Great Moment in High School

Raymundo Santillan Ft. Pierce, Fl. Essay/Speech 3 Great Moment in High School

The high school years of a person's life are a crucial time in the development of one's path. There are many roads to choose from and a plethora of options presented to us. The choices we make at this stage have the capability of creating and affecting our destiny. Growing up I never picked up a skill worthy of saying look what I can do, I was a goofball and a chameleon. I was able to be the center of attention or blend into the background of any situation. I was not an honor student, sports star, nor was I an artist on any level. I will share with you 3 major events that were significant leaps of growth for me. I lived with the half dazed eyes of a child until August of 1991, gained a sense of global catastrophe in January of 1994, and re-entered the world as a man, a high school graduate in the summer of 1995.

The summer of 1991 started off great! I was living in Hollywood California, just graduated Jr. High, and was going to play football with my pop warner friends for my high school. I had friends that were sophomores and were already on the team; one of those friends was Kenny. One night that August, my friend Kenny died from a single gunshot wound. Kenny was mistaken for a rival gang member and was shot by a member of a local gang. Kenny was a star linebacker, home coming prince, all around great person, and most of all he was my friend. I had suffered the loss of pets and elders before, but the senseless death of my 16 year old friend was hard to process. The day of his wake, I had practice and could not go. After practice I walked over 2 miles to my uncle's house in deep thought. Each step had a question, I remember wondering why, wondering if Kenny were in the clouds watching me. I wondered if he could hear inside my head and feel what was in my heart. The prolific impact Kenny made in his short life was evident at his funeral by the amount of guests. The pain of collective souls in mourning was a harsh slap in the face in welcoming me to high school.

As a child in elementary school we would have drills, fire drills and earthquake drills. I knew what a fire was, I could see, it, feel it, fire made sense. I didn't understand why we had earthquake drills. My first 3.2 taught me really fast what an earthquake was. After about 4 or 5 small tremors, earthquakes turn into an exciting break from the norm. On the early morning of January 17, 1994 a magnitude 6.7 earthquake launched my wooden jewelry box off of my dresser and right at my head. Out my window I saw bursts of explosions from the power transformers. I heard glass breaking, car alarms, concrete crumbling, and my mother screaming at me to get out of bed and get in the door way. After about 15 seconds of violent shaking, we assessed injuries and damages in the dark. For fear of an aftershock the entire neighborhood was soon outside once internal checks were complete. We did not see the full extent of the damage until the morning sun rose. The 85 mile radius of damage the Northridge Earthquake caused showed me the natural wrath of mother earth was not to be taken lightly. That experience made me aware of how fragile we really are. This is why my thoughts and prayers are with the people in Japan.

My senior year continued with the teenage cycles of joy and pain. The conquest of high school was a significant accomplishment in my life. To end that chapter with triumph would have to be my greatest moment. Out of the three kids with my mother, I was the youngest and only one to graduate on time and on stage. As time would later tell I am the only one from my father as well. It was a sense of success I had never felt before. Graduating high school meant many things on many levels. Coming from a divorced family there were rare opportunities for celebration that included both sides of the family. Having my family watch me receive my High School Diploma put a cherry on top of the day. I had a job, a car, a girlfriend, and was moving out of my mother's home for the first time. I was so excited to be done with that chapter of my life and was ready to take on the world, a world full of harder and more rewarding obstacles.

Considering what I've seen and the circumstances I have been in, I am highly blessed to have achieved so much. I do not take things for granted and appreciate all that I have. To tragically lose your life in order for the rest of the world to learn a lesson is not a fate that anybody wants. Those souls must be honored, honor from their loved ones personal growth and achievement. These lessons are never easy and can take many years to learn. After Kenny's murder, the person responsible fled and hid for many years before he was caught. The rebuilding of structures when they crumble takes years but is visual proof of physical healing. The repair to one's soul is harder to do and harder to see.