Sanjana Ramachandran
Dear students and teachers,
Here is my last article for the last issue of Mary Word that I am seeing released. I have felt a mix of joy, nostalgia and extreme sadness from having to write this article. Yes, it is because I am going to be graduating this week. I am writing this article to share my personal experiences and memories at Loreto and what makes me smile and not smile about having to say goodbye to Wednesday recesses, school bells and fixed timetables.
I started at Loreto in year 8 in 2014. It was a completely new environment to adjust to as I had just left the comforts of my native country in India where I spent ten years of my childhood. Making friends was not a piece of cake for around the first two years. However, now, I find myself feeling happy about the beautiful bonds that I have formed with my classmates over embarrassing jokes, Wednesday recess dance moves and mutual friends. I have had moments of quietness to reflect upon the sadness of not possibly being able to retain those bonds in the post-school years. However, in the end, like everyone says, friends come and go. I am telling myself that it is important to cherish the real and meaningful friendships that are made in high school and even put efforts to make more friends through university, travel and work. Life is all about making space for new opportunities for life-long friendships as it is possible that I could meet more best friends at university or even get closer to my friends at school either through merely deciding to hang out with each other more or happening to be in the same university as them.
Along with the friendships with my peers, I cannot forget to share the memories I have made with my teachers. I am going to miss the ongoing individual attention that teachers give to students in class and also the ease of meeting up with teachers during lunch by planning meetings through just one email. The personal connection that the teachers have with the students are something I will always treasure at Loreto as I have had at least one moment of laughter with each of mine. I hope that each one will be there for me when I come back to visit school from time to time. Again, I have to accept that in university, I won’t have class timetables to map out the work that I plan to do during my study. Teachers can’t constantly meet up with me to discuss any questions and also remind me that I have an assessment due in two weeks. I have decided to instead look forward to the freedom of having a personal, customized schedule in university and participate in the challenge of using google to find answers for everything.
Now, I have talked a lot about memories. However, high school is more than memories, pranks and embarrassing moments with friends and teachers. It’s about finding out who you are and deciding what you want to do in the future. From changing friends and making new friends, I have been able to determine my true sense of belonging within my cohort by distinguishing between true and false friends. From choosing completely random electives like food technology and drama, which I later realized I was not passionate about, I have been able to be more selective and less impulsive with making subject choices for year 11 and 12. This is because I have done a deeper analysis of my interests, strengths, weaknesses and ability to cope with workload. My subject choices, ranging from biology to CAFS, have ultimately influenced my passion to pursue a career in the field of social welfare or mental health after school. Thus, to put it in a nutshell, high school has played a vital role in constructing my unique identity that I appreciate and I cannot forget that.
Now, to end it all, I would like to sum up what I have said as a message to my peers in year 12 who feel anxious about graduating: Graduation will offer you new opportunities in the future to follow your passions. Make the most of those opportunities whist cherishing the fun memories with friends and teachers at school.
Thanks for the amazing memories Normo.
Sanjana.
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