Ernesto

Ernesto

What is the lesson that has taken you the longest to learn?

The lesson that has taken me the longest to learn is to finish my homework when I have to. I believe education is important to me, but sometimes I forget to do my homework. Education is important to me because I would like a job that I can be proud of.

Robert W. Clark

Robert W. Clark

Question: What is the most difficult choice you had to make to fulfill your destiny?

I don't really believe in fate or destiny, because I think we have the freedom to make our own choices. I'm always amazed though when I think of how seemingly minor choices I have made at the time have impacted my future. Teaching wasn't even on my radar until about junior year of college. It was actually a fallback plan because I thought to myself "I loved high school and I'm pretty good at math."   My dad's unexpected death shortly before I graduated college rocked my world and I decided to move back home to be near family. But I was not really excited to start teaching. I hated my first 2 years of it (at a different school), so I made a difficult decision to try to find a new job, knowing that I don't adapt to change well. This was when I found Veritas. I struggled to fit in my first year or two here and I still had no real passion for the job. But gradually I decided I needed to change the way I thought about teaching. Probably most importantly, I started to show my personality more and I looked for little things in each day that made me smile (on the inside of course). With more and more experience too, I felt like I was more organized and effective at teaching. As a result, Veritas became a 2nd home and the place where I feel like I'm happiest and at my best.  If I hadn't made all of those choices along the way, I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing. If this is all because of destiny, then I'm thankful for each person along the way who helps me feel like I'm fulfilling it every day. → "If you can't change something, then change the way you think about it."

Ivy

"What is the secret to a happy life?" 

"I think...the secret to a happy life is being grateful. I think it's gratefulness because when you are grateful for things, you take every little moment, and you make it into something special. Because you don't take things for granted, and every moment, you cherish into something special."

Jasmine

What is the secret to a happy life?

“You have to be open with others and keep your character, because it is who you are with everybody...Be open to different opportunities, even if that means going for a challenge and exceeding expectations. Meeting new people can connect you to different types of people. Spending time with family and close friends creates the best memories and they’re the people that I would go for if I need anything to talk about…  I like to spend my time, distracting myself with sports that I’m in. Like I did volleyball and doing track right now… I also like staying healthy because it makes me enjoy life without worrying about my health. Thinking in present time helps you concentrate better and it’s more important than thinking about the future because you don’t want to spend your whole life worrying about those things that could happen later on… Being there for others is very important for me. In general being a good person and going for the things that I want to be or places I want to go assures me that I’m doing well.”

Alyandra

What is your biggest regret? 

Not trying my hardest in school, and not putting the effort that I knew I could.

What would you do different? 

Studying more, asking more questions, not being so quiet.

In the end, I learned to not procrastinate with my work.

Ariana

She said that the lesson that has taken her longest to learn is forgiveness. To her forgiveness is everything, but once the trust is gone it is very hard for her to regain it. She feels like forgiving and forgetting is very hard because you lost the trust of that person. 

Nancy

What role does our experience(s) play in our everyday lives?

   Our experiences play a role in our everyday lives by having an impact in the way that we think about things, especially in tough situations. 

Do you think our experiences define us and/or make us who we are?

   I think it does because if you were in a bad situation and you didn't know what to do, your experiences from the past can determine how you will react now and will react in the future. 

Like, say you got in a car accident. Your first instinct would be to either call the police and help the person along with yourself, or you could run away. Whatever decision you make in that moment came from your past experiences, and will now play a role in who you will be in the future.

Rosa

What is your definition of love?

“Doing something that you normally wouldn't do for someone that you care about, also going out of your way no matter what you are doing or going on in your life, to do something for someone special in your life. Caring for someone whether they make really stupid decisions or not."

What advice would you give your younger self?

“To take advantage of the opportunities given to me. To not let irrelevant people get in the way of life or education. To not procrastinate or be lazy. Speaking up when I believe something should be heard instead of keeping it inside.”

What do you know for sure?

“Ready to graduate and get out of here. I know who's loyal to me and our friendship. I know I didn't want to do this but I helped him for a grade, and I know for sure that I am done."

Ramiro

What is the purpose of life? 

The purpose of the human experience is to make good use of the life you have, to better yourself, to make your parents proud, your future generations in a good spot and leave your mark. 

What is your definition of love? 

My definition of love is when you can see yourself trusting someone for a life time without ever doubting in them and still getting butterflies every time you see them.

Mariah

What sound or noise do you love?

Silence. I have really sensitive ears and it annoys me how everyone is really loud for no reason. I like to be alone looking at the ceiling in my room, thinking about life, being in my own comfort zone because I'm not used to being around people who are really loud because that's not my vibe. I used to hate the silence but over the years I've changed and I actually prefer it.

Kaylee

What is the lesson it’s taken you the longest to learn? 

The lessons that took me the longest to know is boundaries. It's difficult to set boundaries from people when they mean so much, but for the sake of your sanity, you need to learn how to set them. It's a lesson I'm still learning, and it'll probably take years to master the art of setting and respecting boundaries.

Emily

What is your definition of love?

I feel the presence of love when someone cares for you and shows you all of their attention. That person will do anything/everything for you and tells you every day that you mean the world to them. Love isn’t someone who tears you down for everything you do wrong or someone who doesn’t support you through everything you’re trying to do. Love is risk-taking and yes, some people don’t believe in love, but once they find that special one, all perspectives on love can simply change.

Have you ever been in love?

No

Do you want to be in love and why?

No, not at the moment because I want to be more focused on myself before

including someone else in my life.

Do you want to give any advice to anyone who is looking for love?

Just don’t be shy, go for it, and always be yourself.

Alberto

How do you reach happiness? 

You reach happiness by doing the things you love, and being around the people who you love. You can't be happy if you do things you don't like, and you can't be happy if you're always around negative people. Make sure you look for a future career in which you'd enjoy doing everyday, not something that pays a ton of money if that wouldn't make you happy. Also make sure to put yourself with people who are supportive of you, they will be the ones who will make you happy in the end.

Stephanie

What advice would you give your younger self?

What I would tell my younger self is to love myself….. As a child I was insecure of everything, race, color, status, everything. I had friends telling me that God gives you stuff and I have learned to love myself.  Now I say that everybody is special in their own way. So I leave you with this, don't let anyone bring you down because you are beautiful in every way.

We are all unique and that's all that matters.”

Roman

What made you who you are today?

Growing up, back in elementary and middle school, I would get into fights over dumb things that people would say to me and over the time I got mad faster. Coming into high school, I didn’t wanna take anything serious because I thought that it was all a joke. The only thing that would calm me down is sports. Throughout freshman year I tried football to keep me occupied, away from doing any dumb things. Sophomore year during basketball things didn’t work out for me because I almost got into a fight and that’s when I got suspended. Once I got suspended I realized that I had to change my attitude and the way I acted to be a better person. Junior year, once my older brother left to basic training, I realized I had to be the bigger person because I had a younger brother that looked up to me. Teachers recognized how much I changed for the better.

Evy

What is your favorite word?

Her favorite word is Liasion. She likes this word because she likes the way she pronounces the word. Also how the word sounds with an accent. The definition is someone who helps with a close working relationship. 

Michelle

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you change it?

One thing I would change is helping the homeless dogs. I would change this by looking into dog shelters that are willing to take them or even families. Dogs can be a human's best friend.

Javier

What advice would you give to your younger self? Why would you give yourself this advice?

The advice I would give to my younger self is to be strong. For most of my childhood, I could vividly remember going to school fearful that I was gonna run into the same bully everyday. And all I would do is stand there and take his comments. It's like someone was stabbing me constantly but I wouldn't react. The person I've become is someone that I know would have never stood for anything negative said towards me. I was such a coward but it wasn't until freshmen year that I realized confidence is one of the strongest characteristics a person could have. It gives you the power to do things even outside of your comfort zone. This is something I would tell my younger self and I know he would listen because I'm the person I wanted to grow up to be. 

Katelyn

I think that little me would be proud of me honestly. I went through so much in my past and all of it sculpted me into the person I am now. When I was little I didn't do that well in school and now I do amazing in school and I didn't think I would have because I didn't really care about school. Now I know that school is a big deal and that it is important though. 

Raquel

What is one memory in your childhood who made you who you are now? 

The time I stood up to my dad because when I was younger I was always shy and never really stood up for myself and my dad was so hypercritical and judgmental and I was so scared of him. Then one day I was just so fed up with a lot of stuff and I started to not like him and when the time for me to stand up for him I felt really powerful and after that I knew I could stand up to anyone and now I’m not scared to do that. 

Adal

What advice would you give to your younger self?

My advice to my younger self would be to do your work and stay on track. To not… umm… to get distracted or... follow what your friends do. To motivate yourself to do better than to do bad. 

Why would you give yourself this advice?

I would give this advice to myself because I already went through it. It wasn't the best decisions to make. If I had the chance to go back I would do everything better. I would pay attention in school, get my work done… umm… and choose my friends wisely because they do not last forever. Sometimes they lead you to the wrong path. 

Marlen

What advice would you give to your younger self?

“In school to focus and not slack and try my hardest because in the long run you will have a lot of responsibility especially when you're a senior in high school. I say thus because if you suck in your freshman year you're gonna suck senior year. In general, I feel like you should live to the fullest. I feel like you shouldn't be scared to try something new and make new friends. Or take adventures and experience new things. I haven't experienced living my life to the fullest but adventures? Yes! Last summer my friend was learning how to drive but didn't know how to drive on the freeway that well. We went on the freeway and I was in charge of the GPS and I don't know if the GPS was dumb or I'm dumb because we kept taking the wrong exits,

but it's fun now because this is a memory I will never forget”.

Angel

Would humans be better or worse if we focused on what was

going well rather than what’s going wrong?

I feel like things would get worse if humans focused on what was going good because even though we would hope that the good would change people and influence them to be good, I feel like a lot of people do bad and if we ignore the bad then nothing’s going to change.

Nancy

Why do we dream? 

"I think everyone has a different dream, I feel like we dream because we want to express ourselves when we're sleeping when we can't express our imagination to others out loud. It's like you're afraid someone might judge you for thinking all these different ideas. When you dream you don't have to be afraid of anyone else's opinions and you simply live freely. It is a safe and healthy environment."  

Jolissa

What was the hardest experience you ever went through and how did you get through it? 

The hardest experience I ever had was in fifth grade in 2013 when my dad died. It was hard not having the relationship other people had with their dad´s at such a young age. What helped me through it was having my family being by my side and supporting me. My mother and I are strong believers in Jesus and we believe that he is always with us taking care of us.