Hello all.

I would like to first emphasize that I only have a general idea of what a senior swansong is supposed to be. Hence, this piece is going to be made very much as the crow flies. Quite frankly, that is all I really hoped for out of this. Now with that out of the way…

Where to begin…

I’ve been an LCPS student for 10 years of my life, from third grade to current senior year. In that time, I’ve gone through an admittedly strange character arc, for lack of a better term. I think anybody who can recall me in elementary school wouldn’t say I was the nicest person to all. This trend didn’t really change in middle school up until eighth grade. This was about the time that I finally came to the realization that people don’t like people who are mean for no reason. Truly an earth-shattering revelation. So I switched up my attitude…kind of. I did my best to make more connections with people. Unfortunately, COVID ended up sending any progress I may have made off-course.

Just as it was for most people, COVID was rough for me. My first year of high school was spent nearly entirely at home, away from any opportunities to build connections that were becoming increasingly important to me. Anybody who knows of my existence is probably aware that I am not a social person upon initial contact or introduction. I’d argue that this has always been the case, but I believe COVID derailing my freshman year amplified that quirk significantly. 

Regardless, sophomore year came around, and I tried, probably not to a satisfactory degree to most, but I tried at least somewhat to cement and build upon existing relationships that managed to last through COVID. I did manage to make a few new friends, then largely lost contact with them after the summer went by. Junior year was about the same. 

I’m sure that, if it somehow hasn’t already, this is starting to sound like a sob story, and admittedly, that is where a small selfish part of my motivation to write this piece lies, but it’s not really where I want to take things. The reason I bring all this up is to commemorate The Blaze and everyone who is a part of it. It often seems like they have gone to extreme efforts to make everyone feel welcome, and I’m not an exception.

There are some particular people in the organization that I feel I’ve grown closer than I ever anticipated, and I’m grateful for that. I don’t wish to call out these people, mostly because I think these people probably already know who they are, and I don’t wish to draw any weird attention to them, in case somebody is weirdly obsessive about who is and is not my friend. Additionally, the paper has given me an opportunity to express myself in a way I never really thought that I could, even if it would only reach a fairly limited audience, but even this pales in comparison to some of the friendships and happy experiences and memories I’ve made in my short tenure as a staff writer. 

Even if this doesn’t seem like very much, this piece was very difficult to write. I generally avoid writing about myself or experiences I’ve had in my life, partly because I think I’m bad at it, but mostly because I just am not comfortable with it most of the time. The Blaze has both made me more comfortable with writing in that style as well as given me a reason to do so. Once again, I’m extremely grateful for what The Blaze has provided me in my short time there, and if it weren’t for that and the people surrounding it, I wouldn’t be getting ready to join my college’s paper this upcoming year.