Pacifica Stories

This is Langston Brown’s first year at Pacifica, and he is already making his mark inside and outside the classroom. Within the Pacifica community, Langston is involved in several campus co-curricular activities such as: STEM Scholars, managing the Varsity Basketball team, Track & Field, and the Mentor/Mentee Program. While his extracurriculars are certainly engaging, the tight knit community and high-level academics are Langston’s favorite parts of Pacifica.

“One of the many reasons I chose to come to Pacifica is because of the size of the school. The small number of students per classroom makes it easy to communicate with teachers about assignments,” said Langston. “Having teachers available has allowed me to grow academically and ask important questions. The lessons are engaging and fun and I feel like I’m being challenged.”

Since being a student here, his favorite class has been Honors Ancient/Medieval History due to the difficulty of the class that has pushed him to improve as a student. In addition to school, Langston has greatly enjoyed getting involved in Track at Pacifica.

“I like to run races. I love the feeling of wind as I run and I love being able to represent my school.”

As for Pacifica’s faith-based environment, Langston says that he has “never been in a place where anything related to God has appeared outside of meals and church,” and that the weekly chapel talks make him think deeply. In the midst of challenges such as learning how to manage his time and balance his schedule, Langston feels like he has experienced growth since coming into high school. 

“One thing that I have discovered about myself while at Pacifica is that learning is not just about knowing the material, it's about expanding your mind and I think that's amazing.”

Beyond Pacifica, Langston has been making a huge impact on his larger community. Earlier this month, Langston was asked to travel to Washington D.C. with the National Hemophilia Foundation to meet with legislators and staff as part of the organization’s ‘Washington Days,’ which is an opportunity for people with inherited blood disorders to advocate for important issues. He was the youngest bleeding disorder advocate from California present for the proceedings. During his travels, Langston represented Hemophilia of Southern California and, more generally, members of the nationwide Hemophilia Community. 

“I went to Washington D.C. to advocate for people with bleeding disorders, to represent people with Hemophilia and to tell the lawmakers a little about what it is like to live with this condition,” said Langston. “We [the other advocates and I] asked lawmakers specifically to support a bill that would prevent patients from paying twice for copays for their medications.”

This bi-partisan bill, called the H.R 830 HELP Copays Act, supports patients with chronic conditions in assessing medical care and affording their medications. Langston was able to visit the offices of Alex Padilla, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Jared Huffman, and Kevin Kiley. At the end of his visit, an additional four representatives had signed on to co-sign the bill and the number of additional cosigners since the visit has now blossomed to 12. Langston shared about his takeaways from this incredible experience, and about how having access to care has helped him pursue interests such as his involvement in Boy Scouts, travel opportunities with Pacifica’s Travel Program, and his participation in Track and Field at Pacifica.

“It was striking to see how the medical care that I have received has allowed me to do all of the things that I do, things that people just a few years older than me couldn’t do,” said Langston. “Individuals have the capacity to make changes that can save lives and help real people. By using my voice I had the power to affect the lives of people nationwide with similar needs and conditions.”

As he continues in his Pacifica education, Langston is most excited for new experiences through the Travel Program. Beyond high school, he hopes to graduate with STEM distinction and study architecture in college. We are so proud to have Langston represent what it means to be a Seawolf!