Aubrey Hibma

I am not senior yet, but in a few weeks, I say goodbye to TCT forever.

One of the most infamous traditions of being enrolled in The Central Trend (TCT) is writing the senior farewell column. It is a final byline, and for many, the final way to leave a legacy as one of the amazing writers who came once before. Although I am not technically a senior, and my high school career stretches one more year beyond this one, I still find myself writing my goodbye. 

Maybe that is because chapters end long before graduation. However, my decision to leave behind the past year and a half of TCT does not stem from resentment or regret for being part of this amazing class, but rather from a desire to pursue new opportunities and become involved in different experiences. My involvement in this publication became more than a class to me. TCT is a place where I learned to grow into a passion I love and create friendships that will continue my whole life. 

During my early adolescence, I was one of the few students who were pulled out of class to work on reading and sight words. In fact, I was illiterate until the third grade. Because of this, my sentence structure and grammar naturally fell behind as well. For years after, I carried that struggle with me, using it as the explanation for why my writing never seemed to compare to everyone else’s. And for that reason, English was my shortcoming. 

There was a moment when it was time for me to choose my schedule for my sophomore year of high school, and I chose Writing for Publication—a class of only writing. Looking back at it now, it almost feels ironic that the place I feared exposing my weakness became the place that slowly taught me how to find my voice. 

I am not one of the few who will continue to write all four years of high school; in fact, I have not even made it to two. Still, this class created an environment where I finally felt myself succeeding. It was not just because some of my stories ended up on trending or because I won an honorable mention award from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA). More than anything, TCT showed me that I am no longer the struggling first-grader pulled out of class to practice sight words. It proved to me that I am capable of succeeding in anything I truly set my mind to, even writing.  

Although my time in this class is ending, my journey has not. There are still college applications waiting to be filled out, and papers that will someday keep me awake late at night. But what began as a random class choice late freshman year has become much more meaningful. The different groups of people I have blended with, and the ability to find a home in a classroom, have taken away that feeling of weakness and turned it into a part of who I am.