Jason Verde is a Staff writer for Segerstrom News, who is officially graduating this year. During his time in Segerstrom News, he helped out as much as he could by getting out and covering great stories that many of you know. Although he is not very social, that doesn’t stop him from contributing to our website as a staff writer. As he ends his high school years, he will leave with many memories and experiences. We are glad to share some of those experiences with him.
1.Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Jason Verde, I am a staff writer for Segerstrom News. I’m not very social, but I do enjoy meeting new people. I typically keep to myself, but I always try to be helpful. If I feel that I could be of some help to someone, it only feels right to offer my help. I really enjoy reading, drawing, cars, video games, and esports. I don’t have a particular favorite thing, but if I could rank them, I’d say first place is drawing, second place is esports, third place is reading, fourth place is cars, and fifth is video games.. Drawing is just such a good outlet for me, since I can come up with all these different ideas and bringing them to life is really fun.
Esports are also just so fascinating to me. The two esports I enjoy watching are OWCS and VCT, both can provide some great matches, and the communities are really tightly knit. It’s also really easy to get into esports, considering how online it is. Cars are also super interesting, not just because of the basic things, but because of the history and trivia. It was super interesting to learn about how, for example, the Transformers movies from the 2000s and 2010s are essentially big advertisements for General Motors products. Or how American cars used to have their odometers not make it past 100k miles because the companies didn’t expect the cars to last
100k miles.
2.What are your favorite memories of Segerstrom?
I think my favorite times at Segerstrom can be on two separate occasions: Finals Week and a trip to the East Coast with AVID. Every finals week, my friends and I will make a bunch of food and have it in one of our classes where we aren’t doing anything because we either didn’t have a final or we did the final before finals week. It started in my Freshman year, when my friend and I had Mr. Vanags’ Environmental Science class, and we knew that finals would be quick, so we brought a bunch of food.
Another good time that happened was winter finals in my Junior year English class with Ms.
McMullen, similar situation in my Freshman Year. After Junior Year, I was able to go on a trip with AVID to the East Coast to visit a bunch of colleges. A couple of notable ones were Northeastern University, Columbia University, Harvard, and Georgetown University. We spent about a week on the East Coast, and it was really fun to do a bunch of sightseeing. I also got to figure out what type of college I wanted to go to after high school. Not to mention that the price for the trip was really cheap considering that all meals, hotels, and plane rides were going to be covered. I think if someone is given the chance to take such a trip, they should.
3.How has your high school experience at Segerstrom shaped your life?
I think Segerstrom gave me a better idea of the world, and it forced me to work with people I wouldn’t otherwise work with. A lot of the time, especially in big group projects, l would be paired with people who I wouldn’t work with, but we made an unlikely pair who got the work done efficiently.
4.What are your plans after high school graduation?
I think my main plans are to get my driver’s license and go to OCC. I’ve been meaning to get my driver’s license for a good while, but just haven’t gotten around to it due to school or personal plans taking up my time. After high school, I plan to go to OCC and then transfer to a Cal State.
5.What is one piece of advice you would give to an incoming freshman?
If I could give one piece of advice to any freshmen, it would be to talk to everyone in your class. You don’t have to be friends with them, you don’t have to hang out with them outside of class, all you have to do is get along with them in class. You’re going to be around the same group of people for the next 4 years, whether you like it or not. I’ve been saved countless times with schoolwork by knowing a person who I’ve had in my classes before or worked with before. It’s also a good life skill to have, so start practicing while you have the chance. Also, you don’t want to burn a bridge with someone and be stuck with them for the next however many years you have left, it’s just going to make life harder.
