Cycle of change

The girl who walked through Wakefield’s front doors four years ago bears no resemblance to the one who walks through them now. As I approach my final time opening the gates to the school I can’t help but reflect on how much we have all changed as people. 

My first time walking through the glistening glass gateway was terrifying. While I still share the fear about walking through them for the last time, it is for antithetical reasons. Though I was once scared of what the interior of the school held for me, I am now fearful of what awaits me on the outside. This place I once feared has become a place of safety for me and so many others. 

Every negative thought going through my mind melted away when I opened those doors. I seemingly forgot that the world existed. Wakefield remained a place of solace, even in my darkest times. Inside its gateway, I was the person I could only dream I would become. 

As I prepare to walk through those doors for the last time, I can not stop reflecting on the cycles this school creates. 

During my junior year, I was mentored by one of the Co-Editors-in-Chief of The Howler. We became quite close as she taught me everything I needed to know to take her place. The day she graduated I told her “I can’t imagine the newspaper without you. Who will I go to for help?” She then reassured me that I had the ability to be a strong leader, just like her. 

While I doubted this was the case, I continued to practice and study until my first day as Editor-in-Chief came. Soon, I eased into her place as the leader and started to mentor a girl whom I saw as a younger version of myself. Three weeks before the end of the school year I received the news that she would be taking my place the following year. 

Now, as the final day approaches, the girl I had been mentoring said something that sparked an epiphany in me. She said “I can’t imagine the newspaper without you. Who will I go to for help?”

This made me realize that although I may be moving on from Wakefield, I will be leaving behind a legacy of knowledge, just like my mentor did for me.