SENIOR SECTION: SCHS seniors excitedly prepare for a college lifestyle

SCHS seniors are embarking on a new journey filled with a collection of new opportunities. Many soon-to-be college students express their excitement for the experiences awaiting them on campus.

Senior Mia Bolanos-Teque is attending University of California, Irvine in the fall of the 2023-2024 school year. A student rendition of the school’s mascot called Petr the Anteatr, a purposeful misspelling of the real mascot Peter the Anteater, is the face of a sticker distribution tradition on campus.

“I am looking forward to this really cool tradition at UC Irvine where they have these Petr the Anteatr stickers drops,” Bolanos-Teque said. “A certain anonymous person drops the location that a sticker will be at, and everyone runs to go hunt down the person, where they’ll give you a limited edition sticker.”

Alongside partaking in school traditions, Bolanos-Teque hopes to participate in sports and kickstart a field hockey team.

“I’m gonna try to push and see if I can get a field hockey team there because I’ve talked to other students who are also attending UCI and they’ve also shared an interest in field hockey, so maybe we can start something recreationally there,” Bolanos-Teque said.

Similarly, Bolanos-Teque hopes to find a home in a cultural community at UCI in order to get involved on campus and meet new people.

“One thing that I’m thinking about is rushing, but into the cultural sororities for Latinx students,” Bolanos-Teque said. “It would be nice to have a similar group of Latinx women who are also like me, studying similar things and being able to connect with them.”

Senior Avi D’souza is looking forward to getting involved in sports and clubs that align with his interests at Emory University.

“I heard that Emory has a lot of club sports, so I want to try out for club volleyball,” D’souza said. “I’m also into cars, and I think they have an F1 club, where they work with cars and car parts.”

Senior Jessie Good looks forward to her upcoming classes alongside her acceptance into a selective program at Michigan State University called the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. RISE is a program focused on environmental and sustainability learning.

“I’m looking forward to my classes because I’m majoring in Environmental Science, so it’ll be really fun getting to know more about the environment and how I can help it,” Good said. “RISE has their own garden that they source to the school, so the school gets to use the food from the garden. It’ll help me and guide me to careers and beyond college.”

In terms of decorating her future dorm, Bolanos-Teque wants to bring familiarity with items from home.

“I definitely want to bring my record player. I don’t know my exact vibe for my dorm yet,” Bolanos-Teque said. “But I’ll probably mount my record vinyls on the walls and put my field hockey stick up.”

Senior Daniel Janusz is attending the University of Nevada, Reno. Outside of school, Janusz is looking forward to exploring the surrounding area.

“I really like going exploring, and I know Reno has a lot of trails and places to go hiking, and you can go rafting down the Truckee River,” Janusz said. “Those are some of the wonderful things that I would want to do, and with all the freedom of being on my own, having my own car and having my own money, I would be able to explore freely.”

Despite the wave of emotions accompanying his move for college out-of-state, D’souza conveyed a sense of preparedness for a new change.

“I’ve grown up in California all my life. When I initially got in, I was super scared because I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to leave.’ I already had made friends here, and I thought it was going to be a long process making new friends,” D’souza said. “But then, over the past couple months, I’ve accepted it, and I’m like, ‘I have to go. There’s no point in being sad about it.’ I am excited to make new friends and excited for the independence away from my parents and everything.”

Janusz reflected on his time at SCHS and anticipates starting anew with a clean slate.

“In high school, everyone has a certain identity that follows you around, whether it’s based on rumors, or who you are as a person,” Janusz said. “College is an opportunity to move past that and start brand new. You’re able to make new friends and be the person you want to be in your eyes and not anyone else’s.”