“I worked my entire life to get to where I am academically and athletically. I don’t feel like I came from a super enriched background, where everything was given to me, so I’ve had to work my way up the sport,” says Jason Parra.
For those who haven’t heard of Parra, he’s a senior in QUEST, but he’s also a track and cross-country star. Since he was young, he has practiced and trained hard to earn all his achievements and records.
He practices up to three hours a day and has broken many records, including a world record for the 5k race, once at eight and again at eleven, and received a world record after running a five-minute and thirty-second race as an eight-year-old.
He also set an 8.26 national record, though unofficial, and has set the fastest 3,200 meters in Long Beach history for high school athletes. He has gotten MVP around 10 times too.
The lucky university that gets this record-breaking athlete is Notre Dame, he’s going there on an 80% full-ride scholarship. Jason Parra committed there with “pretty lofty goals”.
“I want to make all-American as a freshman, I want to be on varsity as a freshman, I want to be at least top two on the team as a freshman, and I want to win around three NCAA titles, two in track and one in cross country individually. And I want to win an NCAA title as a team with Notre Dame,” says Parra.
While these goals would stress him most, he seems completely confident and has an “only-live-once, can do” attitude. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone as confident in their abilities as Jason Parra.
He chose Notre Dame because it has a good team and is a good school academically. He knows it’ll be tough to achieve his goals on the team, but he is prepared to work hard to do so.
His most recent achievement is winning a CIF final three–
mile race for cross country on Nov. 25, 2023, and
then winning state the following Saturday. Parra is a team player and knows his team worked hard to win. This year was the first time they’ve won in some time. Then on Dec. 2nd, they went to NXN (Nike Cross Nationals), where Jason Parra won 8th place!
This is amazing because it’s “the first time that Long Beach has ever had any athlete that’s gone to NXN,” says Parra.
He knows that he’s worked harder than most and deserves the great opportunity to further show Notre Dame what he’s made of. Of course, Millikan will be sad to see him go this year, but we expect great things from him in this lifetime.
Adrian Portillo • Jan 11, 2024 at 12:46 pm
On December 15, 2023, Bhree Walker wrote an article titled “Jason Parra Commits to Notre Dame.” I really enjoyed reading this article about Parra. It informed lots about his life story on how he started running and his passion for it. Walker used lots of quotes and information about Parra, such as breaking many records for the school and in all of Long Beach. Walker does an excellent job showing what Parra’s goals are in the future for himself. Parra is now committed to University of Notre Dame with a 80% full scholarship, and wants to do his best to keep competing in high division levels for Cross-Country. The article provides how humble Parra is, which is outstanding since lots of good athletes sometimes have a big ego. Jason has been working his whole life to reach to the top, and finally has proven that. He is number one in the state of California. Bhree overall did an outstanding article on Jason Parra!
JP Mialovski • Jan 10, 2024 at 10:03 am
It is great seeing another Millikan athlete going Division 1 for sports. Notre Dame is a great school and an amazing option for sports in the Power 5 Conferences. Being a Division 1 athlete myself, I find it awesome that more and more athletes from Millikan are making it big and going Division 1 for many sports played here. A lot of football players who were seniors on my team committed to play Division 1 ball yesterday and to know that other sports are offering the same exposure for our athletes is awesome! I can’t wait to see how many more Division one, power 5 commitments there will be in the future of Millikan sports as a whole. The trend is only going upward for Millikan and I’m super excited to be a part of it. Congratulations Jason Parra!
Sincerely,
JP Mialovski
Eric Carranza • Jan 8, 2024 at 9:52 am
This article is well written and positive throughout the whole article, giving praise to Jason for the things he is done and can do. Bhree gives a good background on who Jason is for people who have not met him and also listed several interesting and inspiring accomplishments which fascinated me. It is always nice to see direct quotes from the person which the article is about and Bhree included a couple from Jason which says how he worked to get to where he was. Another quote she included was about what his goals are to achieve as a freshman in Notre Dame. Now even though these are Jason’s words, the author including these quotes makes the writing or article more enjoyable and interesting to read. There is a perfect amount of information giving the right amount of detail of Jason’s success and goals without the article becoming too lengthy. This article had a great introduction as well as a conclusion and was very nice to read.
Kaden Serdengecti • Dec 22, 2023 at 9:32 am
Walker’s article was well-written and easy to read. Walker provided good context, allowing readers who may not be familiar with Jason Parra to understand more about his life story. She provided numerous examples of Parra’s dominance, demonstrating why an incredible school such as Notre Dame would want to recruit him. Walker’s article inspired others by sharing Parra’s story which can motivate the next generation of students at Millikan to push and work hard for their dreams.
Walker’s usage of quotes from Parra himself allows the reader to feel connected with him. Additionally, it makes the article feel more present as if the reader is right there when Walker was interviewing Parra. Strong vocabulary paragraphs throughout the text make the article feel professional. Walker has a way of stating a statement and then answering the questions that a reader may have directly afterward, which contributes to the well-written aspect of her article.
jack brown • Dec 22, 2023 at 9:32 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On December 15, 2023, Bhree Walker wrote an article titled “Jason Parra commits to Notre Dame”. Walker included many quotes and information on parra. The article explains how Jason is able to go to Notre Dame (an 80% full ride scholarship), and explains what he plans on doing when he gets there. The inclusion of Jason’s goals connect with the inclusion of his accomplishments. The inclusion of Parra’s background helps the reader grasp how he is able to achieve such feats. Walker does an amazing job explaining Jason’s mindset and after personally knowing Parra, she does a great job portraying him accurately. The article flows through the goals, accomplishments, and details about Jason very smoothly. The article informed me on some of his goals such as, making all American as a freshman, being on varsity as a freshman, top two on the team as a freshman, and winning three NCAA titles.
Sincerely,
Jack Brown
Emma Buth • Dec 21, 2023 at 1:54 pm
December 21, 2023
Dear Corydon Editor,
On December 21, 2023, Bhree Walker wrote an article titled “Jason Para Commits to Notre Dame”. This article discusses the many accomplishments that Jason Para has achieved especially ever since he was little. Jason has achieved many records at the age of 8 and 11 including a world record for a 5k race and for achieving a 5 minute 30 second mile as just 8 years old. He’s also known to set a 8.26 national record and has set the fastest 3,200 meters in Long Beach history. He has recently committed to Notre Dame where he is going for a 80% full-ride scholarship in hopes of achieving his goal of winning an NCAA title with his Notre Dame team. This article was very well written in terms of describing all the accomplishments that Jason has achieved, along with including all the goals he hopes to achieve in the future.
Sincerely,
Emma Buth
Andrew Oum • Dec 21, 2023 at 1:28 pm
I enjoyed reading this essay as I got to finally learn about his greatness. Parra is often talked about on the weekly announcements for his records and his speed, yet, learning about his achievements have me very surprised. The author presents Parra as very humble and hungry for more success, allowing me to resonate with him. His quote, when he speaks on “work[ing] my way up the sport” made me like his character and I believe he will continue to achieve great things.
Likewise, when speaking about his future, Parra details his big goals when he reaches college, starting with the fact that he has committed to a top school in Notre Dame. Achieving a 80% full scholarship is impressive enough, and when he says he wants to achieve the goals of “all-American as a freshman, I want to be on varsity as a freshman, I want to be at least top two on the team as a freshman, and I want to win around three NCAA titles,” I was blown away. These are insane goals yet, when learning about him in a few sentences, I can totally believe he can achieve them. The author organizes and portrays him very well and makes me interested in his running career past high school.