Rachel’s Report

Sweet 16!

Last Thursday, it was my 16th birthday. I feel like I have been waiting to turn 16 for a long time. It is a big step in life. Turning this age means that you get your license. This comes with a lot of responsibility and freedom. It is a weird concept that no matter what happens, life keeps moving forward. This is something that I will try to keep in my mind. Even when hard things happen, you will make it through it. I am counting down the days because, in three weeks, I will be able to get my license.

I woke up earlier then usual to my room filled with colorful balloons. My mom had also got me breakfast. Then, I went to school. Since it was a Thursday, I only had two classes which was nice. It was really sweat seeing everyone at school.

After school, my mom picked my up and drove us to lunch. We ate at Sushi Terri. The food was amazing.

At the end of the day, we went to butterfly beach to watch the sunset. Even though it was February night, it felt like it could be summer. There was a warm breeze as the sun went down. We walked down the beach and saw the stars start to sprinkle the sky.

For dinner, we went to Toma. It is an Italian restaurant located near the harbor. We all ate pasta. The restaurant also has an amazing gluten free pasta which I had. We all talked and ate probably a bit too much. It was an amazing end to my birthday.

At the end of dinner, a waiter brought us desert. Everyone in the restaurant sang. When I blew out my candle, I realized that it is crazy to think that I have been alive for 16 years. And it is even crazier that I have so much life left to live.

What is your favorite memory from when you were little?

A Different Perspective

On Monday night, I unfortunately got a concussion in water polo practice. This is the second concussion that I have had. Having a concussion is very hard because all that you can do for it is rest. It can make you unmotivated because it is very painful and you can’t take much medicine to dull the pain. This weekend my main focus was to recover from it.

One thing I did this weekend was go to my water polo team’s second CIF game. It was against a team that we had won to before. In the last game we played against that team, I had scored two goals which is quite rare for me. I wanted to help my team win very badly and it was very frustrating to not be able to play. However, getting to sit on the bench and watch my team made me appreciate my team much more. I saw our teams dynamic from an outside perspective. The game ended up going into overtime and, although our team was tired, we kept going until the end. We ended up losing the game. Afterwards, our team was very emotional as it was the end of our season. Seeing the tears in the seniors eyes as they finished their fourth year of water polo at Santa Barbara High School was definitely an eye opener to how fast the next years are going to go.

Santa Barbara High School’s girls varsity water polo team

Another thing that I did was swim. I had not been in the water for a few days and so being able to was really good for me.

My family and I also went on a walk around our neighborhood. We had not done so in a long time. Taking time to spend time with your loved ones is very important. At times, we get caught up in our own lives and can become absorbed in our own problems. Getting a concussion kind of forced me to stop and just take things day by day.

When life seems to be going in the wrong direction, how can you change your perspective on it?

Winter Formal 2020

Last Saturday was Santa Barbara high school’s winter formal. This is the second dance of the year. It’s bittersweet because it shows that this year has been passing very quickly. I feel like it was just the other day that I was beginning sophomore year. A million different things are going on and it was nice to be able to get together with friends.

Before homecoming, my friends and I got ready and took pictures. All of us met at my friend Emma’s house to get ready. We did each others makeup and curled our hair. I did not have a dress picked out yet. I tried on multiple of my friends dresses and ended up finding one. I had made the mistake of wearing heals at my last winter formal and so I stuck to converse for this dance. What I didn’t think of was the fact that they were white. At the end of the night, my shoes were definitely not white any longer.

We drove down to butterfly beach at sunset. The ocean was so blue and the sky was pastel pink. We took a lot of film pictures with my film camera to but I have not developed them yet. However, we still managed to take a ton of digital pictures. Our moms took out their phones and began posing us and taking pictures. Looking back on pictures at dances throughout the years is always so fun. It is like a timeline photographed throughout your years. When I am a senior, I am looking forward to seeing all of the pictures from the dances in the past four years at Santa Barbara High School.

After it got dark, I went to dinner at my other friends house. We all ate food and listened to music. There was pasta, salad, chips, and pizza that everyone ate. It was fun to see everyone dressed up. We then took more photos.

After dinner we all drove to Santa Barbara High School for the dance. The dance was in the girls gym. The dance was very full of people. Everyone had a ton of energy. When I looked around, I saw smiles and everyone’s faces.

It was a very fun night. I learned that sometimes it is good to stop and enjoy the moment. How do you live in the moment?

Rincon Classic 2020

My family has always loved the ocean. When I was 2 months old, I was already on a buggieboard. My dad grew up in a surfing family in Santa Barbara and so he wanted my brother and I to learn how to surf. We would always have weekends where my dad would take my family all to the beach and push us into waves as kids. I am so greatful that I learned to surf at a young age because now it brings me so much happiness.

Recently, it was the 2020 Rincon Classic. This is where the entire community comes together to participate in a surf competition. They section off rincon for it and everyone gathers on the beach to watch the surfers competing. It was a really amazing event because I got to see people I knew surfing really good waves. My dad participated in the classic this year for his first time. He had never been in a surf competition before. He had always just surfed for fun but not competitively. “I started worrying about what the judges would think of me,” he said, “…but then I just focussed on what I wanted to do.” My dad ended up getting 3rd in the first heat and so he was able to surf in the semi finals as well. He caught 6 waves total in the classic. At the start of his first heat, he caught his first wave right as the buzzer went off. It was about 6 feet and he was able to ride it all the way through the cove and make a few turns on it.

My brothers friends all participated in the classic for the first time as well. Seeing the excitement behind their eyes as they cheered their friends on made me understand their love each other and surfing. Even if they didn’t make the whole wave, they were all so proud of each other for going out and competing.

One of my dad’s closest friends, Tony, got second place in the Rincon Classic for his division. He had gotten 3rd place in his first heat the previous day. Before my dad and Tony went out for their second heat, they were all smiles. Surfing does not only bring happiness to the individual who is surfing but also to the community.

Santa Barbara is located right on the coast so it is a very surf oriented community. I am so thankful that I have a family that loves to surf and live in a place where it is possible to.

What brings your community together?

About Me

My name is Rachel Whitney. I am in the MAD academy at Santa Barbara High School. At school, I am also on varsity for the water polo girls team. Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with friends, surfing, and traveling. I love going to the beach when it is warm out. Swimming in the ocean is such an amazing feeling. Watching the sunset at the beach is one of my favorite things to do. Seeing the sky turn bright and then fade away into the dark.

Going on adventures inside and outside of my state has always brought joy to me. When I was little, my dad would take my family on hikes and we would always try to find secret spots along the trail that were away from others. Today, I still try to do that. Finding a place that is away from the noise and still so beautiful.

There are so many hidden places out in out world that are waiting to be found. Looking for them is something that gives me happiness. I will share things that bring my joy in my life on this blog and hopefully you will be able to learn more about me.

What makes you happy? Where are places that you have found that are out of the ordinary and have made you want to save that moment forever?

My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.