Making new friends

Seeking out connections

Aidan Shelton

Art Director

Sprinting is truly the art of living in the moment. When you’re loading up into that block, waiting for that gun to go off, nothing else matters except for the next eleven seconds.

You’ve gotta prepare to give everything inside you, 100 percent, and then you’ll be done. You have to clear your mind completely.

Don’t think about friends, school or any stupid little thing that could distract you.

Nothing else matters. You enter a state of pure focus. Time slows to a standstill. A moment of hesitation is the difference between first and last.

There is no room for error. And that’s just how I like it.

Now that I’ve entered my senior year of track, I’m the veteran. From being a little freshman running a trial of fire against what felt like grown men at the time, to now being a senior competing for first place in the 100 meter dash.

The first meet of the season is not like other meets. It has a bunch of weird but fun events like a co-ed relay or a throwers relay.

This is to break the ice and start off with something light, but there are a couple of events that actually matter, notably the mile and the 100 meter dash.

For those who don’t know, the 100 meter dash is the shortest event you can run in track and is a measure of pure speed.

Personally, I don’t like running more than 30 seconds, so the 100 is all that matters to me.

As I’m getting ready for my race, I see one of the freshmen named Ohsoo Kwon getting ready as well; I can tell he’s nervous.

This isn’t anything special, the time right before a race is always nerve-wracking, so I talk to him and give him some advice. But I could tell there was something different.

This kid was a competitor. Not just with others, but with himself.

After the meet, I wanted to get to meet this kid and hear his story. I remember how much of an impact my upperclassmen friends had on me, and I feel like I could do a better job talking to underclassmen, so why not?

I decided to give it a shot and pulled him out of biology class.

Even just from the small talk about random hypothetical scenarios and so on, I could tell that he was driven.

His biggest fear in high school is to make a mistake that could actually affect his future.

“I’m just scared of doing something stupid like getting into a fight, even though I know I never would,” Kwon said.

His parents came from South Korea, and he was born in Kansas.

His brother, Oh-seung, also went to Arcata and ironically, I knew him as he was a senior when I was a freshman. The cycle continues.

Then I asked him why he chose to do track. His response proved my earlier thought right. He wanted a challenge.

He wanted a reason to improve himself and get better. This kid’s got that drive, and the power will come with time.

“I honestly wanted there to be people faster than me, so I could have something to work towards,” Kwon said.

I honestly wanted there to be people faster than me, so I could have something to work towards - Ohsoo Kwon

If I’ve learned one thing about track, it’s that what matters more than anything is the desire and determination to improve.

It’s a very independent sport, so you have to push yourself harder than anyone else pushes you.

There will always be someone faster than you, but if they don’t have that fire inside of you, they’ll eventually fade away.

I don’t think I fully realized that until after I talked to Ohsoo Kwon.

Everyday, we walk past people in the halls and don’t give them a second thought.

We go through our day to day lives either too scared or too self centered to reach out to someone new.

Every face and footstep around you in the hallways are living a life just as complex and chaotic as your own.

You can have a great impact on those around you.

You can learn from them and become a more complete person, and all it takes is the effort to reach out.