Senior Column – Ryan Gossick and Maggie Schutt

Ryan walked into her second hour Video Productions 1 class on the first day of sophomore year to see her good friend Maggie waiting for the bell to ring. They soon realized that fate had brought them together – they were going to be unstoppable. Thus, the chronicles of the videographers began first with the visual masterpiece that was a music video they made with their classmates to “Waka Waka” by Shakira. With Mrs. Hunter as their guide, they became artists and the camera was their paintbrush. 

As first semester came to a close, Maggie convinced Ryan to take her video skills to the next level by joining Harbinger. At the beginning, the mischievous duo spent most of their time in the back of the room making mediocre videos and gossiping with Lilah. On occasion, they would check in with Avery and Peyton (the original video boiz), but it was a rare sight.

Maggie’s first video was about an old, dying wolf owned by an East student. Ryan’s first video was about the infamous ‘Whips’, an East boy-band, so you would think they would fall under history as the forgotten kind. Like any new staffers, their work was torn to shreds by Tate, but they learned and improved together as time went on.

Junior year marked a split for the girls — Ryan was moved to fourth hour while Maggie stayed in sixth hour. Ryan made new friends like Megan and Rachel who helped patch the Maggie-shaped-hole in her heart. Although being apart was hard, they still had third hour Advanced Video Leadership class together every day. Together they began filming episodes for the SME Video Announcements — monthly episodes with things from DIY adventures to glamorous skits. But nothing could’ve prepared them for what the summer held. 

As newly named co-video editors and a year of experience under their belts, the girls — excuse me, editors — ventured beyond Kansas to the great state of Texas. Thankfully, Ryan and Maggie happened upon a quaint barbershop and its enthusiastic owner, Robert Owens. Without his tears, the Dallas convention’s first place video award would’ve gone to a sad waterpark ad. Needless to say, they brought home that dub. They got to celebrate that win dancing in handsome Squidward shirts and glitter at the infamous J-Dance, the girls left everything on the dance floor that night. And without their chaperone Mr. Fothergil, the girls never would’ve enjoyed their late night Canes – thanks for letting us break curfew Cody!

Senior year. Coming off a high from Dallas, the girls were ready to tackle whatever this year threw at them — what they didn’t expect was for their year to come to an abrupt end. But with the extra time on their hands, the girls were able to look back fondly on the people and programs that truly gave the best highschool memories. Without the video program and Harbinger, Maggie and Ryan might not have found a passion they would want to pursue in life. But the story doesn’t end there, catch them goofing around in the Journalism school at Mizzou next year together. 

 To be continued…