The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/68603
Opinion Page 3 Say Farewell A s my High School experience is shortly coming to an end, it's hard for me to look back on the experiences that have filled my life since the first day of Freshman year. I have been through many different events through my years including Frosh, JV, and Varsity football, Bluffer all four years of high school, and Mr. Spartan this year with many of my friends and I can say that was an AWESOME experience. Like Albert Einstein once said "Imagination is more important than knowledge." You will realize that as you continue your way through high school and soon you will be in college time goes much faster than you think, but with your imagination you can go the places you want to go. Although it has been four long years, it has only felt like a few short months. I remember my first day of freshman year like it was yesterday. I remember coming to school scared of what awaited me in these massive hallways. Would I get bullied like every teenager on television or would I become popular? That was for me to decide. As time went on, I saw friends come and go (some faster than others), and I made good decisions and a few bad ones also, but that's human life and in the end I knew I was a good person. I am now an Eagle Scout and that is an honorable feeling that I would not change. As school goes on you also gain new friendships with teachers, but once you are out of their class it is hard to maintain those friendships. But it is nice to know they had always been there through thick and thin and they will help you even if you make the wrong choice. They will stand by your side and pick you back up when you are down. Over the past few months my Economics teacher, Mr. Mendonsa, has helped me a ton. He has helped me get my grade up to a C in order to graduate, he has helped me stay on top of my school work, and he has helped me realize that in order for me to get where I want in life I need to put myself to work harder than ever. In your senior year it is key to do your work on time and do it well. If you slack off you will get behind and may not be able to catch up and in the end it will all be worth it when you graduate and you're standing on the field for that last time. It will be the last time you can be a teen with the group of students you have grown up with and for that I will ask all of you to have a good time in high school, but be sure to always be yourself. have been taught by the some of the best teachers on campus in which they have had a great impact on me and my education. I wasn't their best student but I wasn't their worst either, so overall I thank all of you. I enjoyed coming to class every day to learn something new each day and being able to socialize with my fellow peers. I am really going to miss walking through these hallways, O eating school food, and most of all the great atmosphere that comes from this high school. I have made many friends here that I am hopefully going to still keep in touch with. My friends and the familiar faces that I usually see every day is what I'm going to really miss the most. It seems as if it was yesterday that I was only a freshman so small and defenseless thinking I was never going to make it through these four years. I want thank all my teachers for everything that they've done and also all of my friends for helping me get through high school in one piece. I want throw a special shout out to all my friends for helping me in school and always having my back. Here are their names: Chris Alcala, Blake Bloxham, Benny Cuevas, Jorge Garcia, Oscar Garfia, Roman Lopez, Chelsea Maria, Dusty McMahon, Oswaldo Torres, and Amir Beardsley. I guess all I need to do now is get ready for graduation and say good bye to Friends, teachers, coaches, kids I don't know, and especially Red Bluff High School. We are all going to go our separate ways now after graduation but we will still keep in touch hopefully. I have had many great memories at this high school with my friends, colleagues, and teachers. I am happy that I didn't give up and just go straight to Salisbury because I don't think I would have had the motivation to finish high school. Well overall I think I ended of the year positively. I didn't get expelled, get sent to Salisbury, or got anyone pregnant so yeah I think I actually did end off this year great. ver these past four years I have been very grateful for what all of my teachers have done for me. Most of them have gone out their way just to help me understand the concepts that they were teaching. I June 1, 2012 M y senior year is my last year to enjoy my childhood and it is a scary thing to experience. I have to sign up for college, make sure my financial stuff is taken care of and I have to keep up on my grades for the end of the year. Graduation is so close that I have a horrible taste in my mouth of adulthood. All four years of high school I would not change, I met people I will never forget and I created connections with people I would not change for the world. I always heard "senior year is so easy" "You're almost done!" it seemed easy until they explained the requirements you need to do before you leave high school. You get everything set up for you to take your next step as an individual, and as an independent. My high school years have been successful because of my favorite teachers Markus Vossi and Dwight Evans; they talked to me and helped me when I had difficulties in class. They gave me tools to get through my senior year, and the building blocks to keep a steady head on my work. Vossi always told me to stay focused on my class work, and try my best on everything and I will get through to the end with self satisfaction of trying my best and achieving a high school diploma. It helped me get through all four years with some ease. It helped me get through Econ with Ackley, and finish strong in English with Gleason to do our outstanding last assignments. Mr. Evans was one of my best teachers hands down; he helped me learn how to stay calm and set my priorities straight for me to succeed. The Bluffer was his class my freshman-junior year and the kids I met in Bluffer are the most amazing people, correction, family I could ever ask for. We are not a club or elective class; we are a family, a giant dysfunctional non-related family. They have been a big part of my senior year and well all four years to be honest. I love them and I am proud to say that I will be now and forever a Bluffer kid. This was my last year, my last dance, and now my last editorial and earlier stated "it's so easy" if it is so easy then why am I crying? It is sad to say good bye to Red Bluff High, and scary to say HELLO to college. Leaving is hard but part of life; you just don't know how far you've gotten until you look behind you.My adivce to who ever this may concern, that enjoy senior year it only happens once. Xarayna sekscenski Armando Aguilar Graduation is a paradox in and of itself. You stand in gowns waiting for what you have been told is the end when in reality it is just the beginning. As you strike out boldly in new directions, I hope you will take some of the advice and wisdom that has either been passed down to me, by much wiser men, or learned through bitter tears. Remember that what makes you special is that there is only one of you in the world. So, be who you are and say what you feel, because those who would mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. Find the irony in the fact that a graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells hundreds of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that "individuality" is the key to success. Remember that starting new things is fun and exciting, but that finishing what you start is what is important and how you will be judged. To quote my grandfather, "The world rates ability in men by what they finish, not by what they start." In reality finishing is just another word for character. There is nothing more fatal to character than half finished tasks. Upon my graduation, my senior Economics teacher presented his students a list of practical advice. He seemed to revel in how much comedic value all his students found in the advice. Looking back on it now, I realize his pleasure did not come from our Behind the Podium laughter and jeers, but from our innocence and ignorance about life. I think he found a slight bit of pleasure knowing that as we trotted down our path in life that these words of advice would come back to revisit us. I can assure you that the list below is sage advice. RULE 1: Life is not fair; get used to it. RULE 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. RULE 3: You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. RULE 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure. RULE 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity. RULE 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about y ut your mistakes, learn from them. RULE 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills; cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. RULE 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. RULE 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time. RULE 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. Jared Norton Econ Teacher Eddie Spidle