Attention Whore

Student, athlete, all-star, worker, friend, sister, daughter, and aunt: these are all words that can be used to describe me, Dora Leticia Ocampo. There is one word that I left out though, I am an attention grabber. Although in essays attention grabbers can sometimes be my weakness, in reality I excel. If I am not the center of attention where ever I go, then I am most likely bored out of my mind or I could simply care less. I try hard to get someone’s attention and if I do not, I get upset. Not only do I get upset, but I try harder and harder to get someone’s attention. If I do not have your undivided attention, then I do not want it at all. But once your attention is on me, I promise to keep you entertained with my jokes, pointless stories, and more.

Freshman year I made myself known. I talked to random people in the hallways, screamed “OH BABY” practically everywhere I went, and I was making friends every second of everyday. It got to the point where everyone knew my name and I struggled to remember theirs. Basketball also boosted up my popularity. I was a freshman starting on the varsity team, and to add the icing on the cake I was also the leading scorer, most valuable player, and a member of the all-star team. During the 2006-2007 basketball season, there is one game that I will always remember.

“Dora Ocampo’s big night was not enough for the Trinity Catholic Falcons” (if I remember correctly) was what the newspaper said. My freshman year I played in what was our very first close game of the season. The entire game went well. My confidence arose as I failed to miss a shot in the second half of the game. Eventually I started missing a couple of shots, but the majority went in. The last two minutes of the game were the most nerve racking. Basically the entire starting line up fouled out except for me, and we were down by three points with a couple of seconds left. Coach immediately told us that we needed a three pointer and that he had all the faith in the world that I could make it in. I felt the pressure a little bit, but not too much. It is not like we were undefeated or anything, if we lost then it would simply be just another L in our book.

The clock was on and the time was winding down. I caught a long pass, saw no one in front of me, stepped up to the three point line, and with the ugliest form ever I shot the three pointer that tied up the game, forcing us into overtime. Our bench was going crazy because we all finally saw hope, and as everyone jumped on top of me, I remained calm. I am a humble person at times, and one of those times is during that game against North Cambridge Catholic. I loved the attention of course, but I kept it to myself. All eyes were on me and it felt great. Then it kicked in that I did not win the game for us but I simply gave us another chance to win.

Overtime began and I was the only starter in the game. My goal was to score as many points as possible. The quicker they got me the ball, the quicker I would try to shoot. I practically played the entire game, except for a couple of minutes, and I grew tired. My shots were no longer going in, I gasped for air while running up and down the court, and watched as NCC scored more points than us. I was on top of the world after the fourth quarter and at the bottom by the end of overtime. Losing that game was definitely a huge reality check, but it did not stop me.

I am still, and came to the conclusion that I will always be an attention grabber. I did learn to be more positive though. My sophomore year I became more involved in school and I think that it drew attention to me in a positive way. Loud, obnoxious, full of smart comments and jokes is how I will always be. Your eyes are either on me or at nothing at all.