I am thankful for OH and my family bringing me here. My four years here have been amazing. I’ve made friendships with people I would have never met, and it’s such an accomplishment, especially coming from out-of-district.
When I started my journey at OHS, I used to live an hour away from Oswego in a town called Cicero. I moved out here for a better education as well as to be closer to my family. But the downside I faced was that I knew literally no one here.
I was a freshman in high school, figuring out this new journey and way of learning. While I took on that struggle, it was hard for me to find friends. But in engineering, a class that piqued my interest, I began to find my way.
Engineering felt like home when I walked into class. Ryan Pentizen, the teacher of the class, was welcoming and goofy, always made class fun, and that helped.
While taking the classes, I made friends along the way, and it gave me people to connect with and it really helped me out.
Each year, I took one of his classes and I developed my passion. This was all due to one teacher who not only assisted me in discovering my passion but also made the class engaging and enjoyable.
As I got comfortable with the classes, I took the final engineering class. The class consists of a hands-on project that takes the whole year to research, plan, design, and then prototype.
Engineering captured a spot in my heart, and now I plan to go to Iowa State University for aerospace engineering. I wouldn’t be here today without the courage I built over the years with my friends I made in those classes, and I am forever thankful for them.
The advice I will give my fellow students is to find a passion and do something you dream of. When when you do that, talk to people. It helps to find friends you have something in common with. In my case, it was engineering.
I will personally continue to take this advice to help me in my journey in college, it will help me overcome all of my struggles.
I'm Enzo Elia and I really enjoy video games and talking about many topics. this is my first year on staff, I'm a senior. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
