Year FIFTY (2011-2012) A year after a performing group won the Showstopper award at Showcase, this group took first place in the Performing Group category. Members include seniors Shea Wilcox, Rachel Miller and Kendal Brown (front), sophomore Ragen Cooper, juniors Megan Boerema and Katie DeBruin (middle), junior Trevor Boukamp, and seniors Cody Munford, Carlin Rollenhagen and Kiron O’Brien (back). Junior Kelsey McKinley (below) swings for the green.
his STORY ‘Mischief-maker’ reminds students to enjoy high school years “The world isn’t ending; we’re just takin’ over.” Kiron O’Brien’s year of graduation (2012) marked the rumored Dec. 21, 2012, end of the world. Their class slogan mocked this day, but O’Brien said the saying wrapped up his high school days all too well. “My friends and I O’Brien were always causing mischief,” O’Brien said. “We had blown up a port-a-potty; we had saran wrapped someone’s car. The list is probably endless.” But O’Brien does not only wish to be remembered as class mischief-maker. “I hope to be remembered
as the guy who knows how to have a good time, be funny, and be spirited but also knows when to buckle down and be serious and do work,” O’Brien said. “The past four years have changed me in so many ways. I have become more open-minded and not as ignorant. I have become more involved and have become less uptight.” Getting involved for O’Brien included joining the JV golf team, the varsity soccer team, the hockey team, and Singers. He also played roles in two Allegretto Notte plays and danced in two Showcase pieces. And it is performing in the latter two that O’Brien recalls as his favorite recollections. “My favorite memory from junior year would be getting
Showstopper in Showcase. The past four years, Shores had either gotten first-place or Showstopper, and I was a part of the group that won two years in a row,” O’Brien said. “I also enjoyed performing in the Beauty and the Beast play. There is something about singing a song in front of a lot of people that just makes you feel excited.” O’Brien, though, is not planning to pursue a degree in performing. Being born in South Africa, he plans to study international relations at Michigan State University and one day work for a corporation in the Middle East. “(I got a tattoo on my shoulder of Africa) to remind me where I came from,” O’Brien said. “It symbolizes home.”
Hopefully, the world does not end anytime soon so O’Brien will be able to accomplish these goals. But if it does, O’Brien advises current Shores students to not dwell on little high school problems. “My favorite thing about Shores is that there are not the stereotypical cliques. So many people are intertwined in so many activities that you can be cool around almost anyone,” O’Brien said. “Shores feels like a big place at first, but really, it is so intertwined, and everyone is really nice. But when there is drama, don’t get caught up in it. In a couple years, you’ll realize how stupid you were and how trivial those matters are.” – Michelle Robinson, co-editor-in-chief