A lot has happened over the past four years.

I remember when the World Trade Center bombing took place in 2001. It was my freshman year, when I felt most vulnerable. That event spoke to me as we all watched how susceptible and weak we really are. And if we are vulnerable, how much will we admit to ourselves?

I spent the first year of high school trying to achieve academic success. But between my freshman and sophomore summer, I felt an inward decline in that area. My grades began to drop, not dramatically, but drop nonetheless.

I wrote myself off as being lazy or apathetic in order to soften the blow of reality.

What I realized just recently was that, maybe, I didnít care because I feared failing, losing or not doing well at all at anything. Maybe I just had a tough time facing defeat and masked it with this so-called ìapathy.î

It hurts to admit I could have done better in school, and I did fail to meet my full potential. By hardly ever challenging myself, I avoided being down in short-term instances.

Through sophomore and junior year, nights of television and music filled my time instead of reading that last chapter or memorizing that last line. Somehow I always scraped by with B-ës and other under-achieving grades and felt satisfied temporarily until now.

My grades just fell short of UC college status but were overwhelmingly well for a state college. This summer I will head to Sacramento State alone in search of a new life. The lessons I have learned just in time will set me straight for college and the rest of life.

My piece of advice for underclassmen or anyone alive today would be to live up to your potential always for everything.

Donít have any regrets.