It still hasn’t really clicked for me that I’m graduating from high school so soon. I remember walking into it for the first time and convincing my friends to take the bus with me the first day so we could walk in together. Now I am a senior, writing this goodbye while I’m about to move more than four hours away for college in Oklahoma. 

I still remember taking Newspaper for the first time during our online year and having an ex-Editor-in-Chief, Cade Spencer, convince me to stay. He took me under his belt and I began writing the Behind the Fence stories where I provided updates to the schools’ ongoing construction. Seeing the role of Dispatch Reporter under my name, and seeing my stories on the front page felt amazing. Now as a senior, I became the first ever Chief-of-Staff and committed myself to helping others with all their various assignments. It’s been amazing attempting to help others and establish a connection and friendship with all my classmates. Making all these new friends and learning so much about everyone in my class is something I’ll always remember and cherish.

To my family, Thank you for always reading my stories when you got them mailed to the house. It made me feel like I accomplished something and I hope you enjoyed them. I really appreciate the support you’ve given me through my time on the staff and I strive to be like y’all every day.

To my friends, I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for all of you. All of our memories and our shared time together is always really fun and all of my favorite memories are with y’all. I’ll never be able to thank you guys enough for being there and including me in everything.

To the leadership team, besides Carey y’all have been very fun to work with. I really enjoyed helping you guys and trying to mitigate the stresses of being on the leadership team. Going to San Francisco with y’all was really funny and I loved seeing all the cool things y’all bought from the many stores we visited. 

Next year, I will be attending the University of Oklahoma where I will be majoring in Phycology. I’m so excited to take the next step in my life and I couldn’t do it without this class and James Bowie High School as a whole. I’m going to end with a quote from my late father, “good days give you happiness and bad days give you lessons.”