Written By: Olivia McPherson, Staff Writer
HIGHLIGHT: Senior Jackson Penunuri shares his high school experiences
High school is a very exciting time, with so many people trying new things and discovering what they are passionate about. This school year is coming to a close, and it is almost graduation. One of this year’s seniors is Jackson Penunuri, who came to Poly from Woodcrest his sophomore year.
With many student groups on campus, there are plenty of ways to get involved. Jackson took advantage of what Poly had to offer. He was involved in the National Honor Society for one year and Bear Pals for a year and a half. National Honor Society is an exclusive club that only accepts students who demonstrate scholarship (academic excellence), service, leadership, and character. At Poly, there are less than 50 students in the National Honor Society. Bear Pals is an inclusion club. It gives Special Education students the chance to work on their socialization skills while helping general education students the chance to learn to interact with special needs individuals. Jackson shared that if he could change one thing about his high school experience, it “would be to get involved sooner with Bear Pals” because he has “had so much fun getting to know and hanging out with all the Bear Pals”.
Jackson has been playing water polo for six years. When he came to Poly, he joined the boys Water Polo team and the Swim team. He met Marc Taynton (10), a special education student, at swim his junior year. Since then, Marc has grown very close to Jackson. If you ever speak with Marc, he is always asking about Jackson. One of Jackson’s favorite memories with Marc, other than their times at Bear Pals, is when they race at the pool. Marc starts wrestling Jackson “in the water and then [kicks] off of [him] so he could win.” Jackson shares that he will miss getting to go to swim and water polo every day.
High school was filled with many difficult classes and fun memories for Jackson. His favorite classes were AP US History (APUSH) and art. He liked APUSH “because [he] had a majority of [his] friends in that class” and because he likes “learning about history, but more so American history.” He liked his art class “with Mr. Garrett because [they] got a the freedom to draw what [they wanted] and learned how to make [their] drawings look more realistic”. One of his hardest classes was AP European history, but instead of letting it defeat him, he never gave and committed to the task ahead of him. And that’s the joy of high school, you learn and get better as you go. Jackson’s favorite teacher was “Mrs. Yeyna because she always pushed [him] to become a better writer and overall student.” If he could tell his freshman self one piece of advice, it would be to “know that God is in control for a reason so put all your worries in Him because He will take them away.” After graduation, Jackson plans on “going to California Baptist University for mechanical engineering and minoring in aerospace engineering”. He believes that his graduating class, the Class of 2025, will be remembered “for [their] intelligence because [they] have a lot of students who are driven and super smart.”
To the Class of 2029, Jackson recommends “[getting] involved with clubs or sports because you will meet a lot of new people and they will have at least one common interest with you.” This will help anyone make the most of your high school experience. He also recommends going “to football games” because “it is a good way to connect” with other people. For the Poly community, let’s all thank Jackson for being a great friend, teammate, and active member of the Poly High family.