More Than MIP’s

It seems like every Monday morning I’ve walked into school, hearing another story about how the seniors…

I’ll stop there. You know this story. You’ve heard it from your parents, your teachers and the administration. It’s been in this publication and it’s been chanted at us by other schools. Just to remind you, it goes something like this:

With 28 drug and alcohol contracts broken this year, the seniors have embarrassed our school, tainted their legacy as the class of ‘13 and lost trust with our administrators. They’ve had the the Marketing 2 New York Trip, Drill Team/Cheer Ball and basic trust taken away from the underclassmen. Overall they’ve embarrassed East.

That’s what has been labeled on us. That’s our story, isn’t it? I disagree. There are 456 students in the class of 2013 — 456 kids who have been committed to their athletics, academics and extracurriculars. Twenty-eight students are just a fraction of that, and their mistakes shouldn’t be a permanent reputation for our class.

But that’s what the administration and the community has made it. Since the year began, the administration has put their hammer down harder than before, making even more controversy over MIPs. And when there’s controversy, the community loves to take it to heart. The tweets begin to fly, the talk goes around and eventually a stereotype is made for a group of people.

Don’t get me wrong. We’ve made mistakes — a lot of the mistakes. Sometimes we take advantage of our privileges and get out of control. We still have to take responsibility for our actions and breaking the law.

At SME I’ve made some of my best memories and created friendships that will forever. We’ve accomplished more than any class I can think of. But the community, our classmates and our peers have forgotten all of that in the fog of the MIP.

Well, before you tell me that our class sucks, let me remind you what the seniors of 2013 have done for this school. I might as well recap since we will be gone in just a couple of months.

We will start with athletics. The boys’ soccer team had 20 seniors on the team this year. The team recorded the most wins in East history, became two time KAMO Tournament champions, won regionals and finished fourth at state. The East football team made playoffs all four years that our class has been here. We won the Sunflower League Championship in 2011 and completed a sweep of the Olathe schools for the first time in school history this season.

Our girls’ golf team won state for the first time in 25 years behind the leadership of senior Anne Willman. Our girls’ tennis team also won state.

The boys’ basketball team won the most games ever in school history behind nine seniors, also known as the ‘the fine nine.’ The team made a journey to state and finished fourth. The wrestling team qualified all 14 wrestlers for state for this first time in school history, the Lancer Dancers won the national tournament for their jazz dance and the swim team took second at state. And we haven’t even begun spring sports yet.

But athletics isn’t the only area in which we excel. The Forensics team won first in sweepstakes out of over 20 schools and qualified 13 students to National Catholic Forensics League Nationals in Philadelphia. Just a couple of weeks ago the categories team took 3rd in the area. Our band and orchestra have multiple state members. And never forget, we gave you Sports Pics.

Most of all, I saw an entire community come together with the death of our classmate Tyler Rathbun. I saw the senior class open their hearts in comfort for each other. The support continues today.

Everyday I wake up wanting to come to this school just to see my fellow seniors. Our class is welcoming and warm to others. I’ve made so memories here and as a class we’ve accomplished so much. Forgive the seniors for the mistakes which most of you have likely made, and remember them for the good. Not something as small in the course of life as an MIP.