Piece of their childhood
Ok, so you wanna know something weird that happened to me today? Of course you do. Why else would you be reading this crap?
Today I covered the local high school’s freshmen orientation. The high school in the town I work in is pretty huge on my standards—1,500 kids. The students come from the surrounding grade schools—like about four or five.
Well all last year, I covered those grade schools and inadvertently learned who would make up this year’s freshmen high school class. Today when the kids were running around trying to find their classrooms or participating in the team-building exercise, I’d recognize a few and think, “Hey he came from Wallace” or “That’s the big kid from Shepherd,” or “I think she was in St. Columba last year.”
Honestly, I didn’t see much of the freshmen class last year—I saw more of the seniors and juniors b/c of the teacher strike I covered. But when covering grade schools like high schools, the older ones usually do the most. So I was exposed to last year’s eighth graders, who now make up this year’s ninth graders.
This weirded me out because, 1. I know these kids. I know he’s a smart one because he’s the spelling bee champion or took part in one of the academic teams last year. I know he or she likes math, lives in the city or out in the country or plays a certain sport.
2. They didn’t belong there. It’s like my mind knows what to expect when I enter a high school (hormones) or when I enter a middle school (awkwardness). I was caught off guard to see these faces in the high school terrain.
3. I’m going to see these kids grow up, and I’m going to grow with them. These are the students I captured during the last year of their middle school careers, which in my opinion is the last time a kid can really shine the brightest before being dimmed by their peers (which they normally get out of hopefully by the end of college). This is before the pressures of high school get to them to conform and give in. I get to watch these kids go through the tests of high school, and I’m sure the ones that stand out to me from last year will inevitably be highlighted again in the future.
Well all last year, I covered those grade schools and inadvertently learned who would make up this year’s freshmen high school class. Today when the kids were running around trying to find their classrooms or participating in the team-building exercise, I’d recognize a few and think, “Hey he came from Wallace” or “That’s the big kid from Shepherd,” or “I think she was in St. Columba last year.”
Honestly, I didn’t see much of the freshmen class last year—I saw more of the seniors and juniors b/c of the teacher strike I covered. But when covering grade schools like high schools, the older ones usually do the most. So I was exposed to last year’s eighth graders, who now make up this year’s ninth graders. This weirded me out because, 1. I know these kids. I know he’s a smart one because he’s the spelling bee champion or took part in one of the academic teams last year. I know he or she likes math, lives in the city or out in the country or plays a certain sport.
2. They didn’t belong there. It’s like my mind knows what to expect when I enter a high school (hormones) or when I enter a middle school (awkwardness). I was caught off guard to see these faces in the high school terrain.
3. I’m going to see these kids grow up, and I’m going to grow with them. These are the students I captured during the last year of their middle school careers, which in my opinion is the last time a kid can really shine the brightest before being dimmed by their peers (which they normally get out of hopefully by the end of college). This is before the pressures of high school get to them to conform and give in. I get to watch these kids go through the tests of high school, and I’m sure the ones that stand out to me from last year will inevitably be highlighted again in the future.
So in that way, it’s really exciting. I know a little piece of these kids’ childhoods, that maybe they themselves won’t remember later. And that’s cool.
p.s. The water park was a freakin blast this past weekend, in case you were wondering
***Photo by me
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