At Nuview Bridge, students are always thinking about ways to make school life better. I sat down with Jesus Plascencia, Diego Francisco, and Carmine Lopez, three students who are active in sports, academics, and ASB to hear what they think could help our school and how they manage everything on their plates.
Jesus spends a lot of time playing sports and believes this year the “coaches and sports are good” however he feels that athletes deserve more attention. He shared, “The equipment and exposure, like tournaments, so far this year seems good. And although the involvement is up to the people, they should send out emails or put it in the announcements to go watch the games.” For him, getting more people to support teams would make a big difference.
Sports also push students to keep up with their grades and help with confidence. As Jesus explained, “If you don’t make grades, you can’t participate in any sports. But if you do sports, I say it’s a lot better for people to want to get their grades up and maintain them because they have a little bit more to work for.” he also explained how, “Sports make school something to look forward to because if you ball out some girls might like you or people will say what’s up and congratulate you!” When asked how he keeps up with everything, his answer was simple: “The right time management and being disciplined about doing your work.”
Diego, who focuses on academics, thinks classes could be more engaging. He said, “Teachers now focus on just giving lectures and trying their best to get through and just assign work. I think this isn’t the way we should interact with students because some students, even myself sometimes, ask ourselves how this could be useful in the real world.” Diego believes teachers should care about their students and show passion for teaching. “Teachers should treat their job as something they care about, especially their students, and not just assure us students because they are forced to, but because of passion.”
Group assignments stand out to Diego as a way to make learning more enjoyable. “Some ideas for classwork that come to mind are the best kind of assignments, group work. I know this might sound like it’s just for friends, but instead, we might even be teaching ourselves and making an assignment fun. Sometimes, students do the assignment at the last minute and complain, but every group work I have done, not many students complain about it except for those who leave it at the last minute. Working individually tends to be more work and I believe is a lot less engaging making it less fun to learn.” When things get busy, Diego likes to team up with friends. “Personally, when there are so many things to do, I tend to gather with friends who are almost doing the same as me to help get things done.”
Carmine is heavily involved in ASB and some sports. He enjoys meeting new people and working with different groups. “It’s just really good to have very specific clubs for certain things. In ASB I get to work with a lot of the teachers and students and the counselors. So I help out a lot. I get to do a lot of stuff with them. I get to interact with a lot of people. So I think it’s really good for me because I get to see and talk to a lot of people,” he said.
He hopes clubs can reach out to more students and become even more welcoming. “I would like to see more activities, like after school or during school, stuff that can maybe invite new people instead of just having it be whoever’s already in the club. So maybe trying to receive more people or just put it out there a little bit more will help it be more recognizable, so anyone who would like to join or would want to join other clubs can.”
When it comes to balancing everything, Carmine has some advice: “Have fun in the moment, but just make sure that you’re going to get your stuff done because at the end of the day, school comes first. Even when people are student-athletes, ‘student’ is in the name first because you’re supposed to get your work done.”
From supporting sports and making classes more interesting to helping clubs grow, these students show that small changes can make a big impact. They all agree that staying organized and putting school first helps them handle busy days. Listening to voices like Jesus, Diego, and Carmine can help our school keep moving forward and make it a better place for everyone.
