Through the last few years, Agua Fria has had the privilege of having Ruben Anaya as one of its students. Ruben Anaya, known as the Student Body President of Agua Fria for the 2022 and 2023 school years, has been a role model for the student body, from his active self and fantastic personality to his excellent motivation throughout Agua Fria High School. Now that Ruben is leaving Agua Fria, he is also leaving behind a remarkable legacy of being an outstanding student body president, a fantastic volleyball player, and an amazing friend and student to many others.

Ruben Anaya has been an Owl for all four years, and throughout his time here on campus, he has shown outstanding leadership. After high school, Ruben wants to go to ASU. “I am planning on going to ASU to study marketing and from there, pursue social media marketing,” Ruben says. However, marketing wasn’t always his passion. He wanted to be a teacher. “ At first, I was going to go into education because I like leading the class. But I think my skills could be used more effectively in marketing.” Ruben says, “ I feel like I’m a very social person, and I’ve been told that this would be a good field for me. For example, PR (public relations). So I kinda went with that route because I think that will be better for me in the future.” 

While attending ASU, something fun that Ruben hopes to join is the volley team. “ There’s a club volleyball team at ASU. They don’t have a men’s team, like the NCAA and stuff. But there is a club team and I really want to try out for that, and get involved with volleyball. And if it’s not a club, then I’m just going to play volleyball in general.” 

Going back to the topic of high school, Ruben and I talked about some of his favorite memories throughout high school. “Honestly, this might sound corny… but freshman year was definitely the highlight for real.” Ruben says, “Maybe cause I forgot the bad things of freshman year. But, like the football games were insane, I was able to join STUGO as a freshman so that was fun. I just met so many people freshman year, so that was a good experience.” 

Something that Ruben wants to accomplish while in college is keeping up with school work. In his words, he says, “ College and high school are totally different environments. In college, there are so many different things to do other than school work, so I just really want to stay on top of things.” 

Being an owl for a long time, Ruben has had many teachers who have helped and guided him throughout his academic journey, but he will never forget his favorites. ” I call them the three blondes: Coach P (Ms. Petruzziello), Rams, and  Mauritz. Coach P and  Mauritz were my volleyball coaches, so I have been close to them. My sophomore year was the first time Coach P coached me. And for Ram’s, it was her first-year last year, so we just hit it off and became close.”

As Ruben’s high school journey comes to an end, there are many things that he faces during those years. One that he faced and overcame was the judgment of others. ” One thing that I had to face was judgement from other people. I’m a very outgoing person. It was hard for people to get used to the fact that I was always happy and peppy. So just overcoming people’s opinions and just realizing that those opinions don’t matter.”  Speaking on that fact, that realization that people’s opinions don’t matter shaped Ruben during his high school years and for the rest of his life. 

As Ruben leaves Agua Fria high school, he wants people to know that the student council is trying its best to make the school great and enjoyable. “ A lot of the time, people blame STUGO for a lot of things that don’t go well or that they don’t like. But we’re putting all of our time into it.”

Another thing that Ruben is known for is playing volleyball! Volleyball is something he is really passionate about, he uses it to have fun and deal with stress. “ If I didn’t have volleyball, I wouldn’t be able to express myself and my stress through volleyball.” As Ruben and I talked about volleyball, he shared what and why he loves volleyball. “ I love the intimacy; you need a team in order to play volleyball. A lot of people don’t really know much about volleyball, but you need a pass, you need a set, and you need a kill. However, you need a team in order to do that. That mindset of having a team is so beneficial in life because it is important because you will carry that wherever you go. And working by yourself won’t get you that far.”

Ruben would describe the volleyball team this year as very prideful and passionate. “ We are all very caring about the sport, and you’ll be able to see that on the court as we played through the season. Most of us have been playing since freshman year, so we have just been waiting for this season for all four years in high school. One of Rubens’s favorite memories is the Owl Invitational. “ It’s a home torment that we host for the men’s volleyball program. It started with Fox, my freshman year. We weren’t able to have it sophomore year. But we did have it during our junior and senior year. From reffing to playing in it, it was a great bonding experience with your team. You can see what you do well as a team when you’re playing on the court, and it also shows you what you do badly as a team. But overall, it’s just an amazing bonding experience with your teammates.”

As the interview came to an end, I asked Ruben, “ What is one piece of advice that you would give to a freshman?” He responded, “ A lot of people are going to tell them to get involved their first year, but I can not stress this enough to GET INVOLVED. I got involved during my freshman year, I was actually the first freshman to get into STUGO, and that benefited me throughout my high school years, and I made so many friends. I know that getting involved is scary, but you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone and put yourself out there. But it’s so worth it in the end. One more thing is to get on top of your grades because I have a lot of senior friends that slacked freshman and sophomore year, and they are falling behind.”

And there you have the fantastic Mr. President telling us about his high school years. Ruben will always be known as an extraordinary student council member and President, an amazing volleyball player, and a person with a huge heart that is always there if you need a friend.