Petillon reflects upon lessons Costa has taught her

By Emily Petillon
Copy Editor

I’ve learned a lot of things over my high school career: the varied reasons for the collapse of the Ottoman empire; Russia’s official policy toward Somalian pirates; how to properly use the quadratic formula (despite Ms. Rappaport’s best efforts, I’m still a little fuzzy on the last one).

Now I’d say that the most important thing I’ve learned from Costa is responsibility, or the transformative power of friendship, but that’s not strictly true. Here, in no particular order, are some of the most important things I’ve learned

How to work in basically every possible environment. It doesn’t matter if the earth is shaking because some construction workers are drilling metal beams into the earth next to me, I can still read that AP Euro textbook. If I can edit a page full of barely coherent sentences while tuning out Oliver and Jack’s “manly” tussling in the background, any future multitasking is going to be easy.

I have learned how to argue anything with anybody, no matter how seemingly pointless it may be. I know for a fact that I can debate for an hour over everything from fourth-wave feminist theory to whether or not Monet painted pictures of cypress trees (I was wrong. He did.).

I’d like to say that all of my times in AP classes have taught me the importance of hard, honest work. I really would. But I believe my hard-won ability to write a five-paragraph essay on my phone in the period before it’s due, manage somehow to find a working printer, and come up with an excuse for why I’m five minutes late will come in handy. It better, or all of those panicked passing periods will be for nothing.

Most importantly, La Vista has taught me that I’m not as smart as I think I am. I’ve learned that no matter how great I think my article was, there are people who can and will make it better. Learning not to take constructive criticism personally is one of the most useful skills I’ve acquired, and I owe it to everyone on the paper. Thanks guys. I’ll miss every drop of red ink that you’ve spent on my stories.