Jessie, just for you!

There have been many things pulling at my time and energies recently, but I thought I'd share one of the more surprising ones....

This past week the IB Vice Principal at Riverview High School asked on behalf of Linda Nook, Principal, if I would be available and willing to be the parent representative at the groundbreaking of the new campus for RHS. It is set to be completed by the start of Laura's senior year. Along with this honor came the task of preparing a 3-5 minute speech.

After much thought (while continuing to sew Emma's dress!!), this is what I've come up with for the occasion.

I would LOVE feedback (any kind!!....especially any apparent grammar no-no's!!) The ceremony is this upcoming Tuesday morning.

The same conversation happened each year between my mother and me just before kick-off at Northwestern University’s football season opener.

“I can’t believe it. These freshman look even younger than last year’s.”

“What are you talking about, Mom? They’re the same age every year.”

I didn’t know at that time just how wise a woman she is.

Now I am the mother of two incoming freshman. As Katy enters her first year of college, my youngest is preparing to join the Class of 2011 at Riverview. Their sister, Emma, is completing her RHS education as a member of this year’s graduating class. And they, no we, are all too young for that to be true.

The fact is, as we are all aware, time goes quickly. Four years pass, and our high school years are memories. Of the members of my immediate family, I am the only non-RHS alum, past or future. My husband and daughters discuss now, and will continue to do so, the happenings at Riverview during their own time, through the course of 41 years. It is not the walls, windows, desks, blackboards or smartboards that create a high school experience. At Riverview, as at any school, it is the time and people you spend it with. It’s not just the Kilties. It’s staying for the drumline after the football game with your friends. It’s more than being a student in the IB Program. It’s going to Ms. Jones’ Chem classroom after school to study for that test you’re sure you haven’t prepared enough for (even though you probably have) or finishing up that IA for Ms. Feasley after school with 35 of your closest friends. It’s Nachos Day in the cafeteria. It’s not being a member of one of five choirs, it’s the feeling during a Renaissance performance when all of a sudden it all comes together. It’s supporting the Walk for Life with a team of your friends, and going in an endless circle around the Ram Bowl for an entire night in May. And while you know the thrill of watching your eldest child walk in that cap and gown; when it is all said and done, it is defined more poignantly in that picture, with her two best friends outside afterwards, that goes off with her to college. And yes, this year’s freshman class is younger than ever.

With four years completed and diploma in hand, Katy gave her youngest sister some unsolicited advice not long ago. She said, “The years will go by quickly. You’ll change a lot, and so will your friends. Enjoy it. It goes faster than you think.”

And so, on this occasion, we ask what is the significance of Riverview High School? It must be more than just a building, and indeed it is. It is a place, no matter what the designer may imagine it to look like, where memories are made.

A songwriter once penned:

“If these old walls could speak
Of things that they remember well,
Stories and faces dearly held,
Rooms full of laughter,
If these walls could speak.

If these old fashioned window panes were eyes,
I guess they would have seen it all -
Each little tear and sigh and footfall,
And every dream that we came to seek

If these walls could speak.

They would tell you that I owe you
More than I could ever pay.
Here's someone who really loves you;
Don't ever go away.
That's what these walls would say.”

Riverview’s campus will have changed a lot from when my husband entered as a freshman in 1970 until the time Laura graduates in 2011. But Riverview herself will not have changed.

Just the walls.

As a footnote, take a look at this controversial element of the "new school"...