People Who Have Influenced My Life: Part I

I was looking up some old teachers earlier today wanting to write some emails. I got hit in the face then, like a roundhouse from Chuck Norris. With the blaring pain to the face, I realized how much they had influenced my life. I've always thought our education system, especially in the LAUSD, has been setup wrong, or poorly to say the least. But coming across the names of those who I had learned from, and not just from things covered within the text book, I found myself consumed with the ideas that they had all put into my head. It made me start to think at who else had challenged me, not let me off the hook, and even if not at the time, have made me a better person. I decided to try and think of some people who have made the slightest or biggest difference in my life. I came up with close to twenty. I'll start you off with one of my favorite things, a six pack. In no particular order...

Christopher Borgeson was my seventh grade history teacher. He was also the head of the soccer club that met Wednesdays after school. He was the first teacher that I remember that really connected with me, let alone most of his students. Up until this point, I had seen teachers as 'the man.' They only seemed to care about assignments and grades, and seemed to care little about the feelings and lives of their students. Mr. Borgeson was different. Not only did he take some interest in my personal life, he also inspired me to work harder and learn more. History has always been my favorite subject, but he pushed me to the varsity level of it. I even connected in his life, as somewhat of an inspiration to his son Jack, as he took home a terrain model of a World War One battle I had made. Jack was seemingly enthralled. Overall Mr. Borgeson taught me a lesson I wouldn't forget. Be positive, happy, and have fun in whatever you do. Be yourself.

Edward Victoria was another teacher who I had just a few years later when I started High School at Sylmar. I remember the first day of High School only really because I had to start the day off with Mr. Victoria. Ninth grade Honors English was perhaps the only time throughout my high school career that I ever learned anything. I wasn't a very good student, but only for lack of not trying. And even though I didn't show it through my work ethic, I did retain a lot of Mr. Victoria's class. Mostly because I was having fun in the class because of Mr. Victoria's strange, but funny sense of humor. But just because he was funny, and even though I wasn't a 'hard' worker, doesn't mean that Mr. Victoria went easy on me. When I did turn in assignments he would not them to be half-assed as they normally would be after writing them the night before. I didn't respond to adversity well then, but Mr. Victoria found a way to make me respond to his. He pushed me as far as I was going to be pushed then, and he did challenge me to write better. He saw my capabilities, and did his best to exploit them. It just took me a few years to realize all of this. He challenged me in a different way then I had been challenged before, being my mentor, sometimes my very own gestapo, and in the end my friend.

Raymond Rivera still is the Varsity Baseball Coach at Sylmar High School. He assumed the head coaching job my Sophomore year and had huge shoes to fill in the wake of a 20 year coach who had brought the Baseball Program to a very high prestige. I didn't make it on the Varsity team until my Junior year of High School, and when I did Coach Rivera made me hit the ground running. Like most things with me, I'm very good and dedicated when I want to be. Baseball was just another one of those things that I worked hard because I wanted to. But that doesn't mean I still couldn't have been pushed. Coach Rivera did exactly that, pushed. He pushed me to work harder physically then I ever had before. He forced me to take better care of my appearance, so that perhaps people would take me more seriously. He punished me when I needed punishment by taking Baseball away from me, sometimes the only reason I even went to high school. He did his best to shape me into a better overall person. Instilling the importance of punctuality. Putting the burden of leadership on my shoulders. And holding me to a level of self-discipline I had yet to achieve in my life. He was hard on me, and taught me many more lessons than I have even mentioned. I only wish I had been able to put all of the building blocks he gave me together earlier.

Stephanie Johnson was the last teacher I ever learned from. In the school atmosphere that is. After dropping out of High School at Sylmar early, and then moving out to Iowa; I only had one class to make up to finish my diploma. It was Mrs. Johnson's Speech Class. As a super senior I started her class. She was a very fun teacher, with a good sense of humor, and an interest in all of her students. This is something I respond to well. During the short course of the semester I didn't really learn too much in the form of writing, or speech even. But what I did learn was to have more confidence in the things I do. Mrs. Johnson would be so impressed, or so constructive that it was hard not too feel good about yourself after a presentation. This made me more assured of who I was and am. The confidence that she instilled in me in my own abilities has stuck with me to this day. Through her positive outlook, she let me know that even if I didn't always believe in myself, she would.

Mike McKinney is my oldest cousin. He was also my boss for 6 month while I was living in Iowa. He was somewhat of an inspiration to me from even a young age. He was the cool older cousin who would come visit every so often, and later joined the military. Something I always wanted to do. When I started to work for him, I had already put him on the pedestal. He's one of my idols. He had already been in the military and back from war at that point. I learned a lot about business, and finances. Two things I had yet to even know about before this. It sparked my interest, and I learned everything I could from him. The one thing that I will remember forever though, the best lesson I ever learned from him was when he told me a story about one of his soldiers. He told me that I was just like one of the guys he used to be in charge of when he was in the Army. The 82nd Airborne to be exact. He said that this guy had a lot of self-pity, something my 18 year old self at that time also had. He said I would go in one or two directions. I would either figure it out, pick my head up and push through feeling sorry for myself becoming a really good person in the process. Or I would continue to feel sorry for myself and be somewhat of a degenerate. I often think of this conversation we had in the wash bay. I don't remember the words very clearly, but I certainly remember the message.

Drill Sergeant Pegues. Probably the hardest anyone has ever been on me, was Drill Sergeant Pegues. The man was down right scary. He was only 5'6" but he struck more fear in me than anyone ever has. He changed me, and all for the better. He took no BS. Even though any good Drill Sergeant would never, he was very consistent. But he was never unfair. He always taught you the lesson you needed to learn, especially through very hard physical challenges. He expected more out of me than I'm sure I even had in me. He forced me to respond to the challenge, to overcome adversity. I've learned a lot about myself since being in the military. There are people before the military who set up the building blocks for me. Drill Sergeant Pegues just forced me to put them all together. No I'm not thanking you DS Pegues, I'll thank my recruiter.

Obviously there are certainly more people who have changed my life for the better. I will certainly write about them too. But seeing how long just these have been, I need to save the rest for another blog, or another few. There are just too many good people in my life. I am truly blessed that all of them had the patience to deal with the likes of me. I haven't always been the best I can be, but thanks to all of your help, I'm trying to be.


Don't Tell Me
Show Me - Sylmar Spartan Baseball Program