David Campos-Barragan is in his Senior year at BASH. David has been here since the latter half of his Junior year after coming from Norristown. “My dad was looking for a better house so we moved. It was that and he wanted to help my sisters move to a better school. He moved here in hopes of a better [situation] for them.”
Throughout his time at BASH, David took AP Geography in his Junior year and an honors English class his Senior year. “Back in Norristown it was said to be the easiest AP course and I heard they looked good on college applications and I said, ‘hey I’ll take that.’”
David spent some of his time here improving his artistic capabilities, “It started out as a hobby but I liked the idea of being able to convey what I was saying without actually using words because I found that difficult.”
“I initially wanted to do animation so I pursued a lot of animation classes. Then I realized I wanted to be behind the stories and not have someone else do it. That led to me course correct very hard this year because last year I couldn’t join journalism. I preferred to wait that for the next year so I wouldn’t fall behind.”
David is now a member of the BASH Cub, though he joined Cub after what he described as a “classic mistake,” of thinking the class was more about freewriting. “It’s nice, I expected it to be more laborious. I like the approach it took where you write when you come up with a story. It’s a good atmosphere.”
David recounted his favorite moments from being a correspondent for the Cub, “Writing my first article is a big one. I’m not a very work heavy person: I don’t like leaving things for last minute, but I don’t like leaving them. It took me a bit of time to write the article and get the photo, but it was a good experience. It gave me experience in becoming a journalist if I ever pursue that as a career.” During his time in the Cub David has written two articles which can be found on his staff profile.
David remembers fondly his Junior year English teacher, Mr. Schaefer, who he says was “just a really standout guy, specifically in his teaching method. He was a very social teacher who wasn’t afraid of making fun of students, not only that but he made English class way more interesting than it is.”
“I remember the first day of class he said, ‘do we need physical books anymore?’ I tried to reiterate that we don’t need specific books like dictionaries, and then he opened this little closet that he had in his classroom full of books he would collect. He pulled out this giant dictionary and let students use it as a stool. He said, ‘you think I don’t need this anymore.’ I said yes and he threw it across the room into the trash and asked, ‘is that better?’ He said, ‘do you think we should burn these books,’ then transitioned smoothly into Fahrenheit 451. Genius transition and it made him such a memorable teacher.”
After this school year David will be going to Montgomery County Community College where he’s already been accepted to major in mass media production. “I want to be a screenwriter and this program will help me get to that.” David chose Montgomery County Community College for its economic value and proximity to his home, “I don’t like moving far from my home so I like going to places I can see myself moving to and from for a day, or maybe living there but not too far away.”
David’s love for creating stories began after an experience in his 7th grade science class. “I was with my friend Chris and I grabbed eight colored pencils. I told him ‘if you were to give each of these colors a power: what would they be?’ I drew a comic with my friend about those colors in their own little world. I would like to pursue finishing it if I can. After I study mass media I’m gonna start working on creating my own story and shoving that out into the world.”
David left us with what he considers a good idea for all current and future BASH students, “do not take your free time for granted. I’ve been employed since freshman year . . . I miss having my weekends free.”
We here at the Cub are wishing David the best in all his future endeavors.
