Authors Note:

Dear reader,

This is a very rough first draft of my personal essay. At this point I was just concerned with making sure I had the ideas I wanted to talk about somewhere on a page. There really isn’t any flow or true connections, I tend to just repeat myself a lot. There are a lot of technical changes I will be making before this is a final piece.

 

Everyone says to take the time to appreciate the moment that you’re living in because before you know it, those moments will be gone and they’ll only be memories. As I have gone throughout my senior year, I have taken this to heart more and more every day. Walking down the hallways at Lincoln Lutheran, I realize how much this place has formed me into the person I am today. Since I am a TA for the sixth graders, I get the chance to see the amount of energy we all once had. They all go throughout their day, laughing about the big PE football game coming up, competing against each other to see who has the most reading minutes, not worrying about anything else that goes on. Those were the days that we all wish we could go back to, no stress about college or what happens next.

With all the sports teams having so much success this season, it opened my eyes to how much we’ve grown. From freshman year to admiring those in the leadership position, to being in that leadership position today, a lot has changed. As seniors, myself and a select few others are the ones called upon to make final decision and to act as leaders without having to be asked. Being on teams has helped me develop relationships that I might not otherwise have just going to school here. As a teammate, there are a whole lot more trials and blessings that you get to experience as a team.

My own sports experience has not only made a difference, but so has watching those around me has too. Watching my fellow seniors on the football team gives me chills. The handshakes that they have with other players or even coaches after a good play is just a huge demonstration of what the Lincoln Lutheran community is like. Watching their team develop over the past four years from the vantage point in the student section is something that cannot even be described in a way to get the full meaning out. Getting the chance to sing the doxology at the end with the rest of those attending the game, allows me to be a part of the tradition that has been going on ever since the program started.

As a kid, I would come to all sorts of Lincoln Lutheran sporting events, most of the time basketball though. My dad, a huge basketball player and being the school’s executive director, we were inclined to come watch. Seeing them play back then made me excited to come to Lincoln Lutheran. I wanted to be a part of what they were doing.

One other big aspect that I remember about Lincoln Lutheran from my childhood was the play. There were always so many good actors and the songs they sang made the musicals fun. I would sing right along with them and I would be excited to be able to witness that when I would come to school. Now the musical department isn’t as big as it used to be. People are more involved in athletics than they are in the arts. Even choir attendance has gone down. In the early 2000s, the choir was able to do a whole lot more with music because of the amount of people who were involved. The songs they sang really moved me, and others.

Being in the Lincoln Lutheran community now makes me realize how much I really have taken it for granted, I know that in just a few short months my time here will be over and I’ll need to move out into the real world without the shelter of these walls.