kylie krummel - sr. val
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Senior ValedictoryTRANSCRIPT
Life isn’t worth living for nothing. You have to find something to live for—and what you live for will always be unique to you.
Look around you right
now; there is only one set of eyes
seeing exactly what you are see-
ing now from exactly the same
angle. Only one brain is inter-
preting this completely unique
view in its own completely
unique way. When you think
about it, you are the only “you”
that there is, was, and ever will
be.
Your experiences are
all singular to you.
The need for compari-
son in this world is greater than
ever before because of the mas-
sive influence of media and en-
tertainment. However, there is
no comparison to you.
You are you, you are
the only person who can be you,
and you are you better than any-
one else. Take charge of that and
embrace it. There’s no need to
compare yourself to others if
there is no comparison there to
find.
You are the only YOU.
An overview of me; by me.
Established 1994
Version 18.0
Top Ten: K-Pop Artists 2
Runt, Twin, Meaning of Life
3
Time Capsule, Golf re-gionals,
4
Acheivements... 5
Roman Missal, Pope Francis
6
Gangnam Style, Hallyu Wave
7
Art 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REQUIRED Inside this issue:
Special points of in-
terest:
Briefly highlight your
point of interest here.
Briefly highlight your
point of interest here.
Briefly highlight your
point of interest here.
Briefly highlight your
point of interest here.
Kylie Krummel
4 Super Junior — Siwon,
Leeteuk, Shindong,
Eunhyuk, Ryeowook,
Sungmin, Yesung,
Heechul, Henry, Zhou
Mi, Kangin, Donghae,
Kyuhyun, [Han Geng],
[Kibum]
1 G-Dragon
Top Ten: K-Pop Artists
Page 2 Kyl ie Krummel Vers ion 18.0
2 BIGBANG — G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang,
Daesung, Seungri
3 U-Kiss — Soohyun, Dongho, Kevin,
Eli, Kiseop, AJ, Hoon, [Kibum],
[Alexander]
5 Teen Top — L.Joe, Changjo, Ricky, Niel,
CAP, Chunji
8 VIXX — Hongbin, N, Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hyuk 7 B.A.P — Daehyun, Youngjae, Himchan, Zelo, Yongguk, Jongup
6 SHINee — Key, Jonghyun, Onew, Taemin, Minho
9 Nu’est — Ren,
Baekho, Aron, JR,
Minhyun
10 F. Cuz —
Jinon, Daegun,
Raehyun, Kan,
Yejun, [LeeU]
Personal Essay Reflection #1: Runt
Meaning of Life
Personal Essay Reflection #2: My Twin
It is always with a
teasing grin that my brother
tells me that I am the child
that wasn’t supposed to be
born. In reality, he and I are
twins so there is no way to
tell which one of us was in-
tended and which wasn’t, but
since he was born sixty sec-
onds before me, he assumes
that he is the intended child
and I am the “mistake”. Aside
from being the so-called mis-
take, I am the youngest, the
smallest, the shortest, the
weakest and the only female
child in my family. I could be
described as the runt of the
litter, if you can call our av-
erage three-child home a
litter. In order to dispel the
“runt” label, a majority of
my life has been devoted to
finding something in which I
can excel and stand out, be-
cause I’m always following in
the footsteps of others in my
family—somehow even my
twin manages to put me in his
shadow. However, this has
only encouraged me to be
even more creative in order
to be noticed. And there is an
advantage to my brother
automatically seizing the
leadership role; when times
get tough, those sixty seconds
can turn into several years of
maturity that enable my
brother to protect and lead
me the way a real older
brother would. (220)
eighteen years, keeping my
secrets and completing my
sentences without fail. Being
the exact same age provided
a similarity in interests during
our childhood that other sib-
lings never encountered. De-
spite being equivalent in age,
Colin, decided quickly that he
did have a “baby sister”—
even though I’m only 60 sec-
onds younger than him. I’m
not sure what I will be able to
do without him, because I’ve
always felt a sense of co-
dependence on him. While he
was only a minute older, I
looked to him constantly for
leadership and bravery, and
now I’ll have to come up with
those things on my own. (164)
I have something
that if one doesn’t have at
the moment he or she is
born, one will never have in
his or her entire life. It is one
of the few things that have
stayed completely constant in
my life since the precise mo-
ment of my birth; a twin
brother. My brother has been
my built-in best friend for
there is no “messing up”;
you’re going to live your life
the way you were supposed
to because everything you do
will immediately become
your life. You’re in control of
your own fate, though. Now,
God does have a pretty big
hand in all of this, but he
gave humans free will for a
So if you really are uniquee;
totally, utterly and com-
pletely different from every-
one else...what then? What
you do then is you figure out
what makes you unique and
why, and then you try to find
people who complement your
uniqueness with theirs. The
best thing about this is that
reason. So the overall goal is
to find a perfect balance be-
tween God’s will for you and
what you want to do, and
most of the time they will
end up being very similar to
each other.
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The items I would place in a
time capsule to represent me
may seem useless or pointless
to others, but represent a
great deal of memories about
my life.
1. My lacrosse stick: It holds
all the memories I have
from every season I
played the sport. It
represents something I
worked hard on.
2. My golf charm bracelet:
Given to me by the un-
derclassmen on the golf
team, it shows how close
knit we were.
3. My violin: I’ve partici-
pated in orchestra since
junior high and it is my
favorite peaceful hobby.
4. Headphones: I adore mu-
sic, and that is my favor-
ite way to listen to it;
blocking everything else
out.
5. The bible I got on senior
retreat: In the front
cover this bible says
“dear Kylie” and inside
the back cover reads
“from God.” It signifies
what I learned on the
retreat.
6. My mailbox: I have never
once moved ever in my
life, so my mailbox with
my address on it really
does represent my whole
entire existence.
her shoulders. She’d been having massive headaches, but she’d been playing through the pain. Our head coach then boarded the bus. Once we arrived, the other alternate and I helped unload bags and accompanied the rest of the team to the range. Not more than forty minutes before the regionals were
The morning of our Regional tournament, I woke up and drove myself to the school to board the small bus that be-longed to our even smaller girls’ golf team. I joined the girls who were already there with a smile, halfhearted because I was an alternate. Eventually our last player arrived with a blanket around
scheduled to begin, the coach spoke two small words to me: “You’re playing.” My heart went from excited to petri-fied—I wasn’t prepared to play regionals, mentally or otherwise. But I gathered my bag from the back of the bus where I’d left it, warmed up quickly, and played the best I
could at Regionals. (161)
TIME CAPSULE
Personal Essay Reflection #4: Regionals
player gets four marbles of
their color and tries to get
them around the board and
back to their home base. If
you land on another marble,
you can send it back to the
start. There are often
screams of joy and rage as we
pursue the home bases. Eve-
ryone has learned how to
maneuver around the board
expertly and distract their
opponent while they get
closer and closer to
“aggravating” them. I love
the memory of playing Aggra-
vation because it repre-
sented—and still represents—
the love that my family has.
(146)
Personal Essay Reflection #3: Aggravation
There are innumerable mo-
ments I could select as a spe-
cial memory of mine; my
childhood wasn’t one of fear
or trauma. One of the sim-
plest times my family shared
is also the time that stands
out to me the most. The
game of Aggravation is a
modern twist on a classic
marble board game. Each
Page 4 Kyl ie Krummel Vers ion 18.0
Personal Essay Reflection #5: Values
Personal Essay Reflection #6: Jesus
“That’s what she said.”
Probably considered one of
the funniest comments a high
school student could make—
considered funny by some,
but not by all. I do not fall
into the category that finds
sexual humor amusing in any
way, shape, or form, and I am
acutely aware that this fact
places me in the minority. I
have not been in any minority
for the majority of my life;
growing up I was thin, intelli-
gent, blonde, blue-eyed, and
athletic. I thrived. However it
wasn’t until high school that I
started to notice differences
between myself and my fel-
low students. My morals and
my values, and especially my
decision to be abstinent until
marriage had unwittingly
separated me in a crucial way
from my peers. I’ve never
hung out with people who
would wish those sorts of
things upon me, so I never
encountered it until after I’d
been raised to disagree with
it. Currently, being the way
that I am, my judgment sharp
and sometimes harsh, my
friends and acquaintances
have naturally grown to learn
how to behave around me: do
not make sexual references,
do not make sexual jokes,
refrain from innuendo, and
under no circumstances are
they to detail their exploits in
front of me. This aspect of
life might seem like a foot-
note in some lives, but it is a
defining factor in mine. (227)
treat, God has been changing
my mind. The confirmation
retreat initiated the change;
it was a slap in the face to
push me out of the darkness
of my self-destruction. Then
Destination Jesus 2012 en-
couraged me to notice the
faith. Destination Jesus 2013
catapulted me into Mass
every Sunday, youth group
every Sunday, positive Chris-
tian radio, the Daughters of
Christ, and being faith con-
scious in my everyday activi-
ties. It has been a long proc-
ess to get from where I was
to where I am. And I’m still
not where I will be. Unless
my mind is wiped of the last
four years, my life will never
be the same. (161)
While this may sound selfish,
the greatest change I have
noticed while in high school
has been in me, not in others.
During junior high, I was not a
religious person. Even fresh-
man year and sophomore
year—before the confirmation
retreat—I didn’t acknowledge
religion that much, if ever.
However, retreat after re-
Page 5 Kyl ie Krummel Vers ion 18.0
is huge. So I made sure to
watch the news and this was
actually the first event I’d
ever seen as “breaking news”
or while it’s occurring. Usu-
ally I’m the last to know. It
was refreshing to be able to
feel in the loop with every-
one else. Also it is a very ex-
citing thing for the Catholic
There was certainly more
than one Pope over my life-
time and childhood; no one
can really be effective at
their job that long. But this
time was the first time I was
old enough to pay attention
to the news and broadcasts.
The Roman Catholic church
was getting a new pope. This
church to have a new leader.
I’m excited for Pope Francis,
I’m sure he will execute his
duties wonderfully and in the
name of the Lord. (135)
The New Pope Francis
it was the new translation of
the Roman Missal. The trans-
lation hasn’t proven to be as
bad as people predicted it to
be, however. After its release
and the beginning of its use in
Mass on November 27, 2011,
it seemed to me that people
had really embraced the
change. In a book by Matthew
Kelly, he mentions his appre-
ciation for how the creed said
“We believe,” that way the
belief of others could support
him. With the new missal, the
statement is “I believe.” In
my opinion, this is equally
powerful. With work, the new
words come as easily to me
now as they did before, but
now it is more thoughtful.
(169)
The New Roman Missal
One Sunday, the
priest stood and greeted us.
“The Lord be with you,” he
said, as he always did. “And
also with y—,“ I started to
respond, unaware until that
moment that nearly half of
the people in the church had
responded with “And with
your spirit.” New words. For
mass. I realized quickly that
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The Hallyu Wave
“Gangnam Style”
promoting on purpose in
America; they thought it was
a waste. Little did they know
that Gangnam Style would
make its way to America and
people would fall in love with
it. But it happened. I was
delighted to see everyone
getting excited over PSY’s
new song; I was able to call
hipster on it forever. I had
watched the Korean music
show Inkigayo the day before
and PSY had premiered the
song on the show. So by the
time everyone else was lis-
tening to it for the first time,
I was already a veteran. (144)
Crossing your wrists and pre-
tending to trot on a horse
used to mean...well, nothing.
These days, it means you’ve
probably seen PSY or some-
one else singing/dancing to
Gangnam Style. The song
became widely popular what
seems like overnight. Al-
though PSY’s company, YG
Entertainment, did not to any
people of non-Korean de-
scent. Super Junior’s recent
concert in Chile, for example.
A country that certainly does-
n’t speak the band’s native
Korean, but where fans
crowded the airport so tightly
that security had to take ac-
tion. This wave of entertain-
ment from Korea is helped
Initiated by the popularity of
Gangnam Style, the Hallyu
Wave is following close be-
hind and ready to crash into
North America along with the
rest of the world. Hallyu is a
term given by Koreans to rep-
resent the phenomenon of all
things Korean being accepted
and actually obsessed over by
along by Korea’s advanced
technological system. Their
government has a strong hand
in television, broadcasting
and entertainment, and it
seems to be a good strategy
so far. (121)
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Thanks to my mother and father for being such fantastic parents and
keeping me always in a safe and loving environment.
You are the only YOU.
Kylie Madison Krummel