Who i am

Who am I am you might ask? My name is Bruce Stachitas, son of Bruce and Lisa, and I was born on November 15, 1995 at Fairfax County
Hospital in Virginia. My parents were never married, and separated from each other when I was at a young age. At the age of three I moved in with my father full time, and that’s where I call home and where my life was starting be formed. In 2000 my dad got married to my step mom Stacy, and she became a huge figure in help molding my life, and turning me into the man I am today.

At a young age, my step mom would always try and make school a big aspect in my life. When learning to read and write, she would always have certain ways or tactics to help drive that out of me. She knew I didn’t like to read, so she would use that as a punishment. When I would get in trouble with my parents or anyone else, we had a stack of children books that talked about almost every scenario, either having to do with lying, cheating, or anything a child could do that was wrong. It was good way to learn right from wrong growing up, and knowing exactly what the best decisions that I could make in my life.  She was always right on top of me with my school, as well. I would try and say “Yeah, I read this,” or “Yeah, I did that,” and she would always catch me lying. Which consequentially turned out making me have to read more, or write whatever I needed at the time. My step mom helped me become a stronger reader and writer. I’m still not the best, but I can definitely thank her for always holding me accountable.

In elementary and middle school, having to go to the reading and writing tutor was my least favorite thing to do. The only thing that would get me through was knowing I could go to hockey practice right after, or go home and just relax. I don’t remember my tutors name but I do remember complaining about going to the Burtonsville library once or twice a week. I struggled in school at a young, probably because of my lack of focus in class. I tended to mess around with my friends the entire day, too. I never knew all the material in each of my classes because sometimes I would be “out to lunch” during the class period and not even give it a second of my time. Math and history were a different story, though.  I would always focus in and want to know what we were learning about in these classes. When it came to English and reading, I would just have a blank stare on my face and really have no clue with what was going on. That’s the reason I needed a tutor for those classes. I would always be behind my classmates.

Hockey will always be the only thing that I know the best in my life. That’s what I consider my “free time”, where I go to learn new things, and can just be an escape for me. Ever since I was three years old, I stepped on that ice for the first time and never looked back. It has been nothing but the main focus in my life growing up. I didn’t make the right career decisions with it growing up, but now that I have learned more about how the hockey world is, I want nothing more than to just be a hockey player for the rest of my life. To play in the National Hockey League would be nothing short of perfect. My dad even has dreams of me playing at that level, and it’s tough to think about because it would just be the ultimate goal. Hockey has driven and motivated me through life, knowing every day, that I get to the rink and put on my gear is just music to my ears. It has helped with my literacy life because I would always want to read about hockey. I would always want to know the updated news about players in the NHL along with teams, coaches, general managers or anything that would have to do with anyone or anything in the hockey world.

In conclusion, I had a pretty normal life growing up. I didn’t live with my birth parents at the same time, but anything that had been missing or not as strong in my life were always backed up. Reading and school weren’t my favorite things to do, and still are not to this day but they will be a part of it in the next three years especially. Hockey always would just come before school when I was younger, but I have figured out how to balance out both and succeed in each.