Emily Madden
Our lives are a mixture of baby steps, sprints and giant leaps
I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the amazing year I have had as the High School Correspondent. I have had a super fun time writing for the Trib and am excited to continue to do so over the summer. Thank you to all of you that have been reading my stories. I would like to close out the year with a message to the graduated class of 2019.
Take a moment to look around, notice your classmates who are sharing in this milestone with you, notice your teachers who have helped you get to where you are today, and notice your families in the stands who have supported you throughout your life. Our opportunity to sit here today in our caps and gowns is the culmination of many small victories throughout our lives. We have gone from paper caps at kindergarten graduation, to our fifth grade class shirts, eventually making it to the eighth grade promotion night, and finally ending up right here.
We live our lives in a mixture of baby steps, sprints, and giant leaps. In this moment we have made it to the ledge and it is finally time to make that jump, but do not be mistaken, just because we are all at the same leap right now does not mean that the path behind each and every one of us looks the same. Some of us have been in the district since kindergarten, following in the footsteps of older siblings, or paving the way for younger ones; others joined the Trenton family in middle school and began to form those bonds early on; even more came to us in ninth grade and spent the best four years of their lives so far as a Trojan. Whether you took classes online, in the classroom, at another school, or even in another country; we all did it, one way or another.
In a couple of minutes we will all stand up, switch our tassels, toss our hats, and walk out that door. Some of us may never come back here again; never to see the Trojan head in the lobby, or buy a Brisk iced tea from the vending machine, never to eat the school’s buffalo chicken dip, or take another health class. But that’s okay because we are all starting the next chapter in our lives.
This isn’t the end of the road for any of us. Some of you will move on to a new school to back for four more years, some of you will use the skills you have acquired and get a job and some of you will go on to continue to play the sport that you fell in love with at a young age. No matter what you choose to do, it is the right choice if it makes you happy. Remember that all of our paths to get to this moment were all different and from now on our paths will look different as we hit milestones at different times. This is the only time in our lives that all of us will be doing the same big thing at the same time. We will all go on to graduate college at our own pace, begin our careers at different times, buy a home, start a family; from this moment forward we will all live our lives with different goals in mind. Up until this moment, this was our goal, every single one of us. Now we are moving onto bigger and better things, but we cannot forget what high school has given us.
These past four years have been the most transformative years of most of our lives, high school is a gift that allowed you to grow without the fear of absolute failure. High school allowed you to grow as a person, if you were to ask me freshman year if I could ever picture myself giving a speech at graduation in front of all of these people I would have honestly had a heart attack. High school gives you the platform to be who you are and have a place to live that truth unapologetically. Many of us will meet lifelong friends in high school — I know I did. High school is a gift and no matter how many times that late night study session or that bad test grade made you want to throw it away, it was always here for you the next day and the next day just waiting to lift you up and help you along the path to the rest of your life.
High school is over, and no matter how much we cheer, deep down we all know that we will miss it at least a little. To the class of 2019, I would like to say good luck. I know that we are all destined for great things in the future. To all of the students and staff here at Trenton High School, thank you for making it so hard to say goodbye.
Student correspondent Emily Madden is a senior at Trenton High School.