Category Archives: school life

Football Practice at High School

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Today I went to football practice after school and did some drills. The coach had all these drills to do and planned them out. Today is a short day at school so the football practice had to be short too.

The first drill to do are the sprints. This is where you are supposed to run as hard as I can through the 60 yards cones and walk back slowly to pace your heartbeat and on the second sprint I have to run as hard as I can to the cones and slowly walk back the twice as far than last time. So we meet up with the coach and say, “You guys will be doing sprints so be in your lines as fast you can.” Then we all dashed to our lines that we were supposed to be in and started the sprints.

As we finished the sprint I wasn’t actually tired, I thought we could have done more of the sprints and had less walking distance. And I thought of a drill where we have to sprint to the 60 yards cones and only walk half of the distance then we run again. And most of us were not tired so I ran for another one on my own. 

Incoming Freshmen: Join a sport!

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With summer coming to a close, it is time to consider classes and extracurriculars for the upcoming school year.

If you are an incoming freshman or an upperclassman looking to be more active, you should join a sport. It will help you make friends, promote team building, and help you stay active. Sports are a worthwhile investment for any student, even if you are nervous about high school or unconfident in your abilities.

High school can be an exciting experience, especially if you do not know anyone. Besides joining clubs and classes, another option for making friends is sports. Sports often help you meet new people with common interests. Working hard and training together can help build strong relationships. Teammates can also ensure that you do not slack off and may help keep you accountable.

Personally, before I joined my high school swim team, club swimming was much more about setting personal records and getting certain time cuts. But in high school, the focus is winning as a team. Depending on how you place in your race, you gain a certain number of points. The winner is decided by which team has the most combined points overall. Even if you are not getting as many points as your other teammates, every single point counts.

The outcome of a meet or game is decided by the team as a whole. This may motivate you to work harder and dedicate more time to your craft. In team sports, everyone has to work hard in order to win.

Finally, sports give you a much-needed break from more educational classes. No matter how good of a student you are, you will eventually be subject to burnout. Getting outside and enjoying the fresh air gives you a break from the classroom. This exercise could be beneficial for you both mentally and physically. Sometimes in media, athletes are portrayed as having lower grades. But, as long as you are managing your time wisely, you can succeed in both sports and education.

Whether you are looking to make new friends, get a break from the classroom, or better yourself, joining high school sports is a great option. Remember, no one is great when they first start, but all it takes is hard work and practice.

Dual Enrollment at Saddleback College

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If you find yourself with some free time over the summer or during the school year, dual enrollment is an excellent way of getting ahead in your high school classes and taking college-level courses. 

Before senior year, you may want to get classes like health and ethics out of the way. By taking these courses at Saddleback College, you can get them done early. 

In addition, classes are free, besides possible textbook costs. All the credits from dual enrollment will transfer over so, you can save money on college tuition by taking classes beforehand. 

Personally, I have taken History of Architecture, Health, and am currently taking Introduction to Psychology. So, I am getting some of my college elective credits while still in high school.

If you would like to work ahead and move along quicker in your core classes, those can be taken as well.

Community colleges like Saddleback Community College often offer many options in order to accommodate your needs. While you can take the classes in person, you may also choose to take them online. Online courses can be taken either over Zoom or asynchronous, which allows you to take the class mostly at your own pace.

There are many benefits of dual enrollment with little cost. It has a large amount of flexibility and could help you in many ways.  

de Portola 50th Anniversary Poem

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de Portola Elementary, my school, had its 50th Anniversary celebration on March 31st.

I got to read this poem I wrote during the assembly!

–

“Thank you, de Portola”

Celebrating these 50 years

Is a beautiful achievement

To think of all of the blood, sweat and tears

Put into this school and made whole 

–

Celebrating 50 years

At first sight so much more than it appears 

for so many students are taught here each day

Taught to learn how to foray into our world

And this school has helped fifty years of students,

Urged their creativity, made hard problems unfurl.

–

They’ve played on this playground,

Ran in these fields

Learned in this building

And here ate their meals.

–

Those 50 years of students

Learned to do math and read and write

Those skills will forever help them

To guide their dreams in sight;

it helps them fight for their future

–

This school has given so much education

Like a train station, its

Helped so many reach their wanted destination

Because this school has made the difference

In so, so many lives

–

And do you know how?

It’s the staff make this school whole

They teach us and guide us and help us when we fall

They’ve cared for us and rewarded us as far as we can recall,

their patience should be recorded for all.

–

They are kind when we are not,

Patient when we are not,

And help us when we’ve forgot – 

because we all do.

–

So thank you, staff of this school.

But it’s not just them that have built this community; 

it’s you too.

–

So thank you, de Portola.

Thank you for making the difference for 50 years.

Thank you for helping us past our fears

Thank you de Portola.

And thank you…

For listening 

Friendships in School

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From my personal experiences, friendships often come and go quicker than we realize. Sometimes our friendships end in a bad way, whether it be via arguments or other problems in life. Sometimes friendships end for the better, when two friends admit that the friendship they share is unhealthy and mutually decide to end it, solidifying the respect that they have for each other, and wish each other well. Sometimes it doesn’t end, and lasts forever since the day that both friends meet. Even though it doesn’t always work out, there are always new moments and memories that can be created from the people you meet and talk with everyday.

In my experience, I have had my own fair share of friendships. Like I said before, some have ended in a bad way, some have ended in a good way, and some still last to this day. As I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate all the friends who are still in my life to this day and move forward from the friends with whom our friendships didn’t work out in the end. Throughout the years, I’ve learned plenty from my experiences with the people around me at school, and had interesting experiences overall.

This past junior year was definitely an interesting year for me overall. Despite some struggles, I ended up meeting new people, whether it was from my sports team or people in my class, and created some great memories and friendships along the way. Every time spent was either catching up on what happened over the weekend, our own sports or school experiences, or interests that any one of us have. Surprisingly, I have actually learned about new songs and developed new interests from some of my friends this year, some of which I was never sure I would ever be interested in.

Even though I have created plenty of memories with many friends over the years, what stood out most to me was one of my friends being there for me during AP Tests/Prom week this past junior year. During that week, I was dealing with numerous amounts of stress and I was in a bad shape mentally, as I dealt with 4 AP Tests – 3 of which were on that week – as well as some personal hardships in my life. All of this nearly made me skip my junior prom, however one of my friends with whom I have gotten close with this year helped me get through the week and convinced me to at least get my ticket and experience it for the first time ever. Even though I was skeptical at first, I decided to get it last minute and the dance turned out to be one of the best nights of my life. Knowing I would have missed out on it if I skipped on prom like I planned, I thanked my friend that night and enjoyed every moment we spent, knowing that he was a really good friend overall.

Even though friendships coming and going is hard at many points in life, I advise everyone to give people they meet an open mind. You never know who you will meet in life, but what truly matters is the type of person you are and the change you could make in someone’s life.

High School Sports

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As a senior going into high school, I have taken many opportunities to reflect upon prior high school years, from freshman year, to sophomore year, to the most recent junior year. Even though I have admittedly faced plenty with school, such as homework, tests, and balance with my personal life, I will admit that sports has had a massive impact on my high school experience. Going into freshman year, I had my own club sport and highly debated on whether or not I should do a sport or deal with another round of PE during high school. As a last minute decision due to a recommendation from a friend, I decided to try out for the cross country team and made it on thanks to a decision from one of my coaches.

Although the first semester of my freshman year did not end well due to an early injury that year affecting my first cross country season and feelings of disconnection from a friend group, I grew dedicated to the sport after my recovery and the following Track season that year, despite being cut short due to the coronavirus, had some kind of payoff for me after my injury. However, the lockdown ended up with a disconnection between me and the rest of my team. Although sophomore year did face some setbacks due to the ongoing pandemic, I did end up racing during Track season that year, notably going sub 5 minutes in the 1600m and sub 11 minutes in the 3200m, as well as making more friends on the team. After that year, I had goals to Varsity letter next year in both XC and Track.

During my junior year, I was under plenty of pressure on myself, as well as mental stress balancing heavy schoolwork, personal life, and sports. My XC season was definitely my most successful season yet, as I went 16:16 in the 3 mile race during Sea View League Finals and had the best race of my life that race alongside two of my best friends and teammates, creating a great memory. Following League Finals, my team qualified for CIF, and I had my second favorite race at CIF Finals at the hilly Mt. Sac course with a time of 17:12. Although my Track season did not top my XC season, I did have some good races, such as going under 4:50 in the 1600m and improving by 30 seconds in the 3200m with a time of 10:20.

Even though I had plenty of success throughout my sports career, the truth is that I could not have done a single part of it without my teammates. I ran with them everyday, talked with them, and shared plenty of moments and memories with them to the point where I can honestly say that they are a significant part of my life. Even though we have had struggles and arguments like a team normally does, we have come together and found success last year and look to continue our success to even greater lengths this upcoming year. High school sports has made a huge impact on my life and I’d highly recommend anyone to take high school sports and gain that experience.

Cons of the new bell schedules

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In many school districts in California, a new policy has been put into place: school must start before 8:30 AM. Although schools are still permitted to have classes before this time, the time spent in these classes do not count towards the 70000 hours of school each school must have in a year. This change has been especially prevalent in the SVUSD. Schools like Laguna Hills and Trabuco Hills are getting out even as late as 3:45 PM. Although on the surface, starting school later seems like a good idea, it turns out that it isn’t.

The most obvious effect of this is that school ends later. For those who are involved in extracurriculars after school, it makes scheduling after school extremely tight, and some after school activities may even be cut into. These scheduling conflicts can be extremely inconvenient and can interfere with people’s lives outside of school. On top of that, it will encourage students to push their routine later. This will case students to go to bed later and do activities later at night, and therefore wake up later in the morning.

Another effect of this is that classes, especially for the schools that have block schedules, are way longer. Because the state of California requires a certain number of hours that schools need to have in session per year, not counting classes that start before 8:30 means that schools need to have classes that last longer and go later. As a result, students can become more tired and less focused. However, it is worth noting that these longer classes can have benefits, especially in an AP environment, as it simulates the AP testing atmosphere more.

In the end though, pushing school back to 8:30 was a poor change for the students. I write this from the perspective of a student, which is worth noting because I don’t know what it is like from the teacher’s perspective. It is what it is though. Sad face.

Freshmen! Time to Get Involved!

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Volunteering helps the community and is a great opportunity for teens to reach out and gain some leadership experience. For incoming freshmen in high school, it is the perfect time to start the first step in becoming involved in your local community and set yourself up for the opportunity to gain leadership experience. For incoming freshmen, I recommend attending your school’s club rush. Every school has different clubs with different unique opportunities. There are some common service-based clubs that most schools have that you should be on the lookout for. 

Key Club International is a student-led volunteer club that has a large community across the nation that is linked together through social media and division-held events. For those in the SoCal area, the key clubs come together to attend the Fall Rally at Six Flags and decorate a float at the Rose Bowl Parade. Key Club has its own student board with positions like Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, President, Historian, and more that are great chances to gain leadership experience.

Another amazing club is the Red Cross Club. The members of this club serve under the internationally recognized American Red Cross. All service events serve under the universal goal of humanitarian help. This organization gives the chance to become involved in and lead blood drives and much more.

Besides becoming involved in clubs on campus, the internet is a great source for finding very interesting and unique service opportunities. Search for local events that are looking for volunteers or create your own event based on a personal passion. One of the best parts of volunteering is that you can focus on certain communities or groups that you feel passionate about. Get in touch with different organizations and find out what you can do or present your own ideas! 

Also one of my favorite and most rewarding volunteer experiences comes from returning to my old elementary and middle school. Find different events that you may have attended when you were younger and volunteer at them! This could be a science fair or orientation. Either way, get back in touch with your old school and see if there are any upcoming events that you could return back to your old school days to help out.

The universal idea is to find a way of volunteering that is interesting and exciting to you. If you love music, find music-based service events. If you love reading, get in contact with the local library. Regardless, when you are starting your high school experience try to find your passion and use it to find a club or organization that interests you and allows you to give back to the community.

Tips to Stay Focused and Avoid Procrastination

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As a student, musician, athlete, and lazy teenager, I regularly have lots of work to complete. Sometimes in the past, it has piled up due to my astonishing procrastination skills, and I have had to complete it stressfully at the last minute, or not at all. To avoid this, here are some tips to stay focused on your work and to avoid procrastination.

1. Eliminate any distractions. Work in a quiet area and avoid listening to distracting music to maximize your efficiency.

2. Create work plans. To-do lists with deadlines are essential to getting your work done in an organized way, and setting a plan for how you will work at a given time is also important.

3. Take short breaks. To avoid getting burned out by huge workloads, take breaks to refuel your mind and body. However, don’t get carried away! Time your breaks and make sure you get back to work.

4. Reward yourself! To further motivate yourself, give yourself a reward for working hard for a certain amount of time, completing a task, or just being productive in general.

In summary, procrastination is a huge roadblock for productivity and focus. Luckily, we can avoid it with these helpful tips! Hope this helps!

-Lam T.

Advice from a graduating senior

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Graduating from high school can be scary. Senior year is tough, especially with the idea looming in the back of everyone’s heads that they’re leaving. The same happened to me. Everyone is so worried about leaving that I feel like sometimes, they miss the things that are right in front of them. 

I started out senior year worried that by the end of it, I wouldn’t feel like I had done enough during high school. So, I set out to do all the senior activities that I wouldn’t have done the previous years. I found my group of friends who wanted to do the activities too and we did them together. That is the best advice I can give to incoming seniors. Do the things that you only get to do senior year.

I became so much closer with my friends who were at all these events. I was able to get more pictures with my friends than I ever have. We got the most out of the events that we knew wouldn’t happen in college. Doing all the “senior” things let me enjoy and relax more. I found I was less worried about homework even when I knew I didn’t have any. Getting to have fun at these events let me focus more on other things because I was more relaxed in general. 

Overall, as a senior who is graduating in a short couple of days, I would say to use the most of your last year with your “high school friends.” Senior year is special in the fact that there are so many events just for your class. It’s one of the last times everyone from all the different friend groups will get together to have fun. So enjoy it and have an amazing senior year, whenever it may be!

-Danielle B.