Guest Commentary: Ms Aguilar, RHS Activities Director

by Alyssa Aguilar, alumnus ’12

To my fellow Rangers,

Now to begin I chose the word “fellow” with a purpose. For those that do not know, I am a fellow Ranger with you all. I went to Redwood, and graduated a number of years ago. I am proud to not only have graduated from this campus, but now proud to work here.

With that in mind, I will move forward and say this: I understand what Redwood is. I know what it’s like to sit in the desks you sit in, I know what it’s like to walk the bridge between every class, and I know what it’s like to be a student in the student section. I have painted my arms and legs, put glitter in my hair, and have gotten on my hands and knees completing a blue crew poster at 11pm in the academic building hallway. I get it. So I know the feelings that have emerged about football games, and the decision to no longer allow music to be played during games.

I understand your frustrations. I hear them.

I understand your frustrations. I hear them. Your opinions matter. You feel robbed. Your normal is altered. You feel like you weren’t given a chance to change, or to improve. You feel that music is the unifier. That in this heavily divided social world you live in, the one thing that connects you all is the feeling of a beat drop. Or a song that everyone knows the words to. You feel like it’s a connecting piece. That music is not actually about the music itself, but rather what music does to the students to make everyone feel together as one. It’s about the bigger picture. I get it. I promise, I do.

But…. I also know the importance of rising above. In my life, I know how necessary it is to accept the decisions made by others, and move forward. So here is my advice, from one former student to many current students: it’s time to move forward.

Will it be easy? No. Is change hard to accept? Absolutely. But we cannot dwell on one single decision and put all of our energy into this one call, and forget the real reason we’re here, and that’s to be Rangers. We are Redwood. We are different. We are unique. What happens on this campus is special, and hard to top.

we cannot dwell on one single decision and put all of our energy into this one call, and forget the real reason we’re here, and that’s to be Rangers.

This decision cannot define who we are, and it should not shake Redwood’s core foundation. At the end of the day we are Rangers. We show up in navy, silver and white and we support whatever and whoever is in front of us. We make whoever is in front of us feel loved. That’s what makes us well… us. We show up, and make the best of any situation.

My final thought is this: I finally got home at 11:30pm the night of Homecoming. I had been at school since 6:45 that morning. I was exhausted. I finally sat down and I smiled. I smiled because when I closed my eyes I saw the student section. I saw the excitement, the joy, and the cheers from the crowd. The student section was on fire, like the only thing in the world that mattered on that Friday night was Redwood High School. And those feelings did not happen from music playing in the background. I hope that doesn’t change. That those feelings and that excitement will forever be a part of each human being that steps onto this campus.
Remember – we are unique, we are special, we are Rangers. We show up. No matter what.

With love,
Ms. Aguilar