Written By: Olivia Di Guglielmo, Staff Writer
SPOTLIGHT: Senior Felix Valdez shares his most memorable high school moments.
One of our favorite, most special editions of the year ia none other than our Senior Edition! This 2024 graduate, Felix Valdez, is one who deserves a highlight in our newspaper because of his special presence as a Poly Bear over the last four years!
Felix has been a part of Poly’s Puente program since he was a freshman. He shares that one of his favorite high school memories was the Puente trip that he took as a junior up North to see college campuses. Felix enjoyed visiting new places, and described his tour of colleges confidently as “an amazing experience”. As this is an annual trip for Puente that is well-known to create beautiful memories, it is not surprising how Felix, with his exuberant personality, would undoubtedly make the most of it.
A common question asked to seniors as their time in high school comes to an end, is what their biggest regret about the past four years as a student is. When asked, Felix responded distinctly with his wish to have been “more involved” in school activities, on campus as well as off. This make sense as Felix then stated that the thing he will miss the most about high school is his friends, as well as attending and “being involved” in school events that provide the perfect opportunity to interact with new people outside of normal classes.
Felix’s current favorite hobbies are baking and painting. As one of Poly’s own very talented artists on campus, it does not come as a shock to consider Felix’s possible pursuit of being an art major in the future. Felix plans to attend a four-year university, preferably Riverside Community College (RCC) beginning next year, to set up his desired future as a artist. Some of his biggest inspirations that have led him to where he is now are his friends and parents. Felix values the relationships high school has given him, and thanks his parents for getting him to where he needs to be at this point in his life.
One other extracurricular activity in which Felix participated was swimming. Felix was on the Swim Team at Poly all four years of high school, and finished off his Senior Season last week, very successfully. Felix made personal records throughout the season, ending his final year of swimming with a very deserved duck for being a race winner at Conference Finals. He celebrated this win as a milestone in his swimming career and was satisfied with how he ended his season.
We wish the best of luck to Felix, and all of our seniors, in their future journeys to start their lives outside of high school. Felix’s artistic abilities will be missed at Poly in the upcoming years. Once a Bear! Always a Bear!