I joined The Piper because I love to write. I love writing in my journal, creating short stories and poems and working on narrative pieces for English Class. I remember my mom asking me why I wanted to do journalism, because writing articles was nothing like what I was used to. I told her that I wanted to try something new. For the past three years, I’ve learned to love writing articles and making the stories of students and faculty into words on paper, so much so that I am the Arts & Cultures section editor.  However, I’ve always found comfort here, in the opinions section. 

   I truly love this section and how it allows us, as purely subjective writers, to express ourselves. Since this is my last issue of The Piper, I want to take a journey down memory lane and go through some of my favorite opinion pieces I’ve written, which come together to create the mosaic that portrays my growth throughout high school. 

   I wrote my first opinion piece in my sophomore year about the concept of being cool.During that time in my life, I was insecure about who I was and the way I was perceived socially. This piece was my attempt at getting my feelings out. There was something so healing about writing about this; it made me realize that it truly didn’t matter if people thought I was cool, because in reality, that concept is so abstract that it almost doesn’t exist. While it wasn’t my most poetic piece of writing, it was therapeutic for me to get my feelings out and feel seen by my classmates. 

   During my junior years, the opinion I wrote titled “People over places” is one of the most important pieces I’ve ever written. In 2018, my beloved summer camp burned down, and I explained how when I came back to camp after the fires at a different location, the lack of beautiful campgrounds to distract me made me feel more connected to all my friends. After writing it for The Piper, I sent this work to the Assistant Director of my camp, and she published it on our camp’s website and Instagram. So many of my previous camp counselors sent me messages to commend me on this piece of writing. It was a very sentimental moment. This opinion piece made me realize the impact of my writing and how I could use my creativity and emotions to convey important messages and organize my feelings in a meaningful way. 

   Later that year, I wrote an opinion piece about how I romanticize my life by doing homework in cafés, writing uplifting journal entries, and generally noticing the beauty in the little things. This practice is something I thoroughly believe in, and in the article, I describe how I use romanticization as a form of positivity and optimism. This piece was not just meaningless words on a Google document, but genuine advice that I once needed and wanted to share. 

   My goal for my opinion pieces in my senior year was to share something with the school community and give some of my insight to my peers.. A majority of my 12th-grade year was made up of college applications, and surprisingly, I actually found some of it enjoyable. As I was brainstorming ideas for my personal statement, I struggled to think about whether I had a story worth telling. However, once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I wrote about my summer camp for my personal statement, and it turned into something I was incredibly proud of. My essay ended up inspiring me to write a piece in The Piper about my journey to find a way to express myself to colleges. This piece helped me share my belief that every individual has important knowledge and experiences.

    I’ve written a lot of opinions before, after, and in between the ones I’ve described: from my interest in true crime to my frustration with looking so young for my age. Now I am sitting here, writing my final one, and I’m wondering, where does this leave me? 

   As I go off and leave The Piper, I cannot express the gratitude I’ve had for the opinions section. In no other place on campus have I felt welcomed to speak my mind as deeply as I have on these thin newspaper pages. I appreciate the guidance I’ve gotten from my editors and Dr. Christine Gaul, which has allowed me to grow as a narrative writer. I encourage anyone and everyone to write their own piece for this section. You do not have to be a journalist on The Piper, or even a writer. Everyone has a story to tell, and I’m glad I’ve had the space to share mine here for the past three years. I will miss it.