LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. —As the school year comes to a close, the media center has begun to fill up, students have started or completed preparing for their finals and teachers have continued to prepare for the summer. This environment vastly contrasts with an ideal end to the school year: a satisfying conclusion, preparing students for whatever is to come. Instead, the end of the year is a time of focus and stress. In reaction to this anxiety, students of Los Alamitos High School have re-adopted a mindset: LOCK IN. 

“If there are clear expectations, clear guidelines, clear goals set out, and they have clear direction on how to achieve those, this is the recipe for success,” Mr. Moy said. 

Mr. Moy is one of the many AP teachers on the campus and one of the fewer AP world history teachers and varsity basketball coaches. His teaching style is unique; many students find him to be casual and approachable, despite only joining LAHS’ faculty recently. Amongst students, he promotes an environment of encouragement and is known for playing a DJ Khaled clip before AP world history quizzes. 

“My focus is building a relationship with students, so you can that they feel supported by you,” Mr. Moy said. 

Both teachers and students can learn from Mr. Moy’s mindset. The two other students the Griffin Gazette interviewed were Sean Lee, a varsity basketball player, and Chelsea Estrada, a varsity cross country runner. Despite being in vastly different sports and activities, the two lock in similarly. 

“I like to listen to music. I put my AirPods in and listen to positive music for healthy focus. I like it quiet, so I use noise canceling too,” Lee claimed. 

Lee applies this method to his basketball practice, allowing him to later succeed in games. Estrada expands on this mindset, using music as a source of connection with her teammates. 

“It’s more like being in the moment, thinking, ‘I do not need to worry about anything else but this,’” Estrada asserted. 

She finds that it is extremely important to get out of one’s own skin and comfort zone to focus on the task at hand. While it is easy to stay in one’s head, it is best to externalize thoughts with alternate methods. Furthermore, Estrada, along with the other three thousand students on this campus, needs to lock in on more than one subject, so she has come up with a method of organization to effectively manage her tasks. 

“I organize myself. I have a little planner with little check boxes. Once I complete a check box, it pushes me to stay focused,” Estrada said. 

Connecting the methods of Estrada, Lee and Mr. Moy will guarantee that the end of this school year will be ideal! Whether that be as a student or a teacher. You can plug in your earbuds, prepare a calendar and get ready for success, all with the simple, powerful phrase: lock in.