Jariah Cabantoy

When I entered High School It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. In fact, I didn't enter high school at all because of the pandemic. I thought it was cool to be starting high school but at home. Coming from 8th grade I was always on time, did my work/went to practice on time, and always tried my hardest. So I saw school at home as a little break for me. To where I could wake up whenever I wanted, do my work when I wanted. But during the pandemic you still had to be logged into google meets in order to be accounted for. Even if you did wake up and logged on the teachers didn't know and didn't really care if you were paying attention or not. If you did care, then they were there for the ones who wanted to learn. Of course I wasn't paying attention and my grades started to slip. Being a student-Athlete you need to keep your grades a C or higher in order to be passing and to play, So I did. Covid also showed me that I was not at all prepared to play sports. I lost all my confidence, my skills, and my conditioning. freshman year ended and seeing how it ended I didn't want that for my sophomore year. So I went to all the open gyms for my sports in order to get better. For my academics I choose to pay attention more and not slack off in order for my grades to be better. Being back in school is what really helped with that. my GPA went up, I had only one B in my report cards. For my sports though not so much. I went down a team for Volleyball but ended up getting a chance to play on a club team. It wasn't so great though. I was still not skilled or conditioned enough for basketball, I didn't make the team for Softball my freshman year so I tried out for sand volleyball but I wasn't too great at it. Sophomore year ends and again I go to all the open gyms working to get better. Junior year started and I started my 1st job. I wanted to keep my grades like my sophomore year. but every time I ended up with a C in my report cards which wasn't good for my GPA. For sports I did get better. I moved back up in Volleyball and my club team was a better experience. Basketball I got to play on varsity and jv, for sand volleyball instead of spot 5/not playing at all I got in spot 3 and went to always playing. Overall junior year was flipped compared to my sophomore year and it wasn't so easy with a job. I was tired, stressed, and wanted to give up, but I didn't want to let anyone down. I got to experience what it's like after high school, which I'm forever thankful for. Although I didn't want to go into senior year the way I ended my junior year. a couple weeks into school I was struggling. I didn't start off too strong which affected my grade for the first quarter so I stopped working after my one year mark. When I stopped it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. My grades got better and I could finally enjoy my senior year. I did though ended up taking 7 classes for my 2nd quarter but 2 are online. With that my grades are at A’s and just go down to B’s a couple of times. Which is a big success because it's what I wanted for my final year of academics in high school. For my last year of sports I made it on varsity for volleyball, for basketball my head coach actually wants me on his team. Which is a success for my sports. spring sports is to be determined.