With the prospect of summer just out of reach, you would be hard-pressed to find a soul that could honestly say that they will miss the confines of UC High after the last day of school. No doubt, students are ready for the long-awaited vacation, especially after the recent conclusion of the strenuous and time-consuming AP exams and CST’s. Seniors, in particular, are ready to part with the halls of UC High, as they’ve got their eyes on bigger and better things. Their contract of 13 years of mandatory education is nearly complete, and, for them, graduation day couldn’t come any sooner.
Being a senior myself, I too am ready to begin the college experience and get a taste of the real world. Even the fear of the challenges that are sure to come could not persuade me to choose to remain within the safe and familiar walls of high school. Regardless, I cannot help but reminisce about the brighter moments of high school, one of which was being a part of the Commander staff. Even though having the privilege of being an Editor-in-chief of the newspaper is rewarding, I can honestly attest that the relationships I‘ve made in the process of working on the paper were even more so. When I think about it, I’ve probably made more lifelong friendships in journalism class that I’ve made outside of it. In fact, high school (particularly journalism) has allowed me to make more friends than I ever would have otherwise.
It’s tough just trying to comprehend how I’m going to say goodbye to all of the great friends that I have made in my time as Editor-in-chief. Even though the excitement and euphoria I feel from being so close to graduation make me want to count down the seconds until I’m handed my diploma, I feel a great pang of sadness when I realize that I’m also getting closer to having to say goodbye to the journalism staff.
The memories and friendships I’ve made with them are both priceless. We’ve had laughs, smiles, and crazy moments a plenty in the process of trying to produce a newspaper our school can be proud of.
Although there were some bumps in the road, like staying up until the early hours of the morning to make deadlines and scurrying around the entire campus to find ever-elusive people to interview, the people I’ve met make up for that tenfold, and they turned the whole experience into one I am sure that I will never forget. While the monthly papers we produces may attest to the value of the class, the experiences I’ve shared with others in The redundancy and the crippling monotony of high school may have gotten through to me at times, but I always knew I could look forward to the hilarious shenanigans that would be present in the backroom of Room 226. And if we’ve been able to convert even a couple of handfuls of people into new Commander readers along the road, then I can say that I’m proud of the job I’ve done along with the rest of the editors and staff members. And if not…well, at least we had fun in the meantime.
If there’s anything to be taken from my babbling about my experiences in journalism, it’s that I encourage any underclassmen to try to find their “niche,” or a place in life they whole-heartedly enjoy being in. I hope that everyone currently at UC High, as well as any future students, are able to find somewhere they will be free to explore their interests and meet new people. For me, it was journalism, but there are hundreds of other options as well.The waking up at 6:00 a.m. and sitting through hours of boring lectures become at least slightly more bearable when you actually have something to look forward to in your day at school. Also, I’d like to hope that seniors will also try to look back on the better moments of high school, instead of disregarding the four years at this institution as a complete waste of time.
UC High may not be perfect, but being the optimist that I am, it’s hard to believe that this school can’t have even the smallest positive effect on a single person.