As much as I wish I could remember every minute that I’ve spent at McEachern, it’s unambiguously certain that many of my high school memories will eventually fade with time. By the time I’m living on my own, I doubt I’ll remember each and every detail of my first all-nighter when I stayed up for numerous hours cramming for my geometry EOC… and I’m sure that I will not be able to recall the exact feeling of panic that would settle every time I saw even the slightest bit of rain begin to seep from the clouds during class change. I don’t think I’ll always be certain of every instant in which I felt exceptionally frustrated with a teacher for assigning one too many packets at a time or the nerve-wracking anxiety that would chase after me for the entire day leading up to an orchestra playing test. Of course, I don’t expect to remember everything since that would be impossible… But thankfully, McEachern has given me much more to remember than just countless hours of brief moments.

There are some things that I know, regardless of where I am in my life, I would never be able to forget. I’ll remember exactly what it felt like to wake up to the delectable aroma of fresh oranges pouring over the plains in Cordoba, Spain. I’ll remember my heartstrings tugging from within me as I stood side by side with my best friend, tears flooding our eyes as we heard our winterguard announced as the Atlanta regional champions. I’ll remember how vividly I felt the adrenaline and exhilaration coursing through my veins the second that my feet firmly planted themselves onto the 128-year-old stage at Carnegie Hall (A trip I would not have been able to afford if it hadn’t been covered by the school’s dedication to fine arts). Although these stories come off as simply just excursions with minimal relation to high school at all, everything that I have been able to experience has been because I was so lucky as to attend a school where fantasy and reality often meet in the form of opportunity, and where the chance to view the world in a completely new way through insight and knowledge is both completely possible and attainable.

But even beyond the wonders that I have been fortunate enough to see, McEachern High School has bestowed an impact that surpasses all of the others in the form of the people that I have met. Words cannot express how blessed I am to have encountered and grown close to so many individuals with aspirations and a drive to succeed like mine. I know that even if I’m never able to set foot on these school grounds again, I will always be able to relive the best years of my life through the lifelong friendships that I have made here. There are people at this school, students, staff, and teachers who have impacted me in a way that I never thought possible. It is likely that if I hadn’t met them while in high school, I could have gone my entire life without crossing paths with the people who I know I am destined to stay close friends with.

John McEachern High School has made me into who I am today and has shown me more about myself than I ever thought possible. Here I was able to realize my passion for wildlife and have access to the proper tools to be able to follow that passion to its full extent. I made friends that I know I will keep in touch with for as long as I’m alive and breathing. I learned things that I never knew I needed to know. I saw things that I wasn’t sure would I ever be able to see. I’ve laughed at this school. I’ve cried. Quite honestly I’ve probably screamed out in frustration a few times too, but I owe every little thing that I know about myself to this school and I can only dream of paying back everything that McEachern has done for me.