Signs from the Heart
What started out as a simple, annual school-spirit rally with the usual themed skits, spirit team performances and shirtless senior guys stealing the spotlight, soon took an unexpected turn when senior Carter Chung stepped up to the microphone. After announcing that he wanted to ask someone to senior boat, a handful of students from the senior section in the bleachers immediately held up letters, spelling out: “Jojo, will you go to boat with me? Carter.”

Senior Jojo Ho was just as surprised as the rest of the students. “I thought ‘Oh no, he didn’t!’ in a good way,” she said. “I was immediately impressed by all the planning he had to do and how neat his handwriting was.”

Chung began making preparations two weeks in advance. “The signs-at-the-rally idea fell together,” he said. “I knew from the start that I had to ask her in a way that would make her feel special. That’s what these dances are all about: making the girl feel special.”

He first talked to some trusted friends about the idea. “They gave me advice and I took what advice felt right,” he said. He then spent a few evenings painting the 32 posters, which he distributed on the day of the rally.

Chung said he didn't feel stressed about the boat proposal prior to the rally. “I wasn’t too worried about ( asking her) because since I was putting her on the spot, she couldn’t say no right then and there,” he said. “If anything, she would have had to (deny me) afterwards.”

According to Ho, the pressure of being put on the spot was intense. “If I had said no, I’m sure the whole school would (have) immediately stone(d) me,” she said. “ [But] how can you say no to something that sweet and thought out?”

If Ho had refused to go with him to senior boat, Chung said he would have been okay. “I probably wouldn’t have asked someone else, because I wouldn’t want that person to feel like a second choice,” he said. “It wouldn’t by any means have stopped me from going to boat.”

Chung had positive comments on how fellow senior class boys are choosing the creative road on asking girls out to boat. “I love the ’08 guys,” he said. “I think it’s great, and I’m proud of them. I’ve always known that this was the best class at the best school.”

Ho agreed. “I’m so proud,” she added. “People at other schools don’t understand at all. Lowell just has higher standards, even when it comes to asking dates.”

Love Letters
In Lowell’s competitive atmosphere, it takes more than writing secret love letters to charm a girl. Professing love requires a grander presentation. So senior Chichen Qiu decided to take on a new approach. He scrapped the idea of simply writing a love note on paper and daringly decided to write with giant block letters on the school marquee, “Anissa, would you please go to senior boat with me? With love, Chichen.”

Upon seeing the marquee, senior Anissa Chen was completely taken aback. “I was really surprised because Chichen is usually really quiet,” Chen said. “Girls don’t expect this type of thing. It’s like the ideal romanticized scene portrayed by media, like a fantasy and you don’t expect it to be reality.”

Qiu explained that his idea of using the marquee was inspired by working as social studies teacher Steve Schmidt’s teacher assistant. “Every week, I would go out and change the marquee,” Qiu said. He consulted with Schmidt before carrying out his plan. “Mr. Schmidt agreed and we spent Mods 9-10 putting the message up,” Qiu said. He explained that later Schmidt went into Chen’s classroom and announced to the whole class that she should go out and look at the marquee. Afterwards, Chen saw Qui outside the classroom and told him “yes.”

If rejected, Qiu said it would have been a traumatizing blow to his ego. “After all, I did spend two mods slaving over that blasted marquee,” he said jokingly. Qiu said that he was always striving to excel and be original and feels that other guys should start doing the same. “It’s time people started getting creative, the same monotonous ‘Will you go to (insert dance name here) with me?’ has become obsolete.”

And as for facing future competition, Qiu said “I give my best wishes to those who wish to ‘one up’ me and I give my respect to those who will eventually surpass me.”

You + Me = Senior Boat?
Lowell students know a graphing calculator can do many things. It can find the roots of an equation, trace the coordinates of a parabola and graph most equations that an AP Calculus student’s heart desires. Senior Jeffrey Liu used his to ask his date out.

“The basic idea was to have the calculator draw a heart, and after it was complete, words in the middle appeared,” Liu said. The words, aimed at senior Wendy Lee, asked, “Will you go to boat with me?”

Liu sought math teacher Tom Chan’s help in creating a shape which resembled a real heart on a graph, as he remembered graphing different shapes in Chan’s pre-calculus class last year. “[Chan] did the whole thing in two mods and he was joking about charging me,” Liu said.

Lee was left speechless, after she realized what Liu had asked her on his calculator. “I never thought someone could graph a heart. I thought it was really cool and I said yes,” she said.

Creativity adds a special touch when asking somebody out to an event, according to Lee. “It shows that you’re willing to spend the extra time and effort to get the perfect date,” she explained.

Liu said he was trying to get creative. “I wanted to do something that no one else has done before, something new,” he said. “I didn’t want to go with roses, because roses are typical.”

As for the ongoing trend of charming proposals, Liu likes all of the ideas. “They’re so creative,” he said. “[They’re] kind of hard to top.”

Scavenge My Heart Out
Imagine going to class and finding a piece of paper with “clue” scribbled on it. Then, moving on, another “clue” is unearthed. And sitting down at the following class, yet another “clue” is discovered. What could it be? All signs point to a secret admirer or a meticulous stalker. In sophomore Jenny Huynh’s case, all signs pointed to a senior who wanted to ask her out to senior boat.

Senior Marcus Lee led Huynh on a scavenger hunt throughout the day, making clues with pictures and strategically placing them close to her classes. “I had different people write out the clues I had thought of so that she would be unable to tell who it was until the very end,” he stated in an e-mail. “I also had Ms. Branzburg and Ms. Matusek give clues to her.”

Huynh was not expecting the outcome of the hunt. “I was following it for fun,” Huynh said. After her last clue, which referenced a dance, Huynh proceeded to her next class where her Italian teacher Judy Branzburg suddenly stopped the movie they were watching. Then Lee came bursting through the door, making his grand proposal to Huynh in front of the whole class. When she realized that Lee was asking her to boat, Huynh said the experience was jaw-dropping, leaving her stunned afterwards. “I didn’t expect such a big deal,” she added.

According to Lee, many of his friends supported his plan. “A lot of my friends thought it was well planned and well executed,” Lee stated. “And of course, she said ‘yes.’”

Lee wanted to make his potential date feel more special than the other people being asked to boat with his idea, and, hopefully, influence her to say yes. “I wanted to show her how special she was to me,” he explained.

Thinking Outside of the Box
Good things come in small packages. Or, in senior Karrie Liu’s case – really skinny packages. Liu thought she was receiving a box of supplies for her SBC public relations duties, but she actually received the surprise of her life when senior Jerrick Wu popped out of the box.

“I decided to pop out of a box and ask her to boat because it’s kind of boring to just walk up to a girl and ask,” Wu said. “It’s also senior year, so you want to do something you’d remember.”

Liu explained that she felt no pressure or hesitation to say yes. “When someone surprises you like this and went through all of this, you just want to say yes,” she stated in an email. “You really appreciate all the hard work that person put in.”

Wu didn’t think twice about rejection. “I knew she was going to say yes,” he said. And despite all the other grand date proposals, Wu said, “I didn’t feel like I had to compete at all. I think I was the best one.”

Liu applauds guys like Wu who pushes the standard of asking someone out, up a notch. “Asking someone creatively takes lots of guts and thought,” she stated. “It’s a good way to show your confidence and that you really care about this person. Liu, however, thinks that girls should also do their part. “Not only should the guys step up their game, but girls should too.”