Written by: Emily Rodgers, Staff Writer
LEDSMA: Flipping the monotony and changing it to joy
He is known by many teachers, though not as much throughout Poly. As the 2022-2023 year comes to an end in just a few weeks, Poly will be saying a final goodbye to hundreds of seniors. Of these seniors includes Steven Ledesm, who is most often recognized amongst his peers as a genius or as their math teachers favorite TA. It’s safe to say that Steven has left quite the impact on the students and staff of Poly high school.
Though most view their freshmen year as their most awkward years and with all of the most embarrassing times of their life, Steven views it as quite the opposite. Recognizing his unease and summer-lasting dread towards the new chapter of his life, he tries his hardest to not view his freshman year in a negative light, as so many do as they grow older, especially during their other high school years. Steven mentions when asked about his first year at Poly that, “looking back at his freshman year, he misses his cheerful spirit.” In addition to that, he recognized that “freshman year was probably the most exciting year in high school.” Steven describes that school for him had just become a cycle of waking up and going to school, and how “senior year was the same as any year, and [he] was excited to be a senior.” he expressed that he didn’t feel like a senior and the only aspect to being an upperclassmen was just being the, “older kid in the room who was leaving soon.”
Like many throughout their school years, Steven was able to find people who would change his life for the better, both in students and staff. Freshman year, he was lucky enough to meet the love of his life, Annabella. They’ve had a strong relationship throughout the last four years, and their relationship even survived the pandemic. Steven is quick to mention just how much Annabella means to him and how much she’s positively changed his life since the day they met. When asked how she’s impacted his life, he doesn’t hesitate to mention the hardships of middle school and how unprepared he felt as his future approached only for it all to change once they met. “When they met he was able to feel and understand love again.” His life changed the day they met and he says that his world would never be the same without her.
Despite his prior fears and uncertainties regarding his future, Steven has created a path in life he shows relentless dedication to; his efforts over these last four years weren’t for nothing, nor was it all just with a lack of interest and hopes for a high paying job. Steven is planning to attend RCC through their promise program, transfer to Cal Poly Pomona for engineering, then to a 4-year University as a dual major in electrical engineering and robotics. He will then ultimately go into another 4-year university to specialize in nanotechnology or aerospace engineering; learning is no chore for Steven. When asked why he is willing to commit so much time to his schooling he claims that “he just enjoys discovering new information and finding ways to build off of it.” Although it seems like a lot, Steven is ready for the future he can create and the goals he wishes to achieve.
As these final weeks of his senior year come to an end, Steven looks back to the ways he acted and how he felt in prior years. He wishes he had been a better kid growing up, wishes he was nicer to others, and wishes he had gotten out more if he had the chance. Steven has grown from a “depressed and antisocial” kid, and even though he still feels that emotional detachment he experienced when he was younger, he no longer allows it to control his life. In the last four years, Steven was able to relearn how to love himself and others, and he won’t take that for granted. To students following in his footsteps, those who are anxious in their high school lives, or anyone willing to take his advice: “test yourself, don’t create imaginary limits to yourself, and manifest yourself fulfilling your own prophecy.”
He looks forward to his future and is ready to embark on this new journey. Steven is graduating at 17, is collegebound, and remarks that “now I look at myself and I really do wonder how I’ve gotten to this point.”