I’ve spent a sickening amount of time deciding how I want to write my first, last and only blog for The Rider. Did I want to focus on my journalism classes? How COVID affected my freshman year? All of my final blog drafts sounded identical to my college application essays, and this had to sound absolutely perfect. I wrote my actual first blog in my Journalism 1 class freshman year, and when it wasn’t good enough to make the site, I took it, as I did everything that year, very personally. Freshman year Abigail was a try-hard. She started introducing herself as Abi because she wasn’t a baby anymore. She wanted to be a good writer, the first pick for pool volleyball, the teachers’ favorite student (in a non-goody-two-shoes way), someone that people wanted to hang out with. So in my first year of high school, I learned how to be content.
In one version of my senior blog, I go through every year of my high school career; what sucked, what didn’t, what I learned, and what I wished I hadn’t found out. But I’m a strong believer that life isn’t a list of events and accomplishments. I spent high school so focused on what had to be checked off of my list for that day, that week, that year, that I never took the time to truly sit in the phase of life I was in. As my life got busier, I forced my priorities to change. If I was hanging out with my family, I wasn’t checking my texts incessantly or making to-do lists. I refused to miss youth group, so Wednesday night projects became Tuesday night projects. If it had been a busy week, maybe a movie night with my friends was more important than an extra credit assignment.
As much as the days seem to drag on, high school and even just the first 18 years of your life in general become memories before you even realize it. If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone, it’s that over-planning for the future will only make you feel uncertain. I’m not sure at what point my set-in-stone plans for my future began to change, but I know it started with just a little uncertainty. Maybe I don’t want to go to Texas A&M, is a school like that too big for me? I really like journalism, maybe I should take that into college? Maybe leaving Texas for a little while wouldn’t be so terrible? With each little inkling I had of what my future could look like, I felt more unsteady, more nervous. However, I think maybe it’s because it finally felt real. When people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, they weren’t just writing it on a cute art project for moms to fawn over later in life. They asked because they needed to enter it into a scholarship website. Every choice I made held so much more weight.
All my plans I had as a freshman have taken a complete 180, and I’ve never felt so confident that I’m heading to where I’m supposed to be. I owe so much of that confidence to the people I’ve surrounded myself with. Newspaper gave me life lessons and a friend group that I’ll always remember, even if I were to never speak to any of them ever again. The journalism room has become my home within my high school, and I’ll forever be grateful. I have so much love and pride for my staffers, my co-editors, my advisors, and the publication we’ve poured into over the years. It’s the heart of almost every college essay I’ve written because it’s influenced every area of my life. So my other piece of advice is to join Legacy Student Media, because I’ll never pass up an opportunity to boost our numbers. I truly believe we were blessed with the greatest staff possible this year, and I’m beyond proud of what we’ve accomplished.
In one day, I’ll sit in the journalism room for the last time. In four days, I’ll sit in the Performing Arts Center debating whether or not I should say thank you when I’m handed my diploma. In 15 days, I’ll head off to orientation at Abilene Christian University, and by the time August rolls around high school will just be a stepping stone to where I am now. Stay classy, Broncos, and scratch ‘em wildcats.
