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"LD Re-treat with… Strangers?" by Yi Wen Cheok

Back pains, ankle sprains, bug bites, and late nights. These were the aftermath of our LD retreat that we were all so eager about, but it was all worth it. When we first got together, no one really knew what to expect because we all came from different friend groups. Most of them were just hi-bye friends to me, but we have one thing in common: to lead Dalat closer to Jesus. Everyone on LD is a senior. There are nine of us and we can’t split into even groups, so we made Kathy split the groups. Our group was the biggest: me, Kathy Jones, Naomi O’quin, Noah Dobson, and Nathan Evans. We were called…Dinococo! Inspired by Dinoco from Cars and Coco by the Milo Dinosaur drink, it was a mix of what we liked. The other team was Olive Berends, Naomi Neiger, Mia Yuan and Jay Chong. They were called…Soy Sauce! Inspired by being the salt of the world. The first stop of our bonding was go-karting. We arrived at 1:50, and we each raced two ten-minute rounds. In our groups, we secretly discussed our ga...
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"Pink" by Jay Chong

Although we have sometimes chosen the pink color, from now on, let’s choose the “right thing.” Sky blue in 2024; purple in 2025; and now, in 2026, PINK. If God were to take away our free will, the PINK Seniors would not be everywhere at Dalat. This is not because it is painful to our eyes– which is true–but because it leads us to complain too much, which is probably sin. We have the freedom to choose many things, which has resulted in not choosing the best color. You can clap your hands when you want, you can take a walk when you want a breeze, and you can help others if you want to make the “right choice.”  Since we have the freedom of choice, let’s use it for the good! Let's reject the “pink” one! “Let’s do the ‘right’ thing,” as Mr. Arnold–the new high school principal and, apparently, an ice-cream lover–emphasized on the first day of school! Let's make our friends smile one more time! Let's welcome our new friends as we were welcomed when we first came to Dalat! There i...

"A Well-Fought Win" by Abraham Miller

It was Thursday afternoon, and we knew it was finally time to play the juniors in basketball. Knowing the hair on our heads was on the line, we were willing to put everything at risk in order to win and keep ourselves safe. Then the game started. The juniors began with a couple points. Then they scored a couple more. I noticed we weren’t responding like we should. When JD Guffy (12) said, “We’re gonna blow them out,” I thought he was right and instead we were down twelve points already. We needed to respond the right way. At halftime, we were down by 10 and were getting beaten by a more energetic team. We weren’t hitting our shots and playing like we should have. However, everyone knew what needed to be done. We needed to lock in in order to beat this team. We came into the second half with the right mentality. By the end of the third quarter, the game had already swung in our favor. The juniors were running out of energy, and we were hitting threes as well. When the game ended and we...

"Memories of Dalat" by Dharrshini M Yuva Raja

Dalat holds memories in my heart that I will carry with me through my next journey. The journey from middle school days, when survival during the global pandemic was the focus, to now, the end of senior year, has been long, but looking now it was going to end in a few days.  A tight-knit community is about to disperse to different places, bringing new challenges.  Middle school, a time of immature chaos, was a time to cherish. Within the classroom, Jonathan and Soniya would steal my shoe pencil case and hide it among my favorite erasable pens. The romance in middle school was unique because there was so much drama over who liked who, and I just thought the guys we liked would chase us around physical education class in the name of tag and run. Secret spots, like sitting under the old middle school staircase for lunch and at the Hut every morning before school, are things seniors would remember. There were weird moments in middle school when Ms. Kong would make Zavier Buckley d...

"Classic Swim and Basketball Hangout" by Alex Misra

  Swimming and playing basketball used to be an integral part of hanging out with my friends. This usually took place at the cove, since it has a usable basketball court and multiple pool facilities.  Nowadays, everyone is so busy with school, hanging out at other spots and taking the pool facilities for granted, that these hangouts rarely even happen anymore. However, recently, it did.  I met up with Raphael Boyle (9), Zach Ooi (12) and Ben DeVries (12) at the Astaka food court before the hangout, to eat some delicious local food.  After eating, we went over to the cove. However, instead of heading to the basketball court, we went to the tennis court. Zach and I wanted to play some tennis, and so we did. We played for around an hour, and had a great time. I was rather rusty, but was able to still serve rockets.  After playing tennis, we met up with Philip DeVries (12), Abraham Miller (12), Clark Zhang (12), Matthias Seevaratnam (12) and Reuben Beasley (10) to p...

"The World's Largest Tipping Bucket" by Alex Misra

  It was our last outing as a class. The final, and fourth one. Compared to the previous ones, this one was probably the best. We had gone to a waterpark before, but ESCAPE is the better one out of the two. Getting there was less of a hassle that I imagined it to be, since the drive was around 10km from Dalat. Once I arrived, I gathered with the rest of the class, and entered the water park. A few things changed however from the last time I was there. Firstly, face identification technology had been established at the entry/exit gates. This was a great surprise for me, since Penang is usually quite ancient in its technology, compared to the bigger cities in South East Asia. Using the Face identification scanners proved to be a great help, since they just scanned your face and let you through. Secondly, the waterpark contains freely rideable scooters now. They go quite fast, reaching around 25km top speed when you have fast mode enabled. This makes traversing the park ever so mu...

"The End" by Chavelle Thornton

  Not many seniors can believe the way time flies. With graduation a week away, many students are reflecting on their journeys at Dalat. No matter if you started in elementary school or joined just this year, soon you will be able to say that you’ve graduated together. We all benefited from Dalat differently. There were certain people who even marked their years in high school by participation in the NFL. More popularly, people chose to surround themselves with sports, joining varsity teams, D-league, regional tournaments, and ACSC trips. Some opted for the stage, performing well-rehearsed lines in front of hundreds, conveying their emotions through exaggeration, tone, and body language. Others focused on clubs that carried their learning beyond the classroom, or devoted their time to service and chapels.  Rebekah Wood (12), leader of Student Impact Club, explained, “It was rewarding to see how even just showing up put a smile on kids’ faces. I was able to build true connectio...