How Far We’ve Come
Being here all four years showed me sometimes you need to take the time and prioritize yourself and what’s best for you. You don’t need to know everyone and not everyone needs to know you. Find your genuine group of friends and you will flourish.
Over the course of this article I will be taking a deep dive into the ups, downs, and experiences that the CSH Class Of 2024 have in fact gone through over the years. All the memories we have shared and how that brought us together not just as individuals but as a community.
9th Grade:
Damn, freshman year. As most of the seniors would agree this wasn't our ideal image of how our first year in high school would be like. This was the era of Covid. Covid had affected all of our last year of middle school. No 8th grade senior trip, no 8th grade prom, some of us didn't even have a graduation. And those that did had theirs on zoom, google meets, or just a youtube video like me. Whether we liked it or not there was nothing we could do about it, that's the way we would have to end our middle school years. Many of us came into high school being hopeful that Covid would not affect us in the way it did in the 8th grade, but that's exactly what happened.
We had 2 choices freshman year. Either do school fully virtual or do hybrid learning. I chose hybrid so that I could sort of get some of the high school experience. Hybrid learning was where we would have to pick between Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday 9:15-12:30 or 12:45-3:15 to go in person. And for the days that you weren't in person you would have to do asynchronous work. This wasn’t the best experience but at least I would get the chance to actually go into school and interact with people in real life.
As I was just getting used to doing hybrid learning there came a time where after winter break there was an increase in Covid cases not only school wide but nationwide. So, the school had no choice but to temporarily stop hybrid learning until further notice. This had taken a toll on not just me but a lot of my peers. Having to do classes online with so many distractions at home. How could you even focus like that? I knew I couldn't. Then I realized there was no point in complaining and that I would need to just accept the reality of it. So, that's what I did. I stuck it out and before I knew it hybrid learning was back on. From then on I did hybrid learning till the end of 9th grade and finished the year off strong.
10th Grade:
Sophomore year was really the start of actual high school. We were finally all in the building together as a whole school. Within the first couple weeks the Class Of 2024 participated in our first ever CSH design competition and camping trip. This design competition was most of our first times even doing something like this. The design competition gave us an opportunity to get to know more people within our advisories and showcase our skills to the whole school. This year altogether was filled with different trips, fun activities, and so much more with the sole purpose that we begin to build relationships with the people around us.
Though there was a time we didn't see it that way. We loved going on the trips and doing the activities, but not for the reason the school wanted us too. We loved it because after being home and isolated from the world for so long we got to come back and enjoy ourselves and just be kids. The school wanted us to start building the foundations for our community and that was one of the main reasons for all those trips. But, for a very long time it didn't look like those trips were helping. To staff and students it looked like those trips were actually taking away from our community. Sure they were fun but there was always something that went wrong.
I remember our 10th grade camping trip so vividly. The last day of that trip we were supposed to have the most fun out of the 2 days we were gone but due to us not knowing how to act we were stripped of that experience. We ended up being split into 2 large cabins where we had to sit there for hours having a huge community meeting and circle. Even though this happened as a result of our actions still a lot of fellow peers couldn’t care less about what was being spoken about in that meeting. Don’t get me wrong some people were taking it seriously and everything that was said was great, but within two to three weeks we were back to our old shenanigans. To the staff it was like speaking to this grade was like talking to a wall. As a community we would always get into so much trouble and it really looked like there was no hope for us, but then in our 11th grade year things started to change.
11th Grade:
Junior year was a bit more stressful. This is the year colleges are really looking at you so we had to try our best to maintain good grades. Although that was a stressful year there were some perks to it. We also got the chance to experience more college trips, where we traveled to different states and experienced how the colleges were, and what we liked about it. A selected group of people also got the exposure of taking a flight abroad on a paid trip to London by the Project Destined team, all with the help of Mr. Paez and the PSL team. This opportunity was given by the school to provide and expose students to internships for them to get a feel of the work life. Junior year was pretty vague though, not too many things were going on. It was more of us trying to structure up more for the real world after highschool.
12th Grade:
Senior year, the year it all ends. This year was an interesting end to a long lived chapter in our lives. Going into this year we thought it was gonna be all rainbows and sunshine, but we got hit with reality real quick. We came in thinking that since we were seniors we were automatically entitled to everything that happens within a senior year. More dress downs, more trips, more freedom. But after the first couple weeks we learned very quickly how that's not what was about to happen.
The school took away dress down Fridays, the school was more strict on us than ever before, and we had to deal with the weight of college applications. It just felt like a lot this year and we weren’t prepared mentally for it. Sure we had a lot of opportunities to go on trips but, no one actually wanted to pay for it. Which I can’t lie is our fault. But, it just started to feel like this year wasn’t gonna be our ideal senior year.
Then midway through the year senioritis caught up with us. This is the feeling seniors get when they start to realize the finish line is approaching. They start to lose motivation for school and start to lose their drive and dedication to finishing off the year strong. People were absent more frequently, showed up late more frequently, and just let their grades slip. This was a bad point in our senior year but we couldn't let this dictate how the rest of the year was gonna go. So, we had to lock in and finish strong, finish the year the way we wanted too.
We came into T3 with a different kind of drive. Not only academic-wise but, also with all of our college acceptances. We started to come more together as a community. We planned a day where we would all go on strike and not come in uniform. That plan failed and backfired really quickly, but it was the thought that counts. Not very long after we planned our senior skip day. May 20th, 2024 was the day that almost every single senior was not in school. We had agreed to meet at Central Park and basically enjoy each other’s company. Music, water balloons, and water gun fights, CitiBike riding, and the movies. It was great — the fact that one day of us missing school could bring us even closer together.
Now that this year is coming to an end we are going to look back at all the fun times we had with each other. All the challenges, circles, community meetings, and fun days we’ve had with one another and realize that we have truly been through alot. The last day of classes was June 5th. The seniors were tasked with going on a scavenger hunt to find all of the teachers because they had their own little skip day. We looked at clues which ended up leading us to the big field in starlight park where we really did enjoy ourselves as a whole for one more time. Prom and graduation are yet to come, but seniors, I hope that I will see you there to share one final night and day with you. My family.
Tips and Tricks:
Here are some tips I wish I knew while in high school. If I knew this, then I would be better off now.
Don’t be quick to give up so easily after things get hard. I realize that I always liked to be on top of my classes and let an A dictate how smart I am when in reality that is not true. When I got to junior year I started feeling the pressure and the stress, and I would allow it to take over me when I didn’t want it to. That’s when I started seeing everything as too hard and started crashing down. The mindset was I wasn’t good at one thing so I might as well not try at all.
That is what you want to keep yourself away from because you don’t want to crash out before you even start. Being here all four years showed me sometimes you need to take the time and prioritize yourself and what’s best for you. You don’t need to know everyone and not everyone needs to know you. Find your genuine group of friends and you will flourish. Also involve yourself more in extracurriculars that you may like because you are going to have a sense of belonging and a family