When I first arrived at WJ, I was excited but misguided. I knew high school would be great, but I expected that if I sat tight, did my work and waited for life to be awesome, it somehow would be. My freshman year passed by uneventfully. My rec soccer team had disbanded after middle school, and I was reluctant to join any new activities or expand much beyond my existing circle of friends, leaving me without any major extracurricular pursuits. Without any structure, I struggled with the increased workload of high school and realized the error of judgment I had made at the beginning of the year, but until sophomore year, nothing really materialized to fix it.

Sophomore year was when I finally grew into high school and began the activities that fill my life today. I took Journalism 1, the prerequisite class to The Pitch, sparking my interest in journalism so that I fully committed to pursuing it in college and beyond. I helped start an ultimate frisbee club team with players from both WJ and Whitman High School, which finally gave me a consistent extracurricular to be passionate about, and I became a manager for the JV boys’ basketball team.

The seeds I planted in sophomore year grew over the next two years to leave me where I am today. I rose from Journalism 1 student to Assistant Sports Editor on The Pitch to Editor-in-Chief. The frisbee team grew and became successful, and I became part of the local and nationwide communities associated with the sport. After two years of JV, I managed the varsity boys’ basketball team this past season. These activities have given me great memories of high school and influenced my college and career decisions as well.

Looking back, I would say that I am still the same person that I was four years ago, but I have put into practice the ideas that I came to WJ with. Coming into high school, I knew I was interested in journalism and sports, and I had grown up around the sport of ultimate frisbee and wanted to get involved in that as well. The biggest difference between then and now is that these things have become part of my everyday life rather than just ideas. I learned that high school doesn’t really start until you find a passion and run with it, whether it be your classes, a sport or activity, or anything else. Because of this lesson, I feel prepared to go to college in the fall and get involved in certain activities right away to make the next four years even better than the last four.