Before we get started I would like to introduce myself. My name
is David Bress and I am a junior at Gilroy High School. I have
lived in Gilroy my entire life and I have attended Gilroy public
schools since kindergarten.
Before we get started I would like to introduce myself. My name is David Bress and I am a junior at Gilroy High School. I have lived in Gilroy my entire life and I have attended Gilroy public schools since kindergarten.
I am sharing the high school column spot with my friend Chris Morsilli, and together we’ll be keeping you informed on what life is like in Mustang Country. Yes, that’s right, it’s all happening at Gilroy High. Except for junior high news, which, of course, happens at junior high.
Take one look at teenagers’ bedrooms and you would think that there is not much structure in their lives. Looks can be deceiving; students get into routines just like everyone else, and change can often be a hard pill to swallow.
Everyone by now has heard about all the construction work taking place on campus. A change of route to class is the least of our problems. With the relocation of snack bars, not to mention the rising prices, some students are feeling the effects of change where it matter most, in their stomachs. Where last year I went to the same place everyday with my dollar in hand to buy myself a pretzel, I finally found the snack bar on the other side of the campus only to discover that the price has gone up 25 percent. Does anyone have a quarter?
Midway through the renovations, the campus is in a peculiar state. It is neither Cinderella nor is it ready for the ball. Half the school is equipped with newly furnished rooms and clocks that really work, whereas the other half is rubble and surrounded by caution tape. Moreover many important rooms and buildings have been moved in order to accommodate the construction. The main office building, for example, is out of commission, and its duties have been taken over by a small portable near the staff parking lot. It took me a while to figure that one out.
Some rooms have been finished and they appear like a person who has undergone plastic surgery: looking a whole lot younger but with a huge hit to the district wallet. The students and staff appreciate these new accommodations.
All rooms now have a new PA system, which provides the morning announcements as a nice wake up call for those of us who aren’t yet awake. Although the walls aren’t exactly sound proof, they are a big improvement over the old walls, which forced students to listen not only to their own teacher’s lecture but also to the one being given by the teacher in the neighboring room.
Then there is the absence of the G-building, which seems to have totally disappeared, and, no doubt, has gotten many recorded phone calls from Vice Principal Manny Corzo about its truancy. Here’s something else new while we’re on the subject of Mr. Corzo, he has been given a bullhorn so he can get us all to class on time with a little less effort.
Another first at Gilroy High is the addition of security cameras all around the campus. The thought that someone could be watching us all the time is a little disconcerting, but I would like to know who stole my P.E. clothes. Maybe now I will find out.
For me the biggest change is that I am now an upperclassman. As one would expect, seniors are at the top; they rule the school and even get their choice of parking spots. Juniors and sophomores are somewhere beneath these big dogs. And then of course there are the freshmen. They face the biggest change of all. They were once royalty in junior high, and, well, this isn’t junior high anymore.
Signing off from Mustang Country.
