By Adam Robak
Editor-in-Chief
Two weeks ago, I missed school with many other Costa students and had one of the most exhilarating, yet educational days of my life. Instead of being in a classroom, I was in a crowd on the University of Southern California’s campus, struggling to catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama while he delivered a powerful speech about the upcoming election.
My attendance was a bit spontaneous. I had briefly discussed going a few days earlier, but I did not really decide until the night before.
In retrospect, I am thrilled that I decided to go. The event paralleled many aspects of the environment we will have as we go into college and adult life. The rally cost nothing more than the cost of gas and my time. All we had to do was take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity.
In all reality, while many Costa students, including myself, may interject themselves into the political debate, most of us will not have a tangible impact on any election. Attending the rally at USC gave all of us in attendance a peek into the adult responsibilities of voting and participating in the democratic process.
The adventure made me reflect upon the notion that although I am in my last year of high school, I still have not mastered many of the traits important to succeeding in high school. I continue to procrastinate on assignments, am horribly unorganized and waste too much time. However, the one lesson that I have managed to finally learn is that students must take advantage of opportunities.
We are fortunate to attend a school that provides terrific academic opportunities, but this encompasses only part of the learning process. In this intense academic environment, students too often focus only on their grades and neglect the other aspects of a complete education. We all need to take advantage of the plentiful opportunities our campus and community provide for learning outside the classroom.
There are dozens of clubs on campus that advocate for causes or provide aid for those in need. Others are organized around academic interests or vocations. Outside of campus there are many opportunities for service with a host of programs in the community looking for student volunteers.
Lectures can only accomplish so much and traveling down to USC’s campus to hear the President of the U.S. speak was something that not only broke up the formulaic atmosphere of school, but also expanded my studies of history and government. Granted, the academic pressures at Costa are very challenging. However, students still need to do more than go to class and listen to lectures. We need to immerse ourselves in the vibrant community around that offers incredible opportunities.
Our GPA, SAT and API scores are important, but those are not the things that we will remember when reflecting upon our high school lives. However, I think we will remember the myriad of clubs, student organizations and activities that stretched our imagination, introduced us to new people and caused us to dream about the future. Experiences that take us out of our comfort zones and expose us to something new and unexpected will last a lifetime.
For me, a lasting memory of my time at Mira Costa will be escaping school to go hear the President of our country speak.
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