Parents influence, without pressure,children to attend their alma mater

Students often feel pressure from their parents or older siblings when it comes to school and sports. They might feel that they have to live up to their previous generation’s success. But how different would it be if the student’s parents or siblings had once gone to the exact same school the student is attending now? This is the case for some students attending high school. Each student feels and handles the pressure differently and some don’t feel pressure at all.

Sophomore Jaylen Shelton is a student-athlete who is currently on the track team. But unlike most students, his father, Ray Shelton, is the head coach. Ray was also a student here and graduated in the Class of 1982. “I feel more free,” Jaylen said. “And more comfortable.”

Jaylen mostly runs the 400 and 800 during meets against other schools. “I treat him as any other kid,” Ray said. Jaylen was allowed to attend any high school he wanted, “but if he was going to play sports he was going to Stagg,” Ray said. He says that he didn’t push his son into doing any sport, “but no soccer,” he said with a chuckle. “We don’t do that here.”

Freshman Selena Magallanes has family that has attended Stagg but unlike Jaylen her sisters went to the same school, not her parents. Magallanes is the youngest of four girls in her family. The two oldest sisters graduated high school already, but the third oldest sister, Katrina Magallanes, still attends as a senior.

Selena and Katrina are playing varsity soccer together and since Selena is the only freshman on the varsity team, some might think that she feels pressured with not only competing with her older sister, but also being the youngest on the team. “Everyone knows the routine already,” Selena said, “and I’m just getting started.”

She may feel pressured but at the same time she has been training for a long time. “I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old,” she said. “My sisters always made me feel like I could beat them,” Selena said, “Like I’m equal with them.” She also ran on the JV team for cross country this school year.

Justin Galvan’s family has been going to Stagg ever since his grandmother, Bonnie Morrison, first came to America from Russia. Bonnie then attended and graduated here in 1958, which was the first graduating class.

The sophomore said that three of his family’s generations attended Stagg so far with his mother being the last one here before him. “I wanted to go here because it’s in the family,” he said.

Justin plays golf and plans to be a sports medicine doctor when he grows up. “Sports is my thing,” he said.

Justin will be the first one in his family to go to college. Some would think that he feels pressured sometimes, but he doesn’t. “I don’t really think about it,” he said. He gets two free years of school at Delta College, after that he plans to attend University of the Pacific.

Justin’s mother, Ronda Galvan, graduated with the class of 1982 and is happy that her son is attending here. “It’s gotten a lot better,” she said, enthusiastically. “It looks 100 percent cleaner.”

Ronda played softball and ran track when she attended and with the school’s new sports fields, it’s a very different experience for her.

When Ronda visits, she remembers how much the school changed since she attended. “The whole thing is different,” she said. “The only building that stayed the same was the library.”

Stagg has changed its look many times since it opened in 1958 and there have been many different generations of students that have attended here. While some students have big shoes to fill, some students will set the success for the next generation to exceed.