On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 20, Tyler and his girlfriend, Chloe, attended their first Winter Formal together. Fortunately for the two of them, Jordyn
was home from school to chauffeur them to and from the dance (otherwise it would have been one of the two dads). They started out the evening with the traditional presentation of corsage and pinning of the boutonniere. Jordyn
then drove them to Campbell for dinner at Mo's. From there they proceeded to Villa Ragusa for the Formal where they spent the rest of the evening hanging out with friends.
Thank goodness for Chloe. If not for her, Tyler would probably have dressed normally for Halloween, kinda goth-like. Instead, she masterminded this Space
Jam themed Halloween ensemble. He's Bugs Bunny and she's his girlfriend, Lola.
So last year at this time, Tyler and Chloe went to the Winter Formal. It was kind of their first big date as boyfriend/girlfriend so it was sort of a big
deal. While memorable, it was also sadly kinda lame. Tyler likened it to a Middle School dance. This year, instead, they decided to go low-key. After their last final they went to McDonald's for lunch. Then, they
walked down the street to Michael's and bought a gingerbread house to decorate, but it fell apart so they hung out with Chloe's little brother, Ryan instead. Tyler stayed at Chloe's house for dinner where they all ate
chili. They caught the Lakers/Bucks game (Bucks won!) on tv and then watched the movie Grease (Olivia Newton John/John Travolta). In the end, I think they had a lot more fun doing this rather than dressing up, planning
how to get there, figuring out where to eat, and spending a bunch of money.
Tyler and Chloe have been going strong for two years now. While their anniversary is technically on the 24th, they weren't able to celebrate
on that date due to COVID-19. Instead, they waited until the 29th when they got together here, had dinner (udon), and exchanged gifts. The one thing Tyler had been working on for months was a painting
of Stitch and girlfriend Angel. Other gift highlights included Warriors gear, a Stitch themed t-shirt, Jordans, puzzles, Dove chocolate, and Skittles.
The last year hasn't been easy. Everyone was forced to shelter-in-place again after the holidays. Tyler and Chloe, fortunately, have FaceTime to talk to one another, so that's helped. When
Valentine's Day came around, though, they really wanted to celebrate together. Luckily, the number of new COVID-19 cases had declined and hospitals weren't as slammed with patients as they once were.
While Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year, the following week was Ski Week so school wasn't in session, so they coordinated a Valentine's Day dinner at our house. The meal included real crab
alfredo, grilled rib eye steak, seasoned cauliflower, and Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Well, actually, Chloe's birthday was Friday, Feb. 26th. She spent that day meeting with her "girl squad" from YBA, having dinner with her grandparents and fam, and finally watching the Warriors game.
Saturday, however, was just the two of them. Basically, all they did was hang out. Chloe opened gifts, they watched Return of the Jedi (because no get-together would be complete without some kind of
Star Wars movie), and ate dinner (beef broccoli). Oh, and Tyler got a t-shirt that Chloe's mom, Michelle, made for the big event, "Keep Calm Chloe is now 18". And of course, Tyler made brownies for her.
Toward the end of Tyler's senior year he received the prestigious Green and White Award for PE Weight Training. The award was given to Tyler for his Excellence in Physical Education. He was pretty
shocked at receiving the award considering he's been doing PE via Zoom. Just the same, we couldn't be more proud.
The Friday night before the Prom, Chloe came over to help Tyler with his hair. His hair, while not as insane as it was at the outset of the pandemic, needed trimming. Chloe successfully cleaned him
up and helped him with a new hairstyle so he could look his best.
Chloe trimming Tyler's hair.
Tyler's new look.
Senior Prom May 22, 2021
The big day finally arrived. While dinner wouldn't be until 6:00 pm, Tyler still had pictures to take with friends at Redwood Grove in Los Altos and the Cactus Garden at Stanford University in the
afternoon. Fortunately, he washed the car the day before, so it was already neat and clean. After lunch, he started the process of putting on his new suit and getting his hair just right. By 1:30 pm
he was ready to go.
No one knew that Tyler had earned a Business Honors Award, not even Tyler. During his years at Homestead Tyler completed Principles of Business, Law, and Accounting with a GPA of 3.5 or higher which
fulfilled the Accounting Career Pathway. Fortunately for us, Senior Awards Night on Wednesday, May 26th, was completely remote so a video was created to highlight and acknowledge all the graduating
seniors who earned awards. Since we didn't know Tyler had won an award we didn't bother tuning in when the video went live. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon when Chloe's parents, Michelle and Tony,
texted us with congratulations for Tyler (Thank you Lims!). Needless to say, we were shocked to find out and quickly did a search for the video link.
Heavily edited video.
2021 Senior Awards Ceremony.
Business Honors.
Business Honors 2020-2021
Tyler will be able to wear this Business Honors stole at graduation.
Due to COVID restrictions, Tyler's commencement had to be divided into four separate ceremonies. Tyler and his friends wanted to be in the fourth, but due to a computer glitch Tyler was unable
to complete his registration. Fortunately, his friends changed from the fourth ceremony to the third so they could all sit close to one another and graduate together.
The morning started out with a final rehearsal at 8:00am. Following that he returned home for a few hours before preparing to take pictures near campus on the Mary Bridge. Together with girlfriend
Chloe and best friend Connor, they took a few hundred shots on and around the bridge. Once they were done it was time to head straight over to the softball field where all the graduates queued up
for their ceremony.
We were lucky to have seats reserved in the front row of the bleachers so we had an unobstructed view of the field. We took as many pictures as we could. Jordyn even took a few short videos. We were
so proud when Tyler marched out with his classmates and friends. The ceremony was less than an hour long, but it had all the requisite speeches from faculty and student speakers. It was lucky they had
an in-person graduation where they were able to actually walk across the stage and receive their diplomas (well, diploma covers).
After returning home, all Tyler wanted for dinner was Starbird Chicken. He really loves their Green Goddess Salad and Nashville Hot Tenders. Everyone else was fine with that since we all enjoy their
menu too. In the end, it was a long day but everyone was so happy for Tyler. We couldn't be more proud, and we can't wait to hear the stories he'll have once he starts college at Cal State Fullerton!
Homestead High School 2021 Commencement June 3, 2021
