At 1:29 pm;
the only thing on Jacob Song’s (12) mind at the end of his AP English Language
class at Mt. Carmel every Friday is that he knows he only has 13 minutes before
he is late.
Will his
teacher let him out early?
All he is
focused on is getting to Westview by 1:42 for his fourth-period AP Computer
Science class.
He doesn’t
have a car, he doesn’t have a scooter or a skateboard or a bike; all he has are
his running shoes
Out of the
Mt. Carmel gates, through the parking lot and onto Carmel Mt. Road; 11 minutes
left.
Down the road, Song arrives at a stop light at the
intersection of Carmel Mt. Road and Black Mt. Road. The red light glares at
him, holding him back. He counts the seconds passing by on his watch until the
light flashes green; nine minutes left.
From the
stop light to Sparren Ave, Song runs 0.6 miles.He keeps his focus on getting to
Westview on time, repeatedly glancing at his watch; six minutes left.
More than
halfway there.
He makes a
swift right onto Sparren, rushes to make a left on Elingham St., and another
right onto Calderon Rd.; four minutes left.
Crimson
Cedar Place comes up and Song knows he will soon have to make a left onto
Fallhaven; three minutes left.
Finally,
one last left onto Camino Del Sur, and it’s a sprint to the finish.
Into the
gates of Westview, he arrives at classroom A104, with one minute to spare.
Sweat beads
drip from his forehead, he sees the comfort of his chair waiting for him; Song
is panting, but he made it, and just in time..
“I think of
[running] as training for soccer,” Song said. “It’s worth it because running
[takes up] only a short time and I get to learn a lot here.”
At Mt.
Carmel he does not have the opportunity to take AP Computer Science, a class he
is really interested in, so every day he comes to Westview for his last class.
However,
not every day is like this.
Monday
through Thursday Song has lunch, which is followed by an off-role, leaving him
45 minutes to get to class. It is only on Fridays when Song has to worry about
getting to class on time.
“It is fun
running as fast as I can to get here on time,” he said. “I [don’t] slow down at
all; I just kept the same pace and focused on getting here on time.”
For Song,
it isn’t just about training or the thrill of getting to class on time, he also
gets to learn something he usually would not have the opportunity to. He gets
to take advantage of learning about something that truly interests him.
“I
was thinking it would be interesting to learn how to program and our school
doesn’t offer [ AP Computer Science],” Song said. “My uncle is a programer, and
what he does is pretty cool. I’d like to do that too some
