E-mail:
theteenappeal@hotmail.com
The Teen Appeal
The University of Memphis
300 Meeman Journalism Building
Memphis, TN., 38152
(901) 678-4710
fax (901) 678-4287
My name is Katie Grills, and I will be graduated from Ridgeway High School on May 12. It is surprising just how much hides behind that simple statement.
High school is where our individuality is formed, whether we like it or not. Our schools, our friends and our lives are so consumed by this place for four years that not only do we become a part of it, but it becomes a part of us.
Memories of my high school experience often leave me speechless. I have known people who have changed me for the better, angered me for the worse and have left me with a deep love for them. I have seen places and done things that I never imagined I would see or do.
Although high school seems eternal, it’s all over before it really seems begin. So, to those of you returning to high school in the fall, I have a little advice.
Bask in the happiness of your friends. Indulge in the pep rallies, the football games and the other priceless memories you are bound to make. When you have nothing left but your memories to provide yourself with hope for the future, the joys and the agonies of these years will be a fond reminder that, yes, this too shall pass.
Greenday’s popular song “Time of Your Life” has become a cliché for many of this year’s graduating seniors, so please forgive me if I sound a little less than creative by quoting some of it here. But, if you stop and think about it, high school really is “something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.”
So, whatever you do, make sure you have the time of your life.