Pepper Box staffers reflect on their time in the Ritenour School District Chloe Sapp

Okay. It’s my turn for one of these!

Ever since I watched my senior friends write their final goodbyes last year, I was waiting for my chance at one. That day that I waited anxiously to read Kaylyn’s final goodbye feels like a week ago and now here I am.

High school has been…well, high school. I’ve gone from never wanting anything to end, ever, to wishing I could time travel to the day I would never step foot in a class again. But, isn’t that the beauty of it all? I loved high school because of all the reasons I hated it, and I hated it for all the reasons I loved it.

I am ending a 13 year stretch in the Ritenour School District. From building with those yellow graphing blocks in Ms. Mcilvaine’s kindergarten class at Marion to now counting down the minutes till my Ritenour career is over in Ms. HC’s College Comp 2 class, I’m now watching it all end. But, I’m also watching it end for my peers. It is surreal for me to see people I watched trip and fall on the playground to now enrolling, enlisting, or becoming employed. Not only have I had to grow over the years, but I’ve also watched my peers grow. I’m sad on my own end, but even sadder to watch everyone else process the end.

I can’t have my entire final goodbye be sentimental and painful, though. I am so incredibly happy my life somehow went this path and I have gotten to witness everything that’s happened these past four years.

One of my favorite memories of high school is Orchestra Talks™, a phenomenon that has existed since freshman year. Whenever we couldn’t play for a long list of reasons (sometimes it’s just because the orchestra room is cold, thanks Hernton), our little group would gather together and talk about anything and everything for the whole hour. Who would’ve thought Liz, Caroline, Andy, Aundre’A, Cailan, and I being locked in a room pretending to be busy would create such good conversation?

In virtual sophomore year, my group of friends would call each other to do AP World work and then completely ditch it and play Roblox or Among Us instead. When we would somehow manage to study, we’d play Quizlet Live under the names of One Direction’s members. Although our paths have now gone separate ways, I still cherish those memories with this group and I will never forget the comfort I felt in that year because of them.

In my junior year, I met the best people I’ve ever known. Joining the Pepper Box, I met now graduates who showed me how to have fun when my junior year was swallowing me whole. I also became closer with my runningmate and now Class President, Roi, and my now girlfriend, Skylar who both helped me through way more than anyone will know as my junior year was sort of a rough one. Junior year was quite actually the worst, but when I think about how many people I met that helped me through that year, it really wasn’t that bad.

This year, I found myself feeling Ritenour slip away from me and I guess I needed a way to make it stop as I then had a camera thrown in my hands to capture it all before it went away. It worked! Getting to photograph the seniors that I’ve seen as preteens gave me a new sense of pride for this class. I even got to take senior photos for my best friend since 6th grade, Angie. Taking photos for countless events this year made me feel so much more connected to this school and gave me a way to leave my mark. I felt so accepted on that football field and I want to thank the cheerleaders, twirlers, Rhythmettes and band members for accepting me as one of their own.

As I’m sure you can tell, I am going to miss this place. But, I’m especially going to miss the people. Everyone I’ve met at this school has shaped me in some way, good or bad, and I’m incredibly grateful for all of you reading. Thank you for making my Ritenour career something worth writing about.