Roxana Secas, Class of 2012

Hey guys!

My name is Roxanna Secas, and I was part of the awesomeness that was the class of 2012 (best class to graduate HGHS, btw)! I am currently an English major on the creative writing track at the University of Central Florida. After I graduate, I hope to become a book publisher. And, hopefully, get some of my own work published too.

Like most people in my class, I started off my journey in college through Miami-Dade College. I took the opportunity that Miami Dade was offering: to pay my entire tuition for my first two years of college. Along with the scholarships I received from working hard in high school, I was also able to get money back from financial aid, which served as a resource for books and other college expenses. After a year at Miami Dade College, I realized that by taking all the dual enrollment classes that I had taken in high school along with the summer classes I had taken at Miami Dade, I only had one semester left before I could transfer to my dream school: UCF. So, the gears in my head started turning and, with the help of my wonderful parents, I decided to move out to Orlando, transfer to Valencia, finish my AA there, and transfer to UCF.

The real fun began when I first moved and I had to get a job to help pay for my rent. Although mommy and daddy were helping me out, there were just some things they couldn’t do. So, there I was, living alone for the first time ever, balancing my last 6 classes for my AA, and dealing with my first job. I barely had time to catch my breath! However, my hard work paid off, because in the spring of 2014, I started my first semester at my dream school, which is the biggest success I’ve had. I’ve started writing more and more stories, which I hope I can come back soon and tell you all that they’ve been published! I work for a before and after care program in an elementary school, watching kindergarten children, as well as babysitting on the weekends.

Now, I’m going on to my third year in college, while being one of the first students in my class to have her AA in the fall of 2013 instead of at the end of the spring of 2014, and about to get promoted at work (fingers crossed)!

I’m sure most of you have heard it before, but living on your own really does give you a different perspective on life. I’ve come to realize all the things I can do, (like cooking, I can probably make pasta a hundred different ways!) as long as I work hard and believe in myself. That’s the biggest thing I probably won’t be able to stress enough: BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES. No matter what anyone will tell you, no matter the people who doubt your abilities, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. You can do it. Change is hard; I know it is. I used to sit in that very desk you’re sitting, thinking to myself, “I don’t want to go to college, it’s not like high school, it’s going to be weird and hard and I’m not going to be good at it,” but you can do it! Life is about changes, and everything changes. DO NOT FEAR CHANGE. Change is good. Life is good! Enjoy yourselves. Be happy. Work hard. The best things in life aren’t handed to you on a silver platter; you’ve got to work hard to buy the silver platter.

The next thing to tackle on starting in the fall is my savings account for future travels, as well as joining a couple of clubs at UCF; all while still juggling my 4 classes, working at my job, AND babysitting on the weekends. As the great Augustus Waters would say, “I’m on a rollercoaster that only goes up, my friend!”

If you need/want any more advice on moving and tips about college and such, don’t be afraid to message me!

Good luck!

Roxanna Secas

Amanda Trompeta, Class of 2012

Hi everyone!

My name is Amanda Trompeta and I was a part of the amazing class of 2012. I’ve been meaning to put together this update for a while, but as many of you will soon see in college you have less free time then you did in high school, A LOT LESS free time! Mainly because graduating isn’t just about the next step in your life it’s also about growing up and learning even more about yourself.

I had the wonderful opportunity to be accepted into my first choice college the University of Central Florida. Not only was I accepted but about 90% of it was covered through scholarships that I earned through my hard work in high school. I was one of the few students of my class who “went away” to college and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. It’s kind of corny but you really do find yourself. Especially when you’ve gotten yourself in sticky situations, like the one time I couldn’t find my car in the parking lot for 3 hours straight hours, it was past midnight and I was all alone. You start to learn how you react to difficult situations when no one else is around to help and how you work under pressure.

To summarize: Throughout the majority of college you will find yourself juggling a million things and trying not to drop any of the balls. I once heard someone say that you can’t have all 3 things in college “good grades, healthy social life and sleep.” Unfortunately, I am going into my third year now at UCF and that is very very true. As far as the course work itself, I really do feel like the reason I wasn’t pulling out my hair the first semester was because I never slacked off in high school (yes not even in my senior year haha thanks Dr. Louis!). I kept a decent study pace and that stayed with me when I first started college. That is why having some honor classes, AP, dual enrollment and/or whatever else is around today is so helpful.

As far as me, I am currently a Biology major on a Pre-Vet track and I will be applying to the only veterinary school in Florida (UF) within a year as well as some other out of state schools (I’m super nervous)! I finally got hired as an Animal Technician at one of the nicest hospitals in Oviedo and I’m getting a lot of one on one training in the vet field. I also have been interning with the extraordinary Dr. Randolph for over a year now and been learning everything from how to treat a cougar at the local wildlife sanctuary to how to spay an animal in under five minutes (the average is about 20 minutes). I seriously hope one day I can be as amazing as she is at surgeries.

Also, something that I’ve always been passionate about besides curing animals is SAVING them! For example, you’d be surprise how many kittens are put to sleep every day in every county you can think of, especially in the summer! After I moved into my own place I started testing the waters with fostering kittens (I had never been able before because my mom would have never had that lol). Now I can proudly say I’m addicted for life. I’ve personally fostered up to 15 kittens and 3 adult cats that were all on death row. It was while I was doing this and volunteering at the local kill shelter that I got inspired to look for people like me. So I started a whole new organization on campus called “Don’t Shop, Adopt” and in two semesters we’ve grown from 10 members to 103! Not to mention that as a club we’ve saved over 50 animals in two semesters, something I could have never done by myself.

If there is one thing that I have regretted is the fact that I haven’t been able to travel as much as I would like to because of work and my summer classes. Nonetheless, that’s the beautiful thing about being in control of your future. You get to say “No! I WILL travel to _______ location by ______ date.” I already started saving up and next summer I’m planning on going to Bali for 2 weeks to volunteer at an animal sanctuary and explore the countryside.

If you’re interested in doing something similar feel free to email me or even if you have any questions about UCF or college itself, feel free to message me. :D

Best wishes,

Amanda Trompeta

Natalie Obregon, Class of 2012

A note from a fellow GladiGator:

Hello Everyone! My name is Natalie Obregon. As a disclaimer, Class of 2012 HGHS was and will indeed always be the best. No doubt. Now, let’s get to the good stuff.
As of right now, I am in my third year of college at the University of Florida. I am studying Animal Science and I am currently on the Pre-Vet track (subject to change, but still same field). I LOVE animals. Obviously. But as I have come to find out about myself here in college is that I love animals AND people together. So that has opened up my heart and my mind to endless opportunities in my college experience.

Let me start of by answering some questions for prospective college students (which should be all of you): yes, it most definitely is okay to have multiple passions. Yes, it’s okay to be confused about what you want to amount to in your life. And it definitely IS okay to be a little (or very!) lost and confused upon getting to college. If you don’t feel overwhelmed as soon as you get to college then either you have it made or you’re not doing college right. Let’s be real, the second case is probably the real one.
I want you to understand that I really mean the aforementioned things. You get to college and truth may be, you don’t know where you belong. All I can say is, give it time and take opportunities given to you. That’s it. It’s that cliché and simple, trust me.
Leaving my home in Hialeah to move to Gainesville for college was written in the stars for me, I just know it. I think to how different my life could have been even now if I would have lived with my parents just a little bit more time and spent just a little longer under their roof. But coming to college, it really hit home (no pun intended) how much growing up sucks and just how fantastic it is all at once. Freedom is something we all yearn for. Some maybe more than others (me included), but we all thrive on the idea of following our dreams. And we should feed into that passion.

Looking back at these past three summers and the semesters in between at UF, man oh man have I been challenged. Academically, physically and most definitely emotionally. And guess what? I don’t regret a single thing and I wouldn’t take back a single day. I was so damn close to going back to South Florida when I realized that I might have to pay for my education through loans and that was so hard for me. Most of us on this blog know what it’s like to face financial hardships. We know it because we’ve grown up seeing our guardians, our incredible parental figures juggling putting us through grade school and sending us to college to become “The Future” along with working like dogs day in and day out. Long story short, I stayed at UF and was granted the scholarship that made me believe that things do happen for a reason. That I was meant to be there, experience crappy dorms and stale meal plan foods and bad and awesome roommates with no experience with Latinas. A First Generation student, like me, could not give up the dream of going to such an incredible academic institution.

Because of this scholarship that I earned through my academic achievements and the Hispanic background that I am incredibly proud to have, I have been granted the opportunity to grow here in college. Just this Spring Break I traveled to Nicaragua with a group of incredibly altruistic and compassionate girls on a Marine Conservation Trip through an organization I found out about on campus. I had gone to Nicaragua before to visit family but I had never seen it like this. And they were taken back by the way that some families lived so poorly, below their means. Needless to say, gratification overcame them and me on this amazing trip we were so fortunate to take.

Like these wonderful ladies I met through this trip, I have met fantastic, lifetime friends because I took the risk to put myself out there and meet others different from me. Hence why college is so great!
High school was a little bit like the nagging our parents give us for years, about things that we just can’t understand and advice we just cannot grasp because we haven’t gone through hardships that test our character. College and growing up is the wise Grandma that knows better than to say “I told you so.” Even though she told you so.
What I am trying to say is, expect to be incredibly shocked some days when your 6.7 GPA (is that even possible?) in high school seems like a joke when you take a class in college and realize that your exams aren’t as straightforward as you remembered them being. Failure is expected. Failure is good. Trust me. And whatever you do, you don’t give up on your dreams. You owe it to yourself, just like I owed it to myself to flourish.

Keep that chin up, kid.