Dear High School Sarah…

Dear Freshman Sarah…

I know you feel overwhelmed with thoughts of high school and the high expectations you have placed on yourself. You start your year in Alabama reconnecting with old friends and making new ones so easily through band, Lifeteen and the classes you’re in. You’ve spent the summer learning what marching band entails and getting better at the tenor saxophone – that you’ve only been playing since March! You fall in love with the French language and culture when you enroll in French class since Spanish was only open to sophomores or older. The only class you struggle in will be geometry and you’ll still end up with a B. You have your first boyfriend, and he goes to school in the county over from you, so you make the most of weekends and the once a week “homework date” you have until baseball season starts. Your dad is home more than he has been for the last five years, so you love when he chaperones the Friday night band bus to the away football games. You make so many strong friendships and make one of the best girlfriends you’ll ever have; she becomes your sister and helps plan your proposal in 11 years! Oh, and you meet your future husband when you work the tech booth for Godspell – he’s that cute senior playing Judas you have a crush on! Sweet freshman Sarah, this will be your favorite year of high school and a year you look back on with so much fondness and love for the people who made it so special.

Dear Sophomore Sarah…

You hate school this year. It’s okay. You’ll only be here for 10 months before moving again. You again are in band and y’all take second in state and compete in Bands of America qualifiers in New Mexico. You find out in November that you’re moving to Montana in the summer, so you choose not to put down roots because of how painful it was to rip up the roots you established last year. Your favorite class is world literature and you join the debate team because your world lit teacher is the coach. You learn to love and compete in legislative debate and extemporaneous speaking – skills you continue to use today, and that played into your college major choice!

Dear Junior Sarah…

You dive in head first to getting involved in Montana. The day you arrive you meet the base chaplain’s family and sign up to go on a mission trip to the Northern Cheyenne reservation near Billings. You make friends quickly and easily and jump into band and doing tech for the theater. You get a job as a nanny for five kids and work at the base youth center. You are taking AP classes and get involved with the student leadership team that organizes the pep rallies and speakers for the school. You are full of so much school spirit and love CMR! You also discover your love of coffee this year and are babysitting at least twice a weekend. You take on an internship with your church planning the retreats and social events for both the middle school and high school students – you thrive in this role! You are so busy and happy, but this is also the year you are diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and learn to start taking care of your health.

Dear Senior Sarah…

You are full of sass and determination. You are the student life editor for the yearbook and on the newspaper staff. You are in several AP classes and working part time at the BX. You’re also still babysitting any chance you get. You’re now the emcee of the pep rallies and full of so much pride for CMR. You stopped playing the oboe and dropped out of band when your oboe teacher died in a plane crash over the summer. You’re still interning at church and you went to Girls’ State over the summer. You also participate in Youth Legislature and love the comraderie of being with other students who love government as much as you. The boy you dated as a freshman in Alabama comes up to visit over the holidays and decides to attend the University of Montana with you in the fall, since you can’t afford to go the University of Alabama like you always wanted to. You go to prom with your best friend and truly have an excellent senior year.

High school was such a roller coaster going to three schools in three states, but I am grateful for every opportunity I had being in those different environments and for all of the teachers that poured into me and my education.