More Than Just An Answer

Somewhere along this time, something has shifted in my life. High school isn’t all about striving for the best grade or worrying about all those tests and books you need to read. It was a step into learning about yourself, or what some call a self-discovery. We all gained and lost pieces of ourselves, but those show glimmers of who we are and who we might become. Losing ourselves through social acceptance, academic burnout, changing in age. We gain different perspectives, finding new people, new purposes, and overcoming difficulties.  Not through our childhood fantasies of one day being a superhero like in those movies. But we will be the people and the passion that resonates with us. But through the time we’ve been in the walls of Oak Hill High School, at some point, we’ve gained qualities that will help us all with everyday life. Like perseverance, effort, commitment, and courage to take with us and start our own paths. These are the traits that we will take as building blocks to keep helping us move forward with life. 

Furthermore,  I’m aware that we don’t have all the right answers and might be unsure where we will be the next day, but every day we wake up and have the choice to make it a good one. For me, Oak Hill gave me a purpose. I’m an athlete who played on the girls’ varsity team. That became my second (more stable)  family. These people showed up for me. These people put in endless hours in my journey. Now I’m very aware that everyone goes through struggles or hardships. These are to test us to make us better. For me basketball was one of my favorite things to do and was my life, but it was also where I struggled the most. The hardships I’ve had to overcome, freshman year I was benched. Now, back then, we were a good team with upperclassmen who ran the show. Then at the beginning of sophomore year, once those seniors graduated, I moved up to the top and was a starter. Good, right, well, we were not very good. Ending the season with a record of 1-17. Now I’m an upperclassman junior. Still a starter, but we ended that season 3-15 better than before. My mindset remained in the state that we are growing and showing growth. Now, senior year, the hardest mental one of them all. Starting spot taken, now some may say work harder and show it should be yours. I put in endless hours of showing and proving myself to my coach, but he never saw the growth I fought for the team. But, instead of staying in a negative mindset, I put in all the hard work and dedication on the court. I showed up first to every practice and stayed last to put in more time. On game days, I would show up early so I could work on my shooting.  Putting up amazing stats and still being looked at by college coaches. I was always cheering on my team and keeping morale high. I might not have been elected the coach’s captain, but I guarantee every teammate from this year would say I was a big contributor to the success we had. Now, ending the season, we lost the first round of the playoffs, but the program throughout my time grew more and more successful. 

Now, considering what I said,  the reason for expressing one of my many high school hardships I’ve had to overcome is not because I want to tell you a story about something I believe was a struggle or because all of us have had a failure or step back. But to be the people we are today, we’ve overcome those and faced them and didn’t cower down to them. The people we look up to have setbacks. Not one person has had their life perfect.

  For instance,  I know academics isn’t for everyone, but Oak Hill gave us connections and friendships that we will cherish for a long time, and with these people who create an environment where I, and I believe mostly everyone, felt truly heard and seen. The bonds we made with teachers that we wouldn’t have found if we went somewhere else. Oak Hill gave us the social aspect of our lives. Yes, everyone has those good and bad days, but we woke up and gave Oak Hill a chance, and look where we all have come today, now graduating. 

Back to the beginning, with having those placeholders in our life it helped us know who we wanted to be and become. I’m not sure about you all but I’m not the same person I was when I walked through the front doors on the first day of freshman orientation. I’m not quite sure if I will become that person again but I’ve learned a lot about myself and the friendships I’ve gained and lost. The people who I used to look up to helped form the person I am today. I believe everyone here has been impacted positively by at least one staff member at Oak Hill, someone they can talk to about anything and just feel heard. Someone you asked for help or just said hello to in the halls. 

However, to answer my question, “who inspires you,” I realized that person for me is my step-mother. Two weeks ago was her book launch, and through all those hardships she’s dealt with, she made her dream come true. For respect purposes, I’m not going to explain all those hardships she handled but for one, in 2022, my freshman year she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Disclaimer: she is okay now and doing very well. But I’m not in her shoes so I’m not sure what kind of mental state she was in, but let’s face it if you were told you had cancer no one would be in the best mindset. We would be negative and think the worst. Maybe she did but she never once showed it she fought through surgeries, radiation and chemo. She’s one of the biggest role models in my life, and I don’t even think I’ve told her. But, she’s an Oak Hill graduate and she is all those qualities that I said. She shows up when times get hard, she’s determined, she shows perseverance, effort, and courage with every step she takes going forward. And let me tell you, she’s now a published author so I’m kind of related to someone who will be famous. 

Finally,  I’m not saying everyone is inspired by someone, but there’s someone or something that keeps pushing us and should keep pushing us forward with our lives. I believe that even if school wasn’t for you, we all put effort in. Showing up to school, doing our work whether it was last-minute or not, playing sports, doing a club, volunteering, we all showed up at some point in our time at Oak Hill High School. This building will forever be the place that helped shape us as humans and people, and I’m forever grateful and proud of every person I’ve met along the way who has taken the time to help me and all of us to get where we are right now. Placeholders will always be part of our lives, but at some point, all of us will have the real answers to these questions we’ve been asked when we were little. 

“how to teach kids money skills” by GoodNCrazy is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“astronut” by joewakefield123 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.