I was born and raised for the longest time in Ponte Vedra, FL. It’s in between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, those are popular locations. This week after years I kept thinking about my hometown, and the last time I was there was 2014 (11 yrs old). It started when my brother the other day got a message from his old friend and they knew each other immediately. Some people might think its unusual but I think it’s great how he could can connect to him and update him on life.

I had the happiest time there, maybe it was because I was a kid but I was most happy there than where I am now. My school was 20 mins away from where me and other kids in my neighborhood lived, and every morning and afternoon we would get on the bus playing on our DS’s, trading silly bandz, or listening to the radio music. I also remember when the bus driver would talk on the speaker sometimes. And the kids always would talk about being on the aisle seat or the window seat or in the middle. I preferred window seat mostly and I liked viewing the sea when we crossed the bridge, kinda how I got my love for nature. At school there were Gifted Classes for every grade (1-5) and I was part of it until I moved away.  We would have fun friday and had a pottery class. The school inside was extremely big, it’s like Meadowland and Horizon combined. There was a YMCA across the school and every year we had a program called FunRun and all kids would run a 1 mile lap around the school. This place made everyone do activities and that helped us all become active. A lot of the qualities I had then are ones I don’t have now, like being flexible, communicating well with others, and maintaining long hair (it’s really hard to do so).

Here are some great memories I remember:

• my old school ocean palms elementary (not the best picture i could find, its a lot bigger)

Publix – The Giant/Shoppers of Florida and Georgia except it was 10x better.

St. John’s Golf and Country Club – The community center waterpark

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. I would swim here 4 times a week in the summer.

My dad told us that he got a job opportunity up in VA so we left, but that wasn’t the actual reason we moved. The main reason was because the school system wasn’t efficient. FL schools rank 41/50 in the nation and

Another reason was because of diversity. Most of the area was white and here’s a stat of it from my school:

I’m kinda sad I left because I miss so many things! My friends, the weather, and the nearby beach especially, but Sterling isn’t that bad compared to Ponte Vedra. I appreciate the diversity and education system up here and I think those 2 things are most important in a community.

I’m going to revisit sometime this year (summer or spring break) and I can’t be more excited.