Blog: Shaped by SM East

I have never been more excited about high school. Shawnee Mission Wonderful has taught me so much: the building, the staff, and my classmates have all influenced me. This week provided me with one of the biggest learning moments I have had thus far at school.

As a precursor, I recently wrote about how I will miss my seniors, and as I watched seniors complete their final day of high school it didn’t seem as bad as I had hoped. Yes readers, I said hoped. I wanted to feel my heart tearing apart. I wanted to feel like I was loosing a part of me I would never get back. When I arrived home after the seniors’ last day, I sat in my driveway for a while. Then I realized something.

I learned that there is nothing more reassuring than watching a student that will attend an Ivy League School walk out of your high school. There is nothing better than watching a student you know will be successful leave the journalism room after their last class period. There is no higher sense of pride than watching a future division one athlete walk off the track on your last day of practice. There is a sense of unity when you see your senior friends throw another classmate a surprise party. This senior class knows how to make an exit.

What I learned was this: My high school produced these people. We helped shape and mold them. We were the ones that gave them their identity. I don’t care if I was just that person in the background; the reassurance I felt after that realization was astounding. My school can do that to a person.

I have a plethora of things to look forward to in my senior year, and now I can include the emotions I know I will feel during my last few days at SM East.