A big thank you goes out to Morgan Skaff for making me join so many clubs at South. Sure, they looked great on a college application. However, the memories we have and the impact we made through these clubs are worth far more than a few sentences on an activity list. As we grew from first-year members to leadership, everything we joined turned out to be the highlights of my time in high school.
Looking back to the peak of it all, junior year homecoming, I don’t think I have ever screamed and shouted more in my life. I spent more time planning homecoming than I did in class. Rollerblading to kickoff the pep assembly, straight to the front of the parade to start the chants, then to the game to hype up the student section. Of course, for the actual homecoming night, I had no voice, but it was so rewarding seeing and hearing about how much fun everyone had.
Besides a couple football games and a handful of spirit days, that all came to an end as we got shut down. The thing I am most grateful for is that I went to every homecoming dance, every football game, and put full effort towards every spirit day. Those are the times I miss the most when the whole school would get super excited, and all dressed up and see everyone smile throughout the halls.
The first club I joined was Student Association, from what I thought was another summer bike ride with Morgan, turned out to be a summer kickoff meeting for SA. Giving back to families in the area during the holiday with Adopt-a-Family, and watching parents break into tears because of what we do for them is something I will never forget. I always knew I wanted to do the best that I could for SA, to give back to families, charities and make everyone at South excited to come to school and events. I can only hope that after this year everyone will be able to experience the best of SA traditions.
Then there was Mock trial, something I would have never considered joining if Morgan’s older brother didn’t hype it up so much. Some would think practicing an arson trial every Thursday for an hour is a waste of time, but I learned so many skills from participating for three years. I met so many intelligent friends that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. Not only peers, but Mr. Palen and Coach Krall who kept the meetings lively while talking about crime.
Getting into Tower, I was about to stop trusting Morgan’s recommendations. Honors journalism…was not what I was expecting. But yet again, she was right, the Tower staff is like a second family now. Four years of writing, laughing, and listening to “9 to 5” in the back room. This class has given me communication skills and ambition, things I can take with me for the rest of my life.

The clubs we joined later, like Link Crew and Devil’s Den, just helped me become more involved with the school, meet new people in every grade and put smiles on student’s and teacher’s faces. I hope I made everyone’s high school experience more fun through these clubs because I know they did for me. So thank you Morgan for packing every second of my schedule the past four years with all of these memories.