The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Curveball: A Goodbye to WJ and a Welcome to New Beginnings

Well seniors, it’s finally here: the end. Way to go guys, we made it. Take the time to put down the paper and take a victory lap if you want. Yeah, that felt good, didn’t it? We’re just a short while away from putting on our shiny green caps and gowns and getting our diplomas down at D.A.R. Constitution Hall (For all of you non-seniors, this article’s going to pick up soon, I promise.)

Graduation, as I said, is the last step in the walk through high-school. For some it seems more like a quick, brisk run. For others it seems like a slow crawl through thumbtacks going up the down elevator. It’s been a walk which has taken most all of us through times of fun, embarrassment, teenage awkwardness, stickiness and most importantly, deep, endless, unforgiving shame.


But on Graduation Day, when all the graduating seniors of ’09 are ready to go out and make their mark on the world are gathered together in the nation’s capital wearing all our bright robes, shiny shoes and not much underneath, what is next to come? Once we take off our cap and gown who are we then? Our once solidified identity as the stupid and privileged high-schoolers of Bethesda disappears, and we get left out hanging in the cold.

Before we take our caps off of our collegiate heads and cast aside our gowns we will take our first steps towards a new life. All of a sudden it doesn’t matter too much who went to what party and who had the best football team. All of a sudden things look different. Things get smaller. The roads you drove, the sidewalks you walked and that were your world, they meld into a bigger picture. Even your letterman jacket looks a little less flashy from its place in the closet than it did that night you scored more than a touchdown.

Story continues below advertisement

As an editor, this is my last chance to write something that will go out and be read by however-many hundred people will pick up the paper off the floor of Walter Johnson. So I choose my words carefully.

Do something big. This is the only time of your life where you can be truly and wholly free. Go travel. Get away. Find out who you are. See Europe. See the Indo. Build homes in New Orleans, in Africa. Help others because that is the biggest thing a person can do. Chase something. Give something your all. Stop something. Start something.

Or don’t do anything. Enjoy these years.

0
0
Leave a Comment
Donate to The Pitch
$775
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Walter Johnson High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
About the Contributor
Abby Singley, Online Editor-in-Chief
Abby Singley was on the Pitch staff since her sophomore year, and as a senior, she was Online Editor-in-Chief and the Print Copy Chief in 2010-2011. The previous year, Abby was the first online editor-in-chief, and was also a copy editor during her sophomore and junior years. She is excited to be involved with the up-and-coming Pitch Online and help bring news to the WJ community in a faster, more innovative way. When not scanning the online administrator page or copy editing articles, Abby likes reading pop culture and news magazines and Web sites. Although she does not know where she is going to school yet, Abby will be entering college as a journalism major next year.
Donate to The Pitch
$775
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Pitch Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *