Senior Year Wasn't So Bad After all

I was in the seventh grade attending David G. Millen Middle school during Christmas break when my parents broke the news to me. I was going to be transferring to Aerospace Academy and was set to spend the second semester of my junior high there. It was a bummer for me considering I was comfortable and had met plenty of interesting people. Although I look back now and uphold the thought that my parents no longer needed to drive 15 minutes to drop me off every morning.

Of course as an awkward seventh grader all I really was concerned about was being in a new atmosphere of people all over again. I braced myself all the way towards high school.

My high school experience at TPAA was one I will cherish, as I came to find who I am as a person. I never really considered myself to have many friends throughout high school. At one point my best friend was any earbud that would accommodate my ears with some rocking jams. I blame this on my awkward social presence. But amongst me being the kid too nervous to say why i’m “right” or “wrong” ( Probably not the best trait for someone wanting to enter law) -- I found a passion in writing and to no surprise playing music.

Through all my years of being a confused and pimply teen in high school. I came to find that my Senior year was an exceptional experience. It gave me just the perfect dose of being young and aspired with a slap of adulthood.

One thing I’ll never forget is being the Editor in chief of the Griffin Gazette. Before not many students even knew it existed-- while I still think it should get more praise, It gets more than last years. Which I can overall gleefully say I made a difference at the school through not just informing but through entertainment. Although nothing would have been accomplished without an amazing journalism crew and instructor.

Among frustrations with high school friendships and relationships I learned that I will cherish certain people my whole life for allowing me to understand them as a person. These moments in highschool are so critical to our development as people and whom we’ve interacted or surrounded ourselves with reflects in the way we approach life's situations by interacting with people we meet. If it weren’t for certain people I met, I’m unsure how both my ethics as a human would be. Not the type of ethics that can be quantified under a political spectrum, but the one we don’t truly understand ourselves; the one that embodies your character until you perish.

Perhaps one of my all time favorite discoveries in life was with the bass guitar. I had always wanted to learn an instrument and one of my friends Jose was able to let me borrow his Bass. Constantly messing up the tone of the beautiful instrument through my amatuer playing, I was ready to just give up on it. But I managed to somehow pickup an amazing groove on the four string through. From using a mere pick to flame fingers.

I eventually grasped a solid foundation on the four string, enough to be in a band with my friends Jose and Carlos. There’s no hiding the fact that through putting so much attention into the guitar, my grades and to an extent work ethic suffered.

Despite trumbles learning complex parts of the bass I had seen a content version of myself that I didn’t think would ever surface again.

With me always feeling like a pariah most of my highschool path I found that listening to music was no longer a medium of grievance. I seldom had my earbuds on for the purpose of keeping me content in isolation, rather I came to find a thrill in the beauty of musical rhythm. Best of all I played and exclaimed my sounds myself playing an instrument.

There’s a lot of things coming my way; moving residency, attending college, and applying for jobs to name a few. But I would like to thank all TPAA staff for allowing me to boast that I feel prepared to take on the challenges pending my future; both on a social and academic scale.

- Axel Torres (TPAA class of 2019) -- UCR 23'