Michael Pascual
“A good friend” is how Thomas Standridge has described Michael Pascual, an MBHS senior, in a few words. Though it is only three words, he is much more than just a good friend. He is an excellent student, the vice president for Drama, and a team captain for Cross Country.
Pascual has acquired various skills to maximize his time. “He has a good work mindset,” says Thomas. When an assignment or project is given, he immediately gets on top of it and typically finishes the work with time to spare. He tells me, “I love listening to music… usually when there is no homework. Or sleeping, I very much enjoy that.” His favorite music genre is metal, and his favorite band is Slipknot.
School is a priority for the highschool senior. He took the dreaded AP Euro and AP US History classes throughout his sophomore and junior years. He took even more AP classes junior year, including AP US and AP Chem. Four AP classes allowed for even less time, yet Pascual finds a few more hours every day to participate in extracurricular activities.
Drama has been a large part of Pascual’s life throughout highschool. It began in middle school when he wanted to join it for fun. Since then, he has been one of the people that makes the magic happen during a play. He tells me that the members of the drama program are what makes it special. “I think that the community and putting on productions is pretty fun...” Being part of a club and also enjoying it is what makes highschool special.
Not only that, but he also participates in Cross Country along with Track and Field. Although with a tightly packed schedule, he makes an effort to be part of the team. Every day after school he shows up at the track and runs with the team and his friends. Taking multiple AP classes results in having little time to do anything, but his ability to find time is nothing short of impressive. Races are also hard to make time for, since it is on saturdays. Despite this, he attends every race possible.
During an interview he told me “I just started doing it because my hand-eye coordination kinda sucks, so I was like ‘hey I’ll run, that seems like it’ll be good.’ Then I just kinda stuck around with it and I’ve been doing it since.” Pascual already has enough P.E. exempt credits for his transcript, but he relishes the sport’s competitive nature. This consistency has led to him being appointed as a team captain for the 2023 season.
Even before this season, Pascual has been a team player. He has been a key part of the Varsity team in the 2022 season. His 3 mile PR is 20:23.1, A difficult time to accomplish. Being able to run under 7 minutes per mile for three miles is a triumph only few can say. Similar can be said for Track and Field, where he contributed to the 4x400 event with a 57.9 second split, which was a huge personal record for him.
Pascual excels both at extracurriculars and academics, but also is a great person to be around. “He likes talking to everyone,” Thomas said. “Definitely more extroverted.”
Pascual cherishes highschool, and is a joy to be around. His personality is a good one, being a friendly and intelligent person. He also has a good sense of humor. Occasionally our coach would ask for any jokes to give us more recovery time during a workout. Immediately, he exploited this and proceeded to make a joke about doors upon doors that lasted a few minutes, then another about a very long train. This made practice more bearable to be in for the day. Understanding context is important, and he clearly understood it.
When I asked Thomas about his charm and personality, he noted that “He says it like it is. He is also consistent too, he is not trying to be someone else.” He doesn’t want to be like someone else, rather he wants and tries to become a better person in his own way.
In short, Michael Pascual is a fantastic person to talk to and is an exceptional student at MBHS. His ability to take multiple AP classes throughout the years proves a high level of persistence in academics. Not only that, he regularly participates in both the Drama program and Cross Country, along with Track and Field.
Michael Pascual | October 23, 2023
