To Seniors, Inspiration and Reflection

I hope most of you read this:

Although there is only a week of summer left before school starts, I am pretty excited about the new school year. This past week at band camp and the GSLT leadership retreat, I've opened my eyes to so many new ideas and insights that I really want to get going this year.

Seniors -- I know we are all really nervous about this upcoming year. I am especially shaking. We've got college applications to fill, AP classes to ace, and extracurricular activities along with family, friends, and a fun life to juggle. And.. AP Chemistry (aiy!). But we must not loose hope! Everyone has a full plate. It's not right for us to complain about how busy we are because we are not the only ones with lives so hectic. We need to suck it up and take on the challenge.

We must make this year the best one ever so that when we leave the legacy of 2009 stays behind in the hallways of our school, the rooms of our homes, anywhere... So that we change and shape the direction of whatever we care about this year towards a better and brighter future. It isn't just about grades anymore. I understand that we should be good students, and I believe that we will. I know that we will get into the good colleges that we dream of going to. But instead of focusing on where we want to go and what we want our GPAs to be, we focus on putting all of our passions and hard work into what we love whether it be our Families, Sports, Physics, Music, etc., and we will make this year an amazing one. Those college applications will take care of themselves. We'd still have to write them and get recs, but having a good resume.. we don't need to worry about that if we just go towards what we love hard core.

I hope we all realize that this is our last year to make a positive impact in our communities -- that after a few hundred days or so, we will never have this opportunity again. We will eventually all fly off (excuse this cliche) in different directions with various hopes and dreams. But we should leave with common ground: the fact that we cared enough and loved enough to come together in our last year to give back to a place that brought us up from our childhood. No matter what positions we're taking on this year, we need to step up to the plate and do the best we possibly can for others.

I wish us all luck in pursuing a phenomenal school year.

~*~

Band camp turned out to be.... amazing. Everyone worked so hard last week, and we got so much done: we are already halfway through our entire show. That's two songs marching and playing! We aren't perfect yet (duh) and we're not 100% focused all of the time, but that's okay because we've done so much already.

I've found it so much easier to communicate with my band this year. It used to be so hard to talk to them! I was nervous everytime I got up in front of the band... nervous about what they would think of me, whether or not they would listen or care, and nervous that they would see my every mistake. I guess I got better at hiding it as the months went along. But I feel so horrible about last year. There was so much I could bring to my band and so much influence I could have had on the musicians, but I never truly took that initiative to make an impact. (I definitely won't let this happen to Emilee! I hope she gets the full two years that she deserves.)

This year has been a change. I'm not sure if it comes with the seniority or with the experience (more likely) but I feel so much more comfortable with the band. I don't worry anymore about what they think of me, and I know that the respect and trust will build as long as I am willing to reach out. I am still working on being a drum major and I definitely don't have it all down yet (I never will)... but I am especially working on the influence aspect of it all. I'm not sure exactly how this will come together, but I am trying harder to reach out to my band peers.

Anyways, my last band camp as an official PHS student is over. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this wonderful experience.

~*~

I've learned something this summer. Sometimes you must do things you don't want to do even though you would much rather fight it until you get your way and do something you love doing. But growing up means accepting to do things that are not necessarily things that you want or even like with a smile. It is a good idea to accept unwanted responsibilities with a positive attitude even when it is faked. Sometimes, those fake attitudes make you change the way you think and open your mind to new ideas and opportunities. Then they become real attitudes that you can turn into action and initiate change. Good change. Sucking it up and pretending to like something you don't may not be such a bad idea after all.

Smile and spread love.

--Emily