The Churchill Observer Senior Section Thursday, May 22, 2014
Meet the cast
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Jenna knows that now is the time to be Awkward. By Jenna Hamilton Let’s be honest. At CHS, for the unlucky few, it is an ongoing battle trying to recreate the normalness we see around us in the hallways and classrooms. As one of the least “smooth” people you will ever sit next to in class, I feel that I can vouch for my fellow awkward, quirky peers at CHS when I say the harder we fight our awkwardness and quirkiness, the more it rears its beastly head toward us. Now unless you personally have suffered through being socially misunderstood, you will never understand how draining it can be.
However, we need to realize that although it might be fun to socially flourish in high school, there are benefits to being a little different. Plus J.Crew, Uggs and perfectly straight hair gets boring sometimes. Am
I right? Underclassmen, I hope you take my advice and decide from now on to embrace your awkwardness and quirkiness. It will probably be the best decision you will ever make in your CHS life (after deciding on what to wear to Prom, of course). If you are still not fully sold on committing to such an idea here are some reasons why you should:
1. There are no rules you have to follow. If you decide to conform to the norms of CHS, you will probably end up following some pretty strict rules. Say goodbye to opting to watch Netflix instead of going to a party or wearing a cat sweater with a beret to school. 2. Look back to your childhood. Back in elementary school, you p r o b a b l y embraced y o u r quirky a w k w a r d attributes witho u t fear of rejection. Your offbeat curiosity
as a kid most likely spurred your passions of today. If you continued to embrace this at CHS, think of all the possible talents you could discover. Maybe you will find out that performing arts is your thing or maybe that student government is. 3. Simply put, why spend six hours of your day in a place where 90 percent of the people think you are reserved and quiet when you are actually hilarious, opinionated and charming. Be who you are. 4. Once you truly start being yourself, think of all the new people you will attract who get you. You will never really know who will like the person you hid all four years. Let us not forget the fact that quirky awkward people like quirky awkward people, too. So yes, I admit it would be fabulous if we were “socially gifted,” good enough to win the senior superlative of “best personality.” But you don’t need to succumb to society’s wants or standards. Instead you should give yourself a big hug. Since you are awkward you will probably hold on longer than you should, along with giving yourself some strange back rubs, but remember, this is just hugging. You have the rest of your life to truly be weird.
Follow Buffy’s advice, contribute your own verse By Buffy Summers
A cloudy sky hangs low above the open water. It’s hard to make out at first, but looking closer, several wind propellers become visible. This is how the Apple advertisement for the new iPad Air begins. The video, which ran earlier this year, flows like inspirational liquid, as striking images of contrasting settings and clips of people from all walks of life commencing in their own chosen passions are set before the viewer. Intertwined with these clips are the soft sound of violins and a voiceover from Robin Williams’ character in The Dead Poets Society as he explains to his high school class the significance of poetry. He proceeds to quote Walt Whitman’s poem “Oh Me! Oh Life!” “Of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish, what good amid these, oh me, oh life? Answer: that you are here, that life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” “That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” I know that in this final article I should be divulging my vast assortment of high school survival tips, or maybe explaining why I thought high school was great, or why it wasn’t. But what I’d like to do instead is explore the concept the Apple commercial so brilliantly brought to life.
In it, hockey players swivel their sticks, Japanese men sing karaoke, mountaineers touch the sky, and an array of people find inspiration in the world around them. Here at CHS, we are a diverse body. Yes, we may be fairly homogenous at first glance: we all live in the Potomac bubble, we wear similar clothes, take certain AP classes because our friends say to, and refresh the MCPS website religiously to check for snow days at 4 in the morning. We are super stressed about school and tests and auditions and big games and everything and anything at any given moment. But we are extremely distinct from one another too. When I made the switch from a small D.C. charter school to CHS, I noticed that many of the students seemed to already have found their passions. I knew that there were certain activities I liked, I was decent at certain sports, but there was no one certain “path” I seemed to be destined for. Now I realize that it never was about taking one decided route, because finding what you’re interested in is only part of what’s important. The other piece is found in experiencing the variety of choices we have had at our fingertips. I believe it is important to question what verse we as individuals might write for ourselves. What will you do that will make you you? The
truth is this life, these brief four years in high school and beyond, are ours and ours alone, and you can’t let other people pick what is best for you. It’s easy to follow the status quo, but in doing so, you lose what makes you awesome. Take weird classes you find interesting, and get to know all kinds of different people. Make mistakes and get over them, because the only person who may even remember your verse is you, so you better like it. It sounds clichéd, but each of us is the chosen one for something. The great thing is that we have some power in deciding what that is and how we will handle it. Turns out I was chosen to slay some vampires every now and again, which was a blast, but I feel that there is something more I’m meant to do; I just haven’t quite found it yet, and that’s okay. No matter what point you are at in high school, just completing your freshman year, or getting ready to wrap it up as a senior, your path ahead looks something like that first scene in the advertisement. There will be some smooth sailing and some waves that’ll rock your boat. The key in getting to shore is letting those experiences empower you (like how the wind gives energy to those propellers) and seeing the beauty in the big picture of it all. You get to lead the way. What will your verse be?