A Modestly Beautiful Tree

During class on Friday I chose to observe and reflect on a small tree in the quad...

 Link to Description of a Tree

"The Box Man" Discussion

1. In this discussion, through the observations of my classmates I realized that the author uses words with positive connotations in the first paragraph, such as "lucky" and "good fortune" to display the content outlook the "Box Man" maintains, despite his dire situation.

2. I wish that we had discussed the other characters, the lady who lingers at the coffee shop and the woman with six cats, in greater detail because they provide just as much insight into the meaning of the passage as the homeless man.

3. I wish that I had drawn attention to the paragraph that reveals how the coffee shop woman receives a Christmas card yearly from her former boss. The author's inclusion of this seemingly trivial fact is undoubtedly important because it further illustrates the small amount of social contact the woman engages in.

Link to "I Am A..." Essay

Link to "I Am A..." Essay

Long Form for Class Matters

Long Form for Class Matters by Correspondents of the New York Times

Subject: Class distinctions in America

Link to Long Form for Class Matters

Senior Project

When I first began dancing in my elementary school days, there was always a teacher and an assistant teacher at every weekly class. As young girls, we viewed the teacher as a stricter, professional adult, however, the assistant was always a high school girl that came across as more relatable, the kind of person who looks so mature, but acts goofy and fun at the same time. So when the time came to plan for my senior project, I instantly thought of becoming an assistant teacher at a local dance studio, so I could have the opportunity to reach out to young dancers the way my assistant teachers did with me. Consequently, for my project, I will be volunteering at Expressions Dance Studio this upcoming school year. I will work with less experienced dancers and give them instruction on how to improve upon their abilities, motivating them to strive for success with their style, technique, and performance. Additionally, I plan to choreograph a piece for the dancers which will be an educational experience for me as I have never formally devised a dance for anyone besides myself before. Furthermore, after cleaning the dance during classes and at rehearsals, the girls will perform in the Expressions annual year-end recital for their friends and family. At this performance I will assist in helping it run smoothly by volunteering backstage, both organizing the dancers and helping with technical functions.

      This project is a going to include a large sacrifice of time on my part, probably upwards of fifty hours, but I’m willing to go along with that in order to be a mentor to these young dancers. Throughout my dance career, I have always valued the few coaches and teachers I have come into contact with that genuinely wanted to get to know me as a person. If I am able to pass that on to the girls I work with, that will be a significant reward. I have, unfortunately, experienced a great deal of disappointment throughout my years of dancing simply because of the competitive nature of dance. Yet, these obstacles have not been detrimental to my self-esteem simply because of the quality guidance I received early on. My ultimate goal for this project to instill a love of dance in these girls that is strong enough to overpower any negativity that may come their way and keep them dancing for many years to come.

All About Me

Hello everyone! To introduce myself, my name is Alyssa Fumagalli. I am a seventeen year old, native Napan with a love for dance, Disney movies, and Chinese food, among other things.

 As far as my family goes, I have one sister, Danielle, who is probably one of the most accomplished 23- year olds I know. Although we are unalike in almost every way imaginable, we still manage to get along relatively well and remain close, despite the fact that she lives across the country in Washington D.C. Additionally, my mom serves as an unbelievably influential figure in my life, without her watchful guidance, my procrastinator tendencies would run wild and I might possibly consume inorganic fruits and vegetables not purchased from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. On the other hand, I see a lot of myself in my father, as he continually strives to please others, but is unpredictable in the way that he will spontaneously break out into a song or dance.

Speaking of dance… outside of school dance serves as the main extracurricular activity that I am involved in. I first fell in love with dance at the age of eight when my mother dragged me to a jazz class against my will. Since then, I have been continuously dancing for nine (almost ten!) years and have no plans of stopping any time soon. Throughout my career in dance, I have been instructed in numerous styles such as jazz, ballet, modern, hip hop, contemporary, and pointe. The opportunities to embrace various forms of dance have arisen through my involvement with different studios such as Academy of Dance, Dance Direction, and most recently, Expressions School of Dance and Music, where I will be an assistant teacher and choreographer throughout the upcoming school year. In the end though, my favorite dance experience occurred about a year ago, when I was able to attend the Pulse Convention in San Francisco, which was an incredible experience as I got to learn material from world-famous choreographers. The whole time I couldn’t help feeling a little star struck as many of them have been repeatedly featured on the TV show, So You Think You Can Dance. In addition, I actually got to talk one on one with both Mia Michaels and Brian Friedman which was crazy, since they are two people that have inspired me personally for many years.

With Brian Friedman at Pulse!

More recently however, I just finished performing as a member of Platinum Dance Company, a nonprofit organization that was a lot of fun because some of my really good friends were involved and membership was free (which was definitely a plus). Furthermore, as far as my dance experience within Napa High School goes, I am currently a member of the Napa High School Dance Department’s Jazz 3 class and I am so excited that I was selected to be a Dance Club Officer for this coming year.

As of right now, my future career goal is to become a pediatric dentist because I love kids and have had an odd fascination with teeth nearly all my life. Literally when I was younger I had a Play Doh set that included plastic versions of a person’s mouth, drills, and crowns and strangely enough, it was my favorite Christmas present ever. Looking to the nearer future though, I am not entirely sure which college I want to attend because I have visited ten different campuses in the past year and liked all of them.

Here’s a picture of me from a recent college visit at Pepperdine University (easily the most picturesque campus I’ve seen) about a month ago.    

So now you know a little bit more about me and I cannot wait to get to know you all better in the upcoming year as well!