Some Thoughts on MSAT and some advice

"I was part of the first and last graduating class!" That's what I tell people when they ask me about my high school. Their first reaction is to look at me confused and ask me what I mean. It's funny that I mean what I say. They at first don't believe that my high school was shut down. For some reason it shocks them. As if it was their high school that was shut down. I wasn't shocked the day they told us. Its not that I didn't care I was just like well all good things need to end some sooner than others.
What we leave behind hopefully someone will pick up, and just run with it. I don't think that NUSD wanted us to shut down. My mom works at NUSD, so she sees things from both sides. Well, at least I know that Jan Derby didn't want to shut the school down. Hell I feel bad for her. We (MSAT community) made her cry. I've known her for a few years and she seems to be a very carrying person. She and other members of the district drove to Sacramento in spring of 2006 to see my mom get an award from California family resources. I once gave a speech in San Rafael about how parents who get involved in schools help they're children succeed. After my speech I went to my seat and then Jan Derby came to my table and told me what a good job I did. I had a good conversation with her. She is by no means a bad or evil person. I adore and appreciate what Jan has done for my mom. She is a great person.
As for the other members of the board I don't know. Derek Knell use to be my football coach in POP Warner. He's tough; I'm not sure if he's fair, most of my practices were spent running laps around the track. I do know that Knell likes to pour cash into Novato High's budget (especially for the football program). I know I'm going to get burned for saying this one sentence (simply because I don't know the guys name). The one black guy in the board is actually nice. During a meeting he got out of his chair went down to the podium where parents were got to speak and basically congratulated them on they're achievements. The parents (Latino/Hispanic) were talking about they're experiences in ELAC, and how they have benefited from being in ELAC. Of all the board members he really surprised me when he got up and went to shake the parent's hands.
I'm not mad at the NUSD board. I'm actually confused by some of the actions and decisions made by Envision. Apparently according to my mom this whole thing started over who should be paying for students coming from outside the district, or county. In the charter agreement it said that the district didn't have to pay for those students and that Envision would have to pay for those students to go to MSAT. Envision didn't want to pay and neither did NUSD, because they didn't have to. Then it was basically a snowball effect after that. So, could MSAT's closing could have been avoided all together if Envision just paid for students outside they county, or district? It seems that a great school was shut down over something so trivial. What ever though I graduated form MSAT, so good luck to all those who are stuck going to Novato, San Marin or any other high school that isn't MSAT.
One last thing, regular high schools aren't bad. It just means you have to work twice as hard to get through it. Don't expect anyone to hold your hand if your failing a class. So, do your work and be honest. If your honest your going to go a lot further in life. Teachers, and people in general respect students who man up and tell the truth. Basically if you want people to respect or like you need to go outside of your comfort zone. If you're a shy person this means you need to talk to people. I tell ya, people who are shy are going to have a super hard time in regular high school. I had a hard enough time at MSAT. Just keep your head up shy people. I mean it; shy people tend to look at the ground when they walk in crowded areas. I know because I use to do it, and I see people doing it all the time. Seriously hold your head up and look people in the eye, and if you know them say hi try to start a conversation, even if you don't know them get to know them. Knowing people is going to help you get through, not just high school, but life.

Good Luck, you're going to need it!

Introduction

    This is my tribute to MSAT. For being they're guinea pig for the past four years. It's been a fun ride. It wasnt like a roller coaster not by a longshot. It was a ride on a F-14 tomcat pulling 6 G's. It was great.
    This will be the place where I will post my interviews with the students of the first graduating class of MSAT. I'll also interview the teachers and they're struggles with students. This section will be filled with stories that make you laugh out loud and stories that will insipre you.

The First Game

    "Strrrike!" howled the home plate umpire. "Let's go Ben! Come on one more!" I yelled at Ben. Ben got the ball from the catcher and cooly made his way back to the mound. Which for hot day, and this being one our biggest games in our baseball careers seemed awe inspiring. He stepped on the mound, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He checked the runners. He glared at one for a while. Eyeing him letting the runner know if you move I'll get you. He took another breath, and got into the set position. One more breath and out the ball went from his hand. It wizzed, and hissed down towards the plate.  The batter was setting finishing his stride.
    When the ball was shot back at me. The third basemen. I saw that it was coming in hot. For some reason though I took it as a regular ball. So I made a bad move and knelt down to get it. Not even half a second and the ball had jumped over my glove and into the outfield, for a base hit.  I just looked at Ben and saw his eyes sink. Then they cameback and gave me a mean look.
    Eventually the runner scored, and so did another. Two runs were scored that inning. I blame myself on helping that team score those runs.
    We lost the game 4-1. We played hard. I stole two bases, but I also made one error. For our first game it was fun, and we put together a team that had never played and had only done practice. But our pitcher gave it all he had and then some. We were proud of our loss, not sad.