Temple City has given me so many things, from excitement and school spirit to stress, frustration and sleep deprivation. I’ve lived in Temple City since I was four years old, and it has undoubtedly shaped me in more ways than I can count.
A few experiences in particular have taught me lessons about the world around me that I’ll always remember, and I hope you all can learn from them too.
Rampage leadership
Being the Editor-in-Chief of Rampage was a goal I literally had since I was at Oak. I was beyond excited to be accepted as a sophomore staff writer, but I was equally crushed when I wasn’t promoted to be an editor for junior year, since our three-tier leadership system requires all potential EICs to be editors as juniors. I had a brief moment where I considered quitting because I was ashamed to be a second-year staff writer, but Rampage meant too much to me for that to happen.
I continued to be a try-hard all the way until I got promoted to the brand-new position of newsletter editor in the middle of the year, and four months later I made it all the way to my eighth grade dream job!
You can take away the cheesy message that if you work hard, it’s always possible to achieve your goals, but honestly I think of it in a different way. If you’re truly passionate about your goal, you have to be willing to do jobs no one else wants! I’m happy that I finally achieved my dream, but I know I’ll never forget the moment of realizing that it was more important to me to be part of Rampage than to have a chance at being in charge.
School board meetings
I’ve covered the school board a lot during my time in Rampage, and most of it has been sitting through boring budget meetings and unnecessary complaints to get to the real story.
Yes, I wrote five articles about board meetings full of shouting and tears, but I also had to research the Brown act and sit in the district office reading a copy of Ms. Perini’s contract. The drama was exciting, but the actual facts were tedious and difficult to collect.
My main takeaway from that experience is that the most dramatic aspects of a story aren’t necessarily the most important. You have to dig deeper into an issue to truly understand what’s going on, and it might not be as exciting as a school board soap opera. Regardless, do your best to wade through the sea of boring information. If it’s something you care about, other people will care and want to know the real story too.
Prom
The crowning moment of your high school career is supposed to be your senior prom, where you spend hundreds of dollars to have a few hours of luxury with your friends. As everyone now knows, that didn’t exactly work out for the class of 2019.
In many ways, The Space Between Us reflected everything I knew about Temple City: It wasn’t terribly glamorous, it felt surprisingly overpriced, and no one seemed to be able to leave. The resulting parent complaints, petitions and news coverage of our school doing something dumb yet again felt like the most Temple City debacle I had ever seen, a fitting end to my high school career.
Temple City
That brings me to the last thing I’ve learned from Temple City. We might live in Los Angeles County, but we are most definitely small-town residents. Every story gets around instantly, and we are unafraid to start petitions, rant on social media and get in each other’s faces about our opinions.
We’ve changed the PE requirement, opened up honors and AP classes and had a walkout for gun control. We all can’t wait to burst out of the Temple City bubble, but I think it’s important to hold onto the passion we have about issues that affect us.
Our actions can make a real impact in Temple City. Who’s to say we can’t change the world?