”
Jan: “Um, forget-me-nots?”
Bree adds a costume to an old HexBug remote-controlled spider to make it look like a Guardian robot from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Bree and Jan had planned to go camping in April, but those plans had to be cancelled when campground were closed across the state.
Tonight they make do by approximating the camping experience. They go for a late-afternoon walk on the trails in the central forest in Seward Park, then end up a picnic table near the lake. There they cook Bree’s backpacker meal, rehydrated pasta with tomato sauce. Back at home, they set up our two-person tent in the backyard, and spend the night out in the tent. Bree’s delighted to finally have a chance to test out the lightweight but warm sleeping bag she received for Christmas.
One difference from regular camping: in the morning, Bree and Jan are visited by our cats.
Jan’s hair is getting longer. Liya decides to give him a tiny ponytail.
Bree makes a Lego diorama of the Japanese backpacking anime “Laid-Back Camp”. She crafts a custom outfit, hairstyle, and eye color to recreate Rin, one of the anime’s protagonists.
Anya has her last day of high school classes. She still has a few papers to finish.
Anya gives Liya’s hair a trim. She does a nice job!
Anya graduates from Choate Rosemary Hall. The remote ceremony starts at 10:00 am Eastern time, so we all get up early to watch it at 7:00 am. There are some technical glitches — we have to start watching a phone, then an iPad, and finally get it playing on a larger screen.
Dr. Alex Curtis, the head of the school, starts things off from the mostly empty auditorium in Colony Hall. From there things move at a pretty good pace. The student class president gives a short speech from his backyard. The graduation speaker is author Maria Semple from the class of 1982. (She lives in Seattle, and had hosted Anya a couple of years ago for a small party for students congratulating them on getting into Choate.)
A nice touch comes when Dr. Curtis announces that it’s time to read the names of the graduates. He smiles and blinks, and the suit he’s wearing is suddenly replaced with a formal graduation gown. (It seems some things are only possible in a video graduation edited beforehand.)
Faculty members take turns reading the name of each of the 231 graduating seniors as a photo slideshow progresses. For each student, Anya provides a quick summary: “She’s a good friend of mine!”, “He’s really nice”, “She’s amazing!”, and “I have no idea who that is.” We all clap for her friends, and then especially loudly when Anya’s name is read.
Congratulations, Anya!
In the evening, we celebrate with food from Din Tai Fung, one of the restaurants Anya likes. After dinner, a group of Choate underclassmen send Anya a goodbye video they put together for her. It’s very sweet to hear them talk about how much they love her and how much they’ll miss her.