Senior to

Freshman
advice
Mackenzie Latona

High School is just like a play during a Volleyball

Game
High school is just like a play during volleyball. First it starts with
a serve, this means that you're getting the game going (school
year). Second comes the pass (sophomore year), you keep
working during the year to continue the process that you
started the year before. Third comes the set (Junior year), this is
the most important part of the play (you're the playmaker, you
decide how the rest of the play goes) because you decide how
the game (year) goes. Finally the kill (Senior), this is the last part
of the play (last year of high school) you're at the last part and
you are so anxious for the play to be over, but you still have to
practice and play hard to get what you want, the win!
(Graduate/Go to college)

Heres a little background info on me

My name is Mackenzie Latona, I am 17 years old and I am a
senior at El Capitan High School. My freshman year I was at
Merced High, and I loved it. I thought that this was to easy, I
can do whatever I wanted when it came to school. I wish that
I knew how bad it would affect me class wise. When it came
to my sophomore year I pulled my act together and had to
work twice as hard to bring my grades up and keep them up.
Junior year was probably the hardest year for me, I was
playing varsity volleyball at the time and had to balance
school, sports and a part time job. Senior year came and Im
thinking I cant wait to graduate! High school isnt just school,
school and more school. Its an amazing opportunity for you
find who you really are and for you to make memories. High
school teaches you how to balance all these things.

Importance of High School

High school is more important than most of you
may think. High school will help you determine
who you are, youll make memories and friends
that youll never forget. The biggest thing that
high school does it determines what college you
will go to. If you do excellent in your classes then
youll probably end up going to a 4 year university
right out of high school, and if you kinda slack and
dont really care then youll end up at a JC (Junior
College) or not even go to any college. So again,
please take it seriously.

Helpful hints/tips

Ask teachers for help

Make friends with Liaisons
Take advantage of tutorials and Redo Retakes
Join a club
Play a sport
Ask about community service opportunities
Ask about Link as a sophomore so you can help incoming freshmen
Dont miss much school
Make regular trips to your Counselor

Mr. Abarca, Mrs. Ruiz, Mr. Fuentes and Mrs. Evans

HAVE FUN AND MAKE MEMORIES

Dont let outside issues affect your performance in school

Freshmen Year
The biggest piece of advice that I can give you and I
hope you take it is to NOT SLACK OFF WHEN IT
COMES TO GRADES. Your grades will be your best
friend or your worst nightmare. Make sure that you
do all of your homework and turn it in on time. Take
advantage of the Redo Retake policy that El Cap has.
If you need help with any of your classes go ask
teachers for extra help or go to tutoring sessions.
Because believe me, if I could go back to my
freshman year and changed the way I looked at
school and my work ethic, I would. So please take
school and your grades seriously.

Sophomore Year
You now have an idea of what high school is, you
understand how El Cap runs things. This year
you will take the SBAC (replaced the CAHSEE)
and the pSAT. Make friend and find where you
will fit in at ECHS. Again, make good grades and
keep good grades. Maintain a good group of
friends who have the same mindset as you and
will help you get to the point where you want to
be.

Junior Year
Oh man, this year is fun! You will have to
take the SAT and the ACT as part of
college application requirements. What
does this mean? This means you get good
grades and form good study habits. Now
some of you might not want to go to
college, some of you want to go into the
Military, which is another great option.
You will be taking the ASVAB test. Just
because you want to join the Military, you
still need to perform good in school.

SENIOR YEAR
Congratulations! You survived high school, but,
you're not quite done yet. You still have to work
hard in your American Government/Economic
and English classes. This is the year when you start
applying for colleges, scholarships and your
FAFSA. (Apply to as many scholarships you can)
This is also the year when you have your senior
interviews and senior debates, if you do not do
good in this interview or debate it could affect
your graduation status. Again, keep your grades
up.

Dont know what to do after high school?

There is many options as to what you can do after high school, for example there is:

College whether its a CSU, UC, JC or vocational school

Military

CSU Stanislaus, UC Berkeley, Modesto JC, Milian Institute of Cosmetology

Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Army and Marines

Work right after high school

Waitress, Truck Driver, Receptionist

Study abroad

Thailand, Japan, France

etc.

My future aspirations
After I realized what I wanted to do in life it made my life
after high school easier. After I graduate from El Capitan I
will attend Merced Junior College where I plan on
majoring into Nursing. I will be begin and finish my
prerequisites for me general education while working on
the prerequisites that I will need for my major. After my
time at the JC is over I will transfer to Fresno State or CSU
Stanislaus where I will in enroll in the Nursing program.
When I graduate from either of those Nursing programs I
plan on moving down South to start my work. I want to be
a nurse because I love to take care of people and I want to
be able see people go from being sick to being healthy.

Personal Goals
Some personal goals of mine are:

Get married
Travel the world

Go on a mission trip

Rome, Italy, Ireland, Fiji

Mexico, Thailand, Hawaii

Have a family

Reflection...
The last four years have full of happiness, stress,
sadness, anger and so many more emotions. My four
years have been some of the best years of my life.
For the most part I have loved every second of it. I
was apart of an athletic team since my Freshmen
year, if you couldnt already tell. I have made so
many great memories and friends that I will never
forget, but I have also lost friends. Granted most of
the memories that I have are because of Volleyball
but that just goes to show how important it is to be
involved. High school is the place where most of you
will mature, others will not mature until college,
maybe. Nevertheless it is very important to just be
true to yourself.

Inspiration
30 years from now
it wont matter
what shoes you wore
How your hair looked
or the jeans you bought
What will matter is what you
LEARNED
And how you used it.
- Unknown