Senior Tribute Magazine | Issue 2 - Part 3 | May 2022 - Tonitrus & Flash Joint Production

EDITOR NOTESEDITOR NOTES

The Senior Tribute magazine highlights Rocklin High School (RHS) seniors undercovered in the school yearbook. This year’s Senior Tribute theme is focused on the “defining moments” of high school for RHS students. While RHS seniors haven’t had a “traditional” high school experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, the end of the 2021-2022 school year has finally brought back a sense of normalcy. With this, we encourage you to read their stories.

Jillian Andrew (pictured on cover)

Rocklin High School senior Jillian Andrew discussed the biggest challenge she faced throughout her time in high school. “Since middle school, everyone assumed I had an eating disorder because I’m skinny. People bullied me a lot. I wanted to gain weight, but it was hard and I was lazy. I felt like if I ate too much, my body wouldn’t be able to handle being over 100105 pounds,” said Andrew.

“I wouldn’t eat food that was sitting out or looked weird, and I would only eat food that I or my family got in the past 3 days. I went into a program at Kaiser, and I talked to a dietician and a therapist weekly. Over quarantine, I was eating more and gaining weight, and finally happy,” Andrew said. I remember this particular day, I was really happy with the amount of food I ate. I was like, “heck yeah, I ate all of this!”

CONTENTS

Acke, Austin 34

Adao, Marisa 52 Alfaro, Grace 52 Allin, Aidan 61 Andrew, Jillian Cover Andrews, Victoria 52 Azavedo, Alyssa 57 Baddley, Mariah 22 Bal, Jasleen 50 Baptista, Brooke 30 Barbieri, Ryan 50 Basle, Vincent 51 Blair, Logan 09 Blanco, Sidney 19 Botrous, Sandra 42 Boyd, Genevieve 47 Calia, Jacob 55 Carrillo, Emiah 29 Charles-Rambally, Meshack 36 Cissna, Tommy 06 Cissna, Tony 37 Clough, Kennedy 33 Cooke, Gavin 08 Cunningham, Sheyenne 33 Daley, Liam 10 Daniels, DJ 03 DeLaby, Julia 05 Domino, Alexander 17 Doran, Maddy 20 Dugarr, Brandon 13 Dunievitz, Mason 60 Dutt, Ronnit 21 Eaton, Madi 23 Eiras, Jordan 16 Ellis, Reece 38 Estonactoc, Niccolo 55 Fagan, Tristan 44 Fajardo, Audrey Joan 07 Finley, Hannah 40 Francis, Katie 41 Gad, Mary 47 Gamba, Connor 36 Garcia, Andrea 38 Garcia, Bella 11 Garcia, Bernardo 63 Ghazizadeh, Parastoo 51 Gilsdorf, Joshua 35 Gober, Gannon 43 Gonzalez, Camila 10 Goodman, Owen 61 Gould, Dylan 13 Green, John 35 Grenfell, Emma 28 Guter, Emily 35 Hawthorne, Maci 25 Hernandez, Aby 15 Higginbotham, Ethan 46 Hill, Nash 19 Hopkins, Hope 29 Huerta, Brycen 14 Ja, Isaac 37 Jain, Advik 14 Jeffra, Olivia 59 Johnsen, Rylee 59 Kapanen, Nina 26 Kinser, Everett 43 Laflaur, Ellie 20 Lamb, Jacob 17 Lanto, Lily Ann 47 Larson, Brandon 22 Le, Ryin 31

Lebedev, Vlad 45 Lee, Justin 09 Lee, Megan 38 Leiper, Sarah 48 Lennig, Parker 12 Lew, Mason 37 Lomeli, Sierra 43 Martinez, Priscila 49 Mason, Ryan 11 Mcdonald, Lauren 48 McKevitt, Reilly 24 Meyers, Kevin 62 Miller, Zachary 16 Moniz, Owen 54 Morales, Carlos 44 Najafi, Yasi 30 Paulson, Sydney 02 Pelly, Aloysius 23 Piacentini, Katie 56 Picart, Audrey 33 Pineda, Nyah 39 Pojda, Quinn 35 Pompa, Eva 05 Price, Riley 28 Purkiss, Hanna 46 Rakkar, Maneet 63 Ramirez-Flores, Malena 63 Rekers, Karson 31 Robertson, Marissa 32 Robinson, Dawson 17 Rodier, Lexie 41 Russo, Aidan 62 Ryu, Eric 27 Sadiq, Alisha 41 Salvotti, Seth 60 Samba, Tejan 15 Sanayev, Markel 55 Schaack, Jake 03 Schmidt, Margaret 21 Scott, Keke 56 Sieber, Ben 59 Singh, Arun 12 Smith, Adrineh 05 Smurthwaite, Carla 04 Staebler, Helaena 06 Stice, AJ 39 Swaleh, Zaynah 07 Szeremi, Taryn 02 Tew, Claire 57 Thomas, Jack 58 Tolentino, Zehavi 24 Torres, David 42 Tyukayeva, Leila 40 Vaishnav, Zankar 31 Vandre, Hunter 06 Varner, Elizabeth 49 Vasques, Hailey 26 Verma, Shayla 52 Vo, Jayden 36 Voelker, Paige 03 Watkins, Lorelei 49 Watts, Brian 19 Watts, Cheyanne 18 Weber, Kylee 10 Wells, Kayla 22 Wetteland, Becky 32 Wiebe, Austin 41 Witte, Zach 27 Wuelfing, Mary Kate 46 Ybarra, Nathaniel 08 Ziminske, Rohan 09

Taylor Aubry and Teagan Van Biber

NINA KAPANEN

“If You Stop Doing Something You Devote Your Identity To, You Are Not Any Less.”

Rocklin High senior, Nina Kapanen had her toughest time in high school during the Covid pandemic, along with her concussion and the disadvantages it comes with. Nina said, “I got a concussion in sophomore year, so that was a lot to handle. Before then, I was a straight A’s student, and taking harder classes, I was also dancing at the time, so going from that to after concussion and Covid, I had to drop everything, and that was a real big blow to my ego.”

Nina explained that she does have some experiences that she cannot get over yet, but she accepts them as part of what made her herself today. Nina said, “I feel like all the decisions I’ve made and all the things I have been through had helped me come to be the person I am, yes there are things that I was not happy with, but at the end of the day, I needed those experiences to get to where I am today.”

Nina explained that she does not have a specific favorite memory, but rather a combination of different aspect that makes her enjoy being at Rocklin High School. Nina said, “I feel like I don’t really have a specific memory to choose. I know that I really enjoy hanging out with my friends, but just like the vibe of this place and the excitement of knowing that we are closer to being an adult since we are highschoolers now. Just meeting all the people, the social aspect really sticks out to me.”

HAILEY VASQUES

Rocklin High School senior, Hailey Vasques, prizes her memory in meeting new people upon coming to Rocklin High School since she used to be more isolated. Hailey says, “My most prized memory would probably be starting to make new friends because I have always been a little lonely, and here I actually am able to make a supporting friendship.”

The Covid pandemic has definitely impacted Hailey in a few ways, the main one being her struggle to get back on track socially with people she once had a close relationship with. “For the entirety of Covid, I just spent it by myself, I didn’t really reach out. I had some strong relationships with others, but after that I just kind of let go. I wished I kind of reached out and connected more.”

Hailey stated a few of the songs that she believes best describes her high school experience. She further explains the connection between these songs and her high school career. “Brave as a Noun by AJJ, it tells how things are difficult but you just have to do it, or ‘Not Havin’ a Blast,’ it’s fun, but not super fun in a way, kind of like high school.”

...more about Zach Witte

Zach Witte is a hard-working, athletic senior at Rocklin High School. He is a lover of golf, works a lot, and plans to work over the summer to save for college. He is extremely smart with money; he invests in stock often and plans to attend college at Arizona State University. “I will say I manage my money a lot better,” Zach says, “because I witnessed how many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic.” Zach, like many went through a huge change during Covid. He explained that he lost some friends, but on the bright side he became closer to the friends he was close with. “Covid made it extremely difficult for me to socialize with my friends outside of class, mainly because everything in the world was closed. I grew much closer to the close friends I had and very far apart from friends I didn’t keep in close contact with.”

ZACH WITTE

...more about Eric Ryu

Eric Ryu, a Rocklin High School senior, revealed that there is a lot more to himself than one might think. Not only did he win water polo section champion ships, he also is extremely bright and hard-workin. He even plans on attending The University of Penn sylvania to become an attorney. “Definitely winning sections for water polo. It just felt really gratifying as a captain and a senior, and it felt like a great cul mination of four years of hard work and practice. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how tangible the tension was during the game and how excited our team was afterwards.” Eric also revealed how he was impact ed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He explains how it affected his extracurricular activities the most. But unlike most people, he didn’t fully resent it because it helped him learn how to hold himself accountable for his learning and actions. In terms of school, one of the biggest impacts of COVID was how it affected all my extracurricular activities. “Most of my clubs and sports were canceled, so I was really left in a position where I had a lot of extra time that I couldn’t even use to hang out with friends due to social distancing and the lockdowns. I don’t really resent it though. I think in the end, it really forced me to hold myself accountable for learning for myself and to search for opportunities on my own.”

Emma Grenfell

Emma Grenfell had a good high school experience. As always people have their ups and downs when it comes to school, but the little things were what mattered to Emma. She focused her senior year on having fun and not worrying about the small stuff. One of her favorite moments from high school was, “Getting up super early to get ready, meeting up with [her] friends, and skipping first period to have breakfast at Mel’s” for Se nior Sunrise. She said it was, “So surreal, and so exciting at the same time.” High school is full of memories, and routines. One of Emma’s routines was sitting in the car and listening to music with her friends. She did this be fore school and said, “it is the best start to every day and always boost ed our moods.” One piece of advice Emma would give is to not worry and stress about the smallest things. “I have forgotten what 95% of the things I stressed about were, and realized how little impact they had overall.”

Riley Price

Riley Price, has had a very memorable high school ex perience. Through the ups and downs of Covid, she still had many happy experiences she will never forget. One of her most memorable moments in high was when her niece Olivia was born, “She was born my junior year, and I already can’t imagine my life without her. She’s taught me responsibility and resilience which helped me through my college application process.” One of Riley’s toughest moments in high school was the college appli cation process. She said the application process wasn’t the hard part, but it was the waiting a couple months to find out where [she]was going to spend [her] next 4 years made [her] very anxious.” She said, “ I kept doubt ing myself. In the end it all worked out.” One thing Price will miss is relationships. She told us, “ I will definitely miss all the fun relationships I’ve made with my friends and teachers. I was lucky to have really good teachers throughout my four years and make really close friends.”

Emiah Carrillo Hope Hopkins

Emiah Carrillo, explains her many positive experiences in high school, along with the the rough side of it. She enjoyed her years here at Rocklin High School. “One thing I will miss about high school is all the fun activities the school provid ed for us like rallies.” Carrillo had a particularly good experi ence with one teacher, Mr. Murray. However, she also had a hard time with being able to find the drive to do well. “Even though he was hard on all his students, it was only because he was looking out for each and every one of us,” she says. “It showed me that if your teachers are hard on you, it doesn’t mean they don’t care. That changed my whole attitude to wards high school.” Although he helped her, she struggled at first. “The biggest challenge I faced in high school was adapting to what high school really was. I was not able to just sit in the back of a classroom and be able to pass, I had to ac tually put in effort and put in hard work unlike middle school.”

Hope Hopkins had many ups and downs during her time here at Rocklin High School. She loves Rocklin and all that comes with going to school here however she faced many challenges through her years. COVID was really hard for her. “I think it was just the separation from everybody from seeing everybody everyday and hanging out with friends to not being able to social ize and being alone,” she says. She also explains how COVID really shaped her. ““I think it was the day we went out of school for COVID because we all thought we would be back in 3 weeks and then everyone was like ‘Omg we get to have fun with our friends for 3 weeks’ and then reality hit and it was like ‘Oh we’re alone right now’” she explains. However, Hopkins had nothing but good things to say about the school. Her favorite part was… “Probably the way our school is and how it’s all inclusive…especially this year, all the senior events kept me going.”

SENIOR SPOTLIGHTSENIOR SPOTLIGHT

Brooke Baptista is a Rocklin High School senior that runs track and field. She is a league champion in several events, and track has helped her both in and out of the sport throughout high school. It is one of her favorite memories from high school. “My favorite part from my senior year has been being able to share mem ories with my friends and appreciate the last few months left at Rocklin. One of my favorite memories has been winning league in my events on the track team.” Being a senior, Brooke has also reflected on all of the life skills that RHS and track have given her. She has learned how to manage several different tasks at once, and make sure one does not get too overwhelming or she loses focus. “ A moment in high school that has shaped me I think is when I had to juggle sports, school, and work all at the same time. It challenged me to budget my time and pushed me to manage all those things on my own.”

Yasi Najafi

Rocklin High School Senior, Yasi

NajaFi loved spending the last few moments of high school with her friends. In an interview with her on April 27, she revealed that she thinks that the senior trip to Six Flags is truly one of the best moments of her life so far. Yasi said her favorite part of her last year of high school was “being with friends, having fun, and living the moment until we have to leave forever.” Yasi shared that a part of high school that is never really talked about is keeping your head up and balancing all of the crazy things go ing on in a teenager’s life. ”It is really hard to keep good mental health with school, work, going to the gym, hang ing out with friends, and keeping all of these in check during school is very hard.” said Yasi. She also had a hard time getting adapted to Freshman year at first. She said, “ Most of my friends from middle school that I was close with went to Whitney, whereas I wanted to go to Rocklin. Obviously, it was hard just because I didn’t know too many people at Rocklin, so it was definitely a challenge to meet new people.” Since then she has adapted to Rocklin High School and come to love her experiences and friends here. Overall she feels like each and every one of the RHS seniors are “All in This Together”, as Yasi said, that song from High School Musical best describes her high school experience.

Ryin Le

Ryin Le, a newer student to Rocklin High School said in an interview on May 10th that she moved here her junior year from Clovis in Fresno, California and that thai move helped her open up socially and connect with new people, and that she received a scholarship from Pacific union College in Napa, California for Volleyball. Ryin said “The move from Fresno opened me up more socially and helped me connect with new people and my friends.” She said it was very difficult for her to leave her childhood friends behind and that she still thinks of them and she knows they still think of her. Her song that describes her high school experience would be “More than my hometown” by Morgan Wallen because she knows “Rocklin is my hometown now, but I still have Fresno I can go back to.”

Zankar Vaishnav

Zankar Vaishnav is a newer student to Rocklin High School. In an interview with her on May 5th Zankar said that she moved here from San Diego two months before the pandemic, and that she has connected with many new people and she is going to miss seeing and going out with her friends everyday. Zankar said “I moved schools 2 months before the pandemic from San Diego so it was definitely hard adjusting in the middle of the school year.” She also said that during quaran tine she used all the free time she had to explore and learn many new things such as painting etc, and this allowed her to be more creative with her time. “I think the quarantine era definitely changed me as a person due to the amount of free time I had and the variety of skills I obtained. It also made me more creative with my time and I discovered things I really enjoyed such as painting and creating a variety of passion projects.” She also said that the song Dandelions by Ruth B, best describes her experience in high school.

Karson Rekers

Karson Rekers is a senior at Rocklin High school, and he has had a good high school experience. Looking back, a lot of his favor ite moments came from football games and hanging out with friends and teachers. Karson really enjoyed how he was able to be social and hangout with his friends at the school football games. He said he really enjoyed, “Go ing to football games and getting to be in the front and getting hype with everybody.” Kar son also enjoyed the social aspect of being at school and being able to talk to other people. One of his recommendations to high school students is to be social and find ways to hang out with others. He said one of his favorite things about high school is, “Being able to talk and hangout with some of the teachers and being able to have the freedom to do projects that I want to do.”

Marissa Robertson

Rocklin High senior, Marissa Robertson cares more about the con nections she makes more than anything. In an exclusive interview on May 6, she states that not only does she want to go to college and play softball but she also wants to go and study to be a occupa tional therapist. To her softball means more than just the game, she states that, “the thing I will miss the most is all the underclassmen on varsity and the bond we created.” Marissa has a kind heart towards everyone especially her family. In our interview she explains that one of her most defining moments of high school was to be able to get closer with her sister and drive her to school everyday. She got to to do this with her older sister and now was able to form and bigger connection with her younger sister. Her words for this were, “being able to drive her to school everyday to get closer with her and finding reliable friendships that I will keep for the rest of my life.” A big part of high school for Marissa was forming connections and she has learned more and more about it through years.

Becky Wetteland

Rocklin High School senior, Becky Wetteland shared a very exciting story. She explained how on every Friday night home game, she and her friends would go to football games and dress up to support the team. She believes this is a core memory because she got to show school spirit and have fun with friends.

She also shared another story, “When COVID-19 first started my friends and I went to an Air BNB in Aptos” She describes it as an unforgettable experience. She ex plained that they went to the beach all day and then would go back and have movie nights. This was a great experience for her as she got to spend a lot of time with her closest friends.

Bella Garcia

Rocklin High senior, Bella Garcia is a kind and com passionate person. In an exclusive interview on May 3rd Bella revealed that a big role in her life is softball. She plays for both this school and the Rebels. Bel la cares a lot about softball and it has become part of her. In out interveiw she states, “Moment in high school that changed me was playing varsity softball as a freshman because I was introduced to a higher level of the game.” Bella is also very hard working at every thing she does. Not just softball but basic life things too. Bella told me, “After high school I am looking forward to going through nursing school.” Bella wants to be able to live out her dream and go to school for something she has always wanted to do.

Audrey Picart Kennedy Clough

Rocklin High School senior, Audrey Picart was changed the day she got into a car accident. She talked about how after the accident her whole mindset changed, “Instead of being so stressed and worried about things, I realized that everything was going to be ok and that we only live life once.” She says how she has been affected ever since. She took away from the incident that you only live once. She realized that she wants to stop being so fearful moving forward.

Audrey told me, “One of my favorite memories from high school is driving around with friends blasting the speakers”, specifically the song, “Pump It” by the Black Eyed Peas. She really enjoyed these times with her friends.

Rocklin High Senior, Kennedy Clough shared with me what she will miss from high school and said,

“The main thing I think I’ll miss about high school are the really amazing people I’ve met throughout my four years here. I made so many connections that I know have made such a strong impact on my life

Kennedy also shared with me her favorite memories throughout high school she said “Looking back on my four years of high school I would have to say my favorite memory was my first football game. It was noth ing like I had experienced before and it was so fun to be apart of a student section with great energy.”

Sheyenne Cunningham

Rocklin High Senior, Sheyenne Cunningham will forever miss the feeling of Family and community we have here at Rocklin. She shared with me that her favorite memory from high school was “being on the sidelines during the Saint Mary’s playoff game at home. There were tons of mixed emotions on the field from the play ers, coaches, and parents and I just remember feeling their energy.”

Sheyenne also explained to me the main reason she will miss Rocklin high school she says, “The main thing I will miss from high school is the strong culture and community we have at Rocklin... There’s just so many special things we do at RHS that I will forever miss.”

HIGH SCHOOL

“My best moments were spending time and getting out of my comfort zone I used to be a very closed-off person due to my childhood. I was able to open up due to one of my closest friends, I wouldn’t go out to school events but then I pushed to attend more dances, games, rallies, etc. with the people closest to me. But I know that those moments and memories will be with me but when it’s all over and I know for sure the thing I’m going to miss the most is hanging out with my friends every day and seeing them. High school was stressful but there were good moments like the memories we shared as a class. I honestly wish that I was more open from the beginning about who I am as a person, if I could go back to change something it would be to show to myself and others that I did love to go out and put myself out there before and that I should’ve made more time for people but I let the fear of what others thought about me get in the way of putting myself out there. But now that I went through everything over the past four years and lived and experienced the changes around me and the changes about myself I’ve noticed I am not afraid anymore and that I should just go out and enjoy what life is. I’m excited about graduation but I also know that it’s going to be really hard and difficult to say goodbye knowing that the friendships I had all four years are going to be distant. It is all an unknown thing for me because i grew up with my friends and meeting people, especially knowing that I won’t see some of them for the rest of my life possible but it just going to be difficult to just say “see you later” to the people who helped make my high school experience better and worthwhile”

BLAST FROM THE PAST seniors share their best memories and experiences

AUSTIN ACKE

John Joshua Emily Quinn Green Gilsdorf Guter Pojda

“The main thing I will miss from HS is madame Arino as she was always there for me and other students and she’s an Around fun teacher. The moment that changed me had to have been the announce ment that said the school will be closed due to covid mainly because we were hearing about it all the time in world history when watching CNN 10 and seeing the effect it had on other countries, most of us also wanted a reason for the school to close down, we thought it was just gonna be a long spring break but we Didn’t know what would happen. My favorite memory had to have been freshman year hoco as it was my first semi-formal and 2nd dance I’ve been to so I knew what was gonna happen and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I also had Fergalicious memorized by then, I made a bet with a friend that I would sing the song word for word at the next dance and I very well proved that I could do it. which was fun.”

“My favorite high school year was probably freshman year, I had Mr. Kirks class just helped me remember freshman year to be one of the best classes i had. I didn’t really have a favorite memory in high school, we had the pandemic which I feel kind of took away from my high school experience. but since then the thing that stood out to me the most was how much I’ve changed as a per son, id say how I’ve changed as a person I felt was kind of a mixture of both good and bad I had my rocky moments but I’ve gotten better and I learned from it. I won’t miss much about Rocklin high school other than the peo ple and the friends that I’ve made along the way because i have a lot of friends here but i know that i wont see a lot of them because of where they plan to go to school.”

“My best high school mem ory Would probably be my freshman year in track and field I was running through the blackberry bushes up by Oakridge trying to chase a disc back because Ekman wouldn’t let us leave until we got it back. There was one realization that I had in my high school experience, it was during covid it helped me realize that I did not like being around so many people and how I just like to be indepen dent and drama-free. Since freshman year I feel like I’ve changed a lot as a person, I feel like freshman year I was too happy but right now I’m just going with the flow of life and just trying to get out of here. But High School wasn’t all bad I’m definitely going to miss the friendships because after high school they all stop and go their own separate ways.”

“I wasn’t always a big fan of high school, I hated school, but I remember when my friend Russell threw a chicken nugget and it exploded on the wall during lunch my sopho more year. I know that once I graduate and I move on with my life and as does every body else I’m going to miss my friends because I won’t get to see them every day and I won’t be able to do dumb stuff with them, I’m just over all going to miss my friends and my teachers. I’m excited to graduate to start a new chapter in my life and work toward the path I choose. School made it difficult to want to go every morning but my friends helped keep me motivated to see them every day, because not every day was boring it was al ways something drastically different that was happening within the group.”

In an interview on May 5th, Rocklin High senior, Meshack “Shaq” Charles-Ram bally reflected on his high school experience. He commented that one of his favorite memories was football gameday, the camaraderie, and the pre-game hype and speech that Coach Adams always gave. He explained, “I love the atmosphere of the whole team ready to go out there. Everyone has one goal and it doesn’t matter what beef we’ve had before in the past,” reminiscing that “We’re all accomplishing one goal tonight and how all the hard work we put in all sum mer, all the tears, the blood, the sweat, all that’s worth something. And it’s cool, walking behind the band and seeing your family in the stands, seeing people cheer for you. You can’t get that back”. He added that he also valued the bond between him and his friends and how shared experiences like a trip to Tahoe with them on his birthday showed “how close we are with each other and … how we can just be comfortable and do whatever we want”. Shaq also explained how his difficulties and challenges in his high school career have affected him and helped him to improve himself. He described himself in freshman year as not open to learning and not doing any work, and feeling resentful when people lectured him on that, but that, “Coach Adams or any of my teachers, they eventually got it through me that this is gonna be something later in life”. He continued, saying that this new mindset has motivated him to work harder and taught him that there’s always something to work on. Shaq added that an ACL tear and blowing out his knee this year devastated him as he was just assigned to be the starting corner on the team, but showed him how fast you can lose something and made him realize, “how hard I needed to work for it if I ever wanted that back again, so it just pushed me to work harder and be what you can while you still have it”. He mentioned that he regretted “not applying myself to things early” and learning to work harder earlier. On a final note, Shaq revealed some things he learned from high school, saying, “you always have your close friends, but the same people you know in high school aren’t going to be the same people who look out for you when you get out of high school. Also, have fun, don’t take things so seriously”.

Connor Gamba

Connor Gamba has been at RHS for 4 years now and is finally ready to take that next big step into college and adulthood. He explained that though he will miss his friends, he is mentally prepared to leave and head off to college. “I’m not really anxious about leaving, more so excited about it,” Connor said, “It’s just a different stage of life.” Despite the short time he had here at Rocklin High, Connor said, “I just don’t want to have regrets when I leave high school.” This encouraged him to stop shying away from activities or clubs and take the opportunity to be more involved. He has also treasured the friendships he has made here at RHS. One memory that he will cherish for a long time, was the opportunity to go to Six Flags with friends. He jumped at the chance to spend some more time with his friends because “it was an opportunity to hang out with friends right before the end.”

Connor Gamba, now at the end of this era, finds his most memorable moments in the Six Flags field trip with his friends, the last hurrah.

In an interview on April 29th, Rocklin High senior, Jayden Vo, reflected on his over all high school experience. He says that of his experiences, one of the most defin ing moments in his high school career was his first day in Weights. He reports that, “it really was eye opening, like, ‘Oh, I have to actually like work hard’”. He elaborat ed, explaining, “I guess it taught me I can’t just walk through high school... you have to actually put some effort into it, otherwise you’re not going to get the results you want”. He continued by reflecting on other memorable experiences, including a tie-dye shirt painting activity with his IT group following finals one year, a trip to Great America with his friends, and a field trip to a company’s data center. Jayden says that the thing he will miss most from high school is seeing everybody else, explaining that, “It’s a little eerie walking out of high school and being like ‘Oh, I’m not going to see that person for at least two years’”. When asked about his challenges and regrets, he responded that his toughest challenge was his physics class this year which was “not fun” because of the use of calculus in physics and the course being nearly self-taught. However, he added how this challenge helped him develop initiative and drive, saying, “It caused me to individually put myself forward because the work wasn’t required, it wasn’t something I had to do, so now I wasn’t just doing it for the sake of doing it. I was doing it to actually teach myself to learn something”. On a final note, he mentioned some of his regrets, wishing that he was more involved in sports and the school, but also bringing up some positive lessons he learned from his overall high school experience such as, “professional ism and maturity, you’re held responsible for a lot of things, especially going to your junior and senior year such as homework and being a certain meetings and things like that. So, you really have to take accountability for what you’re doing”.

Jayden Vo

Isaac Ja

“How ecstatic I was, and how the crowd was cheering us on,” were the words Isaac Ja, a senior on the Rocklin High School varsity track team, used to describe how he felt as he broke the school record during a track meet on the 6th of May. During an exclusive interview two days after that event, Isaac chats about the day he broke the school record for the 4x400 meter race and what he and his teammates had to do to break it, saying “We had been training the whole season, going to practice everyday” and that he would “come home exhausted from track but that was a good thing, and the only way to improve.” Isaac reflects on how this amazing accomplishment has helped him grow, changing his mentality: now he knows that if he has a goal, “It will always be possible to accomplish if you just put in the effort to do it.” He lists how this improved mentality helped him overcome his struggle of being underweight and the extreme relief of finally gaining permanent weight.

While Isaac was reflecting on his high school years, he thought about the im pact of his friends on his performance in school and as a person. He concluded, saying that “many of my friends have helped me grow as a person [...] they are there supporting me for who I am, and helping me with my schoolwork which really helped me grow as a person in general.”

Antony “Tony” Cissna

Antony “Tony” Cissna is a senior at Rocklin High School, whose friends know him by his loyalty and charisma. During an interview on the 4th of May, Tony, enthusiastic about his future once he graduates, reflected on his most memorable times at Rock lin High School, his first Quarry Bowl in his freshman year. What made it so memora ble was that he “went into the crowd not knowing anyone”; this initial disappointment didn’t last long after he found a few of his friends, who he then had a blast with.

Following this muse of nostalgia, Tony looks back at the community of Rocklin High School and why it was so special. He adds that “the big wave of blue and red across” indicated to him for the first time in high school that “everyone is just a community forming together and wanting to work towards a [common] goal.” He even goes on to say that it wasn’t about the game anymore and more about the collaboration to create such a show and the patriotism involved.

When asked about what he thought was special about his time, Tony talked about how, in addition to the RHS community he was part of, he had his own tight-knit community with which he stayed for most of high school. “Going through high school with a couple of my buddies” was “an honor” to have, especially since they stood with him “no matter what happened.” They helped him grow throughout his chap ter in RHS to shape him into the person he is, a loyal person who sticks to those he cares about.

Mason Lew, despite describing himself as a rather introverted person, is the vice president of the Asian Youth Leader Association, also known as AYLA, and the president of Thunder Esports, an esports program here on our campus. AYLA has planned several activities to support our Asian American community and Mason has been a huge part of AYLA as the club’s president. He posited that the reason for his activity in clubs is being able to push himself out of his comfort zone. “Taking up those leadership roles was definitely a challenge as I’ve found myself to be rather introverted and had to push myself out of my comfort zone,” Mason said, changing him for the better. Mason also talked about his involvement in Thunder Esports, and how in his sophomore year the entire Overwatch team, including himself, was “flew out to LA for esports and we won first place.” Thunder Es ports has also won several other national titles which would not have been possible without Mason’s leadership skills.

Reece Ellis, a senior at Rocklin High School, describes high school as a tru ly unbelievable experience. Although it wasn’t exactly as she’d dreamed it would be, it helped her become who she is as a person. “I was slightly dis appointed when I got to high school and it wasn’t exactly like The Breakfast Club,” said Reece, “but, nonetheless, it was still unbelievable. From the peo ple I’ve met, and the friends I’ve made, to the experiences that RHS has given me, it is a culmination of everything I love.”

Reece compares some of her best memories to her very own “cheesy” coming of age movie. She says her years at Rocklin High School have made her who she is. “It’s the mo ments before, after, and in between. The best memories are the ones you don’t expect. They aren’t forced or fake, you just get these moments in high school where you sit back and take it all in. They’re amazing and they make you feel like you’re in your own cheesy coming of age film. The getting ready for dances, and the football games, and the rally’s, and the teachers, and the rainy days, and the Friday shows; they all make you who you are.”

Senior at Rocklin High School, Andrea Garcia is simply an encouraging person. Garcia expressed how she was able to handle difficult situations within her high school years. Through tough times, she lets herself breathe and realizes that everything is okay. Allowing her to believe in herself, Garcia is inspiring. “One thing that helped me through it was to keep reminding myself not to take it too seriously. At the end of the day, I tried my best and that’s all one can do.” As well as being encouraging and optimistic, Garcia is also sweet and senti mental. Andrea will miss the ability to see her friends each day

The main thing Megan Lee will definitely miss from high school is seeing friends. She will see them sometimes during breaks, but they will not have a togetherness as often, that makes her sad. “ In my early HS years, I voluntarily locked myself in my room to “get good grades” when really I should have been hanging out while holding up my values.”

Also 1 of her most defining moments was a welcome back to dance in RHS. She cherished that moment more than she did before. “... made me become more extroverted and positive.”

No Regrets

Nyah

Pineda explains her regrets, and memorable experi ences the last four years. Nayah regrets not having a job, because she feels like the skills of having a job “Teaches you about having responsibilities”. She also explains an event way back to her freshman year, when she saw her sister walk into the senior rally, knowing that was her last moments of childhood. This opened Nyahs eyes into real izing how to cherish every moment because time flies by.

J Stice senior at Rocklin high school explains regrets and memorable ex periences the past four years. Explains how being introverted did not help, as well as trying to fit into a social pat tern and fitting in. AJ realized soon that it is ok to be yourself and express yourself through fashion and art. After a wrongful lie was uncovered AJ lost all of their friends, causing them to find new friends. This was memorable because they learned who their real friends were, and to express them selves and be themselves to the new

FINLEY

Kind and charismatic senior, Leila Tyukayeva, shares her fond memories of her time at RHS. She enjoyed going to school events and remembers her sophomore year particularly, when, “we won [the] quarry bowl at Whitney. That year Cameron Salerno voted us best student section because of how big it was. That night was so fun and probably my favorite storm yet.” To add to her senior spirit, she said, “I believe the class of 2022 is one of the best classes yet because of how close we all are.” She mentions she will miss the class of 2022 be cause it’s like, “having [a] giant built in friend group.” With graduating, comes regrets. Leila says, “I regret not slowing down and appreciating how much fun I was having. When people say it goes by fast it really does.” She also notes that she “cared way too much about things that [she] forgot about within a month.” If Leila could go back and change one thing, she said, “I’d just go back and tell myself that nothing is really as scary as it seems to be.” She also wishes she could tell herself (and others), “You are your worst critic. So give yourself some slack and be who you want to be and not just what the social standard is.”

Senior Hannah Finley shared the most memora ble moments that she’s had throughout her past four years at Rocklin High School. Hannah is a highly achieved soccer star who has played competitively for Placer United since she can remember. Her favorite memory from high school was “traveling and spending time with my team...because I built so many close friendships.” Hannah has learned countless life lessons that she will use after graduation, but the best thing she gained from her soccer career was the lifelong friendships and bonds that were formed. After reflecting on her high school experience and the countless struggles she came across, Hannah decided that distance learning was the toughest challenge that she faced. Hannah shared how much she,“...struggled to find motivation and make a schedule during virtual learning. Honestly, the only thing that I found worked was to make a strict regime to stick to, and even that didn’t completely work.” However, Hannah persevered and believes that she came out a better and more well rounded person.

Looking Back...

Lexie Rodier Austin Wiebe

Katie Francis Alisha Sadiq

Senior of Rocklin High School, Lexie Rodier has faced the hardships of COVID impacting her Ju nior year of high school. In an interview with her on April 29th, she had revealed that her classes became more chaotic. “It shaped me to be a more responsi ble individual. . . and I had to push my way through it.” Lexie has also shared that her favorite memory from throughout high school is when she and her friends went to the last dance of their sophomore year. “. . .it was a positive time I had spent with my friends where everything was nor mal and we just had a lot of fun enjoying ourselves.”

Sum It Up!

Rocklin High Senior, Austin Wiebe reflects on his last four years with many pos itive and bittersweet expe riences. He is awaiting his next steps in life after high school with anticipation. He mentions the down side of graduation by say ing, “I’ll miss maybe never ever seeing a lot of my high school friends as they will all be going on their own paths and careers.” Austin remembers that one of his best memories was preCOVID and how, “the in door rallies [were] different, in a good way, the atmo sphere [was] crazy fun and full of joy,” these rallies were not only fun but, “helped [him] connect to the class of 2022 as a whole.”

Senior Katie Francis shares that her favorite memory was, “taking day trips to Tahoe with my friends.” She conveyed how her friend ships in high school were very important, and that she will miss her friends the most after graduation. Katie had a very memorable high school experience, credit ing Mrs. Arino, saying that she “helped me grow the most not only as a student, but as a person as well.” Katie also learned that pop ularity didn’t matter, and as long as you have good friends, high school is a breeze. Katie also believes high school to be much more “chill” than one may think, and learned not to stress because everything

Senior, Alisha Sadiq of Rock lin High, says what changed her high school experience was the friends she made. In an interview on April 27th, Alisha shares that she “. . .got [her]self into the wrong crowd in sophomore year. But having a group where we can all go to the rallies and the dances is what made my high school year special.” Alisha now cher ishes the time she spends with her friends and takes every moment to heart. She says that her favorite mem ory was at school during lunch having fun with her friends. Alisha said that they would be “taking funny pan orama photos of each other and probably just playing old maid at lunch.”

Class

seniors recall their most treasured Rocklin High School memories

Lexie Rodier- Temporary Love by The Brinks

Alisha Sadiq- High Enough by K.Flay

Austin Wiebe- Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts

SANDRA BOTROUS

Rocklin High School senior, Sandra Botrous, has been in dance since her freshman year. At first she was nervous; however, she ended up really enjoying her experience with it. Mrs. Blankenship and her student directors “made the class so fun and enjoyable. Everyone was so nice and helped each other out.” Of course high school isn’t all fun, it was hard “keeping up with all of the work and studying.” Botrous managed to get through it by taking breaks and doing something she enjoyed before returning to school. COVID-19 also had an impact on seniors and by junior year, there were lots of changes to schedules. However, Botrous was able to adjust. Some advice Sandra offers everyone is to “take classes that interest you and study hard, but also have fun by joining clubs, sports, or activities.”

DAVID TORRES

If Torres could go back in time and change any moment of high school, he wouldn’t have procrastinated as much. Torres wished that he didn’t choose instant gratification over his work. He feels that if he hadn’t procrastinated, he might have been able to improve on other areas of his life. “I feel like I really didn’t try as hard as I would’ve liked to... all those times I chose instant gratification has led to nothing in the end. Actually doing the work would’ve left me with something and would’ve also improve other areas of my life. There’s not really a single moment that stands out for me that I’d want to change.” Instead of wanting to change a moment of high school, Torres desired to change a habit.

GANNON GOBER

Throughout Gannon’s four year of high school he says that there are so many life lessons and things he learned. One of the most important topics he was able to learn about was himself. “There have been a couple of rocky years while at Rocklin, especially during my junior year. It allowed me to think more about myself and my family.” After coming back from distance learning and quarantine, Gober experienced one of his favorite memories. Gober and his friends all realized how they have grown as people.

EVERETT KINSER

Everett Kinser, a senior who enjoys music at Rocklin High School, has been shaped and inspired by different things throughout his four years. During freshman year, his english teacher gave him a different perspective on assignments and homework. He told him to “take it lightly. He never allowed me to stress over my homework. He made it a less stressful environment for me.” This advise improved Kinser’s work methods in school. Furthermore, a math teacher his sophomore year was able to help him improve his math skills. More than teachers, Music also shaped Kinser. Music “allows [him] to have a goal in life. Something [he] strives for.” His sister was big into pop and inspired him to do music. Kinser’s passion for music has been growing ever since he started freshman year. Music is something he will always enjoy.

SIERRA LOMELI

Sierra Lomeli says that she has many memories that she is grateful to have been able to expirence. One of her favorite memories was when she went with her friends, Marli Hutak and Sam Eckenburg, and had a day full of adventures doing everything they possibly could. They biked through all of Rocklin, swam in a pond, watched the sunset, and much more. Another one of Lomeli’s favorite moments was when she went to the Yosemite with Karson Rekers. Lomeli says that they, “spent four days camping on the Merced river over Spring break. We drove into Yosemite for two days and hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls.” She loved going on this trip because she was able to do what she loves while being outdoors.