Class of 2011,
We were not a class to make a statement. We were not a class to close off the rest of the world and retreat within ourselves. We were a class to look past a petty high school experience and acknowledge the fact there is more to come. And here we are. Graduation a breath away.
I feel that in the midst of the hype of graduation I missed out on the small moments of my senior year. Despite being so wrapped up in what was required of me at the present time, rather than focusing on the value of that moment, I wouldn’t go back and do my last year over again. I want to thank every person who drifted in and out of my life these last four years. You have impacted me in some way or another.
Some of my best memories from high school I made on the speech team, and I would like to personally thank every one of you for such an amazing year. In the end it really doesn’t matter what place you get, which individual you beat (although the personal satisfaction from it is quite gratifying). Remember the confidence you felt when you overcame your fears and stood in front of the group with your heart racing. The little voice in your head saying “you can do it” was so distanced. And you did it anyway. Thank you for that.
I asked myself several times “when am I going to use this in my life?” This question rang in our ears daily, but this isn’t what we need to focus on as we walk out of the high school for the last time, as students. Instead take away the experiences. The little lessons we have subconsciously absorbed over the years. It goes beyond how to text under your desk during freshman year, and turned into how to be more than stupid teenagers. How to be adults, ready to burst into the world, bringing with us new vitality.
I was expected to go to college, and am still frequently asked where I plan to attend after I am done with high school. When they hear my response I am most often greeted by, “oh … are you sure?” Enlisting in the Air Force, before the school year started, was nerve-racking. I felt like I was breaking away from the set plan in my life, and honestly, unsure if I could follow through with it. Watching my peers all splinter away, following their own paths themselves, I know I am not alone in my endeavors.
I wish all of you well, and best of luck. Take the lessons you learned and apply them, but don’t forget those people sitting around you who helped you get here.
In one more breath it is time to leave. Now is our time to make that next step. Now is our chance to prove to our community, and ourselves, that we are the class to make something of ourselves.
One. One.
Your 2011 editor,
Ashlyn Freitag