Erick De La Rosa has accomplished many feats in his time spent at Emmaus High School. He was a member of the Emmaus Track Team and Managing Sports Editor for The Stinger. De La Rosa has racked up numerous awards while on The Stinger, including 1st and 3rd place sports stories for the state Keystone competitions. Erick has also received honorable mentions for multiple national awards.

De La Rosa will be continuing his academics at Penn State this upcoming fall semester, where he will be studying political science. His time at Emmaus has helped him develop into the student he is today, and he looks to build off of that moving forward into college.

Stinger: What was your favorite memory or part of high school?

De La Rosa: My favorite memory of high school was sophomore year, CP Geometry, when I bought Mrs. Lesko a Fathead of herself. Three other kids and I, we got together and got her a Fathead that I believe is still hanging on her wall to this day. We told her that we were going to do it, but she thought that we were joking the entire time. One day it just showed up and she just laughed in disbelief. It’s safe to say that Mrs. Lesko will definitely remember that class.

Stinger: What has been the best part of working on the staff of The Stinger?

De La Rosa: The best part is definitely production and coming here after school. I’ve made so many friends on The Stinger staff. Everyone here is basically someone that I talk to, even outside of The Stinger as friends. They are all wonderful people so just coming here after school and just being able to hang out with them. Even though we are doing work and important stuff, just being around them is always fun because they are some of the best people. Other fun memories were going to D.C. and the carwash we did with each other always made for an enjoyable time. The Stinger for me was definitely made by the staff as a whole and not just The Stinger itself.

Stinger: What was your first story as a member of The Stinger?

De La Rosa: My first story was in Journalism with Jacob Welsko. It was about homecoming, more specifically about how people didn’t like homecoming. I remember we were both super nervous because we had to interview a senior on the senior stage in the cafeteria. We thought that it was this sacred area we were forbidden to go on. We ended up going up there and nothing happened, but the stress was something I will never forget.

Stinger: What was your favorite story?

De La Rosa: My favorite story I ever wrote for The Stinger was definitely the scrubs story I wrote. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it and people still give me hate for it.  It was very fun to take on some investigative reporting and dig up dirt to make the story a very high-quality piece. I enjoy interviewing people and going out to find things out. That was a great experience as a sophomore; to be able to do that and really begin to break me out of my shell.

Stinger: How has The Stinger impacted your high school experience?

De La Rosa: The Stinger is the thing that has had the most impact in my high school years. It is just all-encompassing as there is not one thing that I can really point to. Everything revolved around The Stinger, because I would have to plan my other school work when I didn’t have production, interviews, or some practices. It was my top priority throughout high school, and it was a constant effort to try to better myself and my success on The Stinger.

Stinger: How has The Stinger impacted your style of writing?

De La Rosa: Newspaper writing is a lot different than essay or English writing. I have definitely noticed that sometimes I have to catch myself, because I try to keep things brief for the way I write quotes. I will try to write it in newspaper or AP style, and then I will often have to go back and rewrite certain parts. Overall, it has definitely made me a stronger writer. I have learned how to spell a lot more words because I am a terrible speller. Ms. Reaman has really pushed me to improve in my spelling, grammar, and word choice when writing. If you look at my writing from my freshman year until senior year now, I think everything has improved. Writing for The Stinger provided a great platform for me to work on these things.

Stinger: How has Ms. Reaman contributed to your time on The Stinger?

De La Rosa: Ms. Reaman was my mentor for track mentor night. She is by far one of the best teachers I have ever had. She always cares for us and looks out for us. I have always appreciated that I had a teacher that always tried to do what was best for us even if it meant sacrificing something on her end. Ms. Reaman has been there from my freshman year all the way to my senior year by helping me navigate high school.

Stinger: Do you participate in any extracurricular activities?

De La Rosa: I was on the track team, I play club baseball, but other than that I don’t really do much. I love to watch sports as well as playing them. I am a huge Yankees fan as well as supporting the Knicks, Giants, Rangers, but baseball was my first love.

Stinger: What is something that not many people know about you?

De La Rosa: Over quarantine, I ran a rock-paper-scissors league that went on for about 40 days. I organized the playoffs and everything. It was about 30 of my friends that we all kept track of records and results to keep us sane in quarantine. The winner got a big championship belt to celebrate the small positives in such an unprecedented time. With no sports being played, there was nothing to watch, so I decided to take it into my own hands and create a sport that could be done while remaining safe.

Stinger: Any last comments?

De La Rosa: I would just want to say as a senior, I find myself not being so focused and stressed on school compared to my freshman year. Some people may think that I am just not trying, but that has allowed me to become less of a stressed-out person. Everyone comes into high school wanting to put everything they have into getting good grades and most end up burning out. People make it seem like high school is the most important thing to ever happen, but in reality it is not. I think that people should just slow down and enjoy the memories. You only get four years of it and then you have college and whatever happens beyond that. Getting the grades and taking academics seriously is a part of it, but finding the balance between getting your work done and finding time to enjoy your high school is the key.