Javier Diaz-Gonzalez '20 Recruiting Profile

    Every step of my life has been a competition, whether it be on the soccer pitch or in the classroom. Out of hundreds of students testing to attend the Academy of Information Technology, I was one of the four students selected from my district. I was honored to attend a nationally ranked school in the country, but I was aware of the difficulty of balancing my athletics and academics. But I didn't back down from a challenge, I did not miss a single day of school or a single day of practice. Even if it meant I had to stay up until three o'clock in the morning to finish my assignments I would make those sacrifices for my team. I have perfect attendance beginning in kindergarten, I was always eager to learn and eager to work hard. Every single practice, rain or shine, I was there working as hard as I could. I will do whatever it takes to make myself, and more importantly, my team better.

    Playing high school soccer in a county full of powerhouse teams was always very difficult. We always had to work twice as hard as other teams and we struggled a lot. But I never quit on my team, and thankfully, my positive energy spread throughout my teammates. Whether we're winning games or losing games we became a family, and every single player left everything on the field, day in and day out. Getting a winning mentality into an athletic program with a losing background was one of the most difficult tasks I have ever accomplished. But I can't be anything but proud of my team for how far we have come together.

    Attending the twenty-third ranked school among America's top high schools was bound to be a challenge. From the moment I walked in my freshman year, I could feel the competitive nature of all my classmates. While in school there was never a time to relax because the moment you got distracted, there was another student right there ready to pass you. Attending a school like this can cause many students to suffer depression or sadness, and it was very painful for me to see my classmates suffering, so I decided to take action. Since my freshman year, I did everything in my power to lift the morale of classmates. I was well aware that we were all competing against each other to get into college, but at the end of the day, we were all in the same boat. There was no reason for us not to help each other succeed. Surely enough, all the negative vibes seemed to vanish and what was once a very dreary school, soon became a happy place for many students who were suffering.