The year was 2005, when a class of young freshmen, would begin cementing their place in the history of El Segundo High School. Every freshman, no matter what they say, is intimidated of entering high school. Which goes to say that I was also nervous about entering high school, the pivotal years of my education. I was especially nervous because I didn’t start off my education in the ESUSD like all of the other students which meant I didn’t know a lot if people going in. Despite this, I made friends that I will never forget. Along with the new friends I made, they also came with precious memories I will never forget. For each of my years that I have attended El Segundo High School, I have collected a plethora of memories, good and bad, that have taught me life lessons that I will never forget. I have cherished my time at El Segundo High School and am confident that it has paved the way to the road to college.

When I started my years at El Segundo High School as a freshman, I was nervous for many reasons. I did not know very many people in the school and did not know what to expect. I remember freshman orientation and all the seniors that were about to graduate giving valuable advice and wisdom. My most memorable memory was in the academic department. I started out the year with the “basic” classes. I had ms. Brown for English 4^th period and felt that I was doing very well in the class. One day she pulled me into the hall and said that she was very impressed with my progression in her class. English has always been my strongest subject so I was happy to hear this. Then, she gave me an offer that in a way surprised me. She offered to put me in her Honors English class 3^rd period. I was excited to begin the challenge. Once I was in the Honors class, I did not think it was all that challenging, until the projects began. We had to do a project on Senator Joseph McCarthy which I didn’t do and suffered an F. On a vocab test later that week she wrote “did I make a mistake placing you in Honors?” This was the turning point in the class. I had to prove her wrong by succeeding. I started doing everything with the best of my efforts and succeeded. By the end of the year, I felt accomplished with my progress. This would only be the beginning of my English career in high school.

I entered my sophomore year with much more confidence. I continued on with the Honors English path and had ms. Cobb for 6^th period. The whole year I tried to keep up with the work but sometimes it was a bit overwhelming. Despite the rigorousness of the class I kept with it and passed. I felt a sense of accomplishment once again because I knew I could do it. My most memorable memory of my sophomore year would have to be the debates in World History class. I participated in 4 debates and was the leader in all of them. I debated topics from euthanasia to the war in Iraq. I am also proud to say that I came out the victor in all of the debates that I lead.  Other than this I admit that sophomore year was not as exciting as my others year in high school. Despite this, the most exciting moment was all the moments I spent getting closer to my friends during the year and also during the summer.

My junior year was a lot more exciting that my sophomore year. This was the year where I felt that my confidence skyrocketed since we were considered part of the upperclassmen. I had Ms. Cobb for a second year in a row and kept continuing to slack off to a point where she almost didn’t allow me to move on to AP Composition. Nevertheless, I pulled through and proved her wrong which gave me a feeling of triumph. I also had some pretty funny moments such as when Ms. Cobb told me to do some soul-searching before deciding to go on to AP Comp, and when she said Kei Takamura would cry if he were to take AP Lit. Overall, one of the funniest memories I have of my junior year is in psychology class. I had Mr. Cousins for 6^th period psychology 1^st semester. And as people that have taken his class before know, he tends to randomly leave the classroom for about a good 7 minutes. So one day he left the class and like 20 seconds later Breezy tipped over her vitamin water and it spilled all over the floor. At first we all just looked at the mess with blank stares but once we took it all in, we were all scrambling to find something to clean it up with. No one went to the bathroom to get napkins because of the fear that they would run into Mr. Cousins on the way back or that Mr. Cousins would beat them back to class. So Nick Chieppa walked over to Mr. Cousins desk and took a bunch of papers and threw them on the spillage. Then out of nowhere we see a feminine hygiene product get tossed into the water and start swelling. To make matters worse the vitamin water was red. So we were all staring and laughing at this red swollen feminine product. Finally we got everything cleaned up and everything was back to normal just in the nick of time. Mr. Cousins returned and everyone held in their laughter. It was hard to keep in the laughter but we did and Mr. Cousins was none the wiser. By the end of my junior year, I felt that much wiser and experienced.

And now I am in my final year of high school. It has been the best year of all that included applying for colleges, homecoming wars, Senior Prom, Graduation and most importantly, our diplomas. One story that I never get tired of telling involves a run-in with the law. One night me and Garrett Bilbey were hanging out with a friend in Compton. It got pretty late and we had to get home. We were on our way home when we crossed into Lynwood. We came to a stop sign and noticed to homeless guys, one on a bike, that were about to fight. So we waited at the stop to see if there was any action going on. Once we knew nothing would happen we turned onto a busy street when out of nowhere we were stopped by the Lynwood sheriffs. Once we pulled over both sheriffs jumped out of their car, guns drawn, and started running towards my car, screaming “Get your hands up!” Suddenly more door swung open and the deputy demanded my keys so I slowly turned off the car and gave him my keys. He then proceeded to ask us if we had any warrants out. We both said no and I showed him my license. After a few seconds of clarification he said that he thought my car was stolen. Once they drove off we laughed and went home. My time at El Segundo High School is an era of my life I will never forget. I have learned many life lessons to take with my on my road to the future.