BIGGS: As the final weeks of the 2022-23 school year approach, senior Xuan-Anh Ly Biggs reflects on their time at Poly’s campus.
Written By: Kathryn Harbauer
As the school year winds down, many seniors begin to shift their focus to college and reflect on their previous experiences on campus. Xuan-Anh Ly Biggs is no exception. Biggs has involved themself in multiple extracurriculars, including theater, mock trial, and orchestra, which she joined because they seemed like enjoyable experiences. She began theater her freshman year through the Comedy Sportz improv team, and was very excited to be in theater, and “holding out for it,” since she didn’t get to do children’s theater. Mock trial was another extracurricular they participated in. They started their sophomore year, and joined on a whim out of boredom, but stating that they “really enjoyed it.” She joined orchestra as an extracurricular because “it seemed fun,” and she admits “it was, and [she] learned a lot.” Through participating in multiple clubs and activities, Biggs has learned many valuable lessons, stating that the most important one is “the quintessential skill of collaboration,” believing it’s important because “[working] with others who have different working styles [can teach you] how to maximize each others’ efficiency.” Alongside lessons from extracurriculars, they also learned in their classes how to take difficult subjects, since “you’re going to learn new things, not just the things you like,” in addition to learning how to be able to gain new skills due to the challenges of harder classes.
Biggs has been accepted into Pomona College, Occidental College, and USC’s school of Cinematic Arts, planning to major in Screenwriting and studying Film Production. But, they still have a few weeks left on campus, and change is a very large experience of their last weeks on campus. When asked about how their first and last days on campus will be different, they stated that “on the first day, I felt like I was in for a long haul, and I was really excited, but I knew I would be staying here. But I think the most important thing about the last day is change. I’m going to be moving on to a completely new environment, but that’s good because I really enjoy change.” Between the first day of freshman year and the final day of senior year, many things change for high schoolers, and many would wish to talk to their freshman selves again and give them advice. When asked, Biggs stated that she would advise her freshman self to “put in as much effort as you can and care about things as much as possible,” since she did that throughout high school, and it improved her experience, as she finds it important to “enjoy every silly little thing,”since it’s better to “care deeper about every little thing than to exist in misery,” and caring about everything won’t “limit the enjoyment of high school.” One of Biggs’ favorite memories is performing in shows at Poly, believing it to be her “fondest memory” at Poly, which she gets to conclude her time at Poly doing, starring in Poly’s Spring Show (and final show for the season) 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as Marcy Park, as well as directing Act 2. With graduation coming up, and the start of the shift into college, change is a big aspect for Biggs, and they get to go forward with all of the valuable skills lessons they learned at Poly, as well as gain plenty more experiences and lessons moving forward.