My TPAA Will Forever Be Different Than YOUR TPAA

When I started at The Palmdale Aerospace Academy, I was 11 and I had previously begged my mom to insert me into the school’s raffle and not in the regular school system. I was exceedingly excited and intrigued from a new campus and a new curriculum. However, I never understood how great we had it at the time.

Those whom were at the old campus witnessed something that the up and coming Griffins won’t be able to even imagine. Though the campus was small and had some cracks in the surface, this was home. Not to say that the current campus wasn’t necessary- because it definitely was, especially with the booming Griffin population- and this isn’t to discredit the necessary expansion nor to discredit all of the wonderful staff that makes this possible.

However, it was nice to know where every class was, and which teacher was in that class. Of course the desks were from Cactus and not everything was perfect, but it seemed to be more comforting than perfectly painted walls and brand new desks.

Perhaps it was because it was something we were used to, or even because we didn’t think we would have it any different at the time. The idea of there being a “new campus” was merely a rumor my freshman year of high school. I specifically remember asking Mrs. Field if there were any blueprints that were proposed.

I remember our English department being entirely composed of 4-5 teachers, unlike any other department at that time. We didn’t have any janitors like we do now. We did annual “FOD walks” and picked up bagfuls of trash. There were Super Smash Bros tournaments on a roll-in television within the cafeteria. I remember a specific time Miguel Iniguez and I had the hardest time advertising for Venture Crew because our posters wouldn’t duct tape to the brick walls. Students would often get in trouble going to Yum Yum Donuts or even going to Baskin Robbins after school because they didn’t let their parents know where they would be located. There would even be times in which I couldn’t walk home from school because of the flooding of those streets when it rained. To this day I remember how squeaky the floorboards were in the portables such as Mr. Flores’ room. We didn’t have mirrors in every bathroom, but we made it work.

I sincerely hope we look at what we’ve come from instead of sweeping under the rug that we had a campus aside from our current one. It drastically shows how far we’ve come and how much employment and opportunity we’ve created through the years. Thank you, TPAA for giving me a chance to show my potential within this period of my life and I, specifically, will not forget where I came from.

Signing off, Aleeya Fitzgerald- Class of 2019.