Joe

I live about five minutes from school in Carpinteria. I chose to come to Cate as a new sophomore. Being a day student and being new was difficult at first but I was quickly absorbed into the community as a classmate, a teammate, and friend.

Cate has offered me so many things I would never had a chance to experience. I run cross-country and play volleyball as captains for both. At Cate I can balance my athletic pursuits with my passion for writing as the editor-in-chief for the school newspaper, El Batidor, as well as our literary magazine, Cate Review. But being a Cate student I have broadened my academics by taking science, history, foreign languages, arts, mathematics, human development courses, as well as self-designed indepedent study classes. I have loved every class I have taken at Cate. Each teacher brings something incredible to the classroom and each one has had a profound impact on me.

This year I got the opportunity to be a Sophomore Seminar teaching assistant. With a senior partner, we are in charge of a large part of one of the required human development courses for all sophomores at Cate. We are supposed to be role-models, discussion leaders, and someone with open arms when problems arise. I think this course will be one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done.

The Cate Community is truly one of a kind. I know no other school where you can sit at any table with any group of people and feel welcomed; where you can discuss literature with your track coach; hike Yosemite with your classmates for a week and have a blast the entire time. For me Cate was such a big change that I was shocked at first, but looking back, I think that Cate was the best decision I've ever made.