“Make an oath, then make mistakes
Start a streak you’re bound to break,”
I used to think college was all that mattered, that if I focused all my time on studying, being president of clubs, and making sports teams, I’d be fine. As an introvert, I never believed I needed the social interactions and never put in effort to further my social life. Looking back now, that couldn’t be further from the truth. From as young as I could remember, I was put into various activities. I was put into figure skating at five, Girl Scouts as a Daisy in first grade, guitar at seven and soccer at eight. I thought the whole point of being involved in all of these activities was so I could become a more well-rounded student. I grew up around a lot of people, but I didn’t think those were the relationships that mattered. I met my two best friends in third grade, Zoey and Chase, and fell into the bubble of comfort, not talking to people because I thought I had everything I needed.
As I sit here writing this, I’m cussing myself out for being so stupid, how I chose to lose so much time and miss out on important relationships.
I initially walked into Journalism 1 freshman year with the mindset that it would make my dad happy. I thought the only journalism that mattered was political, and I couldn’t fathom dealing with politics every day. I wanted to deal with sports and music, and I began to dread going into journalism. It wasn’t until Mrs. Borrelli recognized my obsession with soccer and actively held conversations with me about it that I finally dropped my wall and allowed myself to enjoy the class. She was one of the first people I’ve met who tried to connect with me. Instead of discouraging my random rants about UK Rap or how Messi had won the Ballon d’Or over Lewandowski, she encouraged me to write my articles on it. Journalism had quickly become the class I most looked forward to in the day. Mrs. Borrelli had quickly become the trusted adult counselors always tell us to go to when we have issues.
I climbed from assistant opinion editor to print opinion editor to online editor-in-chief. From laying out print pages to working on the covers of our magazines, writing articles, and working on the layout of our website, everything I put into Pitch was something I could be proud of, even the things that didn’t work out. Between the magazines we worked on and the story meetings we’ve had, Pitch became a safe space. Through the breakups of various friend groups, Pitch has remained a constant, offering the stability many high school students need.
Zoey and I hung out in the Pitch room every lunch, so often Mrs. Borrelli knew her by name, despite not being her student. In my fourth and final year of Pitch, I realized how much these people meant to me and how much I meant to them. Between discussions with Josh Singer and my hangouts outside of Pitch with Liam Barrett, Kaina Sy-Syvane and Hugo Conquet, I found out how important these relationships were. I’ve kept in touch with former Pitch members now in colleges all over the U.S.
This may sound like the ramblings of a senior at her wits end, but I hope the point I get across was how important Pitch has become to me. The community Mrs. Borrelli created is one I hope I’ll find in college and going forward in life.
So, “When darkness rolls on you
Push on through”
Oldies Station, Twenty One Pilots
