Words Of An Alumnus

So…its been about a week since I graduated and I have been meaning to write something…something to inspire the underclassmen and new seniors of my school, but I had no idea what to say. How do you give advice without sounding like an arrogant bigot? Well this morning my mom shows me this documentary called “waiting for superman,” about the state of education in America…and how truly terrible it is. So I decided to give my advice/ reflection on my own education and how to survive as an indication of the road ahead. This is all completely random and uncoordinated.

THE SYSTEM:

            a little reality before the meat of the post. The school system sucks. That’s just the way this country is; we are spending more on the caretaking of prisoners then we are investing in the school systems of our children. Now I am not a parent myself, but I still think that is pretty screwed up. How can all these politicians and geniuses that run our country expect the next generation to succeed if our school systems are mediocre? The answer is they do not. Simply put we as the growing youth of America cannot just lie on our butts and wait for superman to come save us, so to speak. Regardless of how poor you think your school district is, how bad you think your teachers are, and how ill prepared you may feel, you must STRIVE. Do not let the chance to succeed in life slip by you because you spend all your energy blaming a broken school system. If it really bothers you , become someone who can change it, someone who is good enough to go through a poor system and still come out victorious yet compassionate  enough to acknowledge that the status quo needs to be changed. The reality of this country is that everyday students go through a public school system that is not designed for them to pass through, but we cannot let that stop us. If we stop now the system will not change and our children and children’s children will be doomed to go through the same things we did. We must survive this horrid system so that they do not have to. Little by little it is the burden of us to improve the world so that when the next generation comes to inherit it, it will be a better place ß--------- Corny but true.  

MY REFLECTION ON HIGH SCHOOL:

Here we go... All my life I have had the tendencies to try and make things as simple as possible. Wake up, eat, play, eat, dance, eat, sleep, etc. and it has irritated me when others tried to complicate things (overly complicated plans, complaints about problems that are not important, etc.) and naturally this mentality stay with me all throughout high school. I never knew where the future would lead, but I always knew it was going somewhere, and I also knew that as long as I did my part and took things day by day, that I would make it through. In fact that is probably the only thing in math I learned that I can apply to almost every aspect of life: when tackling a big problem, try to break it down into smaller functions and solve it from there. So I was never on of the people who viewed high school as a 4 year commitment or anything, I took everything day by day, because that’s the only way you can really focus on anything. Try to look ahead all the time and you cannot focus on where you are walking. So my advice to underclassmen would be this: set a goal, not a complicated one like “I want to be the top scientist of neurology in the world and find a cure for cancer while becoming president of mars in the 5^th dimension!,” but something simply like “I want to become a doctor of neurology,” and always keep that goal in mind. That is how you succeed, because when you take things day by day and always have that goal in mind, it makes it hard to stray from the path. When in class you think “I must do this to become a doctor,” it soon becomes more than just a goal, it becomes a dream. And true story, dreaming is how I made it through high school. My parents have always told me that I am going to college, so it just became something I knew, it was not a matter of self-motivation or me being arrogant, its just that my goal was to get to college, and I thought about it so much it became my dream, a dream that I would not let anybody stop. So underclassmen, find a goal and hold onto it until it becomes your dream, for the dream you have will be your on fuel and your own fire. Human beings have the potential to accomplish so much but a lot of times we just need to have a strong push, but when others are not around we need to be able to push ourselves!

High School is where I decided to start fighting for what I wanted, where my dreams become the spark that helped change be into a bold and confident person I feel like I am today. From the time little boy who walked into the band room the summer before freshman year to the senior who cares for his band mates and considers the band to be his second family, from the rhythm-less freshman to the senior who had 5 live dance performances this year, from a socially awkward teen to being voted “biggest social butterfly” by his senior class, I have changed. I will never look down on Pinole Valley because I know that high school has saved my life. It was allowed me the chance to pursue my dreams, find my niche, and develop bonds of friendship with some of the most amazing people ever. So go forth, do not be afraid to make mistakes, set a simple goal, take life day by day, and your own destiny will be revealed to you =3.