By Joe Vigil
Well, I am on the cusp of graduating from high school and moving onto bigger and better, or rather, different things, and if you are reading this then the odds are good that you are about to do the same.
What you hopefully have come to understand is that learning transcends everything that we as humans do, so I am glad to say that while on the Farm, an institution dedicated more to learning than to livestock, I learned. I learned about spectroscopy and the Constitution, about natural logs and the roaring twenties, about the human figure and Otto von Bismarck’s Realpolitik, about the discount rate and the volume of a revolution, about tangents and blocking, about writing and editing, about talking and listening, about volunteering and presenting, about phoning it in and giving it my all.
Learning permeates life and is a constant, sometimes easy, sometimes very painful process. I think that this is especially true in our interpersonal relationships and interactions. Coming into high school, I did not really know how to talk to people in a meaningful way, let alone make friendships. Participating in everything that I have in high school has forced me to interact with a wide variety of students that I would have otherwise never have known. Everybody that I have met from August 2010 to now, no matter how well we are currently acquainted, has impacted my life in some way and has taught me something about humanity/the human spirit, and for that I am truly grateful. I have come to realize that the quality of your own life and experiences depend greatly upon the people around you, and it amazes me to say that nearly every person I have met in my time at this school has improved my life, many by a great deal, which is something that I would like to thank you all for.
Another key wrinkle in the learning process is the ability and desire to seek out more learning. Though learning is constant, most of it is not easy and quite taxing, so the desire to learn more is not an obvious one. In high school and most other places, seeking out new learning is accomplished by taking risks and trying new things. I have learned tremendously well the value of risk taking in high school, and it has opened quite a few doors for me and improved my self-image. If I had not taken a risk on signing up for beginning drama freshman year, I would never have been able to participate in the fall play this year and feel the rush of performing in front of a crowd. If I had not filled an off hour that I had junior year with beginning drawing on a whim one day, I would not currently be able to express my creativity in a talent that I did not know I had. If I had not taken the chance to see Devotchka alone junior year, I would likely not have explored some of my favorite places in and around Denver. If I had not jumped on board the AP Economics bandwagon last spring, I would be missing a key aspect of what I want to study for the next four years. And if I had not decided off of a suggestion received during CSAP freshman year to join the newspaper, I would not have a passion for journalism, I would not have been able to explore my writing in all the ways the paper has provided, I would not have been able to befriend fifty of the nation’s brightest young journalists on an all-expenses paid trip to the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference last summer, I would not have been able to meet all of the people on the staff over the past three years (including this year’s amazing staff, without which three print issues, a brand new website and some truly groundbreaking journalism would not have been possible), I would not be going to the college that I am and I would not be writing to you now.
However, I would say that above all other things I learned how to be a person. That is what this whole process is all about and for me, over the time I was associated with Wheat Ridge I became a better person. Through all the painful frustrations and setbacks associated with the academics, athletics, and interpersonal relationships that we all deal with, I have learned to respond much better than I ever could have as a freshman. It has been stated before in many different ways, but the greatest and most valuable learning experiences that exist are those that stem from pain or adversity. That is something you cannot understand until you experience it and even then will probably never fully understand, but its value in school and in life cannot be overstated.
As I close the second and final edition of Joe’s two cents, I would like to thank Ms. Landon, Mr. Heim, Mr. Scaglione, Ms. Pera, Ms. Villani, Ms. Rossi, Mr. Granbery, Mr. Schultz, Mr. Couch, Ms. Berens, Ms. Gothard, Ms. Ehrhardt, Mr. Dennison, Mr. Yutzy, Mr. Austin and Mr. Romanga for inspiring me to think creatively and differently and for helping me to learn how to learn. And I hope that wherever you are at in life, be it on, nearly started or nearly finished with the high school journey or at another point entirely, you never forget the value of learning and how it will, has and does permeate your experiences.
