As someone who has always been shy when it came to trying new things, I showed up to the first day of tennis tryouts with not only zero previous sports experience, but also not knowing a single person.

See, I spent most of my school years in a small private school where I was around the same people for almost my entire life. When my eighth grade year rolled around, I started to become nervous because I knew it would only be a matter of time where I would be in a much larger building with thousands of new faces.

This philosophy of trying new things was what changed me for the better. No, I didn’t end up sticking with tennis, but I did end up finding out what made me happy. It was when I joined multimedia that I knew I wanted to major in journalism after high school was over and done. I have never been more sure about what my passion will be for college until I experienced what it is like to be a writer. Typing on the keyboard or picking up a pencil and writing is where I am most confident.

Finding out that I was going to be editor-in-chief for the Elk Grove Guardian my senior year was the best news I received in a long time. At first, I was a bit nervous because I have never taken such an important role of leadership, but I knew I was ready for it.

I had to come a long way for me to get there. During my freshman year of high school, I worked on the yearbook staff. Although I enjoyed connecting with students while interviewing them for the pages, I realized how much more I loved writing newspaper articles than anything else. And so, for the remaining two years of my high school career, I stuck with writing. 

Writing was just like tennis or the yearbook for me, in that for the longest time I started to realize that it was never “too late” for me to find a hobby. That mindset led to meeting two of my now closest friends, Alexa Di Novo and Paige Readdy, who convinced me to join the lacrosse team my senior year. A few days of convincing got me to join, and it wasn’t until two practices later where I realized that I was having the most fun that I had in a long time. By joining the lacrosse team, I was able to make so many new friendships, fill my time by doing something productive, and most importantly, represent my school. 

My biggest takeaway from Elk Grove is to never miss out on opportunities just because you believe that you may not be capable of certain things. You never know what you can do until you try and you are never going to be automatically good at something without giving it practice and effort. 

I am happy to leave Elk Grove High School knowing that I learned so much, made lifelong friends, and created unforgettable memories.