Villagonzalo 1

Keanu Villagonzalo

Mr. Reichart

English I – 01/02

February 24, 2020

I Am Phineas

My name is Phineas. I’m fifteen years old and I’m a student at Chaminade High School. I

chose to come to Chaminade for the sake of the sports teams. I planned to play football, lacrosse,

baseball, and hockey. As a freshman, I competed at the varsity level for all four sports. I received

MVP awards from each of my coaches. I led the football team to winning their championship,

and scored the most goals, as a flyer, in hockey. I was chosen to be team captain by many of my

teammates and they nominated me for the hardest worker award. During off-season, I love lifting

weights. I’ll spend around two hours in the Physical Fitness Center benching at least 225 pounds.

Unfortunately, my best friend isn’t a big fan of sports or lifting weights. His name is Gene

Forrester and he is the smartest nerd I know. Gene made me join other clubs because he was

scared that he would be alone. As of now, I’m a part of the Freshman Social Studies Club. In

Social Studies Club, Gene and I constantly sign up for special games known as Conflict.

Basically, you are assigned a country and have to gain points by solving political problems and

expanding your country. The country with the most points at the end of the game wins. In each

game, I’m always “nominated” as the leader of our country. As soon as we begin, I organize the

members of our team into specific groups. Normally, I’ll appoint a few of our members into a

mapmaking (keeping track of the expansion of other countries) committee, a foreign affairs

committee, a committee dedicated to solving the problems in our “country”, and a committee
that sorts information that the teachers send us. Under my leadership, our team has won several

Conflict games against upperclassmen.

Gene and I are polar opposites. Gene is a follower. He abides by the rules and tries his best

to stay out of trouble. I am a troublemaker. I like being reckless and I break the rules quite often.

Unlike Gene, I always get away with my actions. In mid-October, Mr. Kemp, our principal,

caught me using a juul in the men’s bathroom. He caught me with other upperclassmen and

brought us down to his office. During the interrogation, I told him that the juniors and

sophomores had pressured me into using a juul. I said “They threatened to beat me up after

school if I didn’t 'puff a pod.'" The principal ended up believing me and gave me no demerits nor

detentions. Gene thought I was getting expelled. Even after I told him the story, he could not

believe that Mr. Kemp let me off without punishment. Besides this, there have been other

instances where I got away with stuff I shouldn’t have. In Geometry class, I spat curses at

another student. At first, my teacher gave me a green slip, but through persuasive convincing and

humor, the most I received was a clean-up. Another example was when I got away with having

no blazer. I faked having a shoulder injury and had my parents sign a note stating that I could not

move my arm without feeling pain. This allowed me to bypass having to wear a blazer for an

entire week.

So far, I've been making my way around Chaminade. I dominate in any athletic activity. I

serve as a leader in the clubs I'm involved in and in intramurals. I can get away with most things

(I have not gotten caught yet), and that gives me a leisurely life here. I hope that these traits will

allow me to have a successful four years at Chaminade.