Interview

I had the honors of interviewing my fellow classmate Jessica Dorantes. She was born in Vallejo before she came to Oxnard, where she has lived for the past 7 years. Her family is from New Mexico. She has one older brother and three younger sisters. Her motivation to attend college is to eventually make more money to support herself. She will also be the first to graduate from college in her family. She sees herself as a role model to her sister. Jessica describes herself as determined, honest, and outgoing. In 5/10 years, she sees herself being a nurse in the emergency department. She also see herself in her own house and married with two kids. Her motto for succeeding in school is "Hard work pays off."

National Champions!

It was April 4^th, 2010, a Saturday. It was the second day of three of the last dance competition of my high school life. The competition was known to us only as Nationals. It took place at the Anaheim Convention Center, and was a very big event to many schools around California, and even to some other states around the country. It had many different divisions of competition, from hip hop dancing to pep-flags to contemporary to military. Each division had its own subdivisions for team sizes, those being small, medium, or large. I was in two of the teams from Channel Islands, the all-male team and the co-ed team. Our co-ed team hadn’t won a Nationals title in eleven years as our rival school, Glendale, had won the title every single year, but this year, we would make sure that we’d be going home with the championship and the bragging rights over Glendale.

                The day started around 9 in the morning. I was one of the first ones awake in my hotel room, so I had took the measure of waking the guys up.

“Hey guys! Wake up! I yelled, “It’s already past 9 o’clock! Get up!” I opened the door connecting the two rooms we were in and yelled the same thing to the guys in the other room. I even threw pillows at those who didn’t budge, hoping that would get them up.

Soon, all the guys were awake, and were taking turns using the shower, and afterwards, dressing out into their uniforms… slowly. We had spent the whole previous day practicing our co-ed routine with all-female, from when we arrived in the morning until late at night. Everybody was exhausted, but we didn’t let the fatigue get to us, as we had a long day ahead of us. Whoever was ready brought whatever they needed down to the hotel lobby to wait for the ones who were still getting ready. Already dressed out and ready, I was one of the first ones down there and I waited for everyone else to come. I watched the elevators as our people came out of the elevators, group after group. The lobby was soon filled with our school: boys in teal dress shirts with a slim, black tie, suspenders, and black pants, and girls in matching teal dressed with black bows in their hair and around their waists. My coach was rushing the stragglers to come down so we could practice a bit more. There was still more to be done. As the last group of people got out of the elevator, everybody grabbed their stuff and followed our coach out of the doors of the hotel.

                Co-ed was the first performance we had. The all-male and all-female team decided to hold off their individual practices to work on co-ed, since we really needed it. It was about 11A.M as we left the hotel and headed for the convention center, which gave us a good hour or so to practice. There were already a lot of people all around the building. Spectators, performers, staff members… they were everywhere. We entered the main hall where we would be performing. The new members of the team gazed in awe as they saw the four huge bleachers that enclosed the large wooden dance floor we would be on quite soon. I, too, stared off, as this was my going to be my last time performing on that floor, which made me pretty emotional, but I didn’t let that affect me. After all the staring, I wandered to a vacant area and called my team over so we can start practicing. “Fall in!” our coach yelled to us, and everyone ran to their formations to begin practice.

From a distance, I could tell we stood out from everyone with our bright teal outfits. This was our first time trying our routine in our uniforms. It felt a lot different from just practice clothes, but we had to get used to it fast. I called my partner over so we can work on our partner work.  

“Xyleen!” I called to her, “Let’s practice the partner stuff and our lifts.”

“Okay then,” she replied as came to me and we worked on whatever we both needed to work on. “5, 6, 7, 8…” I counted off as we started to practice.

I needed all the time I had to get all the moves in my head. But as everyone tidied up on the routine, one of the staff members of the competition came to our coach and informed us that we were up in five or so performances. The whole schedule was moved up, which resulted in us performing a lot sooner than expected. We all stopped what we were doing at that moment and looked at our coach.

“Guys, we’re up soon! Fix your uniforms! Boys, pin your ties! Girls, make sure your hair doesn’t go in your face when you move and fix your bows!” We felt even more rushed than before. We put on any finishing touches we needed on everything, our uniforms, our routine, and ourselves.  

My heart was pounding with excitement. We were going to perform very soon. A staff member escorted our team and coach behind one of the bleachers for us to wait. I looked around as we were escorted and saw the bleachers filled with people. Just the sight of the crowd gave me a rush of adrenaline and I felt pumped.

As we got settled, all of us made a circle. Our coach started talking, giving us words of advice, “Okay guys, this is it! This is Nationals! We’ve worked so hard to be here. When you’re out on the floor, give it your all and have fun with it.” We all cheered for a short while before we crossed hands with each other and bowed our heads as our coach said a small prayer, “Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us here today. Please let us have a safe performance. Help us hit all our moves sharp and clean, help us do our lifts, help us entertain the crowd. Lord, help us by preventing any injuries during or after the performance. Lord, just help us have the performance of our lives.” He looked up at us and said one final thing, “Okay guys, just kill it out there!” We cheered once more before he said, “I love you, Lord!” and all of us responded back, “I love you, Lord!” followed by, “Amen!!” Then we all got up and started wishing good luck to each other.

 I felt like I was going to cry because it was all so emotional, but I held back my tears. It was no time for crying, it was time to dance my heart out on the dance floor. As our coach said his last words, we lined up at the edge of the dance floor in three straight lines and marched onto the floor. The loud screams of the crowd, the cheering, the clapping… those were the only sounds heard as we grouped up in our first formation in the middle of the floor.

Our captain yelled out the commands, “Dance team! A-ten-hut! A-ten-hut! Ready, set!” and we hit our poses, heads down, chin to chest.

"Ready, set!"

Showing how we're enjoying
the routine.

Cheers and screams roared throughout the building as we stood with our heads down. The music started playing, a lot louder than the cheering, “Caaaaaaaaan… anyboodyyyyy… fiiiind meeee…” and we responded by starting our choreography, our heads coming up in groups with each syllable of the words. A rush of energy surged through my body as I hit each move afterwards with as much energy as possible. I let the music flow through me and guide my body to the rhythm. It was an amazing feeling. I made many facials to correspond to the feeling of the music. I was in the zone. When it came to the partner work, I smiled big at my partner and she smiled back, looking into each other’s eyes as we danced in synchronized motion. The lift sequence was up, and I made sure I used all of my energy, knowing that my partner would too.

Our three minute routine seemed like an eternity. As we headed into our ending song, “Don’t Stop Believing,” the Glee version, the crowd cheered loudly and sang along to the song. We sang along as well, “Don’t stop… believin’! Hold onto that feelin’!” The whole team used up all of their remaining energy on this section. I smiled at the crowd, at the judges, at anybody who was watching, trying not to show any signs of fatigue.

The final seconds of the routine was coming to an end. “Don’t stop!” and the music ended. We hit our ending poses and just kept smiling. I was breathing heavily and I felt like I was going to collapse, but I pulled through. “Ready, up! 5, 6, 7, 8!” That was our queue to walk off the stage. The crowd erupted with cheer as we left the floor. We were done!

As we exited the dance floor, we all cheered and yelled with whatever energy we had left. What an amazing feeling that was. But suddenly, I fell to the floor, exhausted and wheezing for air and a few alumni came over to me and made me drink water to help me recover. I didn’t mind if I felt so exhausted. It was a great way to end the routine. The next few minutes were spent with alumni taking care of the other members, congratulating everyone, and a lot of random people from the audience coming down to say how great our routine looked. It was all so sudden, but it was all so good.

We had a long break until awards started. We all felt so good after that performance, but we were all really tired. Instead of spending all that time watching other performers, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted, as long as we weren’t alone. This made most of us glad and saw it as a chance to rest until awards. A few of us, including me, headed straight for our hotel rooms. Once inside, I took a quick shower, hopped in the bed, and took what seemed to be the best nap I ever had.

“Mark! Dude, wake up!” I heard faintly as I was being shaken awake by my friend, “The awards are almost up!”

                I quickly hopped out of bed as he said that. I didn’t realize I slept for so long. I gathered all my things in haste.  We then ran to the elevators and rushed out of the lobby, heading straight for the stadium for awards. I went through the rows of seats to the bottom of the stadium where the rest of the team was waiting. I joined them in the circle and we waited patiently for our co-ed division to be called.

The view of the stadium floor and of the many trophies.

                Division after division passed. There were so many that were being called. Cheers and claps echoed through the stadium. Eventually, our division came up, “And now, we start the medium Co-ed division.” We all huddled together, heads down, whispers heard, praying that we would get first. “We have in third place… Mira Mesa!” said the announcer, and we clapped for a brief moment before huddling together again. “And in second place… Glendale!” and as soon as that was said, the whole stadium seemed to gasp in surprise. It felt like the whole team had their hearts pounding as we clenched each other’s hands tighter, waiting for first place to be called. “Our first place and 2010 National champions are…” he paused as the crowd cheered “Channel Islands! Channel Islands!”

The whole stadium seemed to be cheering our name. It was so suspenseful. We looked up in the seats where our whole school was sitting and saw everyone in that section jumping up and cheering like they’ve never cheered before.

Then the announcer took one big breath and said, “Channel Islands!!” and the whole stadium erupted in cheers. Our team jumped up and yelled in excitement. It was amazing. Some cried in joy, others hugged and cheered. I cried in pure joy, as it was the best moment that ever happened. We all went up as a whole team to receive our medals and large trophy. We were National champions. We brought back the title to our school’s name and I was proud to dance under the name of Channel Islands.

                Our coach ran down from the seats to join and celebrate with us. He cried as we gathered around him, thanking him for all the hard work and he congratulated us on a well deserved win. He took a moment to get himself together before he spoke to us.

 “This wouldn’t have been possible without you wonderful group of kids! Thank you for all this, you guys!” We all had one big group hug as a team, our coach stuck in the middle of us holding the trophy up high, and we all cheered some more.

                This was truly an event that made me very proud. It made me realize that my love of dance evolved into a strong passion. I was glad to have been a part of Channel Islands’ dance teams. Without them, I would have never experienced this event, nor would I have become interested in dancing. I’m grateful to have stuck through the squads for all four years of my high school life as it helped change who I am today.

The whole co-ed team(wearing our all-male/all-female uniforms) with our medals, backpacks, banner, and trophy.

The team(in uniform!) plus our coaches at Channel Islands High.

Video of our performance. Enjoy!

Texting

Texting has become one of the biggest form of communication used today. It's a very useful way of contacting others when you are not in a place to talk aloud with a phone call. It's also a way to leave others messages when they don't pick up your phone call after a few times.

Now I'm always seen on my phone, endlessly texting friends non-stop throughout the day, I've also seen countless others doing the same as well. You can pretty much say that texting has become a really bad addiction to society. The worst of it all can be seen on the roads. Texting and driving is a HUGE problem as it can put other drivers at risk. A person texting while behind the wheel has to switch their focus between their phone and the road, which, of course, is very dangerous because anything could happen during that time that they take their eyes off the road. They are just an accident waiting to happen.

If you are one those people who can't wait until the car is parked to text someone, then do everyone a favor and just stay off the roads. Or you can just turn your phone off and leave it in your pocket or bag while you drive so you know you won't be distracting by the urge of texting. Either way, you would be saving yourself, and many others, from an accident.