A Champion's Race

 

Erik Gray's journals

#journalgems

written (and drawn) by Erik 2011

My Greatest Race

 

Erik Gray's journals

#journalgems

written by Erik 2011, a school paper

MY GREATEST RACE

People always seem to remember a ‘first’ in their lifetime, whether it was their first time riding a bike, their first time driving a car, their first day at school, or even their first kiss. Sometimes it’s a vague memory, and sometimes it’s crystal clear. Nonetheless, it is something that you will never forget. One thing that I remember very clearly is the day of my best 400 meter race.

It started out like any other day. I crawled out of bed like a sloth, dragged myself to school, and after a long school day, I headed to the bus for the meet. Throughout the bus ride, I was a little nervous for my race, but not as much as I soon would become. As the bus pulled into the Dixie High parking lot, I remember thinking, Dang! It’s hot! Our team headed to the shade and we all rested up for our races.

            “First call for the Varsity Boys 400 meter…” I faintly heard the announcer declare.  My race is after that, I thought, It’s coming closer! Knots filled my stomach; I felt as nervous as a cat in a cage of dogs! “First call: JV boys, 400 meter!” was what we all heard the announcer say. “Let’s go warm up!” I called to my friend who was also running the same race as I.

            Our warm-up happened speedily! While watching the varsity runners sprint their event, I thought: It’s right after this! I finished warming-up and headed for the starting line.

            After being assigned to our lanes, the official said, “On your marks!” I jumped once to loosen my legs one last time. I positioned my legs on the starting blocks and adjusted my hands. “Get set.” I was ready. I leaned my body. Boom! screamed the gun. I ran! I remember running next to my friend, who was a little ahead of me on the second of four stretches of the 400 meter track. As I round the third stretch, the curve, I passed my friend. I recall feeling very tired, but honestly- would I really stop at this point? No! I pushed and struggled to the finish line, coming in at third place. I felt as accomplished as I ever had before.

            I was very anxious to see my time, but after a LONG while of waiting, my dad went to converse with the officials of the meet. They explained: “We got behind on timing races, so we skipped the time of the JV boys 400!” You’ve got to be kidding me. I was furious! My best race, and there was no official time!

            I left to talk to my coach. He said, “After watching your race, Erik, it looks like you got about a 58 or 57!” (seconds, that is)

            “Yes!” I exclaimed. This time was better than my last race by about 4 seconds (I only ran the 400 meter twice during my freshman year). Even though it wasn’t as fast as the others on the team, it was good enough for me! I tried my best, and it showed in how the race turned out.

Student Body Vice President

 Erik Gray's journals
#journalgems
Written by Erik, May 2012

To  the future Student Body Vice-President- Tara!

First of all, congratulations! I’m glad that I can hand down my position to someone like you. You’ll do a great job. I know you already have been in the class before so you know how Student Gov works and kinda what the VP does, but I’ll just tell you about what I did this year:

·         Senate: It’s really important that you have good, reliable people on it so you’re not doing things yourself. In the past, we’ve just invited whoever wanted to be on Senate to come sign up in the office. This year I got a list of the people who ran for something but didn’t make it and invited them first. So that way I knew that they could be pretty reliable. And I think it worked out pretty good. I tried to get Senate to do a little more this year, but to be honest- it was really hard to find stuff… Student Gov took care of mostly everything! Ha, so you can do as little or as much as you want to.

·         Homecoming: Good ol’ Homecoming! This year, I was in charge of the tailgate party. I just made it real simple: food and face paint and a band, which wasn’t too hard. Other than that, just make sure you are willing to help everyone because you know just how stressful it can get.

·         Freedom Week: This whole week is up to you. I had a few activities during the week, and got some of my Freedom Academy friends and Mr. Esplin to speak. It turned out really good. I suggest that you start now and just brainstorm of who you want to speak, so you can let them know in time. We usually have it in February, but whenever works the best for you (we thought about having it in Nov during Veterans Day this year, but that didn’t happen).

 

VP doesn’t really have too much to do besides what I’ve already said. So make sure that you help Kayden out. Brady really appreciated it when I offered my help with even the simple things, and I think we did really well this year because we all worked together and helped each other out.

 

And remember that nothing is final, what you want to happen is entirely up to you. You can do the same things I did, or go to a whole new level. I’m excited to see what you guys do next year! If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask. Have fun with Student Gov and enjoy your senior year!

 

GOOD LUCK, TARA!  J

                                       Erik Gray

                                      559-2336

Junior Class President

Erik Gray's Journals

#journalgems

Written by Erik January 2011

A school paper writter by Erik in 2011

It has been said that the student government organization holds a high school together. This organization carries out service projects, gets other students involved in fun activities, and tries to make the school a better place. I am involved in student government; the position I hold is the Junior Class President. Being in this position has a lot of duties and responsibilities. Some of these include: helping the entire student government with the annual Homecoming week, planning the Junior Prom, and bringing the class together as we head toward our senior year. Along with these responsibilities, another one is that I need to be an example to those around me, because as a leader, everyone looks up to me, even if I don’t realize it.

Preparing and helping with Homecoming week was a lot of work. One thing I was in charge of was the decorations of a couple of halls inside the school. We (meaning my presidency and I) met together a couple weeks before and decided what we wanted our halls to look like. Next, we had to plan where the posters, streamers, and other decorations were going to be. Last, we made a lot of the posters beforehand to save ourselves time on the day everyone decorated the entire school. I felt like I had done a good job preparing, and when the day came to transform the school, things went very smoothly. Some of the time I was walking around, overseeing things. When I could, I was physically helping out everyone, and I was more than happy to do so.

Planning the Junior Prom is no simple task, but with the help of a presidency, it makes the planning significantly easier. It is great to help others, but also just as great to have people help me. I have found out that I need to surround myself with people that are like that, and that they will help me out if I ask for it. As the president, I am in charge of getting meetings together. I also need to take charge, oversee, and most importantly, delegate. Nobody can do some gigantic task by themselves, and I am no exception. I would not be very well off if I didn’t know how to delegate.

I decided at the beginning of the school year that I would try to get to know as many people in the class as I could. I have always admired the person who takes time out of their busy day to talk to someone and make that person feel good. There are two reasons that I believe this goal is good for me. The first reason is that I love to talk to people and to see how they are doing, what they are up to, and other things like that. The second reason is that I am sometimes afraid to talk to people I don’t really know, but this goal will give me the motivation to branch out. As a leader, it is important to make sure you are familiar with many people, and in turn, they will be familiar with you.

In conclusion, I believe that a leader must possess many important qualities. A leader must be prepared, be able to take charge, and also be able to delegate. When you are a leader, it means not only delegating to others, but delegating to yourself as well, and helping others out with their assignments. Speaking of help, a leader must be able to do this, even if it means giving up something smaller to help out a greater cause. A wise man once said that “a leader is one who leads by example.” This quote is true in more ways than one. A leader leads by example such as helping, showing kindness, and including everyone. While I may be in an important position right now, it doesn’t mean I’m the best person at possessing these qualities. I work hard and try, everyday, to be a leader and to follow the example of leaders that have served before me.