1 minute read
HENLEY LYNCH
Today, we leave. Some have been attending Sycamore for their entire lives. Me, I joined midway through fourth grade. There had been so many questions from me to my parents: “How is this one different? Why can’t I just skip a grade?” But they’d said, “This school was made for you.” And it was.
Advertisement
Sycamore is made for all of us, as the individuality of every person here shines through the muddy waters of this world. A Sycamore child is intelligent, self-aware, and one hundred percent numb to stress from overwork. AP classes will be fine. Every child flies beyond the boxes we may have been put into. In fourth grade, I sat in the corner of my classroom reading Harry Potter, my former school’s solution for what they hoped I would be challenged by.
The next year, I sat at a desk in the front row of Mrs. Simpson’s room, gleefully discussing the Red Pyramid with other kids like me.
It is kind of scary, going into the future with all new experiences to enjoy and new people with which to share thoughts on our assigned reading. We’ll miss our favorite teachers, favorite subjects, maybe not every test we’ve taken here, but the part of class that make it so uniquely Sycamore.
This year, we’ve spent our time studying subjects we want to study, creating the artworks we want to create, living the lives we want to live. When anyone is allowed to do that, they bloom.
We’ve been taught not just how to conjugate Spanish words or how to find x, but also how to be decent, kind human beings. Podcast creator Justin McElroy once said, “I know way deep down in my bones that there is a record only you can play. Figure out what that record is, play it, and they have no choice but to listen. It may not be perfect, it may not even be good, but you’ve GOT to play it, because you’re the only one that can.”
Thank you and may high school be a magical experience for everyone. n
