High School Retrospective

My high school life technically started in eighth grade. I signed up for the football team around February of my eighth grade year. In the beginning of the year, it was just weightlifting and conditioning practices for everyone. Saturdays were lifting for an hour and Sundays were conditioning for about two hours. I never really lifted before seriously, so the first time I went in to lift, I could barely do anything. I was pretty embarrassed, but a few of the coaches just told me that it was normal and that I will get better at it. Practices were going pretty well after I had gotten used to things and had got in shape. I did, however fall at a couple of the conditioning practices, though. There were these bag-type things, around sic or seven, that we had to run over. When I was in the middle, I just completely wiped out, glasses went flying, and I smacked against either the gym floor or the dirt (depending if we were on the field or not). I was really embarrassed each time this happened. I was going through practices every time okay and I had never missed one. In conditioning practices, when we were done with the drill we were supposed to jog to the end of the line and get out of the way of the next person so that they could do the drill also. One time after a drill, I remember Leonard didn't jog like he was supposed to and Mr. Amorose started shouting at Leonard to jog to the end of the line, yet he kept on walking. Leonard thought that he was saying, "Jon to the end of the line." Everyone cracked up. During the football season the whole team got a backstage tour of Heinz Field. It was very interesting, especially because I go there for every home Steelers game. It was neat to see how they run things and how everything works. For some reason, that was the only year that the team had gone on a 'field trip'. I guess I picked thee right year to play. I ended up quitting football right before the really serious practices began in July...same with Leonard.

I started to get more nervous about going to high school as it got closer and closer. When it finally came, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I was making new friends fast, with the help of my grade school friends, and I had a few upperclassmen friends from grade school as well. I thought I would get picked on or teased by the upperclassmen because I was a freshman, but that wasn't the case. I am an only child, therefore I didn't really know what to expect coming into high school because I was the first of my family, in this age, to go.

One other thing also happened in the summer of 2003. My grandpa died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 80. He was the person I wrote about in my essay. He had the disease for a few years by then and everything started to get pretty bad and fail. It is a terrible disease that no one should have to go through.

Then, during my freshman year, my uncle, who also had the disease died at the age of 63. I was sad having to deal with it twice. He was born in Puerto Rico and had no family over here, so when he had the disease, he would go back to his childhood and, of course, not know who any of my relatives were. It was just awful seeing what they had to go through.

The summer after freshman year was somewhat more exciting or boring, depends on how you look at it. I was starting to get into this game for Playstation 2 called, Socom 2. I liked it so much, that I basically wasted my whole summer solely playing this game online. It is an army game where it's terrorists versus navy seals and there are various game modes online. It is a very addicting game. One night I played the game nonstop from noon until four the next morning.

That summer I had also started to become a roller coaster enthusiast. I used to go to Cedar Point in Ohio every two years, but I found a special package that they had if you were to go in May. I took advantage of this package and the days off I get for prom and Kennywood to go to Cedar Point. I have always liked roller coasters, but now they have become my hobby, say. I am not afraid of heights and I just like the feeling you get when you go down that first big hill or when you are launched to 120 miles per hour in just mere seconds. It is the biggest rush I have ever felt. So I decided to learn more about them and what different kinds there are.

Sophomore school year finally came after that long, video game-filled summer. The year started off well when I got my schedule. I was placed in independent health, so I only had it one day out of the cycle (back when the cycle consisted of eight days instead of six) and a free period the rest of the days. Free period was the greatest. It was Ross, Nick Mulholland, Nathan, Andrew Polovich (aka, The Fryer), Liz Acklyn (left for Montour after last year), and I. Ross would always be the one asking for money and trying to convince me to give him a dollar because there was some 'holiday' around the corner (he used Flag Day, Boxing Day, and other mediocre holidays as excuses to get a dollar). Andrew was mad at me that year because we had the same schedule and he disliked me following him around everywhere, even though I had no choice. Nathan would tell stories about random events that happened in his life and half of the time, the stories made no sense whatsoever. We all would make fun of him for that. That's all that really happened during sophomore year.

The summer after sophomore year basically consisted of the same thing as the summer after freshman year. Playing video games all day and just relaxing. I went to Cedar Point that year also.

Junior year was the big year. I was now an 'upperclassmen' and becoming a 'veteran' of the school. My classes were also getting harder. I had first period free with Mr. Fazio as my proctor. He didn't know who I was back then, though. My junior year was the year where I really got to know and become friends with Kevin Nee. Before this year, he didn't really know who I was.

Junior year was also the year when the Steelers went to the Super Bowl. I was lucky enough to get tickets and go. I have season tickets with my parents. Just to be able to buy Super Bowl tickets, you have to win a lottery. Fortunately, we won. All three of us were ecstatic the day that letter came in the mail saying that we had got them. It was an experience of a lifetime, one that I would never trade for anything in the world. If I really wanted to, I could have easily gotten a good $3000 to $4000 for my ticket. I'm glad I didn't, though, and wouldn't have if I had to do it all over again.

I also went to the playoff game where the Steelers played the Bengals, in Cincinnati. That was an experience of its own. When we got to the stadium, we found a parking lot that my dad hesitantly and, to this day, regrettably paid $40 to park in. We got harassed to hell and back going down that isle in the lot. There weren't as many Steeler fans as I had expected. When we finally made it to the stadium, it got a lot worse. We were surrounded by Bengal fans that were very obnoxious, rude, and just plain terrible. When the game was over, all that was left were Steeler fans chanting, "Who dey? WE DEY!" all the way down the ramps. Good thing the Steelers did win, or it would have been a lot worse when leaving the stadium.

Madden (a football video game) was big, everyone was playing it. I played Dan Baker and he just completely crushed me, he beat my by sixty, it was no contest.

The summer after junior year finally came. I decided not to go to prom. I did go to Cedar Point again in May. In June I went to Las Vegas and Los Angeles for vacation. That was probably the best vacation I had ever had. I first went to Vegas and spent a week there. My dad golfed all day with friends, so it was my mom and I. I, of course, am too young to go into any casinos, but there are tons more things to do. I had to ride all of the roller coasters in Vegas, being the enthusiast that I am. I also rode the rides on top of the Stratosphere, which is a 1200 foot tower. There are a total of three rides on the tower. One is a tower that shoots you straight up, then back down. The second is a see saw type ride where you are in this car, and there is a track that goes off the edge. It shoots your car off the edge to the end of the track and you are hanging over the Las Vegas strip with no safety nets, nothing. Lastly, there is a swing type ride where you go over the edge, then start spinning above the Strip, no nets here either. While I was doing those, I gave my mom twenty bucks to try on the slot machines, and she won me two hundred fifty two dollars.

After that week was over, we went to Los Angeles for another week. We swam in the Pacific Ocean, went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm (both amusement parks), and took a tour of Rodeo Drive, the Kodak Theatre, Chinese Theatre, etc. I also saw the Hollywood sign. It was hot and sunny the whole time I was there, never saw a drop of rain.

Senior year, wow I finally made it, where did all that time go? Definitly the best year out of all four years. You rule the school, have the easiest schedule, and are able to drive to school.

I know that when I leave, I will definitely miss the jokes, laughing, Kulback missing months for the second time and just him being mottled, and good times of going to high school every day. It has been a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Greater experiences are to come and I know I am ready for them.