Call it ignorant, but I generally ignore the announcements that blare across the high school intercom system each morning. Ask any GMHS student, and they will likely attest to committing the same offense. However, one spring morning during my freshman year, with the sun gleaming across my desk and my mind clear from distractions, I turned my ear to the wave of advertisements and reminders spouting from the ceiling speakers.
Little did I know, a new part of me would take shape from the announcements I would hear. In my thirty seconds of listening, four years of learning, experimenting, and growing would begin when I heard that the Granby Drummer was looking for a student to write articles about life at GMHS.
In many ways, my experience writing monthly articles has been reflective of my broader experience as a student in the Granby Public Schools System. As my time as both a columnist and a student in Granby approaches its end, my journey as a learner is stored as a vast anthology of clubs, grades and little victories along the way, and my future reads as a blank page yet to be composed.
For the past four years, I have been privileged to share my perspective as a student each month and engage with my community on a deeper level. But to understand my gratitude as the pages fold on my chapter as a student columnist, it would be useful to get acquainted with the prologue that is stored behind years of firing synapses and personal growth.
My enthusiasm for writing has always been strong, and I remember the days when my friends would joke with me about writing too many pages or taking too long to copy down notes because I would add on every little detail. As a primary school student, it seemed easier for me to let my imagination wander on paper than speak my mind to no end. However, what began as an unrestrained hobby of writing down thoughts on paper grew into a fear of my creative thoughts being judged.
To this day, I remember the fear that left me frozen in front of my second-grade class when confronted with the task of reading my writing aloud to an audience existing outside of my own head. The colorful non-fiction book detailing fun facts and eccentric drawings depicting sports cars, which I had worked tirelessly on, was clenched between my trembling fingers. I loved to write. But sharing it? Forget about it. Not happening. No way. At this point in my life’s novel, a major revision had to be made. If I were to truly grow as a learner, I had to confront my fears before they created a severe conflict in the plot. Fortunately, I was under the guidance of an incredible editor who could revise my life’s story in the right direction. This editor was my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Bush.
From the time she learned about my fear of sharing my work with others to the moment she passed, Mrs. Bush recognized my traits as a student in ways I did not fully comprehend about myself. From second grade onward, she would check in with my journey as a learner, asking what I thought of my classes and extracurriculars. Her belief and patience in my ability led me to become a more outgoing, enthusiastic version of myself that reflects my eagerness as a learner. It was her confidence and guidance that cultivated my respect for challenging myself and putting myself out there to learn from new experiences.
That plot twist is responsible for shaping the way in which my ensuing chapters in elementary school, middle school, and now high school have been written. In an ironic sense, Mrs. Bush would tell my mother that she looked forward to reading about me in the Drummer. Well, Mrs. Bush, here I am. I’m here, putting my work in front of the eyes of the whole town, because it is what I have learned helps me to grow.
My time with the Drummer and as a student in Granby, has allowed me to do just that. To grow. To learn how to channel my own perspective, to be engaged with my community at a level where I always have something to write about. To always be involved in something that pushes me to be a better version of myself. I am proud to have written several chapters already, all of which have been drafted with enthusiasm and edited under the guise of mentorship from teachers, coaches, teammates and peers along the way.
It may be true that my future, like all GMHS seniors right now, reads as a blank page. Some may be excited. Others may be discouraged, hesitant to be challenged with a new and unfamiliar chapter. But if my experience suggests anything, it is the idea that every page that reads well masks a history of revisions, writer’s blocks, and new ideas. The important consideration is this: as a writer, as a student, as someone entering the next phase of their life, embracing the uncertainties and accepting guidance leads to one great work of which to be proud. Thank you to The Granby Drummer and Granby Public Schools for leading me through this journey.