When I first started going to Palomar, I felt isolated from everything going on. My time spent here was desolate, as if there was nothing more than to come to class and leave when it was over. I didn’t feel connected at all. I was just there.

I didn’t understand the ways in which the campus worked, or why everyone seemed so distant from one another. Why was everyone secluded to their own cliques?

During my third year here, I joined the Telescope, and for the first time ever, I opened the metal plate on the side of this machine, and examined the cogs of Palomar in motion. Our school had never seemed like a rich environment, but I was beginning to see it differently. I began to understand the intricacies of our campus. I now know the impact I can have. It was because of this, I learned to understand my own capabilities better.

All because I got involved.

I encourage every Palomar student to become involved at our school. While you’re here, you have an opportunity to change it for everyone on campus. We have a unique opportunity to become greater than our individual selves.

Take ownership of your school. The way in which it changes is up to us.

This is your campus, this is our campus. You will get from your experience here what you put into it. What happens here is up to us.

We can make it flourish, we can leave it as a wasteland.

We, the student body at Palomar, have so much more power than we may realize. The school is here for us. It’s here improve the lives of the community we live in. It’s here to improve our lives.

Start acting like it.