Five Questions with Alex Perez
October 4, 2013
A swimmer for Commerce Aquatics since the age of six, junior Alex Perez, is also a 5-time participant of the Junior Olympics.
Q1. What do you like most about water polo?
A1. Just the teamwork and it’s a lot of fun, and you want to play a sport that you love.
Q2. How long have you been playing water polo?
A2. I made the water polo team when I was seven years old.
Q3. Who is your inspiration in water polo?
A3. Brenda Villa because she came from Commerce Water Polo. She actually just retired, but she’s a four-time Olympian and the Women’s USA team captain.
Q4. What do you hope will come from you being in the Junior Olympics?
A4. Being in the Junior Olympics? Well, there are a lot of scouts there for college, so I hope I will get recognized by one of them for an athletic scholarship. They have a lot of CSUs, LMU, and Cal Baptist, which is where I want to go.
Q5. Are you striving to participate in the Olympics?
A5. I wanted to when I was younger, however, I would had to have made the national team this year. They’re looking for taller girls, who take up more space in the water. It’s not impossible, but it’s too late.

In her down time, Rodriguez enjoys reading young adult literature, writing fictional stories, and spending quality time with her cell phone on websites like YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter. Besides being in Newspaper at school, she is also a new tutor at Downey High’s Writing Center. Writing as much as possible is important to her because she dreams of one day being an author. Along with chasing her aspirations of writing for a living, after she finishes high school, Rodriguez also looks forward to attending a university such as UCLA, San Diego State, or UC San Diego and obtaining a degree in English. Next summer, she will also be going on a missionary trip with church to Japan. Although her head is full of thoughts about the surreal future, for now Rodriguez is focusing on her schoolwork and activities and soaking up her last year as a high schooler.

Since Triana is an only child, in her free time she enjoys spoiling her dog, Lucy, a golden retriever, who keeps her company and is the subject of many of her freelance photos. When she is not pampering her much-adored puppy this photographer likes to kick her feet up at the end of the day and chant “Goal!” as she watches her favorite sport: soccer, on TV. While at school, she can be found around campus with her best friend of two years, photographer Cindy Macias. The photographer explains that her best friend is the complete opposite of herself. “Cindy has a very strong and bold personality, a little more outgoing than me,” Triana said, “I’m more of a quiet and gentle person.” Her mother who has made Triana the friendly person that she is today inspires Triana’s positive outlook on life and innocent nature. “My mom is the person I look up to,” Triana said. “She is always so happy and positive, and she can never be mean. She is just an overall good person.” Her optimistic attitude keeps Triana going as she aspires to reach her goals and further her education as a photographer.
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