With a week to go before I begin my career as a social science teacher, I find myself reflecting on the path I took to get here. And as I do, I wish to take the time to thank my hometown of Tracy and its residents, who helped me during the journey.

Recently, it seems, whenever you read a newspaper, watch television or even listen to morning radio, you can believe that we live in a world that lacks good people. Well, if I may, I would like to point out some of the people who made a difference in my life — the everyday heroes of Tracy.

Here’s to:

• All of the children’s sports organizations and their volunteers, with special recognition to the Tracy Youth Soccer League, Little League baseball and The Boys

&

Girls Clubs of Tracy. I thank them for organizing games, cleaning up fields, setting up practices, officiating and volunteering to do a million other things behind the scenes. The memories will last a lifetime.

• Every single person involved in education in the Tracy Unified School District — administrators, teachers, secretaries, librarians, maintenance crews and substitutes. It was their patience, help, determination, love and outright stubbornness that helped me to see my own potential.

I should also take the time to apologize for all the gray hairs I might have given them. I didn’t understand what they did every day so that the thousands of students could some day grow up to be successful members in our society.

• My very special parents, Miguel and Bea Flores, the ultimate teachers in my life. My father is a fifth-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary, and my mother is a fifth-grade teacher at South/West Park Elementary School.

I cannot possibly write enough or explain enough how thankful I am for what they have done for me, but I hope this is a little reminder. I want to be like them and make them proud.

Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said that none of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody, like a parent or teacher, bent down and helped us pick up our boots.

For that I will always be grateful. Thank you, Tracy!

• Emiliano V. Flores, 25, lives in Escondido with his wife, Mary, who is in her first year of law school, and their two dogs, Winky and Dora. He graduated from the University of Caliofornia, San Diego, with a Bachelor of Arts in 2004 and a Master’s Degree in 2006. He graduated from Tracy High School in 1999.