Paola Sanchez
Moment of pride! Clark Kent Ibarra presents his senior spotlight award.
At an early age, Ibarra faced many challenges. At the age of six, Ibarra immigrated to the United States with only his father, who had separated from his mother and brother. Ibarra’s mother agreed to this big change that left him separated from his mother who he barely has any contact with. This made Ibarra feel a big loss of an emotional connection with someone who was very important to him.
“This heavily impacted me because I developed an inferiority complex, which all ties to my other answers. Fortunately, my father and I have somewhat recovered because we have learned to rely on each other emotionally, although small but still progress,” Ibarra said.
Growing up with only his father and brother, Ibarra attained his humor from both of them, this was a way for Ibarra to show emotion. Unlike other children his age, Ibarra’s lifestyle was consistent in its structure–Wake up, go to school, go home, and repeat.
“My father, the only parent in my life, was very busy. He worked as much as he could to provide for my brother and me, so I couldn’t ask for help. That was it; my entire schedule of course has changed since,” Ibarra said.
Ibarra has focused more of his time on helping other people, participating in school activities and events, and community service. Ibarra has used his time to help ASB set up for events and make posters, but besides helping ASB do this, he also participated and spoke out on a Local Control and Accountability Plan event. LCAP is an organization that helps schools become a better environment, set goals and improve students’ resources. He voiced his opinion of how this campus could be better and how students could gain the resources they may need.
“LCAP is this thing where you voice your opinion about a school and its problems and I was chosen for that. That is one of the major reasons why I think I deserved this. Besides making all the fun stuff like senior events, I voiced out what we needed to work on for students next year,” Ibarra said.
As Ibarra finishes his last year, he feels like he has completed what he needed to do in order to get where he is today. While helping out others, he found out what he wanted to do in life. Being a Patriot to him means being part of a community that helps people thrive and overall encourages others. As a final message, Ibarra gives his advice to his fellow senior class.
“I’ll tell them to really get around because it’s their last year. Don’t waste it because high school is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Once you get into the real world or college, things get serious, and you won’t be able to have as much fun as you can now. Just try to do anything you can that piques your interest, even if you are nervous about it, you have to push yourself because at the end of the day, you mostly likely have fun,” Ibarra said