By Michelle Pitcher
Editor-in-Chief
I was hoping to be able to bring everything full circle, to look back at the first piece I wrote for The Sidekick and come to the heartwarming realization that I am the same starry-eyed freshman I once was. It was going to be great, really. I was going to bundle up the last four years of high school into a nice little package and tie it up with the same kind of ribbon I wore in my hair on the first day of high school.
But then I wouldn’t really be musing, now would I?
Endings happen every day. You wake up one morning and realize you haven’t had that oatmeal with the dinosaur eggs that hatch when you add hot water since your 8th birthday, but when you start to look for it in stores you realize it is no longer being made. Things fade out of your life gradually, and eventually their loss does not seem to matter much.
It is the definite endings that are hard to face.
In the past four years, I have traveled to Italy, California and Washington. I have passed so many milestones, wasted so many nights at friends’ houses when we were supposed to be studying. I have made more friends, dioramas and mistakes than I can count.
For the past four years, I have not even tried to imagine life after high school. The truth is that sometimes high school sucks, and not everyone makes it out. But the better truth is that the small joys we experience during this period of our lives are just a taste of the immense happiness to come.
But before I can lie on the grass on the Berkeley lawn and experience this happiness, I have to say goodbye to some of the most important people and places in my life. Since I joined The Sidekick my sophomore year as opinions editor, I have spent countless hours in D115 and have somehow managed to write a column for every print issue, despite my persistent writer’s block and self-consciousness when it comes to people reading what I have to say.
Over the years, I may forget the nuances of headline writing or how to format an entire story in AP style in less than 10 minutes, but I will never forget the experiences I had and the unbelievable freedom and self-confidence I gained from being a part of this group of students.
Before I wrap up one final time, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read my musings. It is incredible to think that someone out there wants to hear what I have to say. I hope you enjoyed getting to know me through my arduous – and often awkward – high school experience.
When I walked into Coppell High School for the first time, four years seemed like an eternity. Now I realize that every all-nighter, every minute spent staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring, every second spent contemplating which candy to buy from the school store has led to this. The ending. In the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty short story.
But stories don’t have to be long to be classics.
