Student Body President welcomes ’17-’18 students

Lily Colburn, Guest Writer

I’ve always kept my summers sacred. Since I keep my school year jam packed with activities and schoolwork, when Memorial Day weekend finally rolls around, I put a halt to everything. I keep my summers to myself. I try to do as little as possible to recuperate from the previous school year, and recharge for the next.

That is until this summer.

I put so much on my plate for this year, my final year of high school, that it was impossible to not spend the entire summer preparing. It would be impossible for me to recount all of the time I spent preparing for every club and activity I’ll be a part of this year. All of the days at Bluestem Bistro making meticulous plans for Student Council events that may never be approved by administration, or all of the time researching for debate. It has all led up to this year.

I spent my time working on the year, not just so that I could have a great year, but for everyone to have a year that can be enjoyable. Yet, for all of the time I spent planning and working on events for clubs, the time administration, teachers, and other faculty spent is incomparable.

Everyone at Manhattan High School wants to see you succeed. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have spent the summer planning. You may roll your eyes every time you hear a teacher say they are always looking out for you but it’s true.

At the same time however, it’s important to remember that just because myself and others have put work into the school year over the summer, doesn’t mean it will be perfect. Some plans will fail, other ideas may never end up coming to fruition. I will mess up. Inevitably a teacher or administrator will not always be there for you.

Although people have put time and effort into planning the school year, at the end of the day the plans don’t matter if students don’t keep an open mind to change. While back to school time isn’t exciting for everyone, we can all learn to welcome new opportunities the school year will bring. Even a part of me has been dreading getting back to a routine that includes too many activities, too much stress, and too little sleep, but I won’t let that hamper my hopes for the year.

I don’t want all of my summer furiously scribbling down all of my ideas in a notebook during my breaks at work to go to waste. I spent time working on the school year this summer because I care. Because I want this year to be better. Because I couldn’t wait to say, welcome back MHS, this year is going to be great.