Out With the OLD and In With NEW

Seventy-four school days ago we came together and formed the Southwest Lakers of school year 2015-16.  There never was a group like this before and in another 100 school days there never will be another group like this again.  All of us taken together are one collection of unique and special individuals sharing this time, this place and these experiences.

When we arrived the school buildings were in disarray and dirt and dust and noise was a common experience.  We watched the confusion change to walls with bricks and windows.

As 1754 individual students and an adult collection of over 250 individual, this was its own collection of human construction pieces waiting to fit together and become something recognizable.

This first semester has been exciting, challenging, confusing and defining.  For many of us, the dream of a successful and rewarding high school year has come to be.  The plays, the concerts, the athletic contest have been great and thrilling.  Classroom work fell into place and with studies and support from teachers and friends the GPA is looking good.  For others the excitement became frightening and disappointing.   The promises of a fresh start didn't happen and one sense of failure followed another.  Two sets of conclusions vastly different resulting from one shared set of circumstances.

The winter break is a time to refresh.  It is a time to celebrate living and being.  It is a natural time of reflections and new resolutions.  How 2015 finished is not how 2016 should begin.  Maybe it is with new friends that I find a way to share study time.  Maybe trying new ventures will renew the interest in learning.  The two-week break can be the pause before starting the rest of your life.

We are Southwest Lakers.  We need to celebrate that we are here, now and together this year.  We must make the best of it because there never ever will be another Southwest Laker School 2015-16.