Me four years ago waiting in line for my first school ID would have never imagined where I would be now. She would have never thought I’d have a whole schedule and folders and all that planning junk (or maybe she would, I don’t know). I was (and still am, although in a different way) a believer of “life will happen and the puzzle pieces will come together in time.” And for my high school career at least, that turned out true for the most part.
If freshman year was like riding a pegasus in the sky, sophomore year was like walking up Mt. Tabor, except I could only sleep once every sixteen hours. Junior year was that, but now I had to push a giant boulder up along with it. Luckily, the boulder was smooth, and although Fg, the constant force of gravity (new assignments and homework) pushed the boulder down, eventually the boulder made it to the top and cleaned off the dirt in its cracks using the water fountains. And to be clear, it was not a fruitless endeavor. Cutting through the weeds made me accustomed to double-blind procedures, anaphora, guerilla marketing, acid-base titrations, and a lot more.
Joining The Oracle in my senior year was like navigating through a jungle. Only there was a wise master (Sb) guiding you and lots of companions who had already traversed the jungle and even made a map, accelerating you on your journey. Every companion has been a delight, but the one who first made me think I was fit to adventure was Emma. During my first production night, I drew a scary looking tree and created a fun joke at her behest, and she invited me to their Halloween costume discussion (unfortunately I wasn’t celebrating, but it was very kind of her). Still, adventurers who go into jungles like to advance their skills and so I took on the role of Feature Editor, which has been a learning experience, synthesizing the style of the press.
Beyond The Oracle, doing Constitution Team was really fun, and while going to state and winning a unit award was cool, late phone calls reciting the U.S. constitution, sampling cafes throughout Portland to prepare for the competition, and celebrating afterwards with unit one were definitely the highlights.
Although I don’t plan on going into a strictly journalistic career, I will treasure these experiences as I look forward to contributing to my college newspaper in the future.
