Thursday, March 12, 2009 By Amanda Nanakorn - Advertising Were you an awkward freshman? (June 16, 2006) -- Freshman year was eventful to say the least, both on the local and nationwide level. After the first weeks of adjusting and settling into a niche, the ball began to roll and thus unfolded the tale of Class of '06. It all started with the usual welcoming ritual of the annual pancake breakfast and Principal Doug Dall's "measure twice, cut once" assembly, which comes from an old proverb. Not long after, student government was established through the voting of class elections. Another assembly followed on the destruction of our most privileged restrooms. Various assemblies were to come, all of which included Dall complimenting how only at Clark can students be seated and organized so quickly. There’s no talking about freshman year without mentioning the Tech Literacy classes, also known as TechLit—the program all first-year students had to survive. Though at the moment many students found the program to be unnecessary it laid a foundation for the following years at Clark, “I thought it was a waste of time but I ended up learning things that helped later in high school,” said senior Alyssa Ohanganiance. Teachers Judith Craemer, William Reyna and Roger Smith previewed all Clark had to offer through the TechLit program. Knowledge from Smith’s part of the course could be applied to the various computer programming classes offered. Who could forget Ms. Craemer and her movie, Citizen Kane? She pointed out all the possible artistic effects used in the movie. “Ms. Craemer would stop [the movie] every 30 seconds to explain what was going on,” said senior Edit Matevosyan. Finally, Mr. Reyna taught Excel, Word and other computer programs which would be used far into our future careers. Two-thousand and two was the start of many beginnings and endings. This was the year of the first annual car show complete with snow cones and the grand opening of Clark’s very own rose garden. It was the last year of EAST, the last time Drama Club would hold a large performance like Chicago, the last time English teacher Jennifer Davis would teach Freshman English, and the last year after school dances were held. The shadow of tragedy loomed as students commemorated the anniversary of 9/11 by leaving candles, flags and other memorabilia at the flagpole at the bottom of the amphitheatre. At the same time, talk of war on terror came to pass, bringing about a walk out Feb. 15, 2003. This was only our first year at Clark, and there was already an opportunity to be a part of history. “It was a new experience for freshman, because we’ve never petitioned,” said senior Ruzanna Barsegyan. Both students and teachers walked out of class exercising their right to demonstrate disapproval of America going to war in Iraq. And so as the world continued to revolve, the universe of Class of ’06 seemed to move ever slowly through the journey to graduation.

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