When I joined Yearbook in freshman year, it was mostly a “oh heres a class i can take” and not “oh i really want to do this.” Once I was enrolled in the class and school started, I was second guessing my choice in choosing the class due to poor teaching by the adviser and a lack of feedback. I pushed through and made it to second semester, where we got a new advisor, my AVID teacher at the time. She helped us learn more about the program and how to use it as well as provided us with feedback. When enrolling for classes for sophomore year, I selected yearbook once again, and the same for junior year. During my junior year was when I was promoted from business manager to Vice President or Deputy editor, only because I was a junior I was told.
It all began my freshman year of high school when I was told about elective classes that would help me decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always had a passion for doing hair, make-up, and nails so that was easy for me to choose an elective. My freshman and sophomore year I decided I would take cosmetology classes. I would spend two hours each day of school in the cosmetology lab, which was always cold and smelled like hairspray, burnt hair from the straighteners or a strong acetone smell that someone gets a whiff of at a nail salon. We learned so much material and I had a good time practicing my skills on manikins and other classmates. One thing I didn’t enjoy was the gossip and drama, but of course one would expect that from a class
Walking into Walnut Hills High School right now would have anyone thinking the just walked into the middle of a tornado. Everyone you look there are students running in and out of doors, in and out of cars, and most certainly either turning in missing assignments or retaking tests. There is only one way for you to explain all this ciaos, Senior Year, the year that all teens await with so much excitement and ambition and the year that every single hour long study dates pays off. For the class of 2021 this isn’t just their final year at Walnut Hills this is the year that friends separate and head off to their different university to follow their dreams.
High school is meant to be the time of your life, but for most seniors just like me it can be some of the most emotional and crazy time. The things in my past make me who I am today, and the things I do now are the first footsteps into the future. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past four years, and I still have so much learning to do. This is my high school story; the good, bad, and the ugly.
When I was entering into High School, I tried to join as many clubs as I can, since I wanted not only to be superior in grades, but also extracurricular activities. So as usual, I joined Key Club. At first volunteering at the events was fun, but as I went to more events, it felt as if it was a chore. I did not feel any passion; it was rather tiresome.
I was told that this, my junior year, would be the easiest year of my high school career. And no, they were absolutely wrong. It was not just school and grades that I was concern about either. I had other things to worry about, things like, driving, clubs, friends and family. I however had no idea that it would be this difficult. Throughout this school year I have learned many things; like the value of sleep, whose really your friend, and that although very important, grades are not everything.
Yearbook records the history of the school year. Its shows interesting and fun things students have done throughout the school year. Yearbook shows all the talented kids on the sports teams, Chorus, Band, Avid, Spanish, Art, and Technology. People outside
"Welcome to White Oak High School, home of the Vikings." The speech given to any fool unfortunate enough to enroll in this school.
Walter Kirn successfully unearths some of the worst aspects of senior year. However, these reasonings are not sound enough to condone the discontinuation of it. Any issues found are the fault of the student or the school administration, not the grade level itself. Senior year is worth holding on to for both the persistence of learning and for solidifying relationships. Kirn mentions with pleasure his choice to leave high school early. Nonetheless the four year high school experience should not be demoralized by those who wish to value it for the irreplaceable opportunity it is.
Throughout my high school experience, I've been able to obtain knowledge that I can use to better my life. Some of the classes I've taken have been a blessing in disguise. For example, I never expected to learn as much as I did about writing and literature by just simply reading. Many of my teachers have pushed me to my limits and inspired me to think differently from my peers. In general my best English experience was reading "MacBeth" by William Shakespeare in Mr. Elwell's class, where I also realized I had many English skills to improve on.
Being an incoming freshman can be difficult because one doesn’t know what to expect. I remember coming to orientation and being nervous because I thought that I would meet negative and judgmental people, but I was honestly met with people of opposite traits. Once I observed how courteous and welcoming the Reagan link crew leaders were, I realized that Reagan was going to be a place in which I would be able to feel comfortable and have the opportunity to grow into an admirable young adult because I would be surrounded by people who are exactly that. When introduced to a new setting, I am usually quite timid, but the link crew leaders helped me open up and provided a safe environment. Truthfully, if the link crew leaders hadn’t showed me how positive high school can be, I think that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the beginning of my freshman year as much.
In short, I feel junior year provided a foundation for the more mature and adult chapters of my life, and without the numerous obstacles of junior year, I would never have gained the key to a successful future.
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
Through these fun and challenging times each one of us has built strong relationships. Whether it was with friends or a teacher, we have developed connections and memories that will be with us forever, even if we lose contact with those individuals. Some students have discovered they have a passion for writing through a creative writing class or want to have a career in business from taking Mr. Ide’s inspirational marketing classes. Others have participated in CLIP or summer school to catch up and make it possible for them to be here today. I went to Heights Elementary and have spent the last 12 years with the same group of people. Attending school with the people I’ve known since elementary and middle school, and making homecoming posters with them for four years in a row, has given me a chance to get to know the people around me better than I ever thought I would.
I recollect in ninth grade thinking that it'd be so cool to be on yearbook. Yearbook students knew which classes everybody was in, they knew which kids were into what extracurricular, and maybe above all, they knew everybody at school. From green beans to seniors to personnel,
Having spent twelve years of my school life in just one small red brick building, the years tend to fade into each other. But the year I remember most clearly and significantly is my senior year of high school, where I finally began to appreciate what this institution offered to any student who stopped to look. Before, school had been a chore, many times I simply did not feel motivated toward a subject enough to do the homework well, and seeing the same familiar faces around ever since I was 5 years old grew very tiring soon enough. But I began to see things from a different angle once I became a senior.