User:Kiptoke

Hello! I'm Andrew Zhou, tall nerd, bow-tie "enthusiast", and a token straight.

I personally am associated with many things, whether it is:

• my undying and - to be honest - obsessive friendship with the one and only Conner Shelton
• my habit/tradition of always trying to wear a bow tie
• being super tall
• being called the 'token straight' for about 2 years
• also carrying a neon-green straight ruler around
• being the 3rd wheel to any and all relationships
• a Rice Purity Score of 95 (go me)
• being a general memelord
• kazoos
• being tall and condescending
• joking about living 30 minutes away
• almost never wearing a t-shirt
• ra ra rasputin lover of the russian queen
• being a huge nerd
• ...and did I mention being tall?

Schnaderade

I also am usually associated with the second session recipe for Schnaderade. Schnaderade was originally a drink I invented as a set of challenges between me and Conner Shelton in Session One of 2013. The irony that the second session version of schnaderade was created in first session continues to go unnoticed. It is a mix of every drink from the right fountain of the main hall in the cafeteria, and it derives its name from Schnader Hall, the residence hall of my first year.

It consists of:

• 1/2 cup-full of root beer
• 1/8 cup-full of Sprite
• 1/8 cup-full of Hi-C fruit punch
• variable amounts of Fanta, Lemonade, and Coke

The Token Straight Ruler

The Token Straight Ruler is a neon green ruler from Fermilab. The token straight is a pseudo-position that is informally chosen during session 2. Essentially, the community of that specific session chooses who the token straight is. Previously, the token straight was John Issac Boland (JIB). In 2015, JIB sent a care package to Session 2 containing this ruler - while it was likely not intended to be used as an item for the token straight, when it was opened, the people opening it held it aloft in the air and asked, "So who here is straight?" By then, Andrew Zhou (aka, me) had been decided to be the token straight of 15.2, and was subsequently given the ruler. Although he originally planned to continue his straight shenanigans in 16.2, he ultimately had to go to first session, where he introduced the concept of the token straight and the straight ruler to the session. He then sent it in a care package to 16.2, where Megan Yang assumed the role of token straight. Where it is now, I do not know.

Inside Andrew's care package to 16.2, he wrote down this message to the next token straight:

"Hey, hey! You're now carring a moniker that JIB and I have held for years. Remember to be accepting, understanding, and caring to everyone; regardless of identity!"

Passionfruit Speech

Hello, nerds! I'm Andrew Zhou, better known as that tall one with the bowtie. It's been a fun four years at CTY for me, and it's a pretty interesting tale.

So I entered the world of CTY in 2013's first session. I was an amazingly squirrelly squirrel. I never went to the dances, I never attended after dance or quad time, and I slept through Passionfruit. Yeah, Im a bit disappointed in squirrel me also. I met some cool people... in my hall and class. Luckily, one of those people would become one of my best friends and a massive influence at CTY - Conner Shelton. I have to credit him for why Ive become who I am today, for breaking the social shell of awkward, pre-pubescent me.

So fast forwarding to 2014, I planned to continue being a first sessioner. But a family trip to China would change that. I had to abandon most of the people I knew from squirrel year and go to second session. I feared I would never understand what was going on or the people there. Luckily, Conner and some others helped guide me through 14.2. And surprisingly, I loved it. I met many /MANY/ amazing people such as Rosemary, JIB, and young Hager, I experienced my first dances, first afterdance, and my friends literally pushed me into the Alcove. I got involved, and It was amazing.

I loved it so much in fact, that I continued to stay in session 2 for 2015. Unfortunately for me, many of my former friends had nomored or nevermored out. I knew almost nobody. However, with a newfound personal confidence instilled by former CTYers, I quickly and easily found myself with a whole new circle of amazing and wonderful friends. Usually by asking them if they knew Conner. *shoutout to Keri* I had fun, and it was a blast.

So up comes 2016. I go, ok, final year, I'm gonna stick to second session. Then come the news, our family trip to China would have to occur a month later. I could not go to session 2. Now, if you knew me before session, you'll know I was incredibly doibtful of this session. I would know almost nobody. Almost nobody would know me. But I was reassured from friends, experience, and Facebook, that despite being a whole new set of people, the good ol' CTY community that I know and love remains.

So the question must be asked: Did I actually like it here? Well, simply put, yeah. It was pretty amazing. Sure, I moped and I groaned about not being in my 'session', but all in all, you all were a great bunch of people. I now look back and I can't even conceive the fact I never would have met most of you! Just know that all of you make an impact. You all are what make this CTY community so great.

I like you, I love you, I CTY you, I love CTY, and I love the Passionfruit.

CTY Session History

Session 1, 2013; Lancaster: Cryptology RA: John Hoh

Session 2, 2014; Lancaster: Fundamentals of Computer Science RA: unknown

Session 2, 2015; Lancaster: Math Logic RA: Andres

Session 1, 2016; Lancaster: Number Theory RA: Richard