My name is Leah Bowen, and this is my last editorial for the Indian Post Newspaper. Actually, this is my last everything here at Gaffney High School. These are my last days, my last lunches, my last tests, and my last laughs here. It saddens my heart to write this, and I write this last editorial with nothing but the best memories in my mind and the best friends in my heart.

As of December 20th, 2019, I will be a Gaffney High School graduate. I’ll no longer be able to walk into these doors every weekday morning at 7:40 as a student. I’ll no longer be able to walk these halls with my classmates. I’m growing up, and it’s a sad thing to feel when you’re leaving the past 4 years of your life behind.

I’ve grown to love Gaffney High School deeply. I’ve learned to love the staff, the teachers, and the students here. I love the way that the cafeteria smells like chicken tenders when lunch time comes along. I love the way that I get to roam the halls and take photos of kids with smiles on their faces for the newspaper. I love the way that I can walk down the hall and always find a familiar face. I’ll miss the laughs with friends, and I’ll miss the tears shared together. I’ll miss the chaos of the children cheering at the football games, and I’ll miss hearing the band play every Friday when there was a football game. I’ll miss the librarians who always greeted me with a smile and never yelled at me for getting them to print countless numbers of papers for me. Borrowing laptop chargers and asking people for their snacks… I’ll miss it all. It’s bittersweet walking into this school for the last few times. It’s crazy to look back on how much I have grown and changed since the ninth grade. It’s scary to see how fast the time went by.

I close my eyes and picture the girl I use to be. The scared girl in the ninth grade. I remember walking into the ninth-grade building with my best friend, Bailey, by my side. I remember how much my legs were shaking because of how nervous I was. I found a table with some friends, and we sat and waited patiently. We cracked jokes, we laughed, and we lived in the moment. When the bell rang, we all rushed to our homeroom teacher. This was the start of something new. It was official… I was a “highschooler.” I never truly knew the value of the good times I had in ninth grade till now. I think of all the things that made it memorable. I had to be walked to French class almost every day for the first two weeks because I kept getting lost. I remember always visiting Mrs. Bramlett’s class just for fun whenever I could. I had no idea how valuable these moments would become.

Tenth grade year was next. I was officially spending all of my days in the big building. I was studying hard for French II tests and going on college fieldtrips. This is the year that I decided Algebra II wasn’t meant for me. I was just living life to the fullest and not looking forward to junior year after hearing all of the horror stories from it.
Then it was here… junior year. The year everyone warned me about. The year that was supposedly going to be the hardest year of high school. The year that I truly started looking into colleges and realizing the importance of taking care of myself mentally. I was taking AP US History and realized that I’d never grasp it in the way I wanted. I had sleepovers and late-night food runs with friends, and genuinely tried to enjoy it while it lasted. Junior year was filled with countless hours studying for the SAT and ACT, all while still trying to figure out what your plan was for your senior year and college. Junior was the year that I decided that I wanted to graduate early in my senior year and start college in January. While I thought that my senior year was simply just right around the corner, it was actually right in front of my face.

And finally, it was here: senior year. Senior year has been filled with franticness and confusion. My plans in August were completely different than what they are now. I’ve learned a lot about life these past few months as a senior, and I’ve learned a lot about myself. I learned that sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to let life fall apart. Sometimes life has to fall apart completely and plans have to change in order for the best to come after. If you were to ask me in August what my plans were, I’d say I wanted to go to the College of Charleston and study to be a psychiatrist. I was so set on the idea of going far away for college that I didn’t even stop to think about what I truly wanted and needed in order to better myself. It took everything falling apart in my life for me to learn that there are battles that we have to face head-on. I had to learn that running away to a college away from what I loved wouldn’t solve my internal conflicts within myself. This year, I taught myself to value what I have in life and I had to make sacrifices, but that’s okay. I’ve made so many new friends this year as a senior, and it’s going to break my heart to leave… but I learned that goodbyes are okay. Goodbyes lead to the most beautiful hellos when you meet again.

I walk these halls one last time and I think of all that I’ve been taught here. I am reminded of the love that I felt between these walls of this school. I sit down in my desk in each class, and I only hope and pray that college treats me as well as Gaffney High did. As for my new college plans, I am attending USC at Upstate starting this January for the Spring 2020 semester. I will major in psychology with a minor in child advocacy studies in order to make a difference in the world one day. I will work to my greatest ability and be the best person I can possibly be in order to help others in life. I am so thankful to have these opportunities put in front of me and I will forever be a Gaffney Indian. #GaffneyIndian #FutureSpartan

To everyone I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and to all the teachers and staff that have helped me along the way… thank you. Thank you all for believing in me and pushing me to always be kind and always be an open-thinker. It has truly been such a pleasure to be a student here for the past 4 years and I’m so blessed to have had such amazing people in my life.