By Hannah Guida

High School has been a crazy roller coaster ride.

I started at Denver Lutheran High School (DLHS). The school was in a ghetto neighborhood on south Federal. I did not like that it was a private school or that it was so small. Small and private was all I knew. I knew I needed a change from what I was used to.  So, I decided to move schools which was , up until that point, one of the largest steps of my life. I was nervous and unsure of everything surrounding Wheat Ridge High School.

Fast forward a few months, and I was sitting here in Newspaper class. I had no idea that at that moment I would begin a journey that has been immensely influential in my Capstone, leadership skills, and writing skills. I am so thankful for joining The Haystack and learning so much.

I decided to join Senate starting junior year. Between newspaper and senate, I have kept my high school years incredibly busy. I both loved and hated it. In a way I feel like I was never able to enjoy things like Prom from an outside perspective because I was in on planning both junior year and partially senior year. In a completely different way, I am so thrilled to have worked behind the scenes to help events like the Homecoming Games and Male Beauty happen.

All in all, high school has been grand, and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to work with the people I did and have the close friends that I do. However,  I am ready for this chapter of my life to close and a new chapter to begin.

However, before this chapter closes, I would like to thank some very influential teachers who have been beyond phenomenal. The list includes:  Mr. Arik Heim, Mr. Matt Couch, Ms. Kay Landon,  Mr. Tim Slater, Mr. Adam Goudge, and Mrs. Graciela Yasoni.

In the fall, I will attend CU Boulder and going in undecided. Perhaps I will pursue a career in economics or marketing.  I can’t wait for the dorm life, different and more people I will meet at college; and leadership roles to attain in the future. Don’t get me wrong, the leadership roles here were great, but I think I have outgrown what this school has to offer.

Thank you Wheat Ridge for being the biggest stepping stone in my life, and I have overcome it; thanks to the awesome teachers here, and because of all the experiences I have had here I am going to my dream college.

My high school experience has been encapsulated by this short excerpt from the poem “Cliché” by Billy Collins:

I love to feel the daily turning of the pages,

The sentences unwinding like string,

And when something really important happens,

I walk out to the edge of the page

And, always the student,

Make an asterisk, a little star, in the margin.

Until next time,

Hannah Guida