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Jared Beeson
Friendship and teamwork

The camaraderie of sports will be among the greatest high school memories for Palo Alto High School graduating senior Jared Beeson.

"We were pretty good," Beeson said of his seasons on Paly's varsity football and baseball teams this year.

Both teams won league titles and advanced to CCS. The baseball team waged a 24-game winning streak, but lost the CCS championship title to Burlingame.

"That team was one of the best teams I've been on, not just because we were winning but because we liked each other. The camaraderie and friendship were the most fun part — not even the baseball aspect," he said.

Beeson, a starting linebacker on the football team, played the sport all but his freshman year at Paly after he lacerated his spleen playing baseball the previous summer.

"Besides that, I never really had any major injuries. You get dinged up and stuff, but nothing too big."

He plans to spend the summer relaxing and preparing for college at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, where he will play football.

Aside from sports, his greatest memory of high school is the people.

"I had a pretty good time here at Paly. I made a lot of good friends and will miss seeing those people every day."

What he will not miss are some of the teachers.

"I had some pretty good teachers and some of the teachers weren't so great and I didn't get along with them. But there weren't too many bad things about Paly. I enjoyed it a lot."

He is undecided on a college major and career, although he is drawn to the idea of teaching and coaching, or possibly sports journalism.

"I love my parents, but I think my life will be a lot different from theirs," he said.

"It's pretty expensive here, but I love it here. You can't ask for better weather. There's plenty of stuff to do, great schools and all kinds of activities going on.

"I'll definitely move back to the Bay Area after college."