Final edition year-end wrap up

This year… has been something else. I would say some moments have been the best moments of my highschool experience and others… I just wish I could turn back time. Go into a time machine and make things different. But if one thing is for sure, I wouldn’t change a thing about my second period journalism class. My last time in room 6, I still get a feel of nostalgia as I walk through the door and envision 8th grade english. The seating arrangements, the people, events and the weather. From the start of this year I knew that I wanted to start a newspaper in journalism, something that the students at TPAA could read and talk about with their friends. Like how you would see in the movies or tv shows when there's something sensational and everyone has the scoop thanks to the school paper. I thought that would be the coolest thing we could have going towards TPAA. Towards the end of my 10th grade year I found myself enticed in writing, it continued to 11th and I still enjoy writing, getting lost in the world that one creates. But with senior year, graduating and college tasks that I’ve had to complete writing for fun hasn’t been an option. I have though, gotten the opportunity to explore different types of writing styles such as editorials, features and opinion pieces thanks to the Gazette. Since journalism wasn’t considered an english course I had to make the sacrifice of letting go of my yearbook elective for the journalism elective. Which was a huge bummer for me at the time because I wanted to be apart of the senior yearbook construction process. Be involved in a book that is ours at the end of the year and say, I worked on that, I made that happen. Although not a physical copy I can keep forever, the Griffin Gazette makes up for it, just in digital form. And i'm sure it will forever live on the internet as long as nothing gets deleted… right?

Ah.. Now my time as a senior here at TPAA… for the past four years I’ve had to live with the prideful and the not so prideful bunch of class of 2017. There has been times where the class of 2017 will take TPAA to their grave as their high school and there's moments like the AVC field trip where it's like… TPAA Who? I know everyone at one point has been like why I am here? Why don’t I just go to Palmdale, Pete Knight or Highland and people have gone to those schools… but guess what… they always come back. Why is that? Why do kids come back, Why have we stayed? Lets face it guys… we love it here. Or more so we have learned to love it here. Maybe not the physicality of the place… because let's face it, it's no Beverly Hills. But it has been our high school for the past 4-5 years, we’ve made friendships here, we’ve cried here, been frustrated, laughed until we couldn’t breathe, we’ve grown up here. Today Tuesday May 10th as I write more to the story we had a visitor in my first period calculus, Iraheta explained to her that we’ve been here 4-5 years and that we’ve been heavily involved in clubs and the visitor said “You guys are like family then,” with a laugh that grew into a smile. I didn’t think much of it then… instead my only reaction was to smile back and look at the classmates around me. Thinking back on it now… we are family. The fact that the senior class here at TPAA is so small, almost everyone knows everyone inside and out. Whether it be a distant cousin or that uncle that can never seem to go home. We’ve shared stories and experiences that I don’t think we would have gotten going to a different high school. Another thing that has made TPAA worthwhile is the teacher's, man if it wasn’t for them a lot of us would have gone rogue. Gone insane! These wonderful teachers have lectured us and shown us the light in a path of success.

If you asked me a few months maybe even years back I would have been stoked to have graduation come up, leave everything behind and head to college. Escape like I never existed. But as the days approach May 27th, I find myself wishing I can stop time. I find it hard to write this without thinking about how this is it. This is the end. Every one of us 108 are heading off in different directions, heading into adulthood… actually becoming adults and I would be lying if I said, that isn’t a little scary. Videos and pictures from 8th grade are being uncovered, memories are floating in the air and it all pulls at your heartstrings. You find us seniors saying “oh just wait till x events we’ll be balling our eyes out.” and it's true because as those events come closer so does the end of our high school experience. Every memory, every assignment, just everything as a whole flashes through my mind as I backtrack out of room 6 and find myself on a bright sunny morning, walking in with loafers and culotte pants with a white collared shirt, braces and long curly hair. I take a seat towards the back of the class and little do I know that 4 years from now, I’m gonna miss these cherished moments.