Moving Forward...

Hey everybody,

As of right now it is 12:00 midnight, which means one thing: a new day. But today is not just any ordinary day, today will be an extraordinary day. Today, I graduate from high school and get ready to officially embark on a new journey that will take me to God knows where. 

What I do know is that I will be attending University of Alabama in the fall, and I will fly down for orientation next week, register for classes, meet new people, and yet again turn the page on a chapter in my life.

For starters, let me summarize my latest "chapter" of my life:
I was never supposed to attend North Andover High School, that was never in the discussion for me. Even in 6th grade my parents had me looking at private schools for high school. At the time I was in the Andover school system, so I would have been going right to Andover High, which never much appealed to me.

Long story short I ended up at Tilton School where I enjoyed 3 years of school, met some great people, had different experiences, some good and some bad. I made some mistakes, however, and was forced to leave Tilton, and ultimately wound up going to NAHS.

I can still remember the first time I walked into NAHS, I actually got lost trying to find the locker room for football (I was late too, classic Roger move). Nervous, excited, scared were probably the three main things I felt right then. Everything I had heard about public high school was negative, and I hadn't quite experienced anything like it.

The first kid I met at North Andover High School was Glen Hartford, and my first thought of him was here's Mr All American a classic jock, probably can't even read but he's a sick linebacker or something. I'll never forget it, he came up to me and shook my hand (almost broke it), introduced himself and asked me what position I played, to which I replied nervously, "Oh, um outside linebacker and tight-end" and he said "Same here, glad to have you on the team." That's kind of when I knew I had no chance of starting... Haha.

I had no clue what the hell I was doing for the first couple weeks, so Coach Van Horn just told me to follow Glen since we played the same positions (Van Horn also told me to move to defensive end, so I did). Obviously after watching him for a little bit I knew he had talent and could play some football. What I didn't realize right away was how good of a kid he was. Never once did I get a sense of arrogance from Glen, and he truly was Mr All American. This attitude spread through out the team as well, and I've never really seen a more humble, hard working group of guys like that team. We had fun, but we worked hard, and most importantly we were really a team. Although we didn't have the best season in terms of wins and losses, I loved being a part of that squad because we never gave up and we worked our asses off.

That football team, to me is a microcosm of this town and school. I came into this year not knowing what to expect and reluctant about having to go to a public high school. What I gained from this whole experience is a knowledge that I'll carry with me forever. And it's not the type that you learn in math or science class. Rather this knowledge is simply how to be a good person overall, and how to be a functioning member of a community. Whether that community is a team, school, office, dorm: whatever the case may be, the criteria is always the same: Be respectful, courteous, and willing to work hard for others. My classmates and teammates this year were all of these things, and for that, I thank you. Right now I can safely say that I am a better person because of all the experiences that have happened in the past year, and everyone kind of contributed to that.

I've made some great friends, had different experiences, good and bad, but in the end I'm a better person and I'm ready for the next chapter in my life. I truly hope you feel the same way I do, Class of 2013, because I believe each and every one of us has the potential to do some great things in this world.

I'll truly miss y'all, and I wish I got to know some of you better.

Thank you all...

Good Knight (See what I did there?)

Thanks for reading,

-RB