Senior year: Sunrise to sunset
With 180 days left in our senior year, the Class of 2010 at Gridley High School stepped foot onto the 50-yard line of the football field as one class united. We weren't your average, run-of-the-mill seniors, late for class on the first day of school. We were actually early — really early! It was 6 o'clock in the morning when we arrived to watch the sunrise together.
The sunrise represented the beginning of our senior year. At the end of the year, we will all rally together again and watch the sun set on our high school years. The idea first started from a conference that two seniors, Class President Teryn Mathews and ASB President Trevor Scott, attended last spring.
It was then kicked into motion as the final days of summer left us and the first day of school unfortunately began. "It was definitely a bigger turnout than I had expected," Mathews said. "It started the year off right."
Blankets were set out, pictures were taken and our feet froze on the still-soggy grass from the morning sprinklers, but the experience was memorable and incredible. Almost every senior who attended was wearing their senior shirt that just came off the press a few weeks beforehand. Blue and gold was spread across the 50-yard line as we watched the orange and gold sun rise above the Sierra Nevada as an amazing start to our senior year.
We have many things to look forward to, including new faces to our GHS staff, which include our new head varsity football coach John Cooprider, who also teaches freshman health, and our new Assistant Principal Chris Renzullo, who joins us from Yuba City.
Sports are also kicking off to a great start, with varsity volleyball already under way and in midseason form under coach Sarah Tamagni; varsity football with new leadership and spirit from coach Cooprider; girls tennis under coach Linda McDowell, led by Tina Vasquez and Skylee Canada in the forefront; and the new swim team, under coach Leann Cocca, making GHS history with its first swim meet last Wednesday.
As a senior, it seems utterly crazy to me that our high school days are almost over and the real world is just around the corner. Senior Jessica Torres said, "High school went by so fast; I can't believe it. I don't know if I'm ready to take on the real world. It's a very scary thought." And the natural consensus of seniors at Gridley High School is just that; we're not quite ready to be adults yet.
Amber McIntire is a senior at Gridley High School. Her column appears about every sixth week in Education.
