Mar Vista Info

Mar Vista was the first real sense of community that I had. Coming in at Kindergarten, alongside a friend from my preschool, I was introduced to a kindhearted teacher, Ms. Brown, who changed my life for the better. She always welcomed me into her classroom during lunch since I would be obsessed with LEGOs and wanted to build some of my own creations. I first learned about competition in 2nd grade with something called “fast math”. This is where I learned how to be competitive with others and is a trait that has stuck with me even today.

In 3rd grade, I was faced with a dilemma of whether to keep all of my magnet points by transferring to Open Magnet Charter School, or lose everything by staying at Mar Vista the next two years. Although a difficult decision, I knew what the right choice was: to stay at Mar Vista. How could I leave the school where I learned to monkey bar, to play handball, and to play kickball? In 5th grade, the year I culminated, I performed a piano piece for my school during part of it. I remember practicing for hours on end in order to make it a performance to remember, my finale, if you will.

This school was home to me, and entering into this school, being welcomed by all, and being able to express my creativity freely was such an enriching experience in my developing years. Not only within the school, but Mar Vista’s community expanded to the neighboring park: Mar Vista Recreation Center. It was here that my best childhood memories were formed. During summer, I would attend sports and day camp here. As I grew older, I did a program called teen camp for a summer, and it was basically summer camp for, well, teens. We’d go paintballing, bowling, and so many other activities outside of the park, and it was amazing. The very next summer, I was old enough to participate in a program called “Leader in Training” and here, we would shadow counselors and take care of the younger campers.

I wanted to do this because I remembered being in the campers’ position and looking up to these L.I.T’s since they would always be the most fun, and I wanted nothing more than to give that same feeling back to those tiny campers. Outside of summer camp, I would volunteer at seasonal events just as a way to continue giving back to the place that has given me so much.