In my time of being a Junction City Blue Jay, I’ve had many people impact my life. From coaches, to teachers, to the kids I’ve grown with for the past four years. I’ve lost and gained a lot of people that have grown with me over the years. Going from Fort Riley Middle to Junction City High, was an intimidating transference. Going from the oldest in a school to the youngest in another, is always a weird transition.

My first year as a freshman was interesting and way more fun than I expected. Having one building with just freshman somewhat makes the transition for middle school to high school easier for everyone. It’s a place where everyone is in the same position and can easily relate to one another, making it very easy to make more friends. After a decade of going to school on a military base, I was always used to close friends moving across the country every 3-4 years. This is why I tried to make as many friends as I could from the start. Joining clubs, sports, and other activities in high school is a great way to put yourself out there and make many friends.

After playing soccer my whole life, since I was just three years old, gave me the preparation and drive to join Junction City High School Soccer. My freshman year, I started on the Junior Varsity team and it helped me form many friendships with my teammates, other players, and even the coaches.

Sophomore year, you get to transfer over to the main campus and experience real high school life. The big mix of new sophomores, juniors and the older seniors, makes it seem like another difficult and scary change of life. This wasn’t the case in Junction City, coming to JC is like being welcomed into a big family with open arms. Despite attending one of the biggest high schools in this area and having a class of around 400 people, everyone each other which is what made the school so small and family-like.
Many people go through many tragedies in life, and high school for me was full of peaks, but had its troughs. My sophomore year peak was being upgraded to playing with both the JV and the Varsity soccer teams. This was the year that we put together the second best season record in our school’s history. The most significant trough of not only sophomore year, but of high school, was losing a very close to friend to me and many others. Kenyon Givens was loved by many at this school because of his electric and unpredictable personality, involvement in sports, and how friendly and funny he was, made it so easy for him to make friends. Kenyon tragically passed that year and will always be remembered in all of our Blue Jay hearts. This was however, something that prepared for life, showing that there is not only going to be good days and life comes with it’s bad days and its responsibilities.

My Junior and Senior years I began taking responsibility over my life. I discovered the career path I wanted to take, which made planning for the future very easy for me. I joined the school newspaper as one of the head sports reporters. This introduced me to not only one of my favorite teachers, but a mentor who helped me throughout my high school newspaper career, Mr. Walter. He kept me accountable and made me more responsible by giving me tasks such as covering sports both home and away. This meant making time and arrangements to travel, spectate, cover, and publish articles before the given deadlines.

Junior year, I got a job, working in fast food which meant juggling newspaper, other classes in school, and work. A lot of people struggle with this, especially student athletes, but if you have the ability and drive to make time, and do the work, it will benefit you in many ways.

Junior and Senior year I started Varsity for the soccer team. Junior year wasn’t the best year for our team because we didn’t get along and honestly spent more time battling each other instead of the opponent. Midway through the season we held an after-practice meeting which I believe created a breakthrough for many of us players and the coaches as well. We improved over the rest of the season and started a base for the next season. That season, this year, was the most significant soccer season I had ever participated in. It was the very first time I felt that the team I was on, was a real family. A team consisting of an unprecedented twelve seniors, made the season more important to the entire team as we all wanted to leave our mark. We put together the third best season in Junction City high school this year.

Senior year will most likely be the best year, but it will also be the most stressful as it ends. My advice to everyone, is to stay organized both inside and outside of school, keep your grades as your top priority, and fight the senioritis. Also, always think ahead and be proactive, act early on your future plans such as working or college.

Cesar Ramos

After high school, I will be attending Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. I will be majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications. During college I will also be taking part in internships over the summer at ESPN and covering sports for the Kansas State newspaper during school. After college, I plan on using my experience as a writer and sports reporter to become a general sports analyst at either ESPN or Fox Sports.