Not to sound cliché and to start this was such a generic statement, I truly never saw this moment coming. I always knew that eventually I’d graduate high school go onto college, and I had considered it a simple rite of passage. Something that happens to everyone, something I shouldn’t regard with too much pride or feelings of achievement. However, in this very moment, I’ve noticed the tides turned against me.

I’ve been attending North Springs since I was a freshman and will admit that I did not make the most of my high school experience. After we returned from a pandemic-caused online schoolyear, I saw the formation of high school friendships and activities as futile. “Why should I continue to do something like when it eventually won’t matter?” is a thought that I often found myself having, especially towards the end of my high school career. However, even though I still hold my reservations, there are some friendships and activities I will truly miss.

From Mr. Day’s lectures to the basically inseparable bond Rachel Hertz and I shared with him VIA daily annoyances. The kindness extended to me by teachers like Ms. Morton, who helped me to have a very fun season in my last year of high school mock trial. The homerooms where I’d walk in not late, and Jake Skiba and Sanjay Vijayasekar would share an awed unanimous expression of, “Courtney, you’re on time!” Of course I’ll miss these small moments, but I will also especially miss the staff of the NS oracle.

It’s an understatement to say that the beginning of the year was rough, but I believe come second semester things took a turn for the better. I am appreciative that I was able to work with each and every one of the members and found that during the second semester my cold exterior as a result of wanting to avoid freshmen interaction deteriorated rapidly. I found myself laughing, sparking debates with, and sharing details of my life with the current staff. Thank you all for staying so dedicated and putting energy into our school’s newspaper. However, I especially found myself becoming fond of our upcoming editors.

To Mairen Brown, I know you are going to do such amazing things with your high school career. You are so amazingly intelligent and can comprehend our world in a way that people your age often can’t. I am forever wishing the best for you and will be reading the Oracle often while I’m in college to look to you for insight on complicated topics involving race, religion, society, and whatever else you decide to write about!

To Sarah Meiselman, you have a drive that I don’t think I’ve even seen from my peers in the 2022 graduating class. You can put your all into anything that you do or try, and it serves as an inspiration to me. Your articulateness is to be marveled at, and I know that you will continue to impress not only me with your mind, but anyone else that you encounter in ana academic sphere as well.

I know that the Oracle is being put into good hands, and I hope that the two of you make the most out of these next three years! Attend GSPA conferences, reach out to writers for more worldly publications, write what is important to you. Make your opinions known, both of you have such important things to share.

And to Mr. Throne, thank you so much for affording me the opportunities that I’ve been given. Even when I was lacking as a student, you were always in my corner and have done tremendous things for my academic career. Because of you, I am going to continue pursuing journalism in college. I will still send my articles to you for critique while I’m writing for a collegiate publication!

I’ve announced it to many others, but I’m proud to announce that I will be a Wildcat at the University of Kentucky for the next four years. I am attending through the Academic Common Market and the William C. Parker Diversity Scholarship as well as of a student of the Lewis Honors College. I will be majoring in Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies on the Pre-Law track, and am more than excited. My successes can only be attributed to my family and the people mentioned throughout this piece. Thank you all for being there for me through it all.

It’s a bittersweet goodbye to know I won’t be writing for the Oracle anymore, and will hopefully be moving onto the Kentucky Kernel, but I know that our news site will continue to thrive. Until the future, thank you for reading the Oracle and I hope that you continue to enjoy pieces from the next generation of writers that this class will create.

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-Courtney Suber, Class of 2022.