Following a successful freshman year, I decided to challenge myself a bit further by taking Spanish 4 AP, Algebra 2 Honors, and Chemistry Honors. I wanted to take honors English and History, but that would have been too much. I was also taking ASB, since my brother and I were accepted. During sophomore year my favorite class was History with Mr. Prewitt. He was by far the most interactive and most understanding teacher for the sophomores. I was introduced to him in my freshman year when I had him and I was absolutely exhilarated when I had his class.
The year had started just like every other school year. Each teacher introduced him or herself to the class and gave a brief explanation of what was to occur in the class that year. Of all the classes I looked forward to it was History. I enjoyed watching the movies, and hearing how our grandfathers and ancestors solved their problems. Probably my least favorite class was Chemistry Honors. Not because its concepts were boring, it was that the class was so damn hard! I barely understood the concepts in the class and I barely passed both semesters with a B. The first semester was pretty difficult in some instances, but when I put major effort into my studies, it turned out just fine. For the first quarter I managed to receive a 4.0 GPA once more and was very proud of myself. This would have been a normal school year, but this year, since we had time, my brother and I enrolled into the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team. At the beginning of winter is when it started and every weekend, directly after school, we would drive six hours up to Mammoth, ski with the team, and drive down for another six hours on Sunday night. This may sound like torture, and I assure you, it was, but my brother and I really enjoy skiing. When we would arrive at Mammoth it would be about eleven at night and we would start by unpacking the car and then go straight to bed. We would then wake up at six thirty in the morning, have a quick breakfast and be on the ski slopes at seven thirty. We would then ski until two in the afternoon, and we would return home. During each weekend, we were required to be at the gym working out for a minimum of two hours every weekend. Due to all this chaos during the winter season, I found it very difficult to find time to do my homework, and even my own free time! Although doing my homework on the long drives to and from Mammoth did have its reward of completing it when you have nothing else to do. As finals drew closer I wasn’t able to put as much effort as I had wished into the team, because I was more focused on myself that I felt disappointed. I t was unfair how the other members of the ski team didn’t have to go to public school and therefore received minimal amounts of homework. For me, this was not the case. I went to Foothill Technology High School, one of the most prestigious public schools in the United States and I given lots of assignments. But that didn’t stop me. It made me strive to work harder and be the very best I could. All of this extra vigorous cramming was extremely useful, which made me receive A’s and B’s on all my finals, and I felt like I was unstoppable. We had many races near the end of the winter and I came so close to placing in many of them, but I never quite made it. It was difficult competing against skiers who spent their time skiing year round when I only was a seasonal skier. But who cares about a shiny medal, I did my best and I beat them in many other areas such as academics. Who needed a plastic gold medal anyways! I could just make my own if I really wanted one. This kept my confidence boosted and by the end of the year I felt great. I also aced all my other finals and I was on my way to Chile.