Editor's Notes

As the change of spring occurs in the coming months, there is often a tone of reflection in my own life, looking back to make myself better as I move towards the newest chapter of my life as the year progresses. One of the biggest changes lately has been taking over the responsibilities of being one of the Co-Editor-In-Chiefs of The Hoofprint. This will be my first paper as Co-Editor-In-Chief, along with Will, and the transition has been great because of the immense support of both Reid and Maryanne who have helped guide us along the way during the first few weeks of our new positions. One of our first responsibilities has been to interview our newest applicants for next year and after talking to everyone it is easy to see that the future for our staff is bright! However, as we chart the path of the future I like to look back at my own experience to guide me. 

When I first picked up a copy of The Hoofprint, I never envisioned the idea of being on staff, let alone becoming the Co-Editor in Chief. Yet, the paper has shaped my high school experience in many different ways. I was inspired to work as a sports broadcaster for the school after reading Maryanne’s article highlighting the work of her brother Brendan and Hoofprint alum Harry Crowther and the need for a new broadcaster. For a freshman in high school, it was a new experience that built off of my passion for sports and was one that forced me to grow as an individual. The journey from reading that article to the most recent game has shaped me significantly, teaching me how to be ambitious, communicate and navigate new challenges that were unfamiliar to me. The opportunity that I found because of The Hoofprint inspired me to apply to the staff, wanting to give back to someone else in my situation and help them become inspired about the special MP community that surrounds them.

The journey that article led me on has been another source of growth as I became part of the staff and worked to contribute to my community through my writing. Furthermore, it has taught me how to take risks and work collaboratively with others and understand that everything isn’t going to go your way. The biggest impact, however, has been how The Hoofprint has reshaped the value of community in my life and made me evaluate the impact of community on our lives. Through writing for The Hoofprint I have witnessed the multitude of communities within the larger Myers Park community and the impact that they have had on students and teachers. On a personal level, these communities are at the forefront of our goals as journalists at Myers Park and highlight the importance of telling the stories of these communities so that our readers can be better informed and engaged with our school.

Moving forward, I look back to these experiences as a valuable lesson of our focus, to provide news that is compelling, accurate, and important for people to know. Journalism is the basis of any community, and The Hoofprint is no exception. Our mission is to be the source that helps students become engaged with their community by providing them with the knowledge and information they need. As the next chapter of our paper begins, it is important to build off of the work of those who came before us and continue the tradition of coverage centered around community as we look to evolve our paper overtime.

This is my last first paper. When I woke up the morning of our first B-Day of the 2024-2025 school year, that thought rocked me. I realized I had spent my entire high school career waiting for what was next, and now, I was in the final stretch. I have been stuck in tunnel vision, only focusing on the next step since I first stepped foot on campus.

I remember applying to The Hoofprint, proposing my first article, and then, seemingly suddenly, I was named Co-Editor. These years went by in the blink of an eye. I have spent these past school years worried about whether or not I was doing enough to compete. I felt like I was in the middle of a marathon, and people were passing me in a casual sprint, and now looming college applications only amplify this feeling.

However, this experience is in no way subject to my time on The Hoofprint. In school, I feel as if I am constantly striving to achieve the higher standard that others appear to reach effortlessly. In some regard, this is the type of self-motivation that will take you places, but not if you are so focused on moving forward that you fail to truly appreciate what surrounds you. You’ll find that once you get to the place you have been focused on reaching, you will miss the process that got you there.  

In the words of lyricist, musician, and poet Aubrey Drake Graham, “There’s times when I wish I was where I was, back when I used to wish I was here.” These lyrics hit me at my core, as I begin my last year of high school, and I’m sure my fellow seniors will relate. I have spent so much time worrying about how to reach the end of high school, that I am uncomfortable with being so close to the finish line. The pressure placed on students, by ourselves or others, forces us to seek sanctuary. We countdown the days till summer, causing us to miss the significance of everyday things during the school year. 

My freshman year, I couldn’t wait to be in the stands like the upperclassmen, but now I wish I could spend one more football game on the infamous Freshman Hill (RIP). When I was a sophomore, all I wanted was to be the one to drive to school. Today, I savor the memories of morning walks from Ferncliff with my best friends. Last year as a junior, I couldn’t wait for June 7th, when I would be free of the chains that homework and pressure had bound me in, instead of thinking about the inevitable clock ticking down till graduation. 

When we graduate, we are not only leaving Myers Park, but we are leaving the version of ourselves that we have been for the past four years. Whether you thrived in high school or have hated every minute of it, there is something bittersweet about preparing to leave a place like this. You’ll miss the people you love, but you will also miss who you are here, where you have grown and evolved. 

For the class of 2025, our “lasts” are starting now, and mine have begun with this paper. I am grateful for all Myers Park has done for me and the people I have met, and I would not change my experience for the world. However, I know there were many times when my priorities kept me from being fully engaged in my high school experience.

To underclassmen, take it from me, a senior who has spent her years plagued with PowerSchool paranoia: instead of going through your time at Myers Park stressing about perfect grades or an abundance of leadership roles in clubs, I encourage you to spend time enjoying what can’t be put on a college application. When you feel swept up in the current of school, close your computer, step back, and take it day by day. These four years fly by, and we are lucky to have them.

One random day *in 2018* I was scrolling through Twitter as I usually do after school (yes I do use Twitter) and landed on a four-minute clip from the podcast No Laying Up. The clip was from an interview they did with professional golfer Max Homa who had one of the worst seasons ever on the PGA Tour in 2017. He was talking about how he fought through it and became one of the best players in the world. While the entire four minutes captivated me one main part stuck out. Homa found a quote written by Jacob Riis that he turned into his life motto that helped him get through the hardest time in his career. The quote spoke about persistence, “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had gone before”.Much like Homa, I adopted this quote as one that would define me. No matter the results or what was going to happen whether it was on the golf course, in the classroom, or life as a whole, no matter how much I was struggling I was going to keep pounding that rock, knowing that eventually it was bound to break. Reflecting on how much implementing this quote in my lifestyle has transformed me over the past few years, I started to think about how we shape our identities. 

Right now, in most of our lives, we are discovering who we are and who we want to be. As high schoolers, we face so many decisions: What classes do we want to take? Where do I want to go to college? What do I want to do when I get older? But the one that hits me the hardest is “Who do I want to be right now? I’ve changed so much in the last few years that for a while I did not really know who Reid Heaton was. What I realized is that the answer to that question has always been around me. Those answers resided in the people that surround me, my hobbies, my passions, and so much more. I know I want to have the infectious energy my brother has, I want to be willing to put others first like my Mom does, I want to be as hardworking and resilient as Max Homa, I want to spread smiles and joy like all my closest friends do, I want to do my best but have fun like Ronald Acuna, I want to be a good leader in S-7 like all the Editors before me. I would not know who I am today and who I want to be if not for all these things that are around me in my everyday life. I don’t know the person I would be if I hadn’t listened to that podcast clip, or the person I would be if I had not joined The Hoofprint my sophomore year, but one thing I do know is that both of those things helped me to understand who I am today, and who I want to be.

At the end of the day, I learned that if you want to figure out who you are and who you want to be, a good place to start is just by opening your eyes and observing what is around you. It may come in the form of a quote, a teacher, or a friend. I can confidently say that part of who I am today came from a quote about breaking rocks, and I hope that as you read this paper you may see something that can help you figure out the big question of  “Who do I want to be?”. 

I am a firm believer in luck. I also think if you are a kind person, then you will receive the same kindness back. I don’t know what I did to deserve what happened the first semester of my junior year, but it proves my point that that luck(or just bad luck) is real.

Everyone always says junior year is the worst, but my junior year was starting off on the right track. I was getting good grades, and going to San Diego with my mom. We were going to travel along the PCH to Malibu. At this point, I was a fresh driver in a car I got for my 16th birthday. Two days before my trip to San Diego, I got badly rear-ended driving to school. It happens, though, and I am glad no one got hurt. My mom still made me go to the first block, even though I was crying. On a positive note, My mom and I got our nails done that day.

My car was in the shop for a while, so I drove my parent’s car to school(for any seniors reading, no, I did not park on campus). While driving home one day, I heard a clunk but did not think much of it. Once I got home, I looked and couldn’t find my phone. I located my phone with the FindMy app. Turns out that “clunk” was my phone that I left on top of the car, so I got in the car to get it. Once I found it, I realized that it was run over so many times that the case fell off, the earbuds I had wrapped around it were paper thin, and my phone had more cracks than the Saharan Desert. I got a new phone, but it didn’t have a sim card, so I lost all of my photos that I didn’t upload to my iCloud. The worst part, though, was that I didn’t do my BeReals for four days. 

Not long after this, I filled my car with diesel on accident(what is the difference between gas and diesel anyway?) and had to drive my parent’s car to school again. When I was backing up, the door got caught in the ground and overextended. Basically, the door broke. The next day, I needed a turkey for NHS, so I went to Harris Teeter in the broken door car(which had a bungee cord holding it in place), sobbing, listening to “Last Christmas” on the radio station that has holiday music way too early. I get my turkey, go to the register, and the lady asks how much it was, and I say, “four-zero-zero.” She proceeds to say, “Are you sure?” I say yes. She goes to check, comes back, and says it’s 4 dollars. I start sobbing again and say I’m sorry that’s what I meant to say. I didn’t bring a bag, so I was wobbling to the car, lugging a huge turkey, and, once again, sobbing. Did I mention that I forgot to take a photo of me turning in the turkey, which was needed for proof that I donated?

It’s easy to blame bad luck on something that was definitely my own fault. Most of the stories I’ve shared are caused by my carelessness. You know when your parents would tell you to eat your veggies because there are kids who are starving?  Problems similar to mine are real and suck, but compared to others, they aren’t as life-threatening. Perspective is important in every scenario. It’s ok to wallow, but it’s good to laugh at what happened and understand that we are human; we make mistakes and deserve grace. Perspective leads to growth(I am more careful with expensive equipment now).

Sure, you can chalk my first semester up to coincidence or my carelessness, but maybe there was some bad luck there…of course, it depends on your perspective 🙂