Cole Rabe Ethan Waltimire

In early August, school had just started, and everything was new to him. Rocklin High School was just another school to Ethan, and just like all the other times that he moved schools, he hadn’t made any friends that stuck with him. To cure his boredom, he spent his days skating in his garage on his skate ramp.

However on one day as Ethan went to his garage to skate on the ramp, and practiced new tricks for hours he couldn’t believe his eyes. With the sound of wheels going past his house, his attention snagged on the group of guys skating by.

He had no idea that other people skated around here and thought this was his chance to make new friends. The group stared at him with interest, and Ethan stared right back at them. He watched them get farther down the street of his neighborhood until he could not see them anymore. Later that day, the image of the group of skaters kept showing up in his mind. He only wished that he could be a part of a group like that, wanted friends that would stick. The images in his mind were interrupted when he heard knocking at his door. He ignored it, hoping someone else in the house would answer the door. After about two minutes of loud knocking noises, he decided to just go answer it real quickly.

His phone screen lit up his face, and he read the words “San Diego State University.” His mind was now visualizing himself walking through the campus, which he had been dreaming of ever since visiting the campus. He could picture himself hanging out with his friends in his dorm, at the beach in one of the nicest cities in the U.S., while learning all about business administration. With a steadying breath, he became eager to read the email. He quickly tapped on the email to open it, and the moment he had been waiting for had finally come to him–he had been accepted to go to SDSU in the fall. A huge wave of happiness washed over him, and although he was able to manage to contain himself from letting out his excitement in the quiet classroom, the smile on his face remained. All he could think to do next was to tell everyone he knew, so he looked back down at his phone and began texting all his friends and family the news.

As he approached the door, he decided it would be safe to check who it was, so he put his eyes up to the peephole. His heart started to beat fast, realizing it was the group of skaters that he had seen earlier. Quickly pulling his eyes away from the hole, he collected himself before he opened the door. He put on a smile as he opened the door, and he immediately knew that these people would change his life.

Immediately after meeting, Ethan and his new friends would hang out and welcomed him into their group. From that moment on, they have been hanging out and skating almost every day.