Coming into the new year as a senior is the weirdest thing in the world. I remember walking into school on my first day of Freshman Orientation and having my brain explode. No, seriously. My brain exploded and the janitors had a crazy mess to clean up and Doc P (you’ll find out how great she is soon enough, young ones) stitched me back up. Needless to say it was a total nightmare. The reason my cranium combusted was that I never imagined high school to be the paradise that it is. By paradise I don’t mean it’s, like, sitting on a Hawaiian beach drinking VIRGIN Piña Coladas and getting my feet massaged by a unicorn with a never ending subscription to Netflix playing episodes of Scandal in the background. Now THAT is how I would want to spend my spring break! But really, high school is a paradise in a way that  we are all blank slates, coming into fruition together. Even as seniors, many of us are still finding our paths, and that’s okay. I encourage you to find yours.

Think of FTHS as a giant boiling pot, and all of you underclassmen are individual ingredients being tossed in. You need all the vegetables, spices, dashes of salt, everything added to the pot to make that perfect soup. Freehold Township is a unique soup, being that we are comprised of students from four different middle schools. This gives us that great authentic flavor that only our school can provide. If you can’t rap your yet-to-be molded little minds around my stellar soup analogy, just know this: you have the capacity to contribute so much to this school and you have so much to offer. I came into this school with the sexiest damn pair of braces you’ll ever see, a pre-pubescent voice tantamount to that of a dog’s squeaky toy, but confidence nonetheless. In this school, confidence (NOT ARROGANCE), is what will carry you. Today I am the proud Homecoming Prince (my parents still tell ALL of their friends about it), editor of the newspaper, VARSITY tennis player (still a mystery) and so much more. This isn’t a vanity article meant to cover my many many many many many many many many (multiply by 37 more manys) accomplishments, but is living proof that a shy kid, just like many of you, can come into this school knowing very few people and ultimately reaching his/her full potential. So try out for that sport or join that club or talk to that pretty mama sitting next to you in child development because you owe it to yourself to be something great. Find your niche and find yourself, because here at Freehold Township, individuality is encouraged above all else. Just look at the mural near the gym that reads “Be Yourself, Because Everyone Else Is Taken”. No truer words have ever been spoken, especially when talking about my paradise, Freehold Township High School.