Remembering the better times

Oh, man. High school.

I remember graduating from the 8th grade and the only wonder on my mind was how the hell am I going to survive at the high school. I had two sisters graduate from East and I heard the best and worst about my future high school experience. Experiences that vary from completing hard work, competing in sports, participating in extracurricular activities, and partying. And that made me extremely scared for some reason because it was the next step forward.

Turns out that high school was the best four years of my life.

The high school allowed me to mature (sort of) and understand that I have to augment my knowledge to have hopeful success in adult life. So I buckled up, stepped on the pedal, and drove myself to be the best me. Don’t get me wrong, I screwed around a lot during high school but in my mind, if you are capable of succeeding in both of those traits, you will be just fine. 

I would prattle about all the things I missed post Covid-19 outbreak with events such as graduation, senior prom night, senior break, baseball season – but I prefer to look at the better side of discomforting situations. This outbreak did nothing but make the Class of 2020 stronger. We understand that the Coronavirus is ruthless; but we accepted that agony and moved forward. That being said, in my eyes, I foresee an extreme amount of talent and success for our class. 

There are countless amounts of people and places that I will forever miss. I realize that I will always have a close-knit relationship with all of my friends so I’ll start out with my staff favorites: Mr. Albaugh, Mrs. Michell, Mrs. Weigel, Mrs. Allaben, Mr. Vandenbrink, Bruce, along with many others. I shout out these people especially because they were the ones who taught me the most academically while being able to create a fun atmosphere throughout the classroom. If someone were to ask me “Who were the best teachers at EGR?”  10 years from now, those names would be brought up.

Last thing, sports; something that grew within me ever since I was a toddler. Saying goodbye to my two favorite sports: Football and Baseball, was not the easiest task for me. Truly wasn’t too hard to say goodbye to baseball because Covid-19 already said ‘Hasta la vista’ to it for me. But knowing that I will never strap on a gold helmet again is gut-wrenching. On a good note, we were able to put a trophy in the case which fulfilled my happiness.

So long, East Grand Rapids. I hope I haven’t peaked yet.