I’ve heard people say that high school for them was miserable. That it was hard to fit in, or feel like they could be themselves, or everything else under the sun. I personally loved high school! While college was certainly amazing too, high school was awesome. It wasn’t like high school was the prime of my life but there were good times mixed in with all of the traumatic events I witnessed as well. For starters, some of my best friends, to this day, became my best friends in high school. And cliché as it may sound, my life would have been completely different had I not had those four years with them.
Also, I fit in well. I had so many friends in high school; and polite acquaintances as well. And I am proud to say I could fit in perfectly fine without the drinking, the drugs, or the sex like some people felt the need to participate in. I stood up, for the most part, for my values, and I had a grand time while doing it.
What was it about high school that made it so worthwhile? Looking back, because I definitely didn’t feel like it at the time, it was being so care free, young, and open to the world. It as the fact that at the end of the day anything I did or didn’t do, wasn’t a huge life changing deal. At least not the things I did or didn’t do. High school was a time where I felt as though I were on top of the world. I got what I wanted because I would always go through it. I wasn’t scared of rejection and I had this confidence about me. I loved it!
Teachers were another turning point in high school. I had a few teachers who really made the experience worthwhile. I remember Mrs. Trainor was one of them. She was one of those teachers who you wish you could have every year. She was so fun and made learning so incredible! It hardly ever seemed like hard work in her class. She was my teacher freshman year for English. I seriously adored her. Ms. Lauchu was a teacher I had sophomore year. Now I can honestly say that teachers like her are few in this world. There are not many of them, and that is a shame because she’s the crème of the crop. She truly and genuinely cared for her students. I always felt like she especially reached out to me. Going through some dark times with losing people, and with finding myself, Ms. Lauchu truly “got” me. She had been there and she understood. She understood what it felt like to deal with feelings of mourning and with feeling lonely even though friends surrounded you. She would literally go out of her way, to make sure that I was okay. I remember she offered to drive me to the airport when my cousin committed suicide because there was no way she was letting me miss that flight, and my dad may not have been able to take me. Ms. Lauchu sent me emails to make sure that I was okay. In fact, indulge in this one.
Paxmany,
I'm not sure if you'll get this in time but have a SAFE trip! It's going to be tough to see but you're doing the right thing! Always remember, God is with you k?
Love & God Bless
Lauchu
I didn’t change the font because I wanted to keep it exactly as she sent it. And that’s the other thing, she believed in God, which was huge for me and was very open about it. Not many teachers are like that. They care more about their rules on hiding their religious beliefs, rather than helping students who need it.
Another teacher I loved was Ms. Stahl. She’s married now and I just adored everything about her! She was a boss around the classroom and it was fabulous. I learned so much from her classes that I had with her, and she always seemed to crack up at my friends and I, which was a bonus. With her, classes were different. All of the students in her class would always have this bond with each other, which was fantastic.
Mrs. Freeman is someone I took for granted when I was in high school. She should win awards for the type of teaching she does with the Saline High School choirs. She’s one of those choir teachers you see in movies where they can take the kid who’s the worst at singing, and turn them into a great singer. Mrs. Freeman also put up with a bunch of shenanigans Laura and I pulled off, which was always a plus. I crave music. I live and breathe music and I miss being a part of that choir. We always ranked #1 wherever we went and it could not have been a better experience. She also wrote amazing recommendations for me when I wanted to audition for a scholarship, and cheered me on through all four years of high school, not just with music but also with all of my accomplishments and endeavors in life. Music continues to speak to me and really helped my soul throughout high school. That’s a powerful statement but it’s true. It brought peace to me to be able to sing when nothing else could heal my troubled heart at times.
Mr. Schmier was an unforgettable teacher. And I have to be honest, it’s not because I learned a whole lot in his class. I am sure he taught us lots, but I just can’t remember tons of what we learned. My mind was usually in other places. Two of my favorite people, Allison Cody and Laura Doria (Miller), were in this class with me. This fact alone made this class a hoot and a half! Not a day went by in that class where I didn’t have tears streaming down my face…from laughter. And Schmier just rolled with it 24/7. I remember one hot day in class; Schmier had the windows open. I had my homework on the window seal because class hadn’t technically started so I was up yapping away, probably to Schmier. Just then my homework flew out the school window across the front of the school. “Um Schmier my homework just flew out the window! Can I go get it?!” Who has to say that? Honestly? Stuff like this pretty much sums up that class; HILARIOUS! Of course, he let me go get it. I remember we had to do these class elections. Naturally, Laura, Allison and I were in a group. Someone who had missed the day we got in groups asked if they could join ours. Schmier’s response was, “Joining their group would be like asking to willingly jump on the titanic!” The man was a crack up. She listened to his advice. She shouldn’t have though because our campaign was awesome! In fact, Laura and I wrote the Presidential election speech that each group had to write and then have Schmier read in class. Everyone wrote these awesomely boring speeches, promising this and that and talking about their amazing backgrounds. When Schmier got to our groups, he could not control himself. He was dying of laughter! We had talked about how our “President” aka Laura had graduated from WCC, which is Washtenaw Community College, and had been raised on some kind of farm. We talked about how they had pursued being a janitor for their profession and many other hilarious things. Clearly, we didn’t take winning seriously. But we got just what we were looking for. An “A” and Schmier cracking up at his desk while reading! To be honest, he couldn’t even finish the piece. He had tears rolling nonstop down his face and couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. He had to have one of us finish reading it. I told the man to pull himself together. This was a serious speech! Yeah right! ☺ We were the only ones who did not get our speech back because Schmier asked if he could please keep it for future entertainment, and to read to his future students. I was so sad when this class ended. It was by far my favorite.
So believe it or not, I cried on high school graduation day. To be fair, they announced Chris Reid as graduating even though he had passed away 2 months earlier, and Alisa and Mike Reid, his siblings, walked across the stage for him and received his diploma. Of course that received a standing ovation and the clapping continued. How could I not sob when I heard that? I remember his friends when they saw me crying just reach over and give me gentle pats on the arm or back. That was a moment I’ll never forget; so tender, so powerful. Also, I was so excited yet sad on graduation because I was closing a huge chapter of my life. Never again would I have a first school day of the year at Saline High School. There was no better high school on so many different levels. I wasn’t sure when I would see all my close friends again who had helped get me through so much. It was really just emotional! I knew that things were about to never be the same again. The world I had known for so long was going to change dramatically. However, I also knew that change could be good and that I was ready for it. I knew that graduation and going to BYU Idaho were good chances of having a fresh start and leaving things behind and moving on. Here is a picture of all the “Mormons” in our grade on graduation. Some of my dearest friends for life! And, of course, Ashley Tingey (Swenson), who came and watched us graduate. I love her! I love all of them! I was truly blessed with the best friends I could have ever asked for in high school. Friends got me through some of the hardest trials in my life. I have to give shout outs to other people here too or I wouldn’t feel right. I was blessed with Allison Cody, Billy Taylor, Ryan Olson, Mitchell Girbach, Chris Reid, Alisa Reid, Clay Lingard, Brian Kershbaum, Alex Coleman, Karl Seeger, Polly Burnette, Bianca Ormsby, Jason Tang, Kristin Borger, and all the others who ever had my back. Loved them all dearly! Also those who were not in my high school who made my life fabulous during these years…They know who they are. Needless to say graduation was a turning point in my life. It gave me the chance to reflect on the person I had become these past four years and where I was headed in life. It really led me to see how bonded all of us had become throughout high school. A graduating class is a powerful thing. While you all have your differences, in the end you all come together. Something about senior year that closed the barriers between the jocks, the pretties, the scholars, the theatre kids, the popular kids, the religious kids, and all of those stereotypes. Those sort of fade away. You are somehow magically seen just as you are, an individual making their way in this big world. You realize there are bigger and better things than high school. As a graduating class, you finally start coming together. Celebrating together, taking pride in accomplishments together, mourning the loss of a classmate together, which our year lost way to many too young, and you learn together. You truly become this big happy family. I could not have asked for a better graduating class than that of Saline high school 2007! Cheers to you all.
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