Dear Tualatin High School, I would like to thank you for everything you have
given me. I will always look back with happiness on all of the time I have spent with you. Over the past four years, many of my greatest memories took place within your wonderfully crimson walls. What were once simply empty hallways and carpeted classrooms to me now hold stories and memories around every corner that I will treasure forever. Thank you for the library, where I could meet my friends to chat, have meetings with The Wolf staff or squeeze in some last-minute studying before a test Thank you for rooms 18, 106 and 17, which will always be filled with memories of newspaper paste-up, laughter and Lacy’s delightful brownies. Thank you for the upper loop, where I have run countless warm-up miles with my teammates, discussing our days’ happenings. And thank you for opening up your hallways to us on that one rainy day when we opted to run our warm-up inside. Thank you for room 15, where my amazing 15-person IB English class met, and where I gave my dreaded ten-minute Individual Oral Presentation on Cloud Atlas. And of course thank you for room 32, where I had the great joy of learning biology from Mr. Rott every other day during junior year amid stunning murals, might I add. Thank you for the main gym, where I played badminton in freshman P.E. and eventually experienced guys doing BMX tricks while also (ineffectively) promoting anti-bullying (but hey, they tried). I could go on, but I won’t do that to you today.

While you’ve seen me at my best, you’ve also seen me at my worst, but you welcomed me with open arms regardless. Whether I was rushing in late to first period, unconfidently turning in a calculus test after staying three minutes past the bell, or in the South Lot frantically finishing an essay in the passenger seat of my brother’s car at 8:01—yes, this actually happened on multiple occasions—your halls were always there, waiting to guide me to my next destination. When someone spit out their gum and it landed in my hair at junior Homecoming, you, being prepared as always,
had scissors on hand to save the day.

Even though many things have changed since I first walked through your doors as a freshman, you have
(for the most part) stayed the same; you have the same wolf murals, cherry blossom trees and outstanding teachers that you did when I was a freshman. Like me, each and every one of your students of the Class of 2020 is grateful for you and will remember you in their own unique way.

Above all, I would like to thank you for giving me friendships I will cherish forever and memories that will always fill me with joy. Even though our time together was cut short, I believe in quality over quantity, and I wouldn’t change my 3.68 years with you for the world… Except for maybe being able to eat just one more of Lacy’s brownies. 🙂