![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
My entire life flipped upside-down Jan. 7, 2025, when record-setting winds spread two wildfires over 37,000 acres of Los Angeles and destroyed my childhood home. This devastation not only impacted me and my family but the entire Archer community, as school shut down for almost two weeks. During those weeks, where every day felt painstakingly long, I had more than enough time to reflect on how my whole world had changed.
Brush Off the Dust
When I arrived at my hotel room with only my school supplies and a few belongings less than 24 hours after the initial evacuations, I realized my whole life had been reduced to two bags. This was shocking considering my bedroom had been covered in stuff. Every one of my walls had books, posters and pictures. My closet was overflowing with clothes and trinkets I have collected in my 15 years of life. Suddenly every letter, award and stuffed animal was gone.
What this loss taught me was that things are meant to be used. I tend to save certain perfumes, clothes and other items for some imaginary “special occasion” in the future, but it actually signifies a fear of losing those material items. Now that they really are lost, I wish I wouldn’t have kept them tucked away, collecting dust, waiting for the perfect time to be used.
Every crease in a shoe or bold color in an eyeshadow pallet is yours for the taking. Don’t wait around for the perfect time to use things you love; create that moment for yourself.
The Good in the World Outweighs the Bad
The Wednesday morning following the outbreak of the fires was a lazy one for me. I tried my best to keep sleeping in my temporary bed so I wouldn’t have to consciously accept the fact that my entire life had flipped upside down. I awoke to a call from my mom, and after hanging up, I was shocked to see the amount of notifications I had on my phone. Emails, messages and Instagram DMs from more people than I could count created an outpouring of loving messages all wondering how they could support me.
We continued to receive support from places I never imagined. A package showed up at my family’s rental home with our last name misspelled and the return address barely legible. Suspicious. However, when we opened it, we discovered a clear bag filled with neatly organized toiletries and everyday essentials topped with a handwritten note expressing their sorrow and love, signed by two girls from New York.
Neither my family nor I knew who those girls were or how they found our address, but that didn’t matter. It was the fact that people thousands of miles away who had no reason to care about my family’s situation still took the time and money to reach out. This generosity continued for weeks after the fires, with endless donations of clothes, food and toiletries — I am pretty sure I own more pairs of pants now than I did before.
Lean on Love
I really isolated myself for the first few days in the aftermath of the fires. I felt if I just distracted myself and laid in my bed all day, I wouldn’t have to confront my own reality. But once I ran out of YouTube videos and my fingers got tired from scrolling on my phone, I caved. I reached out to a friend and made a plan to hang out that day. We ended up watching an entire season of the “Sex Lives of College Girls” in one afternoon and I got lost in the relationship drama of fictional young women — the perfect cure for almost any sadness. Just having the body heat of another human nearby and hearing the laughter of someone else’s voice pulled me out of my own mind.
I was worried about burdening my friends with all of my grief and heaviness, but I thought about how I would respond if a friend of mine was in my situation, and how I would rush to support them in any way I could. Being able to exist in someone else’s home, in their normal life, was enough to breathe some life back into mine.
This devastation has left me with so much grief and nostalgia for what was once my beautiful home and community. However, the reward of learning these lessons and my altered perspective on life are gifts that I would never have received without persisting through this loss.
This story was originally published on The Oracle on February 5, 2025.