LETTER FROM THE ASB PRESIDENT
Hi, Welcome.
I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you. I guess I could lie and pretend as if I’m okay with the way in which this year ended, but I’m not in the habit of lying on matters such as this one. Feigning happiness would be neglecting the reality of our situation, and would make you feel as if your feelings aren’t valid. The truth is, it sucks. So many years, so many assignments, so many tears, and we can’t even walk across the stage alongside our friends or pass the tassel from one side of our cap to the other. Damn, we can’t even hug our friends and teachers, telling them those final words while our family takes the pictures we would have looked back on for years to come.
We were robbed of this experience by COVID-19. And although all these posts and praises from the district and community are nice and very thoughtful, they often just serve as a hollow reminder of what we didn’t get. All this is happening while the world watches us and expects us to hold our heads high, not allowed to mourn the loss of such an integral moment of our lives.
But, I wish to remind every senior that what we lost was just that – a moment. Not to take away from the importance of it, but also not to let this loss narrow our vision of every other moment we gained over the past four years. High school isn’t about one moment. It’s the times you played alongside your friends on the field, laughing and yelling at them with every practice and play. It’s the random stories you tell them as you climb the horror show that is the three flights of stairs in the new building, being out of breath no matter how athletic you are. It’s every little game of speed, uno, and slap jack that had you questioning the integrity of your closest friends. It’s the times you made a staff member your own personal therapist, staying in their class and pretending like the bell didn’t just ring. It has and will always be the little moments that create the high school experience. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that, but maybe we all just need a little reminder of those passing moments that have built the foundation of each and every person reading this right now.
So, let me prompt you to remember. Look through your memories and recall the times we did have; because although a graduation ceremony is important, Sweetwater has never been about those 3 seconds as we walk across a stage to receive that blank diploma holder. It’s the staff members who became our support system, the friends who became our family, and the school that became our home. I love SUHi just as many of you do; it gave me so much that had been missing in my life, and I am honored to be a Red Devil. But more than anything else, I am thankful for the times that I spent alongside my class – The Class of 2020.
So with that, I guess I can’t really welcome you anymore, but I can say Good-Bye and Thank You.
Your 2020 ASB President,
Ella Surposa
Continue reading the Devil’s Advocate June 2020 Senior Edition