Trying to come up with something to say as my farewell is honestly quite difficult. Although this last part of my senior year has been very different from my expectation, it is certainly something that I will never forget. These past four years have been filled with a lot of stress, but it also has taught me so much more about life. 

Joining the SPUD my sophomore year, little did I know I would be finding a place where I could express myself without being judged. Most of my life I have lived with anxiety and trying to live up to the expectations of others. I have felt like an outcast even in my own home, but in Journalism, I was given a family of accepting and loving people. Mrs. Digmann’s classroom became so much more than just a classroom, it became a sort of safe haven for me and I knew I was always welcome to pop in there for any reason at all. 

Now, I may not be the best journalist, but I have certainly come a long way from where I started and this class has definitely taught me many things. I am not going to lie, journalism was not a class that I intended to take. I needed one more class to fill my schedule my sophomore year and it was either journalism or welding and even though I had no idea at that moment what journalism even was, the decision was fairly easy. This decision was definitely one of the best ones I have made. 

The SPUD is a family that I will never forget, and I will always hold it close to my heart. Although I am very ready for this new chapter of my life, it is hard to actually be saying goodbye and knowing that I will never get to write a story for the SPUD again. Before this class, I had never been very fond of writing, but luckily in this class, I was able to choose my own topics. From writing about E. coli as one of my first stories in 2017 to finally writing my senior farewell in 2020 is a big jump and it leaves goosebumps on my skin to think about how fast these years flew by. I thought high school would last forever, but boy was I wrong. Thank you AHS and the SPUD for giving me the opportunity to grow and learn.