I spent my first day of freshman year nervously finding my way from class to class, hoping I would see someone I know or bump into someone I could easily make friends with. Instead, it dragged on slow, quiet and boring. However, the one class I was excited about was Journalism. The room felt welcoming and the students in here seemed super friendly. I slowly made friends one by one and got closer to both of the teachers.
I never thought the only four years I get to spend in this school would go by so fast. I thought it would feel like the longest amount of time I have ever spent doing anything but day after day went by and I’m now down to my last few weeks here. The feeling is bittersweet, I’m excited to start my life but I’m also terrified to be on my own.
As I hit sophomore year and actually began writing for The Rider I already wanted to give up. I felt as if I had no time to get all the thoughts out of my head for these stories I was being assigned. I definitely worked slower than anyone else but I was also learning as I went on and understood more of how to get these assignments done on time. For the years to follow I still was falling behind, I felt hopeless and felt as if I would never be able to compare to the others in this room writing all around me.
Beginning of junior year changed my perspective on writing, I had won my first Best of Sno award. After that, I won another. Though I may still have been slow on getting everything done, I was more passionate about what I was doing and got excited to see where it got me in the future. Now I sit here, shaking and on the verge of tears simply because my time in this class is coming to an end. The people I got used to, the environment I feel so welcome in, it’s all quickly ending.
Although I have had my bad days I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. To be in high school and writing for an award-winning newspaper site is unbelievable. It’s something I never thought I would be doing. Writing always came easy to me but it never excited me until I was filling out my freshman schedule and saw this class on the list.
High school in general has changed my life around for the better. I feel like I have finally found my voice and became more confident in the decisions I have to make for myself. Walking away from this building for the last time definitely won’t be easy but it’s just putting me one step closer to the rest of my life.
I can’t even give enough thanks to the people who deserve it most. Not only to my teachers for working with me and doing anything they could to help me pass but also to my mom and dad. They have pushed me in school for as long as I can remember and though we may not have also gotten along about what we say to each other, I still listened to what I was told and tried my hardest. I feel that now I am prepared for college and with all of this said, this brings me to the end.
