Bidding Farewell
In May, The ROCK examined the effect of graduation on all aspects of our school.
High school is generally a subject of varied opinions: some may love it, others may hate it. Either way, it only last four years and then it’s gone, just like that. People always say that high school flies by, but they never really realize the truth behind that statement until their four-year journey is over. Years speed past students’ eyes and before they know it, it’s time to put on that graduation cap and gown.
Reflection on year is bittersweet for seniors
Not only does graduating high school mean receiving a diploma, but it also means goodbye. Goodbye to friends, goodbye to teachers, goodbye to one’s high school self. It means it’s time to meet the new college version of oneself.
Taking the leap from high school to college isn’t just a simple a transition. It’s like when a butterfly is about to break out of its cocoon for the first time; they’ve been stuck in the cocoon for what seems like so long, and it has morphed them into who they are today, but are they are now going to break the mold and start a new chapter in their life.
Today, about 70 percent of high school graduates go to college, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The focus RBHS puts on preparing its students for college aids in their transition. Along with education in high school, there’s also the social aspect. Many students took advantage of the main and north commons or just around the hallways to socialize and see friends each and every day at RBHS, but that opportunity comes to an end as they all prepare to disperse to different times in their lives.
“Senior year to me is really about being with your friends before you go off to college,” senior Andy Barnes said. “So in the end they’re what I’ll miss most about high school.”
High school is a time to focus academically and plan out a future. For Barnes those that made up the experience were a big part of the journey. After spending so much time with friends, the goodbyes become more difficult.
Students at RBHS also become close with teachers, adding to the change of not seeing them around the hallways or in classes anymore next year.
“A great part of my senior year has been all of the great teachers I’ve had, including Melissa Wessel, my anatomy teacher, Travis Martin, my calc teacher, and John Fluenfhausen, my sports marketing teacher in the career center,” senior Mike Nemec said. “They’ve been really good teachers and have prepared me a lot for going to college.”
Students say the approach teachers use helps their high school experience by making them feel more at ease.
“Rock Bridge is a welcoming and easy place to be,” said senior Catie Rodriguez. “The teachers and staff are so much fun.”
RBHS teaches its students to live by the saying “freedom with responsibility,” which has helped students get a taste of life after high school in the sense that it forces them to take control.
With this motto, students have learned to manage their time wisely in school and out of school. RBHS has offered students a sense of belonging and provided them with people that can help influence their lives in the future. Seniors moving on to new experiences is all part of the process of continuing in their lives.
“The end [of high school] creeps up on you really fast,” senior Abby Spaedy said. “I’ll miss hanging out with everyone and being able to see them every day.”
School is a place where students spend a lot of time, some more than others. Whether through after school sports or clubs or arriving early in the morning to see a teacher for help, RBHS offers a lot for students. Speady has been very involved in the club Bruins United during her time at RBHS.
“A few weeks ago we went bowling for Bruins United. It was a great way to end the year because I’ve been with these kids the past three years and it’s just been really fun to hang out with them because they’re all so sweet,” Speady said, “so I’m really going to miss them a lot next year.”
Throughout his time spent at school, senior Shelby Wilson has learned through his overall experience that it’s important to “cherish your time in high school because it will be over before you know it.”
One thousand four hundred and sixty days as a high school student may seem like a long time, but students claim that it really does go quickly.
The way RBHS treats its students proves to be helpful for them as they prepare for what comes next. For Camden, the focus on career planning and adult-like treatment provided her with a push of encouragement.
“I’ve learned that freedom with responsibility eases the transition into the real world,” Camden said, who has been working toward her future dancing career. “I’ll really miss seeing my friends on a daily basis in the commons or classes.”
By guiding students through high school, RBHS is a place that graduating seniors will greatly miss. Seniors are sad that they’ll soon be saying goodbye to a place they’ve been such a part of in the past four years, but look forward to what’s to come for them in their futures.
“Rock Bridge has definitely given me a great high school experience that I’ll miss,” Camden said, “but I’m ready to move on to life in the real world.”
By Molly Mehle
Seniors embrace future; leave home, friends behind
Senior Jake Alden comes rushing into class, backpack strapped across his shoulder, his arms overflowing with books, Tide to Go, and cinnamon buns, ready to tackle another day. The students in the advisory he mentors flock toward him, updating him on their lives, while sneakily snagging a treat in the process.
The sophomores, like most other students at RBHS, glide through the day, waiting for 3 p.m. As the bell rings to mark the end of the day, they jump up, stuffing binders and folders in their bags as they rush toward the door. Some walk out immediately, clamoring into cars and buses. Others leisurely stroll, stopping to talk to classmates.
However, for Alden, as well as one-third of the students at RBHS, the end of the school day is something more than freedom from the institution. For seniors, each passing day and ringing bell signifies a rapidly approaching graduation, the moment their high school career will forever draw to a close and their adult lives will begin.
“I feel so mature in advisory, as a senior with all the sophomores coming to me,” Alden said. “But then when I go to my next classes [with fellow seniors], I goof off so much and act all immature.”
Sophomores often see the end of the school year as a welcome escape from being the youngest at RBHS. The new school year will be a gift. No longer at the bottom, they are finally comfortable in a school of nearly 1,800. To juniors, the next school year means excitement, finally being at the top, the oldest in school.
For seniors, though, the passage of summer will mean something much greater. For the first time in their lives, seniors will be alone, attending college away from home, living their own lives. After 18 years of childhood they will finally be adults. Senior Mahogany Thomas will attend Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., a 45 minute drive from Columbia. Sitting in the auditorium surrounded by the noise of students in the advisory she mentors, Thomas looks in control, as though she is comfortable in being a role model for younger students.
“I was scared my first day at Rock Bridge. I didn’t know anything; the school seemed so big,” Thomas said. “I was worried about everything: how was I going to make it to class on time, what was I going to do. I was nervous.”
Though fearful of getting lost in a school much larger than her junior high, Thomas spent her first year in high school getting accustomed to RBHS and eventually found herself loving it. By the next year, Thomas involved herself in school and extracurricular clubs, playing an especially active role in Minority Achievement Committee Scholars. By senior year, Thomas found herself involved in activities in the greater Columbia community, picking up a job at Lakota Coffeehouse.
“Each year of high school I progressed a little bit, and now I’m ready for college. I’m excited to go to college, to take the next step,” Thomas said. “It feels like sophomore year again. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I’m starting over.”
While Thomas is excited to begin again, one of her fears is leaving her family. With a smile, both dreaming and fearing what the future holds, her thoughts jump immediately to her little brother. Being 11 years older than Langston, Thomas has always looked after and taken care of him, causing the two to become quite close.
“I was really worried about leaving my brother, particularly with what’s going on in my family right now,” Thomas said. “What if he needed my help?”
Deciding to go to a college nearby made her less apprehensive about leaving.
“Since my college, Westminster is so close to Columbia, I can drive back if I’m needed,” Thomas said. “I’m even going to be keeping my job.”
Thomas is not alone in her choice. Attending an in-state college to be close to home is a popular decision in America. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education 58 percent of students from Missouri go to an in-state college. For many seniors, deciding to attend a college in the state is the perfect transition; while they are on their own, they are still close to their family. It makes the parting a little easier to deal with.
“I won’t be living at home. It will be different, but it will be good. I’m not worried about making friends, of course I’m going to,” Thomas said. “Everyone at college is new, so it’s not a problem.”
While Thomas has decided to stay close to home, senior Drew Floyd will be attending Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill.: a college much further from Columbia than Westminster. He, like Thomas , feels the same nervous excitement at starting over a new school. However, while Floyd will be leaving his parents, he will be joining another family member: his sister.
“I’ll be leaving Columbia and my parents, but my sister goes to Northwestern; so I’m going to be with her again,” Floyd said. “I’m excited for that. It’ll be fun going to school with her. Most of my friends will be going to different colleges, so that’s a little different. It’s going to be a different experience. I’m a little excited, a little nervous.”
Jake Alden is having a much different experience than Thomas and Floyd, who are both staying close to family.
“I’m still deciding between two colleges [Purdue and Northwestern]. Both are out-of-state, and I’m an only child, so I’ll be leaving my parents,” Alden said. “I’ll also be saying good-bye to some really good friends.”
And while Alden will miss the family and friends to whom he has grown close, he views the experience as bittersweet, saying the parting is inevitable.
“I’ll always love my family and be with them. This is just a part of life,” Alden said. “And I’ll make sure to stay in touch with friends; we’ll all take road trips and visit each other.”
“It’s hard to think of one big moment where I felt the friendship with the people I’m close to,” Alden said. “This may sound cliché, but to me, the true friends, the real friends, are the ones that are there for you at the small moments when no one else is. I know they’ll always be there for me, and I know we’ll always be friends even though we’ll be in separate colleges.”
Though Alden does not view the separation with family and friends as permanent or something to worry about, the transition from high school to college does seem a little strange.
“It’ll be weird being the youngest in school again, the freshman,” Alden said. “Now, I’m a senior mentor. I feel so mature …. but it’s going to be different. I know everyone’s going to be saying ‘look little freshmen.’ I’m going to seem so immature; that’s different than now, being the oldest in school.”
Floyd and Thomas both agree and find it odd that they will once again be the youngest. While they all joke about being at the bottom, like many high school seniors, they truly are nervous.
The seniors will be leaving their city, their homes, the family and friends they have known for so long. In many ways, this transition is similar to starting high school: both are stepping stones to something bigger. This time however, they’re going have to face more than 17 and 18-year-old high schoolers. They’ll be in college, facing the real world, no longer protected and sheltered by the familiar feel of classrooms, students they’ve grown up with, and teachers who care for them.
But after 13 years of school, they’re prepared.
“I’m ready and excited to go to college,” Thomas said, “to move on with my life.”
By Humera Lodhi
Athletes take next step toward greatness
As the year comes to a close, seniors look back on the memories, laughter and many friends they made throughout their time in high school. The accomplishment of being able to sign the National Letter of Intent, which secures a spot on a specific college’s sports team, is a rare moment some seniors will never forget. Signing this little piece of paper will have a huge impact on their lives as they commit to a long road of hard work that lies ahead of them.
The journey of becoming a collegiate athlete is anything but easy, but senior Joe Amico has been waiting for this experience ever since he was a kid.
Amico originally lived in Indiana, but moved to Columbia for his father’s job in the middle of his junior year. Although he lives in Columbia, Amico drives to Kansas City weekly to play with the Sporting Kansas City Academy, where he competes with professional soccer athletes. Amico has lived in Missouri for less than two years, but he already wants to make his transition to Florida, where he will be playing soccer for the University of Central Florida.
“I’m playing soccer because it’s been a part of my life ever since I can remember,” Amico said. “I hope to go professional one day so this is the first step in getting there.”
Although senior Mallory Short isn’t looking that far into the future, she is excited that she got the amazing opportunity to sign to the University of Missouri – Kansas City’s track team, where she will run in the spring of 2014. Seniors decide to play a sport in college for different reasons, but for Short, she is “following a passion of always wanting to run at the division one level.”
Short had a tough decision in choosing which team to run on, since more than one college offered her a spot on their track team. It can become a little difficult and overwhelming when deciding where to commit, so how does one decide?
“Money, location and the biggest question you have to ask yourself is if you’d want to be at the school if you weren’t playing the sport,” senior West Wilson said. He decided to play football at Montana State University in the fall of 2013. Wilson said he chose this school because “it was the biggest school that offered me a spot on their team, so I went ahead and ran with that one.”
Wilson is excited for his upcoming year at Montana State University, but both him and Wayne Kreklow, University of Missouri – Columbia women’s volleyball coach, are hesitant about more people choosing to play a sport in college. Kreklow definitely is no stranger to collegiate athletes, and he believes that being an athlete in college is challenging because you have to manage your time wisely.
“You have study hall and school on top of practice,” Kreklow said. “And when you travel a lot during the season, it takes up a lot of time.”
In fact, USATODAY reports that division one athletes spend an average of 37 ½ hours a week on their sport which includes games, practices and training..
“You really have to be dedicated and work hard,” Amico said. “It’s a big decision on deciding what’s best for you.”
The journey to become a college athlete will certainly be tough, but the long nights and hard practices will pay off when doing something you love, Short said.
“I’m really excited to meet my new teammates,” Short said. “Here’s to the next chapter in my life.”
By Lauren Jamison
Graduating siblings make for a tough transition
Since the beginning of the semester, seniors like Katherine Odom have had mixed feelings. At times, she wanted the days to slow down, but often, she just wished they would be finished.
“I mean I’m so ready to be done with high school,” Odom said, “but it’s really bittersweet.”
For seniors, the closing of the school year means the end of their high school career along with the end of some high school friendships. Odom remembers how long the school semesters would seem, but she can’t believe how quickly it’s ultimately all gone by.
There’s a good chance the siblings and parents of those graduating are also looking back at how quickly this year has gone by because soon enough, they’ll say goodbye to their graduate. Letting go of a brother or sister will become a reality this year as seniors disperse from their families. Thinking ahead to next year, students with graduating siblings realize that life will be different not just at home, but at school as well. Their overall routine of living will change with the upcoming absence of their senior siblings. Passing their siblings in the hallways will no longer be possible. Students who leaned on their senior siblings and saw them regularly at school won’t be able to depend on their brothers and sisters once this school year ends.
“I will have to drive myself to school next year and I won’t see my brother around school which will be kind of weird because I see him a lot,” sophomore Aubrey Maggard said.“Sometimes I go to lunch with him too, so I’ll definitely miss him next year.”
Having an older sibling who can drive is handy, many siblings said. Once the seniors leave, siblings who have become comfortable with hitching rides from their older brothers and sisters will have to come up with plan B. After becoming accustomed to looking to their older siblings for transportation, they’ll be responsible for adjusting and finding other rides.
“Since my sister is 17 and she has a car, we do a lot of things together because I’m friends with her friends, she’s friends with my friends,” freshman Kylee Tarbox said. “She can drive me around, so that’s definitely bonding time.”
Because Tarbox has such a close connection to her sister, Leia Tarbox, who was a captain of Bruin Girls, she thinks it will be hard to say goodbye. Kylee and Leia said they have always been tight knit sisters and grew even closer this past year being on the same dance team together.
“Bruin Girls will be different [next year] because I’m usually used to having a role model at home,” said Kylee, who looked to her sister whenever she needed assistance with a dance. “It’s going to be hard facing my first year at Rock Bridge without my sister. It’s a big school, lots of people … it will be hard without her here.”
Subtracting a family member from a household’s daily routine definitely will not be easy for families once they have a child graduate and go to college. Because he saw his brother, Eli Sherman, on a daily basis, next year will be different, sophomore Wyatt Sherman said.
“I always saw Eli around Rock Bridge this year, which was fun,” Wyatt said.”So it’ll be weird not having him around next year.”
Seniors leaving will mean a lot of change next year in the way families operate, Maggard said. Families have grown accustomed to how things work at home and losing a sibling will mean losing their routine way of living.
“I think it will be different at home because my parents will give my sister and me more attention,” said Maggard, whose parents have helped her brother focus on preparing to go off to college.
Maggard, along with other siblings, say they will miss their graduating brothers and sisters and will have to adjust to new lives next year, especially those who had the luxury of going to school with them this past year. They will have to experience high school without their graduating siblings and choose how to cope.
“Next year will be really different not seeing all of the seniors walking around school,” Maggard said, “but I guess that’s just part of the high school process.”
By Molly Mehle
