This Was 12 Years Coming

My name is KDelano, a future graduate of Oak Hill High School. The fact that I will never be back in this school hasn’t fully hit me yet. Most of these people I will never see again, few I will talk to on occasion, and only a handful of those that I will consistently know and continue to hang around for years to come. I spent most of my schooling wishing the day would hurry up and pass as quickly as possible. Waiting for the year to pass so I could be one step closer to summer. 

Middle school was the year of preparing the kids for high school. Telling us all about the things that “wouldn’t fly in high school.” Each student alone heard that millions of times. Tougher curriculum, more homework, and kids pushing the limits of teachers and the rules. So many kids are completely out of control all of the time. Most memorable for me though, was sports. Middle school was the start of team sports. In 6th grade, I was still young enough to play rec ball. When I reached 7th grade, school sports started to get good. Kids were growing and the practices became more serious and involved more strategy and skill to win games. Our football team was very good, we went far in the playoffs. Our basketball team had lots of talent too, competing with good teams and making it to playoffs yet again. Our baseball team was equally skilled but we fell short. While I don’t remember 8th-grade baseball very well, I remember the first game of the season. Facing off against Gardiner, we were down the whole game. As the 7th inning came around we began to crawl our way back, with a walkoff hit by EVattaso we came from behind and won the game. E had violin lessons that day, but we showered him in Gatorade anyway to celebrate the victory. E played violin smelling like orange Gatorade that day. Something about that team was special, and I’m grateful to be hunting down a championship with the same guys today. I’ll be gone before we get there, but I would like to look back at this paper after the season to see what we accomplished. 

Freshman year was interrupted like a poorly timed announcement. In the middle of March, we thought we were rewarded with a “two-week break” from school due to something no one really knew about. This turned into a big pandemic known as Covid 19. The next year and a half or so turned into a series of Zoom calls. Most were in and out, other teachers dragged the class to the very end. Assignments were shortened or scrapped altogether and cheating or assistance from other students became all too common. Quick is putting it lightly, most classes most days entailed joining, saying “I’m here”, the teacher saying “Ok, bye”, and the students leave in the blink of an eye. I can’t even lie, I don’t remember sophomore year, it was a complete blur and is now a thing of the past. Junior year was all about “zones.” Whether or not this week we would have to wear masks was established at the beginning of the week, and almost never stayed the same. Many times the weeks were interrupted by having to wear masks, or too many kids had Covid and the whole school had to be sent home. I remember being called to the office because I wasn’t feeling well, and my family unknowingly had contact with someone that had Covid, and my brother and I were sent home. 

Then comes around senior year. We were all relieved to not have to wear masks, “social distancing” was becoming less and less a thing, and everyone was vaccinated. I decided to stop playing most of the sports, they didn’t bring me enjoyment and my parents finally supported my decision. I decided to lift and then focus on baseball, which has been going well. This was the first year that I never fell behind in excessive work through many classes. I actually did (most) of my work on time and made sure that I was ahead on Membean. I chose to never look at how many Membean minutes I have and just keep doing it a couple of days a week. I finally looked and found myself ahead. It’s been pretty smooth sailing. As I type out my very last assignment and understand I will submit a paper one last time for Oak Hill High School, the realization sets in; This was 12 years coming.

Featured Image: “Cap and Gown” by thisgeekredes is licensed under CC BY 2.0.