St Teresas Academy - Avila Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 11 text:

Far left at top: why do we save all of these things? They look so or- dinary! Center top: Cards and flowers, and Teddy bears, are age- less reminders of days and friends gone by. Bottom center: Remind- ers of days spent frol- icking at the beach and basking in the sun. Top right: Old. often used paintbrushes waiting pa- tiently for the hands that will guide them. Lower right: Here we can keep our things A safe from mom!!! X 7

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Mom said we were going to clean my room today. This means that my mother, the conserva- tive, the queen of, if it’s a year old. it’s obsolete , is going to lay both eyes and hands on my treasures. Well, they aren’t priceless, and from the way they’re strewn all over my room, buried under my shoes, and shoved to the back of my closet, you wouldn’t think that these are things I love and trea- sure. But, treasure them I do! It’s amazing what seeing that dried up rose pressed into my photo album does for my spirits. Sometimes when I just happen to be under my bed, I find old cards and notes from people. What- ever I’m doing is put on hold as I am transported back to the time and place in which I received the card. Frantically, I race around my room, first unearthing my treasures, and then trying to stash them in the unlikeliest places. As I hide an enormous rock, painted gaudy green and yellow, I can’t help but wonder why I am saving it. I mean, I just can’t see myself hauling the rock off with me for prominent display in my college dorm. I hear my mom puffing up the stairs, and I make a last hopeful survey of the room .. . nothing in sight! As she walks into the room, I know she means business; she is carrying an entire box of Hefty bags. The closet is the first to go. She grabs all the clothes I don’t want her to throw away, and tosses them into a trashbag. Stealthily, j I creep up and remove them, sneaking them back into the closet. The desk is next on her hit list. I try to watch in a detached manner as an entire semes- ter’s worth of notes my friends and I wrote during religion class are tossed into the trashbag. She throws things and I catch them in mid-air, barely sav- ing them from the jaws of death, per- sonified as a gaping green Hefty bag. I don’t remember where all my trea- sures are stashed. Sometimes as I am, for some strange reason, looking be- hind the stereo, or the radiator, I find one of my precious pieces. I wonder why this piece of junk that is worth nothing can be worth so much. Here are some ordinary objects made extraordinary by people’s minds and hearts. Sr. Jean ladevito — I have a box of shells, just because I don’t want to throw it away. I also have a container of oil paint brushes because someday I might use them. Alexis Petri, senior — My Rollmaster toilet paper roller. It is a symbol of an art project that I never finished.” Lourdes Vallazza, junior — All the birthday cards I have ever gotten. When I clean out my drawers, I like to just read them. I don’t get any cleaning done. Mary-Therese Reardon, junior — A cup of sand from the beach. It is my escape because I look at the sand and dream of lying in the sun with warm water lapping at my feet. 6

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Right: Senior. Lisa Boyd seems to con- centrate heavily on something. Most people quickly find that con- centration is vital in maintaining homework and extracurricular ac- tivities. mmam Every year thousands of young eighth graders are awakened to the fact that high school is just around the corner. They are cascaded with the millions of horror stories about entering secondary school. Most de- velop intense paranoias as a result. They have a strangely terrible fear of big, square buildings, or teachers that wear the bifocals with the thick, black rims-, offices begin to look like large, empty prison cells with white walls and bars on the windows. You can go in, but you can’t come out!” Then, there is that annoying fear of bathrooms where there may be a group of girls waiting to corner you. You probably wore their trademark brand of lipstick or looked — yes, looked — at one of their boy- friends! Finally, everywhere you look there are Algebra books, millions of Al- gebra books in that real funny green color that psychologists say dulls your senses so you won’t be encouraged to be hyper during class. You may think these stories are unrealistic, but some stories are even worse. Some refer to high school as the most painful and difficult time of your life. It’s no wonder that it’s painful and difficult — people are stuffed with so many stories that they’re always wait- ing for the extraordinary to happen. It rarely takes place. Often times the greatest scare that a high school fresh- man has is adjusting to the fact that homework isn’t a one-night event. St. Teresa’s students have many expecta- tions coming into their first year. Freshman, Chantil Dean says, ”1 expect to make good grades and be or try to be involved in activities.” Senior, Lisa Gib- lin adds, ”1 expected to keep all my same friends, but sure enough, during lunch there were forty of us at one ta- ble. I thought I’d try out for a sports team since I was good in grade school. I barely made it. My fears got worse and I worried more. I never knew you had so much to do in so little time.” There probably isn't one eighth grad- er that wouldn't love some advice on their first day. Seniors, usually, will give it. Senior, Andrea Monroe offers this suggestion, ”1 would advise a per- son to stay open-minded because so many freshmen leave their first year because it’s such a big transition from being at the top and running the school to the bottom, and being run by the school.” High school is a BIG DEAL! It shouldn’t be taken lightly either. And the stories — well, they're only to frighten you and shake you up a little so that you’ll be wide awake on your first day. So, when you hear them, don’t de- spair. Keep your head up and walk tall. If that doesn’t work, cover the green Algebra book, don’t wear lipstick, and go to an all-girls school. 8