New Richmond High School, 1131 Bethel-New Richmond Road, New Richmond, OhioVolume LXXV

The MessengerThe MessengerThe MessengerThe MessengerThe MessengerSpring 2015

Choir director Doug Heflinwill be retiring after a long ca-reer at the end of this year. Heanswered a few questions thatsummed his career as whole. “I think I was born to teach,”Heflin said, “and that my deci-sion to teach was part of fulfill-ing that. I knew that I could teachwithout putting my ego into it.” “The ability to think outsidethe box and see so many of thosethings come to fruition is quite ablessing. It’s great,” Heflin saidabout his experience at NewRichmond High School. “Youknow when you’re six years oldand you say you want to singsongs and write stories and thenyears later you retire from a jobafter sharing stories and singingsongs, there’s a level of fulfill-ment there that not everyone getsto feel, and it’s really a privilegeto experience that.” Heflin shared what he will re-member most about his timehere. “I’d like to say I made adifference in the lives of kids, butI’m far more likely to say thatthe people I have met have madea significant difference in my lifeand because I still feel so in-debted to all those who allowed

me to do this for a living and toenjoy it so much, I have a verygrateful heart that it is not quitethat way you would picture acareer. You’d think that youwould serve into a job and givein to it, but I feel very much likeI got more than I gave.” Heflin also knows how manystudents he’s had over the years.“So I’ve done some calculationsbecause at some point, I wasasked about that, and I believejust recently I went over tenthousand. I believe that I’ve hadover ten thousand different stu-dents in my classrooms, and ofcourse right now I have 420, sowhen you’re dealing with a largenumber of students, when youhave four classes with over 90kids every day, the numbers govery high. The neat thing is thatso many of the kids who joinedthe programwhen they wereyoung followedthrough withthe program allthe waythrough, whichis what wouldbe dozens ofseniors everyyear.” Heflin dis-cussed whatwould be themost emotion-ally touching thing that has everhappened to him during his ca-reer. “I think finding one specifictime would be difficult,” he said,“but the general times when Ihave felt that way were when theresponse of the students wentbeyond what students do andwent to what caring people do.Then to see those times when the

students and families reached outto me broke down the subordi-nate type relationship and it wentinto a personal sense, which isamong the things that have beenblessings to me that were far be-yond what I would’ve imaginedwhen I started teaching. Thosetimes when students and teach-ers and families saw me as morethan their kids’ teacher but sawme as a person and those are veryspecial moments.” “I guess it depends on whichhat I’m wearing,” Heflin said inregards to the song of his people.“If I am in the role of musicianplaying the song that means themost to me it would probably bethe hymn It Is Well With My Soul.If I’m picking a song that appliesto an unbridled joy, I might lis-ten to The Firebird at the the veryend of Stravinsky’s Firebird, or

maybe Jupiterfrom The Planetsby Gustav Holst.If I was going tosing a song thatwas relevant tomy memories, I’dprobably pickMorning Glowfrom Pippin. Butsince the finalsong I’ll do as ahigh schoolteacher is thesong I Will Fly;

that is probably my anthem. Ifyou want to know who I am, lis-ten to that song, and I think you’llget a better insight.” Of course, Heflin explainedthe significance of The Duck.“The Duck is physical proof thatthe children I work with, on oc-casion, are insane and troubled.It is a public reaching out, a cry

Moving on to next stage of life...Mr. Heflin will be greatly missed after he retires

for help. And when they are wor-ried and confused and concernedand they need a friend, theyknow that there is a stuffed duckwho will listen to every inaneword they have to share. Thatduck turns out to be serving asymbiotic relationship with thestudents, so that together, the stu-dents and the duck are as one.” Heflin was asked if he wantedto build a snowman, and he said,“They won’t open the doors sonobody will talk to me. So I haveto sit outside making snow an-gels with my Beagle, in my snowboots. And if after time, of be-ing retired, I look back upon thisand need more, I then will builda snowman. But it will look likea Beagle. A snow dog.” In conclusion, Heflin summedup what his plans are for afterretirement. “Inside every artistthere is a journey for understand-ing, and between serving othersand digging deeper into myselfthrough music composition andrecording and performance andministry, I believe I can have abetter, deeper understanding ofmyself, and through there, con-tinue to make an impact in theworld.”

By Hunter Gilpin & Tristin Baumann

Jim Robinson is a well knownindustrial technology teacherhere at New Richmond HighSchool. Robinson has taught 33years at NRHS, since fall of1982. After all these years, thisschool year, 2014-2015, will behis last year teaching at NewRichmond High School. “What made me decide to startteaching was because I enjoy thesetting of being in a school and Iwent to college to work in thearea of industrial technology be-cause I really like it and it wasperfect for me,” he said. When Robinson graduatedfrom college, he taught threeyears in his hometown,Miamisburg, Ohio. “That school district then

started to have major moneyproblems and eventually had tolay off a lot of the staff, includ-ing me. So I started to look foranother teaching job and this wasthe closest school I could findthat was hiring,” Robinson ex-plained. Overall, Robinson said his ex-perience here at NRHS has beengreat. “The number one thing is thatI would consider myself very for-tunate to find this job because atNRHS, I've always had a boardof education that supported myprogram and actually caredabout it. Also, the administratorsand principals have always sup-ported me, too. And for the mostpart, the students that take my

classes are great and you can tellthey really do want to be in myclass,” Robinson said. Robinson considers himself asa very fair educator. “Over the years I've been veryfair, but definitely firm. Educa-tion has changed drastically over36 years I’ve taught, but I havestill kept the same motto,” hesaid. As you would think, being ateacher for as long as Robinsonhas it creates a handful of memo-ries. “What I will remember themost is the people. The great stu-dents, the amazing, staff, prettymuch everyone. I have met somany great people and had somany great students that havemoved on and been successfulin the field that I teach. It’s amaz-ing to see that, you can't beatthat,” he said. During his time here at NRHS,Robinson has also coached base-ball, basketball, and football. “Two of the baseball teamsthat I coached both went on toregionals. That is a very specialmemory of mine. Also, my threekids all went to school here andgraduated from here. I have a lotof memories with my kids, be-cause two of them took year-book with me,” Robinson said. “But some of the success sto-ries of students that went intosome of the areas in college thatI’ve taught and been successfuland stayed in touch with methroughout the years are the bestmemories,” he added. Aside from being a teacher anda coach here at New Richmond,Robinson is also the head of Stu-dent Council. “I slowly eased out of coach-ing when my kids were startingto grow up so I could spendmore time with them. I thenstarted to run Student Councilbecause it really fit my sched-ule,” he said. “It isn't an every-

Final year for NRHS industrial tech teacherJim Robinson retires after 36 yearsBy Elise Holdsworth

Working here for seventeenyears, Mrs. Gail A. Hall plans toretire at the end of this schoolyear. Having been with the NewRichmond school district for solong, she has many fond memo-ries. “I have worked with a widevariety of students, and I havemany precious memories, toomany to list,” said Hall. While working here, Hall hasseen many positive as well asnegative changes in the schooldistrict. “There are more collegeprep classes now (which is apositive). But there are fewer ca-reer and life skill classes.” When her family moved intothe school district, Hall decidedto join the facilty as an Interven-tion Specialist. “My children at-tended Locust Corner, NewRichmond Middle School, andNew Richmond High School. Ibelieve in public education andsupport the mission/philosophyof NREVSD.” After she retires, Hall plans ondoing many new things with her

Saying farewell to Mrs. HallIntervention Specialist retiring this yearBy Ciera Moore

day thing like coaching is and thespot opened and thought it wouldbe a great chance to come intocontact with some of our great-est/top students.” While working here at NRHS,Robinson has taught many differ-ent classes, but his favorite hasto be yearbook. “I like teaching yearbook be-cause every year is different andallows me to be creative with thebook. Also, everyone that I’vehad in the class each year is dif-ferent in their own way, whichcreates a different/more creativeyearbook each year. They’re allvery hardworking. Basically, justto be able to design and do lay-out work for it is fun; I like do-ing that type of thing,” he ex-plained. As you would imagine, retiringfrom a job that you have been do-ing for quite a while must be bit-ter sweet. “I’m both happy and sad,” hestated. “Happy because you areable to retire and you can dosomething new. I will continue towork at Coney Island (this willbe my 31st summer workingthere.) It is going to be a differ-ent life for me. I am also sad be-cause I will miss it. I’m so usedto being on a schedule all my lifeand having seven periods in myday. It is going be different. Idon’t know what I am going todo but I will definitely be work-ing somewhere because I reallydo enjoy working,” Robinsonsaid.

free time. “I just acquired a newpuppy, which requires lots oftime and attention. I plan totravel, spend more time withfriends and family, read, garden,and enjoy life,” said Hall. Hall says that NRHS is a greatplace to work, with excellentteachers and wonderful, devoted,ethical colleagues. “I stronglybelieve that educators should bestudent centered and should al-ways focus on doing what’s bestfor each student and their future.I enjoy being able to impactyoung people and to help themprepare for the future.”

Each year, the 6th grade classesfrom all three elementaryschools in the New RichmondExempted Village School Dis-trict go on a field trip to CampJoy. It serves as a fun outdooreducational activity for the stu-dents, and allows them to meetthe other kids who will be theirclassmates in middle school. Former Locust Corner El-ementary principal Julie Renner,now is the athletic director in theLoveland school district, butwhile at LCE, she had gone toCamp Joy every year with the 6thgrade class. “Camp Joy has al-ways been a great experience forthe New Richmond District 6thgraders. We would take all 3buildings together so they couldstart forming new relationshipsand friendships before enteringthe New Richmond MiddleSchool,” she said. “The activi-ties at Camp Joy are all basedaround respect and responsibil-ity which are 2 of the 4 Rs thatthe district promotes. But thebest thing is you get to watchkids be kids...get dirty, explorethe outdoors, play games with

others, share meals with friendsand peers, and have slumber par-ties in cabins with their friendsand classmates!” Camp Joy was founded in1937 by the St. Barnabus Epis-copal Church. According to theCamp Joy website (camp-joy.org), the camp moved aroundseveral times in its early yearsbut has since settled inClarksville, Ohio. The new 317acre location is finally largeenough to support Camp Joy’sambitious goals to challenge in-dividuals and change lives today,tomorrow, and forever. Camp Joy provides summercamp and year-round opportuni-ties for many groups of peoplesuch as Low-Income Youth andFamilies, Youth and FamiliesAffiliated with Children's Ser-vices, and Camps for GrievingChildren and Families. Thesecamps are provided by fundingfrom partners. These partnersinclude St Joseph Orphanage,Cincinnati Children's Hospital,Arthritis Foundation, Hospice ofCincinnati, among many others. Now, six years later, the NRHS

seniors sharetheir recollec-tions of CampJoy. Every se-nior has theirown memo-ries from thefield trip thatthey will al-ways remem-ber. For someit is the Un-d e r g r o u n dRailroad simulation, for others itis making new friends, and eventhe experience in the cabins withtheir classmates and friend,among others. “The obstacle was awesomeand I enjoyed the UndergroundRailroad a ton as well. Chillingin the cabin before we went tobed was a fun time as well,” Aus-tin Fischer said. Ally Meadors said her favor-ite memories are: “All the girlsin my cabin sitting in the livingroom area filling out Coke orPepsi books, and doing rockclimbing.” “My favorite memory waswhen Isiah Young was saying hisname was 2Pac. Bunking in thecabins was also cool, the foodwas great, and rock climbing wasfun,” Darren Porter said. There were many students thatwent on the Camp Joy field tripthat meet some of their (now)close friends when they were in6th grade. “One of the best moments I hadat Camp Joy was when I metTroy (Saunders). I had deter-mined that he looked more likea “Bob” than a “Troy” so I calledhim Bob the whole time,” GraceWilliams said. “One of my favorite memoriesfrom Camp Joy was meetingsome of my closest friends, likeGrace,” Troy Saunders said.

Mrs. Renner shared a story thatwill live on in her as well as thehearts of other Locust Cornerstaff forever. “One of my favor-ite stories about Camp Joy in-volves Mrs. Barnes...We alwayscalled our trip to Camp Joy, Mrs.Barnes' vacation and she alwayswould take all of us on vacationwith her. So on this eve of Mrs.Barnes' last trip to Camp Joybefore her retirement, we haveall been blessed to travel toCamp Joy and learn and loveunder the direction of Mrs.Brenda Barnes. We all have thatJOY in our HEARTS, fromCamp Joy!” Camp Joy has outdoor educa-tional programs that it offers thegroups who come to visit. Thecurrent senior class at NRHS didthe Survival on the UndergroundRailroad program as 6th gradersat the camp. The Survival on theUnderground Railroad (SURR)program actively involves allparticipants. The JOY staff por-trays several different charactersrepresenting different perspec-tives on slavery. The participantswill travel through the woods atnight, and meet Plantation Own-ers, an Abolitionist, a BountyHunter, a follower of JohnBrown, a Quaker, etc. The visit-ing teachers and parents portraythe "conductors" leading thegroup toward freedom, and the

Senior flashback: Camp JoyStudents reminisce on sixth grade field tripBy: Sadie LaRocque

The entrance to Camp Joy in the spring of 2009,when this year’s senior class visited the facility.Photo/S. LaRocque.

The back deck of one of the Camp Joy cabins in the fall. Photo/

Campjoy.org.

students role-play the part of run-away slaves. It is approximatelya 3-hour program and covers al-most one mile of trails, in theevening, in most types ofweather. (http://camp-joy.org/programs/outdoor-education/outdoor-education-programs).When the 6th grade class did theSURR program, they were splitup into many different groups, asrunaway slaves looking for free-dom, some of whom made it tofreedom, and others that did not. “Our group didn’t make it tofreedom on the UndergroundRailroad, we got caught by somecrazy guy with a knife,” KorinneGillman said. “We got shot right at the end,”Carrie Stapleton said about hergroup of runaway slaves on theUnderground Railroad simula-tion, “At least I didn’t pull downmy bandana.” The students on the Camp Joytrip were split up in small groupsand stayed in cabins with theother students, and some were inthe guest house. “I bunked with Kelsi Curry andshe got me in trouble by throw-ing flip flops on me while every-one was sleeping,” Ella Neesssaid about the cabins with hergroup. “I’m not a morning person, soI was always the last one up and

got really annoyed when every-one was making noise,” OliviaLatham said about her cabin ex-perience. Tyler Anderson thought thecabin experience was fun. “Itwas like a big sleepover, whichwas pretty fun to do back ingrade school,” he said. “The people in my cabinthought that I was crazy becauseI was pretending that I was amermaid,” Grace Williams said.“I got into my sleeping bag andtwisted the end of it around myfeet and started flopping around.It was fun.” Taking showers in the cabinsat camp was an experience of itsown. Everybody had to take ashower in under three minuteseach day. Some students made itmore fun to take showers, whilesome didn’t like them. “We got the new cabins andduring shower time we heldcards to the “window” andpeople in the showers guessedwhat the card was,” Emily Cartersaid. Given the opportunity, moststudents would go back to CampJoy, for a variety of reasons. “I would definitely go back. Idon’t remember a whole lot fromthen. I know the people morenow and it would be fun,”Maddie McDaniel said.

“Yes, I would go back, it wasextremely fun and a memory thatI will never forget,” AshleyStephens said. Audrey Feiler has mixed feel-ings on going back if she could.“Sure, I would like to go back,but I’m not sure if it would be aswonderful at the current age asit was then,” she said. While most students said thatthey would go back if they hadthe opportunity, there were a fewstudents that said they would notgo. “I would not go back becausetime is more important rightnow,” Tyler Davis said. “I hate not sleeping in my bed,so no, I would not go back,”Steven Wolf said. Some seniors have some finalmemories and words that theywould like to add. “I hope the elementaries neverstop going to Camp Joy,”Maddie McDaniel said. “It is agood experience.” Ally Meadors has a few memo-ries from the camp that weren’texactly fantastic she was remi-niscing about. “I got stuck in asticker thorn bush and gotpushed face first into a puddleof dirt,” she said. Kelsi has one final thing toadd. “I just want to say that theshort showers and no phoneskilled me,” she said.

Olivia Latham added that,“The Underground Railroadthing was SCARY as heck and Ihated it as a 6th grader, but I feellike it would be fun to do now assomeone who’s not 11 yearsold.” “It was an important memorygoing into middle school andhigh school, giving us a way toconnect,” Audrey Feiler said. For most of the senior class,going to Camp Joy as 6th grad-ers was a great experience andmost of them would like to goback. As seniors looking back onthe trip in 6th grade, we believethat the elementary schoolsshould continue going each year.Camp Joy provided a fabulouseducational opportunity withevery activity, especially with theUnderground Railroad simula-tion, although it may have beenscary for some. There were someexperiences on the field trip thatweren’t ones that we particularlywant to remember, but for themost part, the camp was good.Many people met some of theirbest friends while on the trip, andmade unforgettable memories on

the field trip.

Senior Kelsey Hardin performs during her class’ stay at Camp Joy in2009. Photo/S. LaRocque.

The Creative Arts building at the Camp Joy facility. Photo/Campjoy.org.

Dear Me,1. Stop being negative, thinkpositive2. Try new things3. Forget about bad things in thepast4. Forgive some people, but notall/everyone5. Have an open mind6. Save your money7. Don’t try to be like everyoneelse8. Practice your sport--don’t giveup9. Be a role model for youryounger sister10. Aim, keep steady, wait for

it.

JuliaBroshear

Dear Me,1. Some things I would tell myyounger self are:2. It is OK to have a C; it is notthe end of the world.3. It is OK to have lots of friends4. Hang out with your familymore5. You do not always have tohave the newest phone out6. You do not always need thenewest clothes7. It is OK to be yourself atschool8. You do have have to act likesomeone you’re not to just getfriends9. If you have friends who don’tlike how you act, they are notyour friends10. These are some of the thingsI would tell my younger self.

KacieColwell

Dear Me,Things I should tell youto do and not to do:1. Don’t climb a ladder with onehand2. Don’t cuss out your cousin; itmight be the last thing you re-member of him3. Never climb trees4. Don’t get angry so often withothers5. Live life to the fullest6. Be happy for what you have7. Don’t waste your time gettingan $800 computer

Jacob

Dear Self, Hey, it’s you from the future.Yeah, I know technology hascome far. Anyway, I want youto actually care about school andwant to be at school because it’snot that bad. Secondly, you don’thave to be the class clown to becool, because you’re alreadycool, broski! Lastly, I want younot to play so many video games.Go outside and make memorieswith your friends.From your loving self, LukePetry

LukePetry

Dear Me,I want to give you some advicefor life:1. Don’t try to be funny. Peoplethink it’s annoying when you do.2. You don’t need a huge groupof friends; just find a few reallygood friends that will last.3. Be social Talk to more people.

4. Be friendly, but not annoying.

5. Be willing to accept new ideas.6. Question everything--only afool accepts something as factwithout thinking about it first.7. Think about things throughother people’s perspectives.8. Don’t let things people say getto you. It’s easy and cliche tosay, but seriously, think about it.

JoelBird

1. Be a kid2.School is not that bad!3. Don’t go to sleep, becauseyour dad will die 5 days afteryour 10th birthday.

4. Don’t be selfish

DavidHavens

Stop trying to be like everyoneelse. Whatever you do, do whatyou want to do, wear whateveryou want to wear, don’t let oth-ers bring you down. You are somuch better than that. Let thehaters hate, just make sure youstand up for yourself. Followyour heart. Don’t let others tellyou how to live your own life--it’s yours and only yours so theyshouldn’t tell you what to do;don’t listen to them. Love yourparents unconditionally!! Younever know what’s going to hap-pen down the road. Sometimesa simple, “I love you,” can re-ally make their day. You neverknow how much you truly lovesomeone until they’re gone.Never say that you hate yourparents because they tell you todo something; just love yourself.

OliviaHicks

MickaelahWilson

Dear Me, If I could tell myyounger self anything, I wouldtell myself to be nicer and spendmore time with your parents,even if you don’t think they’recool. They won’t always be hereso cherish the moments youhave. Whether you think so ornot, your mom will become yourbest friend. Put down the phonesand go outside and play, havefun, be a kid because once yougrow up, you will wish you wereyoung again. You will wish thatyou could do a lot of the thingsyou could when you were fiveor ten. As you get older, you getmore responsibility, so don’twish your life away. Don’t fo-cus on the future because youwon’t live in the present--you’llbe too focused on planning yourfuture. Enjoy what you have to-day because tomorrow you willwish you had.

Dear Me,1. Don’t let other people changeyou into someone you’re not.2. I shouldn’t have quit soccerfor those two years.3. Be nicer to siblings.4. I should have cherished thetime I had with my grandpa be-fore he died.5. Be proud of yourself.

JulienBattista

Dear Me, Keep doing what you’ve beendoing but do your homework andgo outside every now and then.The outside may seem boring butthat’s what your imagination isfor. Be yourself and go meetthose other kids like you. Don’tstand in the back, be bold andstand out above yourself. Mostimportantly, don’t be stupid,don’t do anything stupid and stayin line. You only get one chancefor a first impression and if youmess it up, it’s your future that

you’re ruining for yourself.

ZacharyWuest

SeanUnderwoodTo my younger self, Hey younger self, it’s me butyou’re older. I want you to knowthat if you waste your time justlaying around you won’t get any-thing completed in life. So justlive life to the fullest. Do any-thing and everything you can, putdown the device and go outside.

-Sean Underwood

MariaTrimble

Dear Me, Now that I’m older and look-ing back on my younger self, Irealize how different I wishthings were. I wish I had takenthings more seriously. I wish Iwould’ve pushed myself moreand instead of not trying andgetting As and Bs, I could’vegotten all As. I wish I would’vetried harder to keep my friend-ships and not get mad at thepeople that cared about me oversilly things. I regret not doingthings when I had the chance. Irealized that I’m young and thisis the time for me to have funwhile I still can. I shouldn’t bestressing myself out over abreakup or one bad test grade. Ishould be worrying about whoI’m going to hang out with overthe weekend and what dress Iwant to wear to Homecoming. Iworried and stressed so muchover things that weren’t impor-tant and now I realize that youcan’t worry your way throughlife and expect yourself to be thehappiest, most carefree personthere is. I wish I would’ve hadmore fun and experienced morewhen I was younger. I look backon the younger me and some-times want to smack myself andask myself what was I thinking?I really hope that now that I’molder I don’t make the same mis-takes that I used to. I want tohave fun and enjoy high schoolwhile I have the chance, I wantto be the wild, happy teenagerthat doesn’t stress over every-thing.

AlexisBlackburnDear Me, You have been through somuch already, Life hasn't shownyou many positives yet, butthey’re yet to be coming yourway. I’m the older you. Don’tworry about the things you can’tcontrol. There will always be thatmean girl, or that friend that isnot really your friend… all thedrama that you have gonethrough since the first day ofschool. I’m not going to lie, itjust gets worse. You have to pickyour battles with others, andyourself. I was never the kind ofperson to get picked on or madefun of, but everyone is going totalk. I have learned through mymany years of school that youwill have your group of friendsall the way through elementaryschool and then your will go onto middle school and that groupgets a little bit smaller and even-tually in high school, there areonly one or two of them left. Asyou get older and become moremature, you will learn that it’s notjust you with these problems,everyone else has them too.

BrittanyLowery

Dear Me, You have endured a lot, I know,but just know everything youhave been through is for a rea-son. Growing up you felt lonely;that’s okay, though, a lot ofpeople do. Sometimes you didn’tknow your purpose for beinghere. You were confused and lostbut didn’t know why or how tomake it stop because you thoughtyou had a good life a good fam-ily. Just remember you’re okay.God has your back. Stop worry-ing about everything that you do,or do not do. Do not try to besomebody you’re not. Be youand love yourself, don’t downyourself and think about what’snot right with you. Just be happy,watch the friends you make be-cause they are not always yourfriends. They will get you intothings you can’t get out of, pos-sibly get you into trouble forsomething that isn’t even yourfault. Don’t trust everyone,watch closely how people act to-wards others. If you see that theytalk about others behind theirbacks then are friends with themto their face, get away from thosepeople. They are not goodpeople to befriend. Love like it’syour last day because not every-one will be there forever. Do notdisobey your parents becausewhen they aren’t here any more,you will miss them. Even whenyou think you hate them andwant nothing to do with them,tell them you love them everyday. No matter how far or howmuch you think they don’t de-serve it, and when you do loseone, DO NOT lose yourself. Ifyou do, you’ll never be the same.You will shut everyone out, yourgrades will slowly get worse andworse as the years go. You won’t

care about anything anymore.

You will trust less, if at all andyou will never ever, ever be thesame again. I know it hurts and I

ChandlerKinhalt

Dear Me, I cannot believe how much Ihave changed in the past coupleof years. It’s ridiculous to goback into my life and rememberall of the things that I was orwasn't or what I did or didn't do.Now that I'm 15, I notice thattime flies by and you want tocherish every moment that youhave to be with your friends andbe with your teachers and evento be at school. I’m grateful forall the things I have in my lifeand there’s so many people in theworld that don’t even have aneducation or even have a bed tosleep on and I do. Kids nowa-days should be more grateful forwhat they have and when I wasyounger, I wasn't as grateful as Iam now for the things I have. Idon’t want to have any regretsin my life so the mistakes someof my family members havemade, they’ve told me the rightway to handle the situation in-stead of getting in the wrong. Ihad A’s and B’s in middle schooland now that I think to myselfabout it, I should have taken theextra five minutes to study fortests instead of playing on myphone. I should have taken theextra five minutes before I wentto bed to study for my tests, butinstead, I said I didn't feel likeit. Now I WILL take the extrafive minutes to study for my testsso that it will benefit me for whenit’s test days.

Sincerely, Chandler

know you feel like your world’sover and feel like you have no-body or nothing, you have ourLord and Savior. That’s what willget you through. Just believe,and have faith that He will makethings better, and eventually hewill. When you’re sad, pray.When you’re happy, pray. Nomatter what you’re feeling, prayand things will get better. I prom-ise it will; I know.Sincerely, Me

Anonymous

Dear me, Think about what you do be-fore you do it. Don't argue withyour parents. Save your money.

Sincerely, Unknown

GrantAnderson

Dear me, Keep on keepin’ on. Exceptdon't stop working on academ-ics after middle school. Youshould care about it more.

TJLove

Dear self, Stop being such an imperfectidiot all the time

Signed TJ Love

HannahKellermanDear me, I have a few things I would liketo give to my younger self. 1.spend more time with my fam-ily. Right now, at this point in mylife, I never really get to spendtime with my family. I'm alwayssocializing, at sporting events orsomething. 2. Do not try and fitin. I wasted so much of my timeon trying to fit in with otherpeople. I wasn’t even my actualself. I was this girl who changedto fit in. 3. Be more confident.Don't let others push you downor make you feel bad about your-self.

Sincerely, Hannah Kellerman

RocheaBrown

Dear me, Think things through beforeyou jump full speed ahead andget hurt. Always know how youare. If you want to do something,think of what could happen or ifyou'll like it. Make sure every-one is your right friends orREAL FRIENDS! Don't let any-one tell you you can’t do it oryou will not be anything; provethem wrong. Always be kind toothers even if they’re not to you.Don’t say anything to peoplewho don't talk to you. Sincerely, Rochea Brown

JoshuaClancy

Dear me1. Life is going to hurt, you needto be prepared.2. Stop trying to protect every-one, let your parents be your par-ents!3. Be assertive, don't put up withthings you don't like, even if youhurt someone elses feelings.4. Exercise more5. Don't go ice skating in 2009;you break your arm6. Stop staying up until 2am! Youneed sleep!7. Don't be afraid to smile8 Embrace your nerd-self!You're turning into a huge one.

Sincerely, Joshua Clancy

DanielStoy

Dear me,1. Learn to control yourself2. Stick up for others3. Get rid of all your bad friends4. Slow down5. Be a leader6. Follow your dreams7. Make a plan8. Help as many people as pos-sible

Sincerely, Daniel Stoy

MatthewLake

Dear me,1. Keep doing what you're doing2. Don't screw around in classesbecause you're bored3. Never be mean4. Never get a B when you couldget an A5. DON'T PROCRASTINATE!6. Don't give teachers a reasonto hate you.7. Help everyone you can if giventhe chance8. Never brag9. Always remember how fortu-nate you are10. Don't be stupid Sincerely, Matthew Lake

HannahReinert

Dear me, Don't let things bother you somuchThink long term; that boy won’tmean anything to you in 5 yearsTrust yourself- but don’t ignore

the hints; people are trying to

help youIt will get better; maybe not to-day, but the sun will set and thereis always a chance for a better to-morrow.Give yourself credit, you’ve beenthrough a lotYou're stronger than you thinkAll good things take timeWhat you think is right for you,may not really be Sincerely, Hannah Reinert

LilyMoeller

Dear me, First of all, don’t doubt your-self. You’re going to try and fitin and grow up a little faster thanyou should be. Stop trying to fitin all the time, when you knowit’s not you. You should be whoyou are despite everything. Iknow maybe you won’t have asmany “friends”, but sometimesit’s not about the number if youknow all your friends are true.Don’t be afraid to go throughyour “awkward” stage. Youneeded this. You will find your-self and where you belong intime, don’t try and rush it toomuch. Another thing, don’t lis-ten to everyone when they tryand bring you down, you’rebeautiful and unique in your ownway and that’s better than any“perfect” girl. You’re far moreamazing being you. Don’t stopbeing true to you, once you fig-ure that out, everything else inlife falls in place. God has a planfor you and is in the process ofmaking you perfectly imperfect.Stay true to you and that’s whatwill make you happy in life.

-Lilian Moeller

DanielMattoon

1. Talk, don’t be afraid of people.Just hope you talk to the rightones.2. Relax! You’re moving too fastand plan too far ahead, SLOWDOWN!3. Be prepared, a lot is comingyour way, learn from it.4. It’s always going to get better,remember that.5. Talk to your brothers, you mayfind similar problems.

LoganTaulbee

Dear me, Have fun while you're young.Just have fun and don't listen towhat people say. Besides thegood things, the bad things ig-nore. Sincerely, Logan Taulbee

NicoleSt. Clair

Dear Me,Don’t worry about fitting in, be-cause you are unique in your ownspecial way. Feel free to have agood time with your friends andjust be you. If I knew then what Iknow now, I should have just notworried about drama and bully-ing, but now I’m happy and havenothing to worry about becausehigh school is not that bad, it’sfun. So don’t be scared, just getyour homework done and focuson your school work. The sum-mer before coming to highschool, I was too scared, but I’vebeen here for months now, andit’s not so bad. It’s funny and wehave some funny moments, andserious ones because sometimesyou need to focus. Be you be-cause you are perfect in your ownspecial way. Don’t worry abouthaving a boyfriend because, trustme, they are not worth it. You canshine by just being yourself.Love you lots.. And just have fun.Sincerely, Your older helpful

self...

KaylaKing

Dear me, Be nice to your parents. Youshould try harder in school. Youshould not let people get youdown and call you names whenyou knew that you are not whatthey said. Love, Kayla King

BlaykeMurphy

Dear old me, Some advice I’d give myselffor when I was younger wouldbe to not try so hard. When I waslittle, I wanted everyone to likeme. Now that I’m older, I real-ize that you’re going to meet alot of people that don’t like youand you’re going to meet peoplewho do. Don’t try so hard to im-press certain people. Noteveryone’s going to like you.Also, stop trying to grow up so

fast, you’re only little for so long.

Let it go, have fun and be weird.Don’t care what people think. I’dalso tell myself that growing upfast is not all it’s cracked up tobe. Stay young as long as you canbecause reality sucks, growingup stinks. Don’t try so hard togrow up.

Sincerely, Blayke Murphy

MatthewFranks

Dear younger me, Stop! Stop worrying abouthurting and feelings so much. Letthings go. If you hurt someoneby accident, they let it go. It’s ok!1. Let things go2. Save money3. Stop getting worked up withproblems4. Be yourselfSincerely, Matthew Franks

LibbyRosenow

Dear me,1. Never let anyone tell youaren’t good enough.2. Stop worrying so much.3. Be happy4. Don’t be so stressed out.5. Destroy what destroys you.6. Smile more7. Don’t let anything bring youdown.8. Most of all, be yourself.Sincerely, Libby Rosenow

DonellMcDade

Dear little me, You have a great personalityand a good head on your shoul-ders. You have a big imaginationand big mouth to match. Youdon’t have to say everything thatcomes to mind and don’t be soquick to shut someone down bygoing for the jugular and beinghurtful. Bee good, bee strong,bee in control, fly like a bee!Sincerely, Donell McDade

IsabelleOiler

Dear Me, Don’t feel like you’re nothingbecause that is how people treatyou. Know that you are worthsomething and don’t let anyonetell you differently. You are per-fect in your own way, so don’ttry to change to please others. Don’t be so sensitive. Peopleare going to hurt your feelings,but if you show them that it both-ers you, then they win. If theydon’t treat you right, then theydon’t deserve your attention.Don't cry because of the peoplewho don’t know the value ofyour tears. Let things go and don’t holdgrudges. Forgiveness is the keyto being happy. You need to for-give others, just as you needthem to forgive you. Do not get too attached to aboy. He may say he loves you,but he doesn’t. He will just breakyour heart and you will be inpain. Boys are not worth thedrama or tears. You can likeboys, but don’t “fall in love” tooquickly. Don’t stress out so much.Stress just makes things worse.You’re so smart, don't freakyourself out. You won’t fail, Ipromise. Success if yours as longas you do your best. You can doanything, so don't fear failure. Sincerely, Isabelle Oiler

LexiForsee

Dear me, Do what makes you happy.Don’t let others bring you downor affect your mood. Don’t be ina hurry to grow up. Your youngyears fly by and soon enough youare going to miss them. Don’tchange your ways just to try andget noticed by the “popular”crowd. Just be you and do whatmakes you happy. If people re-ally want you as a friend they willcome around eventually. Don’tdo anything stupid. Just becauseother people do stuff doesn'tmean you have to do it too. Don'tlet others pressure you intosomething you don’t want to do.

TimBrown

Dear me,1. Focus more on school thangirls.2. Do your homework.3. Hug your parents more.4. Live life to the fullest.5. Don't spend all your time ongirls and drama.6. Don't rush everything.7. Be yourself.

LukeSmiddy

Dear me,1. Focus on soccer.2. Look forward not back.3. Get a work ethic.4. Work out.5. Anna is bae (Heiden).6. Get some cool shoes.7. Kill your heroes .8. Sometimes the best things inlife are the things you don't wantto do.9. Save your money.

10. Chill.

Dear younger self,1. You've made a lot of mistakesbut only you can change that.2. Stop trying to please everyoneelse and put yourself first3. Be who you want to be notwho everyone else makes you beor wants you to be.4. Leave everything how it is, letthings fall into place.5. Don’t let anyone hurt you ormess with your emotions.6. Do what you want, do whatmakes you happy and what youthink is best for you.7. Do what you have to do tokeep yourself out of trouble andget the grades you need to gradu-ate.8. Keep a positive mind and don'tlet anyone’s attitude or opinionget you down.9. Keep a smile on your face no

matter how hard the situation.

BrianneO’Connor

ShaylaUnderwoodDear Me, I wish I would have focusedmore in elementary school in the5th grade because if I wouldhave, I’d be in the grade I’m sup-posed to be in now. It stinks tobe in a grade lower than thegrade you’re supposed to be in,knowing that all your friends yougrew up with and went to schoolwith are a grade above you andyou’re going to have to meet newpeople and be in classes withpeople you don’t know yet. Nowit is fine and I know a lot of greatfriends. Now I’m keeping mygrades up and staying focused tograduate from high school andnot fail any more.

Dear Me, You have had some changesbut not many. Let’s start off withthe ones that haven’t changed.Your best friend is still Jonathanand yes, he still lives next to you.Your sister is in college, but isstill at home. She has a new boy-friend named Drew who’s beenaround since the summer of2014. In 4th grade, when youwere friends with Chris and thenhe went distant, but he becameyour friend again in 7th gradeand now he is a best friend. Youstill talk toBrandon and he has a 2015GMC truck now. You have alsomade new friends you never hadtalked to before like Matthewand Corey. You are also makingyour confirmation this year onApril 12 2015…...to be contin-ued (maybe)

ColeThompson

Dear Me, Do not worry about getting agirlfriend. Just because all yourfriends are in a relationship doesnot mean you should be. Also,you should try your hardest.School gets harder, but you willdo well, except maybe math. Butno one is good at math. Also stayaway from girls, they are noth-ing but trouble. Just imagine howfun it will be to be single. Youwill feel a lot of emotions includ-ing anger, sadness, and happi-ness but you will have a good lifeif you stay happy, so keep yourchin up. There will be timeswhere you are going to bestressed about girls, school, andlife. But not for long. Your fam-ily will help you through the hardtimes, especially Coty,they willalso give you useful advice. EvenJasmine’s advice, although itmay not be the best advice, it willbe helpful at times.

Sincerely,

Cole Thompson

AndriaCochran

Dear Me, You should be more confidentin the things you do and don’tbe afraid to be yourself becauseif you don’t, nobody will knowhow great you really are. You’llhave a lot of friends that will careabout you and you’ll get bettergrades in school. You are goingto find people that will actuallyaccept you for who you are andnot want they want you to be.You are going to see your boysin concert after four incredibleyears of waiting, so put yourphone down and actually enjoythe concert and have fun. Youdon’t need to worry about get-ting everything on camera andrewatching it because you misswhat you didn’t actually see. Bedifferent because it’s OK everyonce in a while to actually ac-cept the person you are. Don’tbe overly self-conscious aboutyour body because every singleperson in this world has some-thing to be shy about. Thinkabout things before you speakand how they might hurtsomeone’s feelings. Don’t worryabout what other people willthink of you. You’re super shyand it’s hard to really talk topeople about just normal thingsor help them with something.You need to speak up and letpeople know who you are insteadof showing them someone you’renot.

DesteneyFisher

Dear me, People are mean. so don't letanyone get you down becausethey want to be mean to you. Andstand up for yourself, don't letpeople walk all over you. Butwhen you do stand up for your-self don't act mean with it be-cause then people will thinkyou’re the bully.Your slightly older self, Destaney Fisher

Dear Me, It’s your older self, and I'mwriting this letter to you becauseI want to give you some adviceto help you through your life. Beyourself, and don’t worry aboutwhat other people think. Itdoesn’t matter and it never will.The only thing that matters iswhat you think. Another thing toremember is to stay out of thedrama. It’s not fun and it’s defi-nitely not cool. Make sure thatyou listen to our parents. Theyactually do know what they’retalking about even if what theysay is sometimes ridiculous.Also, be good in school. Don’tget in trouble, and make sure toSTUDY FOR TESTS. It’s notfun having to do homework infirst period when it’s due nextbell. Respect your teachers be-cause they respect you. Treat others the way you wouldwant to be treated. NEVERjudge someone before you meetthem. You never know what theyare like just by looking at them.And don’t worry about highschool because those middleschool teachers are just trying toscare you. Another thing abouthigh school is to have fun! Makemistakes, take chances becauseyou only get to do this once, andonce it’s over, there's no goingback. You’ll want to fit in with theother kids in school but you don’thave to! They aren’t any moredifferent than you are. Some kidswill try to persuade you to drinkand smoke, but that stuff is justcrap that some people think iscool because someone else toldthem it was. Make sure toNEVER turn your back on yourfamily because after high school,they are the people who are stay-ing with you forever. One lastthing, ALWAYS be yourself.

Sincerely,Your Older Self

ColbiSimpson

KylanBurns

What I would have told myyounger self is not to be worriedabout high school, try harder atschool, and try to pay attentionmore in class. Have fun in el-ementary school and enjoy re-cesses as much as you can; en-joy your childhood.

AaronEllis

MaggieSmith

Dear me,1. Enjoy playing sports now be-cause you won't be able to for-ever.2. Tell my parents thank youmore.3. Enjoy every moment I can be-cause you don't know when itwill be your last.

BenOliver

Dear me, You don’t need to stress aboutcross country; it is not as bad asStone tells you. It’s actually themost fun experience you willhave all year. You don’t need tobe scared about marching band;it is super easy and the music isfun to play and also don’t worryabout fitting in; people will ac-cept you for who you are.

Sincerely Ben Oliver

RobertWooten

Dear Freshman, First off, don’t be scared aboutcoming to high school. It hon-estly isn’t that bad. After the firstweek, it will fly by and you willabsolutely love it. There is waymore freedom in the high schoolthan back in middle school or el-ementary. One important thing isdon’t make a bad impression ofyourself. High school will be somuch easier if you stay on thegood side with teachers. Don’tgoof off because you will regretit. I once got in trouble and I re-gret it. High school is very im-portant to your future when col-lege comes. You have to do wellin high school to get into a goodcollege and have a good career.If you stay on the good side ofthe teachers and the principal,you will do just fine. One morething about high school that youneed to do is your homework.Yes,you will have a lot of home-work, but if you do it, you willdo just fine. Oh! and don’t bescared of the upperclassmen;they won’t mess around with youthat much. -Robert Wooten

Dear Freshman, First thing is the lockers in highschool are a little different. Notmuch to worry about, it’s an easyfix. I can't really explain howyou do it but it’s easy and youwill find out how to do it. Sec-ond thing about high school is itis more free. so when you havefreedom, don’t abuse it. And lastthing is wear deodorant. It is thattime of your life where you startto change again big time, sodon’t be the smelly freshman. Sincerely- Zade

ZadeRichardson

Dear Freshman, Take it from my experience donot goof off in class. There is atime and place to goof andschool isn’t a place to goofoff.Be open minded to playdifferents sports. Also, don’twalk to the bathroom alone. Yourbest bet is to be friends with ev-eryone or everyone will hate you. Your friend,

Donald Gibson

DonaldGibson

DakotaCarnahan

Dear Me, Hey, you! Keep up the goodwork in your classes. They canbe better than they are now in10th. You are going to do the bestyou can in the new classes youare going to be in. You shouldalways do your best. The bestthing that you should do is notlive in the past. You need to livein the moment.

ElexisSanchez

Dear Me, There have been a lot of thingsthat have happened in your life.Trust me, I would know. I havealready lived through it. Whydon’t we start with sports. Ofcourse, you love soccer to death,but when middle school comesaround, you are going to be inlove with band. I know, it doesn'treally add up because mum hasalways wanted you to play soc-cer, but all of the years of hardwork paid off when you marchedon that football field. Also, whenyou get older you find out thatyou really like karate. Just makesure that mum keeps you in it. Why don’t we move on tofriends, shall we? Ok, so yourbest friend in the whole entireworld is Haylie Clemons. She issuch a weirdo and loves to laugh.You don’t really like her at firstbecause of everything that hap-pens in your life, with trust is-sues and never wanting friends,but try not to hurt her as much asI did. When you get in the sum-mer of ‘14, you will soon findout that you might want to becareful with everything you say,because it will soon bite you inthe butt. Please don’t hurt her.She will sometimes be the onlyone you have….to be continued.

Dear Me, Hey. It’s your older self here. Ijust want to let you know thatyou're amazing and beautiful justthe way you are. Don’t worryabout what other people think ofyou. You are allowed to be dif-ferent. You don’t have to fit inwith the “cool” kids because youalready have amazing friendsthat love you dearly. Love your-self. Don’t be afraid of failure.You're going to make mistakes.It’s okay. Do what you love.Don’t stress out over the littlethings. I know a big part of yourlife is One DIrection. They al-ways make you happier. Yourfamily makes you happy, too.Your dad is always making youlaugh and mom always helps youwith your high school drama.Your sisters are there too, en-couraging you to follow yourdreams, but you have to be thatrole model for them. Never giveup on anything because they arewatching you and you don’t wantto show them you are a quitter.You have to teach them to lovethemselves and tell them it’sokay to be different. Youshouldn’t be stressed out all thetime either. Softball is your fa-vorite sport and you're good atit. Don’t let other people tell youthey are better than you. You arejust as good as anyone else. Besmart about things. Don’t makedumb choices that will throwyour life away. You are young.Have fun. Just close your eyesand enjoy this roller coaster thatis life.

Sincerely,Haylie Clemons

HaylieClemons

Dear Me, Don't get with fake friends likeback in elementary when nowthey don't even talk to you. Don’tworry so much how you look andbe constantly thinking someoneis judging you. All you need todo is not think about it so muchand just live the way you want.Also, don't think that you haveto dress a certain way just be-cause someone else is. Youshould dress the way you want. Don’t think that your hair hasto look perfect all the time. It’snot like someone is just staringat you all day judging your hairand clothes. You shouldn't bequiet all the time and should talka lot more.

ChrisDay

DakotaHampton

Dear me, It was hard at the beginning ofthe year. Some of the friendsweren't my true friends and thosewere the ones that were mean tome for what I am. One of thosefriends was so mean that he al-most made me hurt myself. Idon’t want to get him in troubleso I won’t tell his name, but hehurt me so bad (my feelings). ButI found the friends that have sup-ported me all the way through myday of heartbreak. I am happynow that I have someone in mylife that loves me. Sincerely,

The Older You that

knows this stuff

Dear me, There are some ups and downsin life that you will experiencelater on in life. If you listen tome your life will be less stress-ful than mine at this point.First,you have to stop playing videogames and do what your dad saysevery day. “Study.” You will berespected and treated fairly.Next, once you are done with St.Veronica go to New RichmondHigh School, don’t listen to yourfriends about McNick andMoeller, trust me it’s not theplace for you. As you are prob-ably still in rec soccer, push momfor you to go to select every day.Make sure to do anything pos-sible to do something other thanvideo games, just cherish thetime with your friends beforeyou all separate to various highschools. Do well,

Collin Albers

CollinAlbers

DianaMancilla

Dear me, You need to remember thatthings happen for a reason. Don’tstress, do your best, and forgetthe rest. You don’t always haveto fit in, be who you are because,“Those who matter don’t mindand those who mind, don’t mat-ter,” -Dr. Seuss. If people aregoing to like you, they are goingto like you for you, not for some-one else. Life is just too short toworry about what others are go-ing to say. Over the years, youwill will understand that life goeson by a blink of the eye and youwill learn to appreciate the mo-ments. Second, you need to learnto take time. Take time to forgetand forgive, take time to figureyourself out, take time to risk,take time to conquer, but mostimportantly, take time before it’stoo late. Younger me, learn notto rush things. When it’s time, itwill happen, no need to rush.Lastly, you need to rememberyou are stronger than what youthink. There are always going tobe hard days, but you just haveto get back up and NEVERGIVE UP. If you have a dream,strive for it. Don’t let the sadnessof your past and the fear of yourfuture ruin your happiness ofyour present. Also don’t let thetime or fear get in the way.Whenever you start something,it’s always going to be hard. It’sthe ache in your lungs and thevoice in your head that will makeyou better. Never give up on adream just because of the time itwill take to accomplish it. Thetime will pass anyway. Forget therisk and take the fall; if it’s whatyou want then it’s worth it all. Icould write more but I thinkthat’s enough. You will slowly,but truly, learn the ways of life.Always stay positive. Sincerely,

Diana Mancilla

Dear me, If I could go back in time andgive myself advice about how tolive I would tell myself, not tocare what other people think ofyou. People may call you namesand say mean things about you,but don’t listen because the truthis, they’re probably just jealousof you. I would also tell myselfto be yourself. Don’t try to fit in.If someone doesn’t like who youare then they don’t have to befriends with you. Your friend,

Natalie Barcheski

NatalieBarcheski

MeaganBrown

Dear me,-Be yourself.-Don’t feel like you have to actor look like someone to fit in.-Time goes by fast so enjoy itwhile you can.-Don’t blame yourself for every-thing.-Don’t be the person who talkscrap about others.-If something is meant to happen,then it will just take time.-You can talk to your friends andfamily about anythingMegan Brown

BrandinWebb

Dear me,-Don’t follow the crowd.-Be yourself.-Stick with what you believe in.-Be strong.-Stay away from the wrongcrowd.-Follow your gut.-Believe in yourself.-Don’t put others down.-Show love to everyone even ifthey do you wrong.-Show yourself friendly.

NateDillow

Dear me,Keep on growing. Don’t stopgrowing. Being small isn’t fun.Taller people will start makingfun of short people. Don’t listento the music too loud. It willdamage your eardrums. Sincerely,

Nate Dillow

ThomasSill

Dear past me, I wish you hadn’t gone throughsuch stupid phases. I also wishyou’d been smarter about gettingin trouble and not getting caught.

MatthewBateman

Dear me, I would tell my younger selfto take more risks. Just go for it.It’ll be ok. You’ll be fine. Youknow what they say, YOLO. From Olderself,

Matthew Bateman

Dear Me, Stop being upset about every-one else’s mistakes. People aregoing to mess up all the time sodon’t worry because they’re notyou. The people around you aregoing to leave eventually, sodon’t get too attached becausepeople come and go. Stop tak-ing out your anger on everyoneat school; they did nothing toyou. Stop giving everyonechances after chances becausethey are just going to take advan-tage of you and expect morechances. Don’t have friends thatare guys because you have nomale figure in your life. Keepyour heart set on someday andquit thinking every day is some-day. If they do it once they willdo it again. Someday you willleave everyone that hurt you re-peatedly and they will be leftbehind for your own good.

TerriKennedy

StacySpaulding

Dear Me, You’ve been through so muchthis year with foster care andmoving into a new home to be-ing adopted.Things have gottenso much better for you here.Youhave no reason to be unhappynow. You have a supportive,understanding family that willlove you unconditionally.Thefriends you have right now areprobably going to be there foryou through anything.They’vestuck by your side this long, andeven if they won’t be there foryou in the future,there will al-ways be more friends to meetand love.And guys….youmight’ve thought that you needa guy to call you pretty and totell you he loves you but youwon’t need them later on.Guysare dumb and immature in highschool.You should never forgethow far you’ve come to better-ing yourself and making your lifebetter all around.I hope that youare happy with the improve-ments you have made.You havegraduated from therapy,nolonger needing medication tomake you happy,and best of all,you got adopted by the bestpeople in the world. Your grand-parents have always been therefor you,and I know you will notever treat them withdisrespect.You will have morerespect for them because they areyour heroes and they saved youfrom self harm and kept youfrom all the harm in the world.They would not let anything hap-pen to you.And you may nothave the best grades in the worldbut I know we can get them upand improve even more.Don’tmess up our life with drugs oranything like that. Sincerely,Stacy

JadenAtkins

Dear Me, Right now, you’re probablysitting in your bed on your com-puter. Do not exclude yourselffrom anything. You’re so goodat what you do. All you do iswrite, keep doing that. You willgo through many trials. You willbe hurt, but you can handle it. Iknow you can and it’ll get moresimple as you go on. Don’t tryto give up on anything; andplease don’t do anything drastic.You have a best friend who lovesyou. You’ll lose her, but it willbe alright. That’ll bring darktimes, but don’t spend yournights upstairs in the dark, writ-ing poems. Don’t regret it; life’snot worth regretting anything.You’ll make it through, you’re sostrong. Keep writing, it will help. Love, your wiser, older self.

RyanRoark

Dear Me, Whenever you come into atough situation and you thinkabout should I or shouldn’t I,your best option is to say no!Actually pay attention in middleschool because it will help youout in high school a lot more thanyou think. Next time a teacheryells at you and tries to give youadvice, take it; it will help youout to not get mad and just taketheir advice. Also, don't ever goanywhere without saying I loveyou to your loved ones becauseyou're never going to expectthem to go so quickly and with-out saying things you would havewanted to say before they go.Treat your brothers with morerespect, too. Stop fighting somuch with them; they’re theonly brothers you’ve got andyou need to be a role model foryour two younger ones. Try tohelp your mom out a lot more,too; she’s going through a reallyrough time right now and youneed to be there to support her.Never give up anything either,you really should give every-thing you have 110%. If some-

one ever gets in an argument

with you, don't fight about it, justlet it go because you’re just go-ing to get mad and do somethingyou’ll regret.

Sincerly, Ryan Roark

JulieFetchak

Dear Younger-Julie,1)Worry sucks the life out of you.Don't worry, it'll all work out!!'Things I worry about never hap-pen anyway' per Tom Petty.2)Don't forget to stop and smellthe roses! Enjoy every momentof every day because one dayyou will look back and regret notsavoring those times.3)Remember to laugh daily, itwill give you beautiful laughlines when you are old(er).4)Don't let life hold you back.Push through to all your dreams!5)Don't believe the negativepeople because YOU CAN!6)Don't settle . . . for anything . .. EVER!

Dear me, Sometimes times are hard butno matter what, don’t give up onyourself. Life will be fine, justgo through with your plan forcollege; it will pay off. Also, justbe yourself and don’t do whatpeople want to do.-Sincerely, Thane Witzak

ThaneWitzak

Dear me,1)You should do and try every-thing you want to try2)Make sure you include every-one and be friends with every-one3)Try hard on everything you dolike grades and sports4)Have a hobby or hobbies ofthings you like5)Be yourself because later itwon’t matter

-Madison Lanter

MadisonLanter

AnnaHeiden

1)Live life without worry2)Don’t care so much about oth-ers’ opinions of you3)Don’t become attached totechnology4)Go outside5)Don’t grow up too fast6)Enjoy not having exams7)Try new things8)Don’t wish to grow up9)Don’t wear your hair like youdid10)Enjoy not having homeworkevery night11)Don’t stress12)Have more patience13)Be kind14)Be considerate15)Trust your gut16)Work harder17)Pay attention more in school18)Read more

1)Be the best you can be, beingcompetitive is good but youshouldn’t compare yourself ortry to be better than others.2)Care less about what peoplethink about you.3)ALWAYS go with your gut,you know what's best for your-self.4)Take a break from technology,you miss the great things in ev-eryday life when your phone/ TVconsumes you.5)Don’t be afraid to tell peoplehow you feel. Mad, sad, happyetc. it’s always better to expressyourself to someone.6)Prioritize the correct things!School and family should alwayscome first.7)Don’t do stupid things. Con-sider the possible effects ofthings.8)DON’T PROCRASTINATE!9)Take pictures. You’ll love tolook back at them and relive the

past.

Dear me, Finding out what’s wrong andwhat’s right is important. (ex. airkicking in the hallways) If youfind yourself in a class bored,don’t decide now is the best timeto cut your hair, and leave it onthe floor. One last thing, no mat-ter how good you think you areat balancing desks, don’t do it.~sincerely Thomas Sutherland

ThomasSutherland

MirandaBates

KaceeEdwards

Dear me, Don’t let people walk all overyou. Don’t take things to heart.Do what you think is best, notwhat other people think is best.Take more choices into consid-eration.

-Kacee Edwards

KaeleyFagan

Dear self, If I could go back to myyounger self and give advice, Iwould tell myself to stay out ofdrama and to make the right de-cisions about things in life andnot be such a risk taker. I wouldalso choose to do better in schoolwhen I was younger and not getinto the habit of slacking off so Iwould be doing really well inschool by now.

MariannaDinardo

Dear me, If I was to tell my younger selfsomething, it is to relax more. Iwas always so uptight and Imissed out on a lot because I wasso nervous. Just chill and enjoythe little things in life. Don’t al-ways stress about stuff.-Marianna Dinardo

Dear Freshman, Coming into the high school,don’t stress, You’ll be terrifiedat first but don’t be scared, thingsaren't bad. Something you doneed to know, though, is youhave to do your work. Highschool is nothing like the middleschool. When you were downthere, you could get by with onlydoing some of your work, butwhen you're up here, though, it’sa whole new ball park. If you doyour work, you will pass all yourclasses, but if you don’t, you willfall way behind. From my expe-rience, I did only a little bit ofmy work in history and I failed,but then the next quarter cameand I changed everything--nowI have an A- in this class. Theteachers up here are nothing likethe middle school; they expectyou to be on task, do your work,and study hard. Keep in mind allthe stuff you do up here carrieson with you the rest of your life,like when you apply for jobs ortry and get into college. Stay Freshy,

Natasha Waters

NatashaWaters

LaneDees

Dear Freshman, You are probably freaking outabout being an upcoming fresh-man. It’s okay, though, I was inthe same position you are rightnow. I know what the middleschool teachers are saying, but Ican assure you that it is going tobe alright. I wish someone hadwritten a letter to me. Thenthings may not have been asstressful for me. Trust me, thehardest thing about your fresh-man year is opening your lockeron the first week. The last thingI need to tell you is WEAR DE-ODORANT! (The golden rule).Your friend, Lane Dees

Dear Me, Here in the next few yearsthings will change a lot. Yourmom is going to pass away andyou’re going to fall in love.You’re going to grow up. I knowit’s scary, but you’re going tolearn a lot, and the best adviceto take is to stop rushing throughlife, and enjoy the moment.Don’t worry about all those boys,or those popular girls at school.You might think he is the bestboy ever, and that he’d never hurtyou, but that’s not true. Peoplewill come and go in your life, andtheres nothing you can do tochange that.

ArianaRose

Dear Me, You need to work a lot harderin math because right now, youstink. You also need to bet all ofyour money on the SeattleSeahawks winning the 2014 Su-per Bowl and pitch the idea ofbite sized Twix. The world willnot end in 2012 so don’t beafraid of lava or the world freez-ing over. In the future, you meeta lot of cool and nice people sodon’t mess that up and takenightly showers when you get toabout 11, because you smell re-ally bad.

BradVise

ChrisIsaacs

Dear me, I would tell my younger self acouple different things. The mostimportant thing I would tell my-self is to be confident. Anotherthing I would tell my youngerself is to be myself and try not tofit in and like what I like and dowhat you want to do.

-Chris Isaacs

DestinyGross

Dear Freshman, High school isn’t as bad as youthink it’s going to be. If I wereyou, I wouldn’t waste my timeon “friends” or people that nevercared from the beginning. Someof your peers are going to pushyou into things you don’t wantto do. If you are about to makean important decision, sleep onit. Take your time. Don’t let otherpeople make your choices foryou. People are going to startdrama and throw their opinionsin your face. You don’t need tolisten to them. You can take theiropinions into consideration, butthink about what you really want.Listen to your heart and how youreally feel. As you start to ma-ture, you’ll realize what is real.The truth hurts. A lot of peopleare going to lie to you so you’llprobably end up having trust is-sues. Even the ones that say theyare your “best friends” could re-ally be your worst enemies.People are fake. You are goingto make mistakes, lose friends,and be hurt. Guys, not as much.But the girls have more of aheart, depending on who andhow they are. Don’t let otherpeople drag you down. Think ofthings the good way, though. Al-ways keep an open mind aboutthe bad things that could happen.You’ll be better off not havingyour secrets shared with the en-tire school. Stay innocent, be-cause trust me, what is done, isdone. There are things you willNOT be able to take back. Youmay regret a lot of things but usewhat you do, wisely. I hope youhave fun, don’t stress about a lotof things. Keep your problemsto yourself. There are people totalk to in the office that havegood advice. Keep up with yourgrades and study. Exams are im-portant. I’m always here if youneed me though. Bye, guys.

Sincerely,Destiny Gross

Dear Freshman, Take my experience into con-sideration. I was getting in a lotof trouble, getting suspended,being mean and being rude topeople; just being very rudewhen I wasn’t in a good mood. Italk to everyone, though. That isone thing everyone liked aboutme. I was nice to a lot of people.I never disrespected a teacher;you should just know they arehigher than you. It's not as hardas the middle school teachers sayit is going to be. High school isnot hard at all. The only time itis hard is when you make it hard.If you work hard, listen, anddon’t be a goof off the wholetime, there are times where youcan play around, but there aresome teachers that don’t take it.Don’t be disrespectful to anyone.It always comes back to you inthe end. Also, do not be a showoff. No one likes a show off. Justbe yourself and have fun. Highschool is going to be one of yourmost fun experiences in your life.Be open to play sports, differentsports and one thing in highschool to know is be nice to ev-eryone even if you don’t likethem. Just be open to trying newthings. Sin-cerely, Brianna Whittaker

BriannaWhittaker

RyanWolf

Dear Me, Looking back at my past I havedone great things and I have alsodone things that I regret and wishI could take back.For starters,playing sports was one of mybest choices I have ever made.It’s shaped who I am today andhas also helped my grades in thelong run.I also have regrets aboutnot starting sports at an earlierage because it might have helpedme even more in school and alsoout of school.Sports teach youlife lessons that just can’t belearned in school or on yourown.They teach you no matterwhat to never give up, especiallywhen the going gets tough. Thislesson is a hard concept to havenowadays and most adults don’tunderstand this concept yet. Down the road I will have ob-stacles that have tried to slow medown but none of them could orwill.I will have friends betray meand I will also make new friendsdown the road.

EmilyKidd

Dear Me, If I knew then what I know nowI would know to not waste mytime on people who weren't treat-ing me right. Definitely don't leta boy interfere with your life;there is one out there for you, justmake sure he is the right one. Thefriends that I know now won'talways be there for me in the fu-ture. Don’t be afraid to make newfriends and make new memories.Be more open in sports also be-cause you might change yourmind about what you will playin high school. You will have toremember to watch your ownback, because people might turnon you when you need them. Themost important one of all is tobe you, don't try to fit in with ev-eryone else. Love yourself; itwill only help you in the future.

Sincerely,The older and wiser me

LauraWilson

Dear Me, I won’t tell you too much, be-cause the experiences that Iworked through by myself mademe who I am today. However, Iwill give you a bit of advice. A.You were put on Earth for a rea-son. You were put with your fam-ily in New Richmond. for a rea-son. Believe in yourself & God,and you will do what you weremeant to do. B. Push yourself.Not to the point where you stressout, but push yourself to get bet-ter. Dance. School. Golf. Alwaysdo your best, because it will payoff. And C., Manage your timebetter, I still haven’t worked thatone out because I’m rushing tofinish this. One more thing: Tell your fam-ily and your friends that you lovethem. Tell them every day.

Yours Truly, You

AnthonyStamm

Dear Me,2. Listen to yourself3. Live life to the fullest4. Block out the haters5. Be yourself6. Think before you do some-thing wrong7. You are in charge of your life8. Don't be afraid to stand up foryourself9. Let life take it’s own path withsome help by you10. It’s ok to be weird11. Try your hardest for some-thing you want12. Just live your life the way youwant to

TheaTransier

Dear Me, You dont need to fit in. You’regood, and all the friends thatleave you out, don’t worry aboutthat, because when you get olderyou can meet more people andhave more friends. And p.s.you’re going to be awesome withsoccer, so keep training!!

Love Thea

Dear Me, If I knew then what I know nowI wouldn’t have wasted so muchtime on friends that didn’t treatme how I should be treated. Iwasted so many years on “bestfriends” that were never there forme and always brought medown. It gets old when some-thing tragic in your life happensand no one is there for you otherthan family. Your best friends aresupposed to be people who giveyou advice and are always therefor you, no matter what the situ-ation is. Every single day I wouldgo into school and they wouldcriticize me. They nevercomplimented me. It’s awful togrow up with such negativity. IfI knew that they were going tojust bring me down our wholefriendship, then I wouldn’t havebeen friends with them as longas I was. Stand up for yourself.Don’t let people treat you badly.Most of all, don’t waste yourtime on people who aren’t worthit.

Sincerely, Your older, more knowledge-able self

MackenzieAdams

AnnaHamilton

Dear Me,1. Stop stressing about things; nomatter how much you worryabout something, it won’t fix thepast, or change the future. It willonly ruin the present.2. Appreciate the small things:because those little things willmean everything looking backon them.3. Don’t be someone you’re not:if they don't appreciate you forwho you are then they’re notsomeone that deserves you.4. You’re never alone: just be-cause someone’s not in your lifeanymore doesn’t mean others arenot.5. Don't let others change howyou feel about yourself: otheropinion of you doesn’t meanthat’s who you are it’s only theiropinion.

SydneyPayne

Dear Me, Don’t stress out so much; inreality, whatever it is probablyisn’t that big of a deal. And don’tcare so much about what peoplethink about you. Honestly in 20years, people aren’t going to re-member how you dressed orwhat you wore to school on May3rd, 2015. That’s silly. Youspend more time worrying abouthow you look than just going outand having fun.

Love, Sydney Payne

Evan Taylor

Dear younger self, You may not believe me butmake a habit of doing yourwork!! Also when you breakyour ankle don’t quit soccer, youwill lose all your skills and haveto restart it stinks!! Eat healthy,don’t be so picky.

CoreyBozic

Dear Me,1. Don’t steal2. Don’t lie3. Be yourself4. Be free5. Don’t be stupid6. Don’t go on ice7. Don’t be limited8. Be a good brother

9. Don’t be selfish

GageCombs

Dear Me, Don’t worry about fitting in.Be yourself, and don’t worryabout how others think of you.Think positively and have con-fidence. No negative thoughtsbecause that will bring downyour self esteem.

-Gage A. Combs

OrienDeTellum

1. Dear Me,2. Don’t get in trouble3. Chill out!!!4. DON’T DO IT!!5. Don’t hit Nolan with the golfclub

6. Don’t be stupid.

WayneNaylor

Dear Freshman, There are many rules in thehigh school but fear not, you willhave much more freedom. Theteachers expect you to always beon time, get homework done, andnever goof off. When you start agood rhythm, then you will trulysee the best part of high school.Also in high school, it’s a loteasier to fit in than you think.You truly just need one bestfriend, then you will be set forall four years of high school. Youmay have acquaintances, butthey will never treat you the sameas a best friend. On a side note,please don’t go to the bathroomby yourself. Sincerely Future Freshman, Wayne Naylor

RachelRiffle

Dear me, Don’t get jealous and mad overpetty little things. Don’t loseyourself trying to find someone/something, let them find you.Appreciate every day becauseit’s a gift. Don’t treat the peopleyou care about poorly becauseone day they may not be hereanymore. Live every second ofthe day and never let it go towaste. Don’t worry about whatothers may think, just do whatmakes you happy. Take chances,and have fun.

CourtneyPrice

Dear Me, Last year, I shouldn’t havebeen so worried about a lot ofthings. I was always so nervousabout things and it was com-pletely unnecessary. Most thingsgo so smoothly when you just sitback and let things take theirnatural course. I made plenty ofdecisions that weren’t neededand I sometimes regret them, butI know next time to never do thesame thing. Also last year, I was too busyworrying about trying to makenew friends instead of trying tokeep the ones I already have. Igot into a lot of fights and argu-ments with my friends and I re-ally wish those people were stilla part of my life. Some of themhave moved on to other schoolsand some just aren’t my friendsany more. I have great friendsnow who are always there for mebut I wish I still had my oldfriends as well. From now on, I am not goingto worry about so much and I’mgoing to focus on my work moreoften. My future goals are tokeep my grades up and worry

less.

Kayla SheaGilbert

Hi, younger me… There are acouple things that I’d like to tellyou. First of all. Don’t lie. I knowthat lying may make you sounda bit better but trust me, peoplewill like you and respect youmore if you tell the truth. Youcould lie and lose your twoBEST friends. That happened tome. DON”T LIE!! Second, stop eating so much!Haha, you think I’m kidding. Bemore active, hang with outfriends more, and on that notePICK BETTER FRIENDS!!!! I’m serious, the friends thatyou’ll hang out with are goingto make fun of you. You didn’tdeserve the bullying and mean-ness people gave me. Lastly… Over the years Ihaven’t been the nicest to myself.So all I’m going to say is loveyourself.

UnknownDear Me, 1. Don’t hold on to the pain 2. New Richmond is the bestplace for you 3. Forget and forgive 4. Don’t become guarded 5. Don’t think you’re not goodenough 6. Grandpa will always be here 7. Don’t re-date losers 8. Keep on smiling 9. Change is okay! 10. Jojo, Jake, and Dad are allthe guys you need 11. Study more! 12. Kacee will always be there 13. You can never have enoughfriends 14. Don’t self harm <3 15. Single life is the best life 16. College is #1 dream 17. Don’t let distraction get inyour way 18. It’s okay to cry 19. Just don’t keep crying overit 20. Notice and appreciate all

the things you have

E. SellsDear me, Over-achieve in all things. Doeverything as if it is your great-est passion. Dream huge and beverbal and open about yourdreams. People will tell you thatyou are poor and they’re right,but you are not poor in spirit. Ifyou apply yourself, you willachieve anything.

-E. Sells

TimTyler

Dear me, 1. Work harder in school andat baseball 2. Don’t play Xbox as muchand focus on other things 3. Figure out what you want tobe when you're older 4. Make a plan to make someextra money for a car 5. Hang out with your friendsbefore you move 6. Stay in shape, don’t get lazy

-Tim Tyler

CheyenneBooth

Dear self, 1. It’s OK to show emotion,don’t be afraid, don’t push yourfamily away 2. Be yourself. Don’t worryabout the bullies, don’t cry andin bed for hours, don’t change 3. Plan out as many things aspossible. 4. Don’t fall for lies; go for thehonesty. Go for the venom in-stead of the honey.

TravisJustice

Dear me, Stop being stupid. Be moreoutspoken(even more than youalready are). Tell everyone whatyou feel. Stop being afraid oftelling people the truth, don’t lieto make everyone feel good, behonest with them. Don’t worryabout losing your friends as yougo through life, you meet somepretty awesome people in middleschool. Don’t worry aboutpeople making fun of you,they’re dumb. Raise your handin class more often, being smartisn’t hard. And lastly, just DOYOU!

Your future self,Travis Justice

SethButler

Dear me, Don’t stress so much. Alwaysbe respectful. Take life little bylittle. You can only handle somuch at once. Worrying aboutthings will not solve your prob-lems. And remember to workhard at everything you do be-cause you never know what daycould be your last. Life doesn’t

build character, it shows it.

DrewMaxwell

Dear Me, First off, stay friends withSkylar and Peyton no matterwhat. They will always be therefor you. You guys will go on funtrips to so many places. I alsowant you to try in math, trust me,it will pay off in the future. If youstart to have problems, just don’tworry about them, it gets betterin the future. You will also meeta guy named Ian. Be his friendimmediately. Why? Because hewill introduce you to some cooldudes like John, Pat, Luke, Paul,Karl and many more. Also, in 8th grade, you willstart to love science, thanks toMrs. Grippa. So please listen inher class and pay attention. Also,don’t forget to bring Cheez Itsto her class while watching Ju-rassic Park. Forgot to mention,you go through a Cheez It phasewhere you absolutely craveCheez Its. Follow in Joe’s footsteps be-cause if you do, you will learnto love running and tennis. Ten-nis is probably the best thing thatwill happen to you in your fresh-man year. Don’t forget to buy akendama before they are cool soyou will be a trendsetter.Sincerely,Future you.

GavinRiddell

Dear Me, When I was in middle school,all I could think was I’m almostin high school and I’m not readyfor it at all. Now it’s almost theend of my freshman year. If Icould go back to middle school,I would, without a doubt, Thatwas some of the best years of mylife and I didn't know it until now.I look forward to having you asa teacher next year and I hopeyou look forward to having mein class; thank you.

ShaneJones

Dear me, Don’t worry about going to themiddle school, it’s one of the bestthings that will change you forthe better. You will be happy aslong as you keep your grades upand play the sports I want you toplay. You will be happy you’llhave many friends that you willlove spending time with. Just behappy and have fun, then youwon’t have any problems at all.Sincerely,

Shane Jones

ElizabethTumblesonDear Me, You have been through a lot ofchanges and rough times sinceyou were younger. For example,remember in 7th grade when youthought you were a failure be-cause you weren't doing well inschool and you knew the teach-ers hated you because of whathappened at fall camp? Also,when your 6th grade mathteacher said to you: “Don’t behappy, that’s the only A you'reever going to get in my class,”after I got an A on a really bigproject. Or when you and andLydia stopped being best friendsover a stupid fight back in el-ementary school after 10 yearsof being best friends. But I alsofeel that this is what shaped usinto who we are now. Gettingstraight A’s third quarter with aGPA of 3.914 or in 8th gradewhen I made Honor Roll all fourquarters and got the Silver Presi-dential Award.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Tumbleson

Dear Self,Yo! What’s up, self? James,don’t do drugs. Drugs are badand learn from mom’s and dad’smistakes. Remember to stay inschool and get smart, and re-member up with hope, downwith dope. James, remember tostay awesome and loving your-self is a good, but don’t becomean egomaniac. Be nice to every-one. Remember the golden rule:“treat others as you want to betreated.” Being nice gets you fur-ther than being mean, so don’tbe an jerk. Remember to get theclear glasses; everyone lovesthem and they look cool. Re-member, people stink so don’ttrust anyone and always comeprepared. To wrap up this letter,James, remember that you’re thebest and I love you. You're themost amazingly awesome personever. Love,

James Daniel Seal

JamesDaniel Seal

KatieBrashear

Dear me, Hello younger self, just wantedto give you some advice. Don’tworry, you turn out fine thoughyou’re going to face problemswith friends, mom and dad andeven with yourself, but if you justtake time to think about theseproblems. Everything happensfor a reason. You’re also goingto get in trouble and getgrounded but don’t get angrywith mom and dad because it isyour fault that you’re in trouble,not theirs. Just try to better your-self, better your grades and yourattitude and you will be fine. Yours truly,

Katie Brashear

SierraHammons Dear myself, Eat whatever stop being sopicky. Don’t worry about fittingin everyone is different and that’salright. Be a kid while you canbecause time flies and beforeyou know it you’ll have so manyresponsibilities. Listen to adultswhen they are telling you some-thing even if you don’t think itsright 90% of the time they are.Get good grades, go to school,do what you’re told. Older,

Sierra Hammons

NickEdmondson Dear me,One thing I would tell myyounger self is to do what makesyou happy and just live life. An-other thing I would say is to notstress about the little things andjust chill out. The third adviceI’d give to my younger self istomake smart decisions andthink before you do things. Sincerely,

Nick Edmondson

DavidWoolum

Dear me,You don’t always have to be inthe spotlight. Be true to yourselfand friends. Wake up everymorning with a positive attitude.Remember everything happensfor a reason.

-David Woolum

DanTroxell

Dear me,Do what you want to do. Havefun. Don’t worry what otherpeople think. Don’t take any-thing too seriously. Sincerely,

Dan Traxell

KasieSnider

Dear me,Don’t let other people tell youwhat you are or what you needto be. Don’t be friends withpeople that don’t benefit you andbring you down because youdon’t need those kind of peoplein your life. Stop overreactingover people that don’t like you.Not everyone in life will likeyou, and it’s okay not to be nor-mal.

SkylarGrady

Dear me,I am writing to my younger self,and if I could give my youngerself advice, I would say to beyourself. You shouldn’t carewhat others think. Try harder atschool and make more friends!Do successful and fun things.Tell your family you love themand don’t do things you will se-riously regret. Younger Skylarhas grown up a little and in thattime I have learned many thingsand lessons and that you shouldnot rush growing up and be con-fident and happy.

Sincerely,Skylar Grady

ChrisAllen

Dear me, The main thing I would say tomyself would be to try and un-derstand people more often. I saythis because when I was younger,I felt like I was really judge-mental. The second thing Iwould say to myself is to slowdown in school and life in gen-eral.

#DearyoungerBrooklynAdvice from me to me Dear me, High school isn’t as hard andscary as you may think. Sure,there are now seven classes youhave to take, but it’s not really

that bad, I promise. No one getsshoved into lockers, or beat upby upper classmen; it just doesn'thappen; the upper classmendon’t really bother anyone. When making your schedule;keep in mind these importantthings. Don't take classes that aretoo hard for you; if you're not ad-vanced, don't take advanced, it’sjust not worth the bad grade, trustme. Deciding what math class totake is really easy--take regularwith Mr. Shoemaker! He makesevery day fun and makes matheasy to learn. (He is also theboys’ basketball coach!) For English, take Ms.Pride,she is a ton of fun. She teachesboth advanced and regular En-glish. For every book you readshe has a movie and even has afew for some short stories we

read! Some of the videos arevery funny. Whether you sign up for ad-vanced or regular biology takeMs.Wilkins. I love biology. It’sa tough class but that is whatmakes it so much fun! Now don'tthink I'm some geek or nerd forloving the challenge, because I'mnot. There is a lab we do in herclass where we extract DNAfrom our spit! It looks like awhite booger! Try to join as many extracur-ricular activities as possible.Trust me, sweetie, it’s so worthit. Don't let anyone push you towant to quit. They are just jeal-ous of how much you get to doand how completely awesomeyou are. Don't worry about having aboyfriend in high school; it’s too

much trouble. One day you willmeet the perfect guy who willmake you happy and you willmarry him. But first go to col-lege, live a year on your own, geta job, than you can get engaged.It’s Mom and Dad’s rule, one ofwhich I actually agree with. Brooke, you are fun, loving,caring, have a giant heart, a giftwith public speaking and a giftwith children. Don’t forget that.Sincerely, Older Brooklyn

Dear younger Ciera, Put away that straightener!Hair products haven’t advancedenough for you to straightenthose crazy, frizzy curls that youwere “blessed” with. Lookingback at those pictures today re-ally makes me cringe, as well asthose plastic purple framedglasses that you seemed to thinkwere the coolest thing ever. Buysome defrizzer and lace up thosehigh tops that you got for Christ-mas and just embrace yourweirdness. We used to be really shy andquiet, and that caused us to losea lot of opportunities both aca-demically and socially. The twofriends that we did have were theonly ones that knew just howgreat we were, and the restlooked at us as the “nerd”. Just

#DearYoungerCiera

By CieraMoore

Moore is More

Inspirational letter to my younger selfbecause we were always the tall-est in the class doesn’t mean weshould’ve taken on the role of thesilent giant. Also, switching schools all thetime doesn’t mean we should’vechanged our personality. Beingyourself makes it easier to adjustto the new environment, insteadof focusing on this new personawe took on. Embrace yourgeekiness and who cares what allthose popular middle schoolershad to say; in a few years theiropinion literally won’t matterand you’ll barely remember it atall. If I could go back and reallytalk to you, I would recommendtaking on more hobbies. Keep upwith the drawing and continuethe writing, as well as not quit-ting volleyball. It takes time to

get better at things, and just be-cause we couldn’t correctly serveor draw a dog at first, means youshould really keep practicing.Being a sixteen year old withbarely anything to do but sitaround all day and sketch a fewthings while looking throughInstagram isn’t that fun. I wish Ihad kept doing some of thosethings. Okay, so just because some-body says you aren’t good atsomething does not mean youshould give up. Take what theysaid to you and prove themwrong. People always used totell us that we sucked at anythingwe tried to do, especially sing-ing. But today I feel like we gota lot better, because like I saidbefore, we kept practicing. So in the end, just keep up the

good work. We’ve always beenadvanced when it comes toschool work and that will ben-efit you in the future, just makesure you do the homework. Keepin tune with your creativity andenhance your writing and draw-ing skills. Don’t worry abouthow you look to others as longas you’re happy with yourself.Live life, love yourself, and justbe you!Sincerely,Your older self

Rookie

BrookieBy BrooklynBy BrooklynBy BrooklynBy BrooklynBy Brooklyn

ParkerParkerParkerParkerParker

Dear me, It’s going to hurt. Everythingis going to hurt. Growing up isgoing to hurt. But you have tomove forward. If I could go backand tell myself one thing, justone thing, I would say I need tonot be so hard on myself. Justbecause you are outgoing andfun on the outside, doesn't meanyou can't have normal feelingslike a normal person. Don't lockyourself in your room. I did thattoo many times and it didn't dome any good. There’s too muchI would say to my younger selfthat I can't say in writing. But forone, you’re a great person. Youwill like some people, you willnot like other people. But the onething I was taught is to treat oth-ers with respect. No matter howharsh they are to you, if you givethem the respect you wish to re-ceive, then your life will becomeso much brighter and sadnesswill not consume you. Also, another main thing Iwish I knew when I was younger

Dear Younger Me.....Some advice from your older self

is to be confident, It’s hard, re-ally hard, actually, to be confi-dent with yourself in this soci-ety. But if you start to act confi-dently, saying you are pretty in-stead of ugly, saying to yourselfthat you are a great person, thenyou will eventually become con-fident and you wont have to fakeit, I promise. Don't be too hardon yourself. Stop being mean toyour body. Learn to be so in lovewith yourself that you do not carewhat anyone else thinks aboutyour appearance or your greatpersonality. Also, please, please,please, don't let your mind con-trol you. Don’t let the anxietycontrol you is what I’m trying tosay. Friends fight. The friends youhave right now, I can promiseyou, will not be here for the restof your life. It rarely happens thatyou stay best friends with some-one for your whole life. It’s goodto think you’re going to be bestfriends with someone for the restof your life. It’s good to have

hope for that, but just don’t becompletely shocked when thatperson eventually leaves. You’llcome to realize that everyoneleaves. You could become soclose with someone and shareyour secrets with them and bewith each other almost every day,but it doesn’t matter becausethey aren't going to stay forever. Another thing you need tolearn is that school is important.I wish I could have told myselfearlier to take things way moreseriously. You have to try yourbest in school, but just make sureit doesn't consume your life. Fail-ing a test is not the end of theworld. Failure does not meanyour life is over. You have tokeep trying. And this doesn’t justmean for school. You have tokeep moving forward and don'tlet anyone get inside your head.Don't listen to people who sayrude things to you. It won't mat-ter when you're older and suc-cessful. Out of everything I have said,

the most important thing I wishI could've told my younger selfis to love yourself. Love how youlook and love who you are. Quitspending countless days beingmad at yourself because youdon't like how you look, Even-tually, you will learn that you arepretty whether you believe it ornot. It took me too long to real-ize that I’m not as bad as Ithought I was. It took sixteenlong years to be exact. Loveyourself. You will waste so manyyears of your life not liking your-self. But trust me, everything isso much brighter when you loveyourself and everything aroundyou. Be a positive person.Sincerly, Your older self

Dear Me, On March 16, 2015 at exactly1:45 pm, you will be let out ofAP chemistry class to head up toyour seventh period, journalism.An average day, nothing special,but during that class you will beassigned a “Dear Me” paper toaddress your younger self. Youhave decided to address yourselfprior to being assigned this as-signment. Therefore, my 48 houryounger self, SKIP SEVENTHBELL. Think of all the thingsyou could do with your time. First off, you wouldn't be writ-ing a paper. Who likes writing

anyway? Or papers… seri-ously?! You could go get some-thing to eat. Who doesn’t likeeating? It’s either, write this pa-per or a Chipotle burrito, it’s nota hard choice. Although, what ifyou get food poisoning… thenyou’d be sick and throwing up.That’s not good at all! Okay, Iguess you won’t skip to get food.NEXT! Alright, what if you went andplayed tennis? That’s a good one,no downfall there… Unless, IFALL DOWN! (pun intended.)Hurt my ankle again, that’d beterrible. I’d be out the whole ten-

nis season, never have a chanceto play tennis out of high school,that would surely affect my protennis career. Okay, so tennis isa no-go as well. NEXT! Not to mention, what if I getcaught skipping seventh period,I would be in so much trouble…Probably a few In School Sus-pensions that would go on mytranscript! I will never get into agood college; if I don’t get intoa good college, I will end up notgetting a job. If I end up notgetting a job, I would have to liveon the streets; if I live on thestreets, how can I build a fam-

ily? If I can’t build a family,what’s my purpose in life?! Well,I want to have a purpose in life,a job, and family… so, don’t skipseventh period, bad idea. Justwrite the paper, and now that it’salready over… it wasn’t that badanyway.Sincerely,Your (slightly) older self

Dear Me, Skip seventh bell so you don’t have to write this paper......on second thought...

JOEJOEJOEJOEJOECOOLCOOLCOOLCOOLCOOL

By Joe Maxwell

HippieHoldsworth

By EliseHoldsworth

If you were an adult and couldtell your younger self anything,what advice would you say?What would you warn about andtry to change and what do youregret that you would also men-tion? Starting back in 2011, anew thing called “Dear Me”sprung up and many famouspeople encouraged it. It is a veryneat idea and I encourage as wellfor a lot of people to do it, butthis is a column, not a review sohere’s my “Dear Me.” Dear Hunter. Times do get hard at any mo-ment and it happens to anyone,even to the most famous ofpeople; they, too, experiencehardships. Yes, dad left two yearsago and it upset you so much, butit’s fine; you are very talentedand will have many more friendsto gain and share the best timesof your life with. Many peoplewill actually be jealous of yourvoice or your skill in otherthings, and the way to not goabout it is being a self-absorbedperson who denies everythingflawed about himself. Trust me,or you or us? I don’t know, butdisregarding reason, it loses afew friends as middle schoolgoes on. You can't cope with thatconsidering your personality re-lies on people for you to makehappy to become happy yourself.Your job in life is to make oth-ers happy. Be a little lighter onpeople when you confront them.Disregard your bad times whentalking to someone new, or evenyour own friends. You had life going so good foryou, all the friends, all the peopleliking you, and superb grades.And then you wasted it. Harsh,right? But that’s what you’reafraid of and always were. Afraidof the reality of being narcissis-tic and losing your friends.Lighten up! Being a little less

#DearYoungerSelf or #DearMeAdvice from my much older self

Stuff n’ Thangs By Hunter Gilpin

tense in situations helps but youturned into an arrogant, lost teen-ager going through a time youdidn’t know how to describe. Ifyou didn’t hesitate about every-thing and just went with yourown heart, you would have beenwhat you were, a fun, caring,enthusiastic person but youmessed it up. Every. Single.Time. By the time you realize howmuch that one selfish act caused,you’ll be in high school writinga column on it. But you stillhaven’t followed your heartfully; you need to go with whatyou believe, not what people ex-pect from you. Either be your-self, or get lost within the depthsof repressed opinions and shutout. Be the person you need tobe is what I’m writing you about.It is a very simple process withthe main goal getting the peopleyou’ve hurt to forgive you. Itwon’t be easy but I know you cando it. You can do a lot when youput your mind to it. Be gratefuleven if you didn’t get anythingto benefit you, because that’swhat you need to learn. Nothingis ever supposed to be easy. Forget about the people thatvoice over your opinions; in fact,no one in the entire universeshould have that power. You area leader; be a good one to your-self before you be one in theworld. Don’t let yourself slip, bea man about things you’re unsureabout, and don’t let anyone re-press you. You don’t deserve it.Don’t let anyone slip a little seedthrough your personality to makeyou think you are a horrible per-son. Sure, you come off as abossy and stubborn person, butyou aren’t. Give people chancesto meet you. You may find it en-joyable to be open again. It is agreat thing, although I haven’tyet done it yet.

Rise up, don’t let people pushyou down that are ahead. Acceptyour flaws, do not repress themand pretend they don’t exist, be-cause they do and you are stillafraid of that one simple fact.Truth hurts, so I have a feelingthis letter will hurt you in a waythat will make you wish you hadlistened. I’m being very harsh,but I need to be so you will get itthrough your thick skull. Con-tinue your passion of being your-self when others aren’t knowingwhat to do next. If you recall thestory about Icarus, he flew sohigh that he burned up, right?Well, if you ever burn up, give itanother go and never stop. A lotof people actually care aboutyou. Do not let them down andbe yourself. I have faith in bothof us. Apart from the orders I gave

you, I have no real advice to giveother than the line we used inevery story we can remember:“A strong person does not comefrom a single power or mind, butrather multiple powerful mindslifting up an entire idea.” Re-member that for the rest of yourlife and you will follow this ad-vice by 100 percent. Other thanthat, I’ll see you in my memo-ries of myself, being a better per-son and helping so much in aworld that you belong in. Andwith that, goodbye.

Letters to the editor arealways welcome and we willprint them as space allows.

Please submit any correspon-dence to the high school of-

fice or drop off in Mrs.Griffin’s mailbox,

or email atgriffin_s@nrschools.org.

Questions should be directedto

Sue Griffin, x10204.

Davidson’s Decree

By: Jade Davidson

Dear Me, This is you, ten years later, 15years old. Over the next tenyears, you are going to have somany ups and downs. I wish youwould have been able to see thisearlier to make these next yearseasier. So, first, you are going to moveschools five times by the timeyou get into high school. Fivetimes that you will have to startover, make new friends and re-adjust. By the way, elementaryschool is going to be some of the

easiest times of your life. It onlygets harder from there, so enjoyyour time at that age. After that, there will be nomore father-daughter dances,recess, or specials. All that hap-pens is that you get closer andcloser to entering the real world.After elementary school, youwill leave behind your mom andgo to live with your dad,stepmom and brother. Yes, yourdad does get married and youwon’t always be the only child.It’s okay though, you guys getreally close. Middle school will be some ofthe hardest, most confusing, butfun and carefree years of yourlife. It will be the last two yearsthat you don’t have to worry somuch about college and examsand everything else. You shouldenjoy this. Worrying about thatstuff is a total pain in the butt. You will deal with so much andit’s going to be really tough. And,as cliché as it sounds, it does getbetter. It is definitely not the endof the world by any means. Eighth grade will be pretty

easy going. That is, until youhave to say goodbye. This willbe one of the hardest things thatyou will have to do. Sayinggoodbye to some of your closestfriends and leaving them behind. Then, it will be time to take onthe challenge of high school. Thetime that you have been lookingforward to, but also the time thatyou have been dreading in theback of your mind. Going into high school at anew school is going to be a SU-PER weird experience. I mean,it’s a little bit easier because youare already cheering for yournew school and are part of ateam, a team of people that haveyour back. But, at the same time,they aren’t always going to bethere to stand up for you. Youneed to learn to have your ownvoice and stand up for yourself.Without this skill, It’s going tobe hard to make through even thefirst semester. So, now here you are. The lastsemester of your freshman yearof high school. You have evenstarted scheduling for your

Dear 5 year old me...Some advice from me to you for the next 10 years

classes of sophomore year.You’ve made it this far, keep go-ing. My last words to you are, al-ways be yourself. There’s noneed to change yourself for any-body, no matter what. Also, ev-erything really does get better,don’t stress over the little things.Not everything is the end of theworld, as much as it seems likeit is. And lastly, high school reallyis important. Take it seriouslyfrom the beginning. These fouryears determine the rest of yourlife, so don’t just blow it off. Youhave eight short semesters tomake your mark and prove your-self to the world, and they go byfast. Sincerely,

15 Year old you.

Dear younger KayleeAdvice to my smaller self Dear Me, If there’s one thing I wantyou to know, it’s that people willcome into your life and leave inthe blink of an eye. Those peoplewho leave at the drop of a hat orwhen things get the slightest bitrough, you are far better off with-out. People who are againstthings one minute will be allabout it the next, and there’s notone thing you can do about itbesides accept it. Get out moreand have fun, don’t sit in yourroom. Be more adventurous andtake more risks, that is one thingyou should’ve started doingsooner.

Kaylee’s CommentaryBy Kaylee

Gibbs The people you are closest towill hurt you, sometimes on pur-pose and sometimes not, and thatdoesn’t mean they don’t love youwith all their being. Stop beingso hard on yourself. Just becauseyou didn’t get a good grade onthat one math test doesn’t meanyour life is over. Try as hard asyou can, but don’t take every-thing so seriously. Leave your comfort zone andstart talking to people soonerthan sophomore year, I promiseit won’t hurt you. If you actuallyspeak up and class and ask theteacher about something youdon’t understand, you may actu-

ally understand what they’re try-ing to teach you. What I’m say-ing is stop being so shy, nothinggreat ever comes out of beingquiet. Speak your mind but don’tbe too loud, your teachers don’tenjoy it. You will have very good daysand very bad days, that happensto everyone. It’s okay to have abad day once in a while and tocry, no one is perfect. The nightsthat are unexpected and happenlast minute are much morememorable than the one you planout. Don’t overthink everything,that is the one thing you’re badabout and I promise nothing ru-

ins anything more thanoverthinking. Enjoy the gooddays you have with the peopleyou love and thank them for be-ing there on the bad days. There is only one thing I canpromise you, and that is it willbe okay. It may not seem like it,but everything will work out inthe end. I can guarantee that.Some things will work out howyou want, and other things won’tbut everything happens for a rea-son.Sincerely, your older self

Sassy Sadie

By: Sadie LaRocque

Dear younger Sadie, How have you been? You’veprobably had some ups anddowns, but it’ll be okay. Life willbe difficult at times, but you willlive. As you grow up, you’ll learnlots of lessons. But I have someadvice for you before you haveto learn all of these boring lifelessons that you’ll have to learnone way or another. First of all, you’re bad at spell-ing. Don’t try. Actually, youshould probably keep tryingsince you’re going to want towrite when you get older. Badspelling will make that hard, soyou better start to get better now.In the future, you’re going tolove writing, so just keep trying.

#DearyoungerSadieAdvice from myself to myself

Secondly, you’re kind of stu-pid sometimes. Not in a bad way,of course; more so in a fun way.You’ll make some mistakes andthink that you’re stupid becauseof them, but just shake it off andlearn to laugh at yourself. Lifeisn’t fun when you are being hardon yourself and don’t laugh atyourself. In the wise words of EdSheeran, who will probably be-come your favorite singer in thefuture, “Negativity isn’t the wayto go, smile more, eat somechocolate.” Aside from that, this starts myadvice to you that will come inhandy as you group. First comesthe friendship advice. Peoplewill not like you sometimes, but

they really don’t matter. Thepeople who really matter are theones who actually like you, theyare your true friends. Appreciatethem and don’t let anyone tearyou apart from them. Next up, relationship advice.You will have friends who areboys and people will thinkyou’re dating. Just because youhave boy friends doesn’t meanthey’re your boyfriends. Whenthe time comes and you’re ateenager, you’ll start to likepeople who may or may not likeyou back, but eventually you’llget a great boyfriend. Maybe oneday you’ll get married, hope-fully, but no promises. Last but not least, when you’re

my age, you’ll get your driverslicense and a car, and you’re go-ing to be a bad driver. You’ll getin accidents, hit trees, and mail-boxes. You’ll probably thinkyou’re a great driver, but in real-ity, you’re not much better thanany other teenagers. Learn fromyour mistakes, you’ll get better. You’re going to be a great per-son when you’re older. Nevergive up, and remember you arenever alone.

Love,

Your older self

Dear Tristin in sixth grade, First off, let me tell you a littlesomething... For the love of God,please convince mom and dad tobuy you some boots before yougo to Camp Joy. Trust me on this.Get boots. Do me a favor, when you’rethinking of trying to drop kickthat rubber ball at recess,DON’T. It doesn’t end well. Oh,and whatever you do, ignore allof the people around you and fo-cus on your schoolwork. They’rereally not worth the time, andyou’ll need the ability to focusonce you get to middle school. Well, instead of me taking thewhole letter to tell what to do andwhat not to do, let me tell youabout yourself. You’re going tobe just fine. We turn out to bepretty alright. We have countlessfriends, and they are as loyal ascan be. You are smart, and cal-culating and a leader. That’ssomething you should really takepride in. From late seventh grade

to the end of high school, you area true leader through andthrough. Yeah, you’re going tomake some mistakes, and itwon’t be easy. But you’ll comeout of it all a better person. You think you can’t sing?You’re dead wrong. Get yourbutt into choir as soon as youcan. Beg if you have to. You’llbe grateful for it later on. Therewill be no greater experience foryou beyond elementary schoolthan singing with your friends inthe concerts. Your senior year will be amaz-ing. You’ll be in three greatdrama productions, and you’llhave so much fun that the yearwill fly by. Clash will be extraspecial (you’ll learn about it in afew years), and all I can say isthat there will be a gorilla in-volved. Despite all the workyou’ll have to do, senior year ispretty easy, and it’ll be a greatexperience. Did I mention you play

hockey? Well you do. You’re agoalie, and you’re pretty darnedgood. You’ll be the youngestplayer in the league, and thenyou’ll break countless records.You’ll also make some greatfriends who will become your“hockey family”. Now as far as your love life isconcerned, I’ll just say that youshould forget about it and focuson schoolwork until high school.It really isn’t worth the trouble,and you’ll be better off keepingan eye on your grades. But don’tworry, the time will come. Justbe patient. We do decide to take the mili-tary route, but only as a precur-sor to our real goal. It may takea while, but you’re going tospend four years in the Navy get-ting discipline and a method topay for a college education. Trustme when I say that you shoulddefinitely go to Northern Ken-tucky University. You’ll love itthere, and the food is great.

I should mention why you’regoing to college. You’re going tomajor in political science. Yeah,that’s right; you’re going intopolitics. It will be almost a per-fect fit. You’re going to put your-self in a position to help so manypeople, and do a lot of good. Butall in all you won’t just settle forthe House. We’re ambitious bynature. And that will be of greatimportance when 2032 comesaround... You know... Becauseyou’ll be 35 years old... See youthen.

Sincerely,Tristin R. Baumann

Dear me six years ago...Remember to get some boots before camp!

Tristin’sTales

By Tristin Baumann

Samantha is a student at Locust Corner El-ementary who has been diagnosed with leu-kemia. She will be in the hospital for at leastthe next 30 days during treatment. Locust Corner Elementary teacher Lisa Mayshas started a fund drive to help Samantha’sfamily with medical expenses. “Any donation made will make a differencefor Samantha and her family,” said Mays.“Samantha is loved by her family, friends, andeveryone who knows her. We especially missher smiling face at school.” You can make donations online at the linkbelow: http://www.gofundme.com/plpw74

Help Samantha Fight Leukemia

Sam is a great girl! I wish the best wishes cause I need my bff.Many more great things will come!! --Raven

I hope you’re doing okay! Stay strong! Best wishes! -Alexis

Hi Sam! Hope you get well soon.-Austin

I feel bad for what happened to Sam and hope she gets better because we all miss her. -Nolan

Sam is a great artist, and always has great ideas. I give her my best wishes and hope she gets wellsoon. -Connor

I hope you feel better very soon, Sam.-Max

Dear Sam, I hope you feel better and fight it. Sam don’t let it control you. You control it! -Isaiah

Dear Samantha, I hope you fight and always remem-ber to be strong and take control.- Saddie

This a shout out to Sam! Hope you feel better! -Payton

We really miss Sam and her artistic ideas. Best wishes!-Sadie

I hope you feel better and we all miss you! Best ofwishes to you! -Jacob

I miss when Sam always came up to me and talked tome if I was sad or just needed someone to talk to.-Aubrey

The thoughts below are from Samantha’s classmates at Locust Corner:

Sam we are all thinking of you. I miss your bright smile and upbeatheart. Best wishes to you Samantha.-Hannah

I really miss you and I hope you get better soon. You are a really goodfriend. When you get back we should play together. Love, Marissa

Hope you get better soon.-Elam

Shout out to Sam. -Ebin

Hope and wishes and she loves apples. -Dylan

She is the best at telling stories. She is the best person to talk to whenyou feel down.-Chase

Samantha is an amazing friend and I miss her so much. I miss the smile on her face and her funnyjokes. I can’t wait to see her again! -Ruth

I miss Sam's humor in our class.-Will

I miss sam so much. I miss her when she's not sitting at our lunch table not with us at recess. I justmiss her all the time. -Tyler M.Sam is an amazing dancer, and I miss her fun laugh. -Emily F.

Sam is a very outgoing person, she always cheers people up! We miss her a lot!!

Get well soon Sam, Hope you feel better and get back to school as quickly as you can. -Isaiah

I miss Sam so much. She is an amazing dancer and is always smiling! She loves trading foods atlunch! She is the master at trading. We miss you Sam!!(p.s. She would always give you hugs on daysyou were sad.)-River

Samantha always has high spirits. I like that about her. -Seth

Sam is a very strong and cheerful person. She always makes people smile on their worst days. She isan amazing dancer and loves apples. She alwaysloved giving hugs each and every day. I hope shecan stay strong and get better.We miss you Sam!!!! -Emily

Sam I hope you get well soon. Don't think aboutthe worse and look for the better.-Landen

From her heart to yoursCallie’s own not so little story

By, Brooklyn Parker

When freshman Callie Daniel

was 6 years old, on the last dayof kindergarten, she was stand-ing next to her father. While shewas talking to him, one of herhorses ran past her and as it did,she reached out to pet it. Herhand got caught on the reins andshe was dragged a long way, re-peatedly hitting her head andcausing her to suffer a brain in-jury. “When I was 6, I got a braininjury. I saw Jesus. It was amaz-ing. At first I didn't know whohe was, but then he told me thathe was my hero here to save me.That impacted my life the most.”

Callie’s brain injury affectsher everyday life. “It causesmy emotions to change reallyfast. It also causes me to makemany different facial expres-sions without me noticing thatit’s happening,” she said. Callie believes she can makethe world a better place by,“being nice to as many peopleI can and if I meet One Direc-tion.” So far, high school is a funexperience for Callie. “I lovethat I am making new friends

this year. I don't like when I don'tget to hang out with Brooklyn,though, when she hascheerleading stuff to do.” The best advice Callie has forsomeone is, “Be nice to every-one, even if they aren't nice toyou.” Callie said her biggest inspi-ration is Brooklyn Parker.“Brook has diabetes and we bothhave the same lifestyle, basically.She is pretty, smart and kind toeveryone. It seems like everyonelikes her. She is a sister to me.My BSF (best sister friend),” shesaid. During Callie’s free time, she

enjoys doing many things.She says, “I enjoy swim-ming with dolphins whilei'm in Mexico on vacations,and during my spare time,writing songs.” How would Callie de-scribe herself? “I would de-scribe myself as attractive,sweet, fun and hilarious.”The way Callie believeother people describe hercharacter is; “I am beauti-ful, smart, kind to every-one, and I make everyonelaugh/smile and feel betterabout themselves. I'm thebest friend to have in life,

I’ll stay a faithfulfriend to every-one and lovethem like fam-ily.” The coolestthing Callie hasever done in herlife is she wentskiing with cuteguys at PerfectNorth Slopeswith Mrs.Carey.(“...who keepsme safe”, shesaid.) Some adviceto incomingfreshmen from Callie is: “Boys,stay strong. Be proud of who youare because those who mind,don't matter, and those who mat-ter, don't mind.” When Callie grows up, shewants to be a lead singer in herown band, write a book and dosomething creative with technol-ogy. “When I grow up I want towrite songs for my own band andsing them. Everyone says I looklike Taylor Swift, so I want to

write and sing like her. I alsowant to write a book. After thatI want to do something withtechnology.” Callie’s favorite high schoolmemory is, “ singing Milkshakeswith Brooklyn Parker in the el-evator on the top of our lungs!” Callie’s own opinion of her-self is simple. “ I am the best per-son who has a brain injury in thewhole world.”

High School Bus 2014: Callie andBrooklyn on the way to big footballgame. Photo/B.Parker

Callie’s field 2005: Callie and her horse. Photo/A. Daniel

Brain Injury Ball 2015: Callie all dressedup for the evening. Photo/A. Daniel Callie’s house 2005: Callie and her father. Photo/A. Daniel.

Junior Dustin Carr is "knownat NRHS for being more sympa-thetic than the average male, aswell as being intelligent, nice,and optimistic,” he says. When he gets older, Dustinwants to be a prosecuting attor-ney. In his spare time, Dustin enjoysdoing a few different things. “Inmy spare time I enjoy reading,watching TV, and listening tomusic,” he said. Dustin believes that he canmake the world a better place inone simple way. He said hethinks he can make the world abetter place by, “just being a nicehuman being.” The best thing about highschool, according to Dustin, isthe people. “There are so manypeople trying to be nice, funny,and the best they could be,” hesaid. Dustin’s biggest inspiration isJFK. “He’s my inspiration be-cause he challenged people morethan others do,” he explained.

Happy and he knows itThe nicest guy around

By, Brooklyn Parker

There was an event that had amajor impact on Dustin’s life.“Switching schools was the in-cident that had the biggest im-pact on my life; I met people Ididn’t know and experiencedmore,” he said. Dustin’s favorite memory fromhigh school so far was a peprally. “My favorite memory wasmy first pep rally because it wassomething new,” he said. He said that the coolest thinghe has ever done in his life was atrip with relatives. “I went onvacation with my aunt and unclefor three nights in Gatlinburg andMyrtle Beach,” he said. Dustin has a few words of ad-vice for a everyone in general,as well as some advice for in-coming freshmen. “The advice I would give ev-eryone is be yourself, and to theincoming freshmen, I’d saymake friends with as manypeople as you can,” he said.

Carter Light, junior at NewRichmond High School, de-scribes himself as a shy guy witha big heart. Some of his greatestachievements being inductedinto National Honor Society, ac-quiring the American Legionaward, retaining a GPA above a4.0 throughout his high schoolcareer, as well as being on thevarsity tennis and cross countryteams. During his free time, Carter en-joys playing tennis and going outwith his friends. As well as hisfavorite weekend activity beingable to hang out with guys on histennis team and play on nicedays.

As for what many people don'tknow about him, Carter ex-plained, “I used to have a hardtime as a child with my parentsbeing divorced.” Carter alsoadded, “The hardest thing for meto do is balance my life betweenmy parents.” When asked how he balancesschoolwork and social life,Carter answered, “Eh, it is notexactly balanced. Schoolworkgets in the way of my social life,but I try to get out as much as Ican when I have the time.” When asked about his idol orwho he aspires to be, Carter re-plied, “I don’t want to aspire tobe anyone, I want to be myself.”

Caring peer shares a bit of his personal life

More about Carter Light than meets the eye

Lily Moeller is a freshman atNRHS. In her spare time, Lilyenjoys going outside to walkalong the creek and enjoy nature.“I also like acting and dancing,”she stated. When asked how she believesthat she can change the world,Lily replied: “I want to make theworld free of hatred. I don’t wantpeople to be ashamed of whothey are whether society thinksthey’re normal or not.” She gave one of her favoritequotes on the topic: “Can youremember who you were beforethe world told you who youshould be?” (Danielle LaPorte) “My favorite part of highschool is probably figuring outwho you are and where you be-long. Before you get here, youdon’t really know yourself andyou’re lost but when you get tohigh school it all comes togetherand you find yourself in the messof life,” Lily stated. She said her biggest inspirationis her mom. “My mom doesn’tget enough credit for what she

does. She would drop anythingand everything to make her kidshappy,” she said. Lily said her favorite memoryfrom high school so far has beenthe cheer party over the summer.“Me and the cheerleaders haddance competitions, took latenight swims, and me and a fewother girls stayed up until like6:30 in the morning just talkingand laughing and making endlessmemories that we’ll never for-get,” she said. After high school Lily wouldlike to go to college and travel.“There are a few options for acareer, pediatric oncologist, mu-seum curator, or actress,” shestated. Lily would also like totravel to Amsterdam, Paris, Bra-zil, and pretty much everywhere. If Lily had any words of wis-dom for upcoming 8th gradersthey would be: “Respect every-one and they will respect you;don’t pick fights. Also, don’tworry! High school is fun! You’llmake some of your best memo-ries in high school.”

Many ideas for future career and life

By: Jade Davidson

Lily and her friends before a JV football game. From left to right:Lexy Wilson, Jade Davidson, Kacie Colwell and Lily Moeller. Photo/J. Davidson.

Lily Moeller has big dreams

By Joe Maxwell

Jude Utsinger is a humorous

and down to earth sophomorehere at New Richmond HighSchool. The talented sixteen yearold is known among the studentbody for her ability to play theguitar as well as use her vocalcords to create a low and soulfulsinging voice. “I enjoy listeningand playing music, as well ashanging out with my friends. Iconnect with others through mu-sic because for the most part itis something that everybody hasan interest in and can relate to,”

said Jude. Jude has recently begun per-forming for just her family andclose friends, but her wholeschool and random strangers.Frequently visiting the localGreen Kayak, she participates inweekly open mics and uses themas practice for the real thing.While those performances arefun and memorable, Jude haspicked another performance asher all time favorite. “Personally,one of my favorite performanceswas playing at a wedding. I had

the opportunity to playthe first song the coupledanced to back in Sep-tember of 2014. Theywere my parents’friends and I felt veryhonored.” Jude has many musi-cal inspirations, but herrole model is a certainEnglish ginger. “EdSheeran is my rolemodel and inspiration.At a young age he de-cided to move out andpursue his musical ca-reer. But even when hewas homeless andthings didn’t work outthe way he wanted, henever gave up. Thefame and success that he hasreached today is what I aspire toachieve.” While she has only been play-ing instruments for a few years,Jude was raised around musi-cians. “I love playing instru-ments, mainly the guitar. Theability to connect and becomeone with the instrument is one ofthe best feelings ever. Being ableto channel the emotions I haveand feel into my music and theability to express myself with theinstrument or music I make iswhat makes me happy. I hope tobe famous one day and use mymusic to inspire others as muchas music inspires me. I want totravel and spread my love ofmusic around to other people,whether I’m famous or not.” Jude has advice that she wouldlike to give to her fellow stu-dents. “Just do you. You can’t

trust many people so keep doingyour own thing. Stay true toyourself no matter what is goingon and being said around you. Ican guarantee that the peoplewho “matter” now won’t onceyou graduate, so stop changingyourself and trying to impressthose people,” said Jude. This sophomore is someonewho looks for the good in a badsituation, and tries to enjoy life.“I’ve never been in a relation-ship, because I know how to bemyself and be independent. Inmy early journey of finding my-self I found that the only personI’ll need is myself. Therefore Iam confident and independentenough to not have to rely on arelationship. Also, you can’t lovesomebody and expect somebodyto love you unless you’velearned to love yourself,” con-cluded Jude.

The story behind the music notesSophomore, Jude Utsinger, discusses her lifeBy Ciera Moore

Riverbend 2014: Jude Utsinger andCiera Moore. Photo/ J. Moore

Kayla Olenick is a hu-morous junior here atNew Richmond HighSchool. She has partici-pated in many activitiesduring her time here. “I have participated insoccer, Student Council,Chemistry Club, NationalHonor Society, and be-ing the president of Promcommittee (not AllyLutz)” she said. During her spare time,Kayla likes, “taking longwalks on the beach withmy woes.” “I also enjoy listening to somegood music, and making mixtapes, which are fire,” she said. Overall, Kayla describes her-self as a caring person. “I’d say I am pretty outgoing.I like to have fun,” she explained. Out of everyone in her life,Kayla said her sister is her big-gest inspiration. “She is such a good role modeland a good listener,” Kayla said. Kayla said she has made a lotof memories here at New Rich-

mond. “My favorite memories arepretty much just making friendsand finding out who I truly am,”Kayla said. Since Kayla is finishing up herlast couple of years of highschool, she offers some adviceto incoming freshmen. “Cherish your time here, itgoes by quickly. Oh, and do notwear flip flops because you willmost definitely trip on the stairs,”she said.

The star student: Kayla Olenick

Take a little journey inside her lifeBy Elise Holdsworth

Taylor Harris is a studioussophomore here at New Rich-mond High School. She isknown for her hardworking atti-tude and charismatic personalitytowards fellow students. “Iwould describe myself as a for-ward person, but I'm acceptingof everyone and who they are,and I enjoy being around people.Especially if they can make melaugh! Laughing is one of myfavorite things to do. I like to ex-perience new things and I lovehaving conversations with justabout anyone,” said Taylor. Taylor has grades that reflecther hard work and plans on do-ing great things in the future. “Iwant to go into a career that al-lows me to conduct major re-search while also traveling, so Iwant to go into anthropology incollege. Then I plan on doingwork with the Peace Corps or aresearch institution.” Taylor addresses her studious

nature when it comes to schoolwork by saying, “I would say thatmy work ethic is very strong andfocused. I don't stray from whatneeds to be done and I don't fin-ish working on something untilI'm 100% sure it's perfect/I'll geta good grade on it.” While achieving academically,Taylor also excels in sports. “Istarted playing soccer at agethree when my parents decidedI needed something to keep mebusy. I went through several dif-ferent sports until I found bas-ketball as my second favorite.I've been playing sports for 13years, but unfortunately, I don'tsee myself playing any kind ofcollege/ pro level sports. I amwanting to do somethingintramurally in college, though.” Taylor isn’t sure what is uniqueabout her. “I think that I have abroader mindset than mostpeople. I look at the bigger pic-ture on certain things and I can

be pretty calm about what theyentail. I don't stress as much asother people, I guess you couldsay.” When playing sports, Taylorloves the feeling of being ableto exploit her capabilities and en-joying what she wants to do. “Ilove to run, and sports makes mefeel less-sluggish in a sense! Italso helps me alleviate any pres-sure that I'm feeling in school orat home,” said Taylor. Taylor has advice for other stu-dents at NRHS. “Don’t worry somuch about the little things thatdon't matter. We're only here forfour years, so it's pretty pointlessto worry yourself sick over adance or who's dating who andall that. I would say to just staycalm and let things work out forthemselves. School becomesmore difficult the more youworry about it, so don't. Just en-joy yourself and you'll be ableto experience more things in highschool.” Taylor would like to be re-membered as someone who al-ways tried to do the right thing.“I would also like to be remem-bered as a good role model. Idon't want to leave high schoolas a ghost, with nobody remem-bering me. I want people to re-member me as being driven andwanting to better myself in thefuture. I want to stay in touchwith all the people I've grownclose to these past few years, andI don't want to lose contact withthem or vice versa.” Taylor’s biggest inspiration issomebody that is very close toher and has always been there tosupport her. “My biggest inspi-ration would have to be mymom. Cliché? Maybe. But shetruly is the strongest person thatI know. She's been through somuch and it's pretty much been

Hard work pays off in the endTaylor Harris talks about her high school experiencesBy Ciera Moore

just her and I these past 16 years,and without her, I wouldn't havebecome who I am today. She'san inspiration to me and when Iend up leaving high school andcollege and going into a career,I want to give back to her all thatshe's done for me,” said Taylor. What Taylor enjoys most abouthigh school would probably beseeing her classmates every dayand just being around familiarpeople. “We may not realize thisnow, but when we graduate andwhen we wake up on a Mondaylike we're getting ready to go toschool, we'll think: "Wait. Igraduated already. I won't get tosit with my friends in the cafete-ria, or talk to my favorite teach-ers, or hang out at the games, orwalk to class with the samepeople anymore." To me, that'swhat makes your high schoolexperience, and I'm really goingto miss all that in a couple ofyears.” In the future Taylor is lookingforward to growing up and get-ting to do just about anything.“It's hard to explain, but I'm sureplenty of people get what I'msaying. I'm excited to go to newplaces and learn new things andjust get out there and discoverwhat I can do with my life,” con-cluded Taylor.

Homecoming 2014: Taylor Harrisand Tabitha Stevens. Photo/ S.Nehls

Caleb Cyrus is a sophomorehere at New Richmond HighSchool. In his spare time, Calebenjoys playing soccer. He alsoplays soccer for the high schoolteam and has played baseball inthe past. Soccer also gave himhis favorite high school memorywhen he scored the winning goal. When asked how he believeshe can make the world a betterplace, Caleb replied, “By en-couraging people to treat otherswith respect and kindness.” Caleb says his biggest inspira-tion is his uncle. “He wentthrough medical school and heis pretty successful in his career,”he stated.

Encouraging kindness and respect

When Caleb finishes highschool he wants to go to college.“I’m not sure what I want to ma-jor in yet, but I think I want tobe a vet,” he said. He would alsolike to travel to Europe, particu-larly Spain. Caleb’s favorite part of highschool is the freedom. “You getmore privileges and more teach-ers trust you,” he said. If he had any advice for 8thgraders coming into high schoolit is: “Treat upperclassmen withrespect and they will respectyou.”

By: Jade Davidson

Advice from Caleb Cyrus

Sydney Padgett is cur-rently a junior here atNew Richmond HighSchool. Sydney hasparticipated in crosscountry, academicteam, Student Coun-cil, Prom committee,and swimming. “My favorite activ-ity I have participatedin has got to be CrossCountry. It was such apositive environmentand everyone is fam-ily on that team,” shesaid. Padgett and her family travela lot and go to many differentplaces. “Out of all the places I havebeen to, Costa Rica has to be myfavorite because they had reallycool volcanoes and it was just avery beautiful atmosphere,”Padgett explained. Overall, Sydney describes her-self as a hard working person. “I am very organized and I tryto be nice to everyone,” she said. Out of everyone, Sydney saysher mother is her biggest inspi-ration.

The coolest gal in schoolMeet NRHS junior Sydney PadgettBy Elise Holdsworth

Sophomore Angel Sauer isknown by other students atNRHS for her artistic talent, butthat isn’t the only cool thingabout her. Not only is she a greatartist but she is also a, “crazy catlady,” and enjoys playing theguitar. Angel’s artworks are drawingand paintings. “My favoritepiece I have done is a drawingof a German girl,” she said. “Mybiggest inspirations are GerardWay, from My Chemical Ro-mance and Misha Collins, an ac-tor on Supernatural.” The coolest thing Angel has

done in her life is playing an en-tire song on the guitar. She is unique because of hertaste in music, and she belongsto many fandoms. “I am in thesupernatural, MCR, ChristophWaltz, and Rammsteinfandoms,” she said. Angel’s favorite thing abouthigh school is Mr. Wright’s mu-sic class. The advice she has for under-classmen is: “Don’t mess withupperclassmen,” and she thinksshe can make the world a betterplace by, “Avoiding people.”

NRHS student expressesself using artistic talentAngel Sauer is unique artist with other hobbies as wellBy: Sadie LaRocque

William Wuerdeman is knownby people at school for being acharacter. He shared why he

Our school has a GandalfWilliam Wuerdeman one of many characters here

By Tristin Baumann

t h o u g h tpeople mightconsider himso. “Peoplemay think thatI am a charac-ter because Iam a little ec-centric in theway I act,” hesaid. “I am abit loud andmake weird

sounds and yell and do weirdacts when I’m right about some-thing.”

William has a few things thatmake him unique when com-pared to others. “I have a spikyeyebrow and my middle name isMithrandir which is Elvish forGandalf, the character from theLord of the Rings trilogy and TheHobbit.” When asked to tell a story, orabout the song of his people hesaid, “Well, I’m no good at tell-ing stories but listening I like todo. My favorite song is Melan-choly Hill by Gorillaz.” William takes pride in multipletalents of his. “I excel in learn-

ing how to play games, and I’mpretty good afterwards. Throw-ing cards, lighting things on fireand smoking my pipe on celebra-tions are what I take pride in.” “I have read and watched ev-erything almost,” said Williamabout his reading and watchingof manga and anime. “My favor-ite manga would have to be Girlsof the Wilds, and anime wouldhave to be Full Metal AlchemistBrotherhood.”

“She is very caring and she al-ways gives me the best advice.” Sydney said her favoritememory from high school so faris definitely being inducted intoNational Honor Society. “It was such an honor to beaccepted into NHS. Also, mak-ing a bunch of new friends wasawesome,” Padgett said. Sydney offers some very goodadvice to the incoming fresh-man. “Don’t bring drugs or dramato our school,” she said.

Maybe he’s not so mean: Sydney and herfamily pose for a photo with the Grinch atUniversal Studios in Orlando. Photo/E.Holdsworth.

Madz Head is sort of a char-acter. She is somewhat rebel-lious, has a black belt, and ispretty unique. She describes her-self as, “a crazy person butloyal… a bit of a rebel.” Com-pared to others, Madz is unique.Her background and sense ofstyle make her who she is and

make her unique. When she got her black beltshe accomplished somethingawesome. “I punched a brick inhalf when I got my black belt,”she said. Punching the brick inhalf was the coolest thing she hasdone in her life, she said. Madz has a bit of advice that

she wouldlike to give tothe under-c l a s s m e n .“Don’t followthe freshmanpack, find youand stand out.I mean, ev-eryone hatesfreshmen sojust accept it,you’ll be asophomoresoon,” she said. Aside from having a black beltand being unique in comparisonto others, Madz also does othercool things. “I do art, film pho-tography, psychology,taekwondo, roller skating, andreading,” she said. As well as allof those hobbies that she has, shealso enjoys, “being a nerd.” The art that Madz does ismostly sketches and film photog-raphy, but she says that she isopen to anything. She can’t picka favorite piece of art that she hascreated. When asked to describeher favorite piece of art she hasdone, she said, “Why would you

even have me pick? That’s likeasking to pick a favorite child!”Her biggest inspiration is ShaneKoyczan, a spoken word poet,writer, and performer. Madz already has a careerplanned out for when she isolder, which is very much herand pretty different than mostpeoples career plans. “I want tobe a criminal psychologist witha photo company on the side,”she said. Madz believes that she canmake the world a better place by“just putting myself out there andsmiling.”

Student known for unique style, rebellious personalityMadz shares her unique storyBy: Sadie LaRocque

By Tristin Baumann

Joey Hammill, Russian catextraordinaire explained whypeople might think he is a char-acter. “I see and hear things attimes, and I still can’t decide ifI’m not real, or everyone else is...Oh well, they stay beyond thewall... I stay isolated behind thewall. People bother me, so I getaway from them.” “The cats bring me into thedark,” said Joey about whatmakes him unique compared toothers, “and then I am the dark-ness. Obsessing about cats is anavenue for escape, and it canpush people away.” Joey shared about the cats.“Cats are those wonderful, ma-jestic creatures that cat. Yes, cat

Russians, Cats, and Tea, oh my!

Joey Hammill an educated character at NRHS

Collette Gibbs, a senior at NewRichmond High School, de-scribes herself as quiet in schoolbut loud and outgoing outside ofschool, adventurous and witty. She has a few inspirations,which include “ Kurt Cobain be-cause he is a great musician andreally supported women'srights,” she said. “Jynx, the tat-too artist, is also another inspi-ration of mine because I justthought he was really cool.” Even though she hasn’t beenon Earth long, Collette has hada few life changing experiences. “When I totaled my car I’d hadonly two weeks, and I had abunch of friends with me, it putinto perspective how fragile lifeis,” she said. Collette is a very simple girl,and her favorite activities are,“napping, going outside, hikingand creek walking, reading andworking a lot.” “My family members are my

Sharp wit and a strong mindThe Collette Gibbs you may not know

By Kaylee Gibbs

is now a verb. They are also liq-uid. Give a sink to one, it willtake the shape while maintaininga constant volume. See internetfor evidence.” “Quite... *sips tea*. I prefer totea to coffee. It’s ‘classy’, so arecats and cats. I speak cat muchmore fluently than Russian” When asked in Russian if hespoke Russian, Joey respondedin Russian, “Glory to Lenin!Comrade of the people! My Rus-sian is not actually very good.I’m surprised I understood yourquestion. I am about the distancefrom Earth to Sgr A*)2 from be-ing fluent. That’s 729,000 lightyears.”

friends, my friends are my fam-ily. My friends are a lot like me.”she said about her friends andfamily. As for plans after graduating,Collette says “I’m going to takesome time off from school,travel, and in the spring of 2016,I’m going to attend college andmajor in English.” “I don’t want to travel whenI’m older, I want to travel now. Iwant to travel everywhere,” shesays. Collette’s favorite memoriesfrom her high school career in-clude: “Coming to school for afull two weeks, senior Clash,Mrs. Parker’s senior Englishclass in general.” “High school goes by reallyfast, enjoy it while you’re here.Grades aren’t everything,” shesays are very important thingsfor high school students to re-member.

Madz (center) and her lunch table compatriots.Photo/Messenger.

Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2015Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2015Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2015Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2015Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2015NRHS Artists: Their Works and Their WordsNRHS Artists: Their Works and Their WordsNRHS Artists: Their Works and Their WordsNRHS Artists: Their Works and Their WordsNRHS Artists: Their Works and Their Words

Name: Elise Bezold, grade 9Title of Work: Kate BeckettClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: I drew a portrait of Kate Beckett from thepopular television crime show, Castle. In this portrait, it showshow seriously Beckett takes her job. The techniques, tools, andmaterials I used were pencils and shading. To achieve the darkervalues, I put more pressure on my pencil and the lighter values, Iused less pressure. In Kate’s portrait, I made her hair look 3-D(my favorite part) by adding darker values right along the edge ofher hairline. I believe this portrait is really well drawn and it

shows all the new techniques I learned from Mrs. Hauserman.

Name: Corey Baker, grade 10Title of Work: Beneath the ShadowsClass:Artist Statement: My motivation to make art comes fromme wanting to utilize what I know to bring my ideas to lifein a unique manner. When I created my self portrait, I usedchalk pastel, with small hints of water spread throughoutthe portrait. An easy way to get the chalk to spread on theportrait was to use my finger and spread chalk onto theoutline. To me, my artwork means despair and seriousness.My inspiration came from how I had felt at that moment,serious. I was also inspired to make something dark, giventhe time of the year, Halloween.

Name: Sam Blackburn, grade 10Title of Work: Portrait DrawingClass:Artist Statement: I chose Kyrie Irving because I really likewatching him play. I enjoy watching how well he can dribble andcontrol the ball. I hope that one day I'm as good as him.

Name: Zack Bentley, grade 10Title of Work: Morgan FreemanClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: The things that you can make with just a pencilinspire me to draw. You can make beauty with art.

Name: Corey Bozic, grade 9Title of Work: StrengthClass: Art Foundation IArtist Statement: I drew Reggie Bush because of his character.Reggie spends lot of his time in his hometown showing kids whythey need to finished school, become successful and be accom-plished.

Jacob Branson, grade 11Title of work:Class:Artist Statement: What motivates me to make art is looking atfamous sculpture and hoping that one day I will be that good.When I made my coil pot, I was not sure how I wanted it to lookso I just started to stack the coils on top of each other to see howtall I could make it. After I finished stacking it, I started to make ashape that I liked. When making the shape, I used a modeling tooland sealed the cracks between each coil and it made a kind ofwavy texture. When I finished, I didn’t realize that it made thetexture, it just happened by accident so I left it. What art means tome is a way to express the way I see things.

Name: John Buckingham, grade 12Title of work: CalligraphyClass: CraftsArtist Statement: For this project, I used a form of writingknown as calligraphy to write a famous Bob Marley quote. Theonly materials used for this project were a calligraphy pen andink, chalk pastels, and a piece of mat board. Art has always beenfun for me, it is relaxing and I have never made a project that Ididn’t enjoy working on. I guess I am inspired most by profes-sional artists; when I see their work I want mine to look that good,so I work hard and diligently in hopes that one day I can be thatgood.

Name: Seth Butler, grade 10Title of Work: WatercolorClass: Drawing and Painting IArtist Statement: I made this artwork because I mainly stick todrawing when it comes to art but I thought it would be interestingto try new things and test my hand at pointing. I used multi-watercolor techniques such as “dry brush.” What this artworkmeans to me is that you cannot be afraid of the unknown and thatit is OK to try new things. I really found it intriguing being able toexceed my own limits in art class.

Name: Emily Carter, grade 12Title of Work: Cyclones MugClass: Ceramics 1Artist Statement: What inspired me to make this piece isobviously the Cincinnati Cyclones. My love for hockey usuallyhas an effect on most of my artwork. Learning that we would bedoing Sgraffito, I immediately thought of carving Twister, themascot, into the mug. I also carved the new logo. I’m really gladthat it turned out so well and I plan to use it a lot.

Name: Kaylee Chapman, grade 10Title of Work: Simple BeautyClass: Ceramics 2Artist statement: With my nest bowl, I tried a new techniquewith draping the clay. I draped my clay over different sizes ofballoons, then force-dried them. Art means a lot to me. I like to beable to express myself and my interests through my artwork. Ilove the beach and that’s why the design I created reminds me ofa sand dollar.

Name: Becca EllingtonTitle of Work: Miley CyrusClass:Artist Statement: When I was told I had to draw someonefamous who I like, Miley Cyrus was the first person to come tomind. Most people hate her, but I think she’s just expressingherself in a different way. I had to draw her using different shadesof pencil lead, with no color, only shading. Art is a really goodway for me to express myself, emotions and interests. Getting thechance to draw someone I like really gave me the opportunity toexpress my interests without words.

Name: Caleb CyrusTitle of Work: Slab Sgraffito pieceClass: Ceramics 1Artist Statement: The Sgraffito design that I created reminds meof a seashell on the beach. I am motivated to create art becauseyou can create your own unique work. I started my Sgraffitodesign by making a bowl shape, then I pinched the rim of thebowl inward. Next, I painted the blue underglaze and scratched inthe Sgraffito design.

Derek Gelter, Grade 12Title of work: Coil PotClass: Ceramics 1Artist Statement: I made my work to represent fire. My coil potwas made with coils showing and swirls in it to make it moving.Your eyes don’t just stay on one place. It moves throughout thepiece. My glazes are a fire color. It has shades from red, yellow,to orange. It turned out great and means a lot to me and I’m gladit’s going to the Art Show!

Name: Sierra Hammons, grade 9thTitle of Work: Portrait DrawingClass: Art foundationsArtist Statement: I chose to draw Bethany Hamilton because herstory was inspiring; she never gave up she accepted the fact thatshe was different even with one arm. She could still do everythinga person with two arms can do. After the shark attack, she gotright back to doing something that caused her to lose her arm,surfing, “Never give up.”

Name: Calvin Hochberg, 10th GradeTitle of Work: TraceyClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: I drew this picture because she is a veryimportant figure in my life. I drew the outside then went to theinside of the artwork. I redid the contours of the face till I washappy and shaded it in using graphite pencil. I tried not to stressabout it and just drew it until I was done. I respect the person andi think the face reflects the type of person she is. I drew this forher because she loves to draw and paint.

Name: Morgan Huddleston, grade 11Title of Work:Sunday HatClass: Drawing and Painting IArtist Statement: Getting inspired is sometimes difficult whenthere are so many ideas to potentially build off of. Fortunately, myonly struggle is narrowing down my options. This hat wasmotivated by a weaved hat I saw on the top of my grandmasbookshelf. When I draw with graphite, there is no “sketching”step. The moment I sit down to begin a project, I do not stop untilit is complete. Artwork can always be added to because more isbetter. When shading with a pencil, the darks can be darker andlight can be enhanced. Because I am naturally creative, I canalways put together a good meaning after completion, but all myartwork is a blank canvas and purely random thought out ideaswith no hidden message.

Sierra King, grade 12Title of work: K for KingClass: CraftsArtist Statement: I make my artwork to express my thoughts andideas. I am inspired by my big surroundings and motivated by myteachers. I made the sculpture by paper mache-ing a cardboardbase. I added charms, chain, ribbon, and buttons. I used theribbon on the edges to make a music staff, with buttons for musicnotes. This piece of artwork is a symbol; representative of myself,

showing many things that I enjoy in life.

Name: Drew Maxwell, grade 9Title of Work: George LopezClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: I drew George Lopez because when I wasyounger, I would go on Nick @ Nite and watch his show. Icouldn’t think of anyone to draw, so I started thinking of TVshows and his name popped into my head.

Name: Shelby MillerTitle of Work: Al CaponeClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: When I heard we were drawing famous people,I automatically thought of Al Capone because although he wasn'tthe best guy, he found something he was passionate about and hefought for it, which ultimately led to an overturn of an amend-ment. Thats a pretty admirable thing for such an infamous guy,even if he was a criminal.

Trinitie Patterson, Grade 9Title of Work: Marilyn MonroeClass: Art FoundationsArtist Statement: Looking back on Marilyn’s life, I would like toportray her struggles in life. She had such a hard life, growing upin a foster home after her mom tried to kill her as a child. Shethen made all of her dreams come true and became one of themost beautiful women alive back in the ‘50’s. I just felt it was myduty to capture her beauty in such an eye catching portrait.

Name: Sydney Payne, grade 9Title of Work: Marilyn MonroeClass:Artist Statement: The littlest things can give me an idea for myart. I got my idea to make amy portrait of Marilyn Monroe bysimply reading a quote. I love drawing because I can be creativeand express myself through my artwork. Art is like a creative

outlet for me.

Name: Mande MeyersTitle of Work: Elegant Word ArtClass: CraftsArtist Statement: Art is a way to express myself. It’s a way to getmy creative juices flowing. This piece was really fun because shedidn’t have many guidelines for us and that made it fun to think ofthe best way to represent this word. When I think of the wordelegant, the things come to my mind are beatiful dresses, lace,ribbon, and many more things, but I thought those represented theword the best.

Kali Snider, grade 10Class: Drawing/Painting IAfrican SafariArtist Statement: I make artwork to express emotions. Mymotivation to make artwork is to get better at it. I plan to have amore professional future in art.The materials I used for mywatercolor piece were watercolor, obviously. I used multiplelayers of color on top of each other and worked light to dark. Myart is to show people my creative and fun side. I try to have funwith my art and be out there and different from what everybodyelse does. I add a weird twist to all of my artwork.

Name: Maria Steinmetz, grade 10Title of Work: Silent Wolves plateClass: Ceramics IArtist Statement: I made this piece using a style of ceramicscalled Sgraffito. This piece is inscribed with the quote, “Some-times the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.” I decidedto make this because wolves symbolize strength and family ties.

Jasmine Thompson, Grade 12Title of work: The BreakthroughClass: Advanced Art PortfolioArtist Statement: This piece is my voice. This piece demon-strates my perspective on life. There are many things that haveexpectations of how to act or what to do. I prefer to go beyondexpectations. I push myself further than I expected in art. This piece was made out of magazines, wood(frame), netting,plaster, and trash bags. I worked with many different materialsthat I have not yet used to make the piece more interesting and tofurther my experience. Like Vincent Van Gogh said, “I am doingwhat I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” This quote iswhy I push myself.

Rainy Strippelhoff, grade 9Title of work: Teen CrushClass:Artist statement: I’ve always been fascinated by how societyidolizes celebrities, like, for example, Josh Hutcherson, who wasthe subject of the portrait. Why do we put them on pedestal, andwhy do we almost “worship” them? I think it’s because theseactors embody our heroes from our favorite books and movies,and we forget that they’re human. The reason I chose to drawJosh is because he’s easily recognizable and, I must admit, he’salso a favorite of mine. I used a photograph of the actor alongwith a grid and graphite to recreate him on a sheet of paper asrealistically as possible.

Ashley Stephens, Grade 12Title of Work: PumpkinsClass: Drawing and Painting IArtist Statement: I made this piece of artwork to capture theform of the pumpkins’ shape. I like to make things I draw lookreal on paper. The materials I used were colored pencil andgraphite. I blended the two materials for a unique look. I wasinspired by the season of fall and how pumpkins represent theseason. I wanted to create a mood of fall time in my artwork.

Name: Cydney Stiles, Grade 11Title of Work: The GardenClass: Drawing and Painting 1Artist Statement: When I make art I’m inspired by things andplaces I’ve seen. I want to share the experience with the viewerbut through my own eyes. The challenge to make a simple placeor object have personality is what really motivates me. In thispiece I used watercolor and Sharpie. It was inspired by a fountainin the Notre Dame garden. I made this piece in order to show thegarden in a different, simpler light.

Rainey Strippelhoff, grade 9Title of Work: Back to the Ocean and Up AgainClass:Artist Statement: For me, art has always been about making astatement and expressing one's feelings. To create Back to the Ocean and Up Again, I used coloredpencils,graphite and perspective drawing. I wanted to give theviewer a sense of realness, and I wanted it to have many differentinterpretations. To me, I think my drawing is about letting go of oneself andtherefore becoming free. Or it could be about new beginnings,letting go of anger and resentment and those feelings turning tolove, happiness, etc. (About as cheesy as you can get, right?) Butmost of all, I wanted anyone who sees it to be able to identifywith it, or get something out of my art.

Name: Molly Vanderpool, grade 9Title of Work: Audrey Hepburn

Class: Art Foundations I

Artist Statement: The portrait I drew is of Audrey Hepburn. Ichose her because I think she is a great actress and well known. Ithink my portrait shows a different side of her since many of herbetter known pictures she is smiling.

Name: Richard Winklebach, grade 10Title of Work: Bigmouth Bass

Class: Ceramics II

Artist Statement: I made this piece because I enjoy fishing forthis species. I hoped to accurately portray it as realistically aspossible. I made this piece much like a pinch pot and eventuallyelongated the piece into a fish like body. I attached the fins andtail afterwards and then painted it. What my art means to me is away to express myself in a visual way. I like to impress peopleand I try to in my artwork.

Zach Wuest, grade 9Title of work: Rhett McLaughlinClass: Art Foundations

Artist Statement: I make my art because of the knowing that it

will look good in the end. I made this artwork using just a pencil,ruler, and a blender, with an image of the drawing I need to make.My inspiration for this drawing are the internet stars Rhett andLink who make my day better and less boring with their fun andentertaining videos.

Thanks to all ouradvertisers! The staff ofThe Messenger wouldlike to take this op-portunity to recog-nize and formallythank all of our ad-vertisers. We liter-ally could not survivewithout the supportof these businesses,and we appreciate their encouragementof our school paper. The businesses which advertise inThe Messenger show a generous sup-port of school and community activitiesshould be congratulated. Thanks againto all of you! Sincerely, The Messenger staff

SHERRY LIGHTPresident

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