One Last Time, All about Hawken

Well, I guess this is the wrapping of the present. And the present being my senior project at North Coast Media and the time I've spent at Hawken School.

I really can't put it in words all of the various things I've taken in over the past month. Whether it might be riding the rapid and public transportation to work everyday, finding a new place to eat if I didn't pack lunch, working on a project that I've never had experience with, or talking to someone for the first time. All of these various things are starting to shape up into a masterful piece of artwork. This piece of artwork you might ask, yeah it's a sculpture of a little thing called the future. The good thing about this sculpture, I've started before a lot of other young artisans have and that's one of the reasons I am very grateful for everything Hawken School has done including Hawken Projects. Not only do I want to talk about this senior project in review but my whole year in review and how some of these things shape our minds differently from the normal high schooler.
First, education. I really don't need to speak much about the education at Hawken because we all know it's top notch. You can't say you didn't learn something one day because you'd be lying. Hawken educates us with knowledge not only for our next test but for life. We are learning more than just simple algebra and the importance/order of sentence structure. It's challenging at times but in the end we know the struggles we have gone through are only preparing us for success later down the road.
Second, the athletics. I've been blessed to be able to play 3 sports each year at Hawken and couldn't ask it any other way. I've created friendships that will last me forever and have gotten to know others around me just from playing sports. Not only does this teach us how to be sociable but understanding and empathetic. It's different from all sports but being on the course, field, court, track, pool, we all share something in common - the urge to win and succeed. The only difference you might ask? If we don't win, we know how to lose and what's appropriate.
Last, real world application. Though I am one of few at Hawken, I've been able to take classes such as Entrepreneurship that is completely out of the box and normal high school education. The class, instead of teaching us dates and facts, teaches us skills to learn and interact with adults in the real world. To solve problems for companies dealing with real money and issues is something we do everyday and that can't be compared to anything else.

I guess through all these words comes a lot of nostalgia and sadness, that 14 years ago, as a little boy, started his journey through Hawken. I definitely wouldn't have been able to talk about everything I might learn throughout my journey because I didn't know where I was going but looking back on it, I am glad it has paved out this way. I don't know what I would do if I hadn't been put to work testing my skills and knowledge throughout these 14 years. I know this has nothing to do with Senior Projects but its the intangibles that we learn everyday in our community that can't be matched, just as I have done here at North Coast Media. I wish I could start this journey all over again but I know that a new one is just around the corner holding things that maybe one day I'll be able to talk about again.

The only way someone could actually know exactly how and what these emotions are like and the skills I've gained from my time would be to live through it. I'm sure glad I did just that.