For most of my years of school in Mansfield, I was an outcast. I was too shy to start a conversation. I had a few friends, but I didn’t have any classes with them. When I did, we were promptly moved to opposite sides of the room without even the possibility of making eye contact with one another. Needless to say, my lack of a circle of friends left me vulnerable to the ridicule of my peers.

Not only was I picked on regularly for being as shy as I was, I had braces and glasses. I was a four-eyed, brace-faced, lonely nerd. My face was always buried in some book that I’d read a million times and I avoided contact with others to the very best of my ability.

In middle school, cross country, track and soccer didn’t fill the void in my life where I should have had friends. I talked to my teammates only when necessary and was always too shy to be praised for my achievements. I didn’t have any different expectations for high school. I quit soccer after I injured my knee and I found my love of food. I gained a lot of weight my freshman year, which only led to more ridicule.

My sophomore year, I got into track and I joined journalism as a random elective. Little did I know, those two decisions were the best I could have made. I lost most of the weight that I gained while I got stronger: physically and mentally. I learned how to put my writing skills to good use. Coach Beckler and Mr. Mallett have actually been the two biggest blessings in my high school career.

Coach Beckler was always tough and through my sophomore year, I didn’t like her all that much. Of course, that was exhaustion and doubt taking over my brain. I didn’t like the workouts or how serious she was about them. Now, in the end of my senior year, I regret letting my grades slip and not being able to compete much when I had the potential to excel. Coach Beckler may seem tough to those not in track, but once I got to know her, I loved going to track practice. I still hated the workouts, but being around her extremely bubbly personality always lifted my spirits up. Now track season is over and as I ran my last race as a Bronco at the district meet, I was mentally thanking Coach Beckler for all of the training that she put me through the entire way.

Mr. Mallett has also been a huge influence in my life. I never would have expected myself to succeed in journalism. Yet here I am in Newspaper II, writing about it in my last high school blog. While I didn’t spend nearly as much time around Mr. Mallett as some of the other students did, I can still honestly say that he is by far my favorite teacher. He never failed to make things fun. His lectures were amusing, yet effective at the same time and it was never annoying when he eavesdropped on me either. I was almost always doing something not related to newspaper and he made the situation amusingly awkward.

I want to thank Coach Beckler and Mr. Mallett. Without them I wouldn’t have found the places where I belonged and I’d still be writing random paragraphs about some made-up character’s life. I’d still be a lonely nerd with nothing to do but eat when I was bored. Thank you both for making my high school years the best.