By Kyle Allen
Editor-in-Chief
You’ve spent freshman year exploring what Mira Costa has to offer. You’ve made new friends and grown away from some old friends. You’ve taken new classes and tried your hand at exciting extracurricular activities and sports.
Most everyone will tell you to find something you love doing and stick with it. There is a pressure to find that one elective or that one sport to show commitment to for all four years of high school.
Everyone wants to find a place to belong and a place to feel at home. Some of us (like myself) were lucky enough to find that place early on in high school, others took longer.
As a freshman, I was in search of something to belong to, somewhere to feel at home at Mira Costa. My group of friends from middle school didn’t feel the same, and while I had spent an entire summer and fall season playing water polo, I was still searching for something more.
I found that place when Duncan Gregory (now our executive theme editor and that guy with an uncanny ability to make any audience laugh) dragged me to a La Vista story conference I was way too shy to attend on my own.
I wish I could say I knew how much I would come to love La Vista on that day, but like all good things, it took time. There were periods of uncertainty and worry where I wasn’t sure if I would find a place that felt like home.
But, the people were friendly, and they seemed to want me to succeed, so I kept writing stories and spending time in Room 6 during lunch.
I found myself drawn to the intellectual drive of both the people on La Vista and those who simply spent time in Room 6 for fun. It was something exciting and new, and the staff had an undeniable character that anyone who’s ever stepped inside La Vista has experienced.
Some people found their calling in Model UN, Student Government, music, art, or community service. Some found it in academics. Success in high school is marked not by a perfect GPA, popularity, a CIF championship or getting to put “Editor-in-Chief” on your brag sheet.
Success in high school is graduating with the knowledge of who you are. I will look back on my experience at Mira Costa with satisfaction, knowing that my time spent both in and out of the classroom taught me more about myself than I could have imagined in the fall of 2008. This knowledge is invaluable, and will allow you to face any challenge that will cross your path.
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