Page 12
Commentary
April, 2017
Finding Happiness Where You Are By Lauren Benson, Reporter
In the next few short months, I
the people in Elementary school will be leaving to a new academ- who welcomed me with open ic chapter in my life. It seems for arms when I was new, to the as long as I could remember, I’ve friends I have now who I’ll consider some of my best for the wanted to leave Colorado. Now that it’s finally time to go, I’d like rest of my life. Because of their amazing example of friendship, to give my thanks to this place I’ve discovered who I truly am I’ve called home for 10 years and who I want to continue to be. and share some senior words of The funny thing about my exwisdom. perience is that it is interchangeFirst of all, I’d like to thank able with so many other people. Colorado for Colorado is giving me a “It is interchangeable our home, new perspecand we tive on the with so many other shouldn’t beauty of the people.” take advanoutdoors. tage of those Thanks to the things we Monument for have come accustomed to. To providing me with fresh mountain air and the sky for letting me those who have still not found the beauty in Colorado, here see the stars so clearly at night. Thanks to the desert trails and the are some words of advice from someone who has: hot summer days that will make • Take a walk and just apprecisaying goodbye so hard. I wish ate the nature around you. It is a I hadn’t taken for granted all the proven fact that the more grateful aspects of the valley that made a person you are the happier me who I am today. you’ll be. I’d like to thank Colorado • Go on a hike with just you and for the people I’ve met and the your friends and talk about life. friends I’ve made who shaped You’ll regret not spending time me into the person I am. From
with your friends once you leave. • Blast your favorite music and drive up the Monument and acknowledge the sights we’ve been so lucky to live by. • Go camping in Colorado at least once. Not in an R.V. park, but in the middle of nowhere with no distractions. • Try new things. If you’ve never been mountain biking, hiking, or anything else you’d never want to do, do it! You’ll have a better appreciation of Colorado once you do. • Last, and what I think the most important thing is, make even the most normal and boring situations fun. Life is what you make it. If you’re one of those people who hate doing things and thinks everything’s dumb, then it will be. If you change your perspective and create fun things to do out of nothing, your whole world will shift and you’ll get a much better experience in Colorado. Never take for granted the place that has made you, YOU. One day it will be gone; so make the best of it.
Lessons Learned By Jaren Gisner, Reporter
High school, what can I say
about high school? The culmination of thousands of kids constantly buzzing around a compact building, somehow seemingly has made me ready for the future. In a sense of academics, I learned nothing in comparison to the life lessons that high school has taught me. Those essential learning experiences are the real reason we are here. Those experiences and lessons are the ones that will actually impact our lives. Finding the cosine of theta will never help me as much as the maturity I have gained and lessons I have learned from showing up here every day, but nevertheless math is still important, don’t get me wrong. When I reflect on high school, I am reminded every time of where I started, to where I am now. As a freshman I was really only a kid compared to now. Over the past 4 years, some of the biggest changes in my entire life have happened, not necessarily changes that have shifted the entire course of my life by force, but changes in myself that have grown my perspective on life, and in turn have changed the way I handle every situation that comes my way. My viewpoints
home, that I’ll be in a city four on things have changed, and I am not so naive and unknowing. hours away, and that I will be on my own. But the biggest realizaIn the past years, things I have tion is that I will be away from learned have taught me how those I am closest to in Juncto make better decisions and tion. Even though leaving Grand handle things in a more mature Junction and moving away from way. No longer do I just cruise those closest to me is sad, and through life not thinking about will be a major adjustment, just a single decision I make, reality knowing that I am moving on to started to hit me more and more college and pursuing something through high school, and that was an adjustment. Learning life bigger and better will make the whole process better. Plus, I’ll lessons, getting in trouble, and visit a lot. But never the less, this just experiencing makes this experieverything I could “I have grown ence bittersweet, and through these four years has changed up in these past while I can’t wait to see what the future me and I believe 4 years” holds for me I also this is something know that I’m going that every senior to miss every single can relate to. I person that I am moving away think I represent a majority of from in Grand Junction. But I the population of seniors when I say that I have grown up in these believe that graduation should be past 4 years and never want to go a happy occasion and it is. Graduation will be the celebration of back. the start of every one of our new Moving through my senior year of school has been a strange lives, moving on to new experiences, for some another 4 years of experience. At the beginning of the year it hadn’t hit me that this homework, and for other working was my senior year, and honestly or other types of schooling. Either it still didn’t hit me until this past way, regardless of the amazing times I have had in these past four week. Strangely enough I got years, May 16th is approaching through the majority of second fast. I couldn’t feel more confisemester without even truly dent about being ready to move realizing I’m leaving in not too past high school in my life. long, I won’t even be living at