Dear New Albany,
If you’re reading this you probably know me as the guy who constantly tweets about The Office or Childish Gambino. Maybe you know me as Beef, my nickname that I’ve had since the seventh grade. Maybe you have seen me standing in my corner in the halls at school in the mornings. Maybe you’ve seen me walking to class. Maybe you don’t even know me, and that’s okay. This is my farewell to New Albany High School, the place that I hate so much, but the place I am also grateful for because it gave me a lot.
Unlike most people I wasn’t nervous at all to come to high school. Nothing about this building scared me, not the size or the large amounts of people in it. Coming in for the first time I thought it would be the same thing as middle school but just in a different setting, but boy oh boy was I wrong haha. I immediately met one of my favorite people ever – Mr. McGarvey, who I will always love with my entire heart for the rest of my life. I was 4 foot 8 inches freshman year, I had super nerdy glasses and an awful haircut, and the highest voice I have ever heard in my life. Those were bad times for me hahaha, no in all seriousness freshman year was fun, I had most of the same friends from middle school like Drake Miller and Matthew Fitzsimmons, but I also made new friends like Jacob Trulock who showed me a lot and single handedly helped me pass Spanish. I had great grades and really cared about them. (I would cry if I got less than a B). I was such an annoying loser freshman year that I’m surprised anyone talked to me, well I’m still kinda a loser but I like to think I’m less annoying now.
Sophomore year was pretty much the same thing for me. I became great friends with Ben, Chad, and Morgan, and kept talking to my old friends just as much as I had before. I had some fun times in Ceramics class with one of my best friends Kevin Sanchez, who I wouldn’t trade for anything. I took painting, and had that class with numerous friends like Matt, Rohan, Jonah, and Coen Beach, another one of my best friends that high school has given me. I barely grew at all sophomore year and my voice was still high. I stopped letting my mom dress me though and that was probably the smartest choice I’ve ever made in my life haha. To try and be cooler I got contacts instead of glasses and honestly they kinda sucked and I looked really weird without glasses so it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. Sophomore year was great, and I made some friends who I will have for the rest of my life hopefully. My grades were still great, and I still cried if I got less than a B on my report card.
My junior year I reunited with one of my if not my best friend of all time, Nathan Domogalski; he may have been one of the only good things to come from my junior year. Another good thing to come from sophomore year was meeting another one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Faulkner. She is one of the most genuine, passionate, and caring people I have ever met and has taught me a lot. She is the reason I am even writing this letter since she was the only reason I took newspaper.
This is when it all kinda goes downhill though. My junior year was hands down the worst year of my life. I lost my grandpa, who is the most important person in my life, and I became extremely depressed. I gave up on school, my grades fell and I barely passed my classes, I even failed some. I stopped hanging out with friends as much, and I skipped school a few times. I was sad, which wasn’t like me. Thanks to amazing people such as Mrs. Faulkner and Nathan, I got out of my slump. My grades were awful, and still are today (which is something I’m not proud of at all) and by summer I was back to hanging out with friends every day and going on adventures.
That brings us to senior year. At the beginning of the year I had no motivation at all, a huge huge case of senioritis. I didn’t want to be in this prison for another year, I just wanted to get on with my life and go away. Because of my awful grades I had to drop down to a Core 40 diploma which really upset me, and I still haven’t gotten my grades back to where they should be. I met another one of my favorite teachers, and possibly one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, Mr. Wright, who has taught me so much about not only academics but being a person, just from how he reacts and handles his class. He’s a truly amazing teacher and I’m glad I took POE this year even though it’s the hardest class I’ve ever taken. A lot changed from my previous years in high school. I didn’t really hang out with Matthew or any of my old friends anymore besides Nathan, and I started becoming better friends with Jackson Wigley, who I’ve known and been friends with since sixth grade. This is one of the best things I could’ve done, Jackson and I have become brothers over this past year, and I wouldn’t change any minute of it. I love that dude and I know he loves me. I plan on being friends with him for the rest of my life, and this is the same way with Nathan and Coen and Kevin and Drake, these are my best friends I’ve ever had. I met Libby Fisher, who was and is my first girlfriend, and who is the most important person in my life right now, and thanks to these people I overcame all the sadness that stayed with me from junior year. My senior year wasn’t a crazy one filled with partying or crazy stories, but it was a necessary part of my life and I’m glad it happened the way it did.
When I started typing this, (the morning it was due haha) I wanted to say how much I hated high school and how I’m so happy to leave and how it’s the worst thing ever. Don’t get me wrong, I AM excited to leave, and I definitely DON’T think high school will be the best part of my life, but now that I’ve went back and thought about it, high school wasn’t as bad as I’d like to say it was, in fact, it was pretty good. I owe everything and everyone I currently have to this school, so instead of saying farewell I’d like to just appreciate what it has taught me and what it has given me. For once I’m not complaining about this place, and this is the first time I’ve ever felt slightly sad about leaving. Thank you for my time here, for the countless nights I drove around listening to music with Nathan or Coen, for the hours I spent playing Destiny with Coen, and for the nights I spent at Jackson’s house eating Rally’s, for making me grow from a 4 foot 8 loser into the 5 foot 9, loud, sarcastic, joking person I am today, and thank you for giving me memories with people I will never forget.
Farewell,
Beef (Tyler Boren)