On that first chilly morning, something about seeing everyone I had gone to school with since first grade worried me. Armed with only a year of teenagerhood, I was intimidated by the prospect of attending school with eighteen year-olds, adults. The eager anticipation I had experienced every first day prior dwindled like the hours separating me from high school. I envied my friends at other schools beginning freshman year with as much exploring to do as the rest of their class. In other words, I desired a change of landscape, a place of further development in a direction uninfluenced by any preconceptions or expectations. However, I soon discovered that I was not so willing to forsake the past. More than nine months later, my attitude towards PHS could not have become more different.
Freshman year eroded childhood standards I had presumed permanent, and took away some of the people closest to me. Despite this, I found comfort in familiar aspects of life: desk partners that I hadn’t talked to in years turned out to be just as kind and quirky as they used to be, and most of my friendships withstood the test of time.
When pondering my future, I looked to the upperclassmen. Most of them were alien to me at first, but in time they revealed their many inviting qualities. The women’s varsity and JV ballers I worked with consistently demonstrated tenacity, loyalty, and persistence on and off court at an unparalleled magnitude. Mock trial presented me a chance to witness some of the most brilliant, witty, and eccentric people I have ever met wage wars of logic using all of their intellectual glory. Altogether, my older schoolmates inspired me with their refined worldviews, open minds, ability to interact with a variety of different people, and determination in the pursuit of their own interests. By observing how much they achieved, I realized that PHS is the very source of unhindered self-growth I had yearned for from the beginning.
Growing into strong men and women as the classes before us have done is a tremendous feat, and will take the entire remainder of our high school life, if not longer. While we lead unique lives and find happiness in different places, joy is accompanied by tribulations that plague every one of us. I challenge you to embrace teammates, classmates, friends, and strangers; why should we spend these last few years of grade school in any more unnecessary discord when we can enjoy it in harmony? As individuals we are beautiful, original, and extraordinary, but if we meet life’s challenges together, we will have everything we need to redefine it.
