I have spent the past four years of high school in room 1305, Mrs. Pickens’ room. She came to teach family and consumer sciences at West my freshman year, and I wasn’t sure I would enjoy that first class I took. It’s a large white and brown room with big fluorescent lighting and one of the only classrooms at Olathe West that has opaque walls. You could almost walk right past it if you’ve never taken her class before. When I walked into that room, I felt trapped. I was new to this school, I didn’t know anyone in this bleak environment and I hadn’t sewn in around a year.  

It is easy to feel like this, like you don’t belong. Coming to high school is thinking you know who you are and that idea being flipped around, upside down, backwards and trying to figure it out all over again. You make new friends, form new opinions, find new hobbies and it can be disorienting. I know this because I went through it. My advice to you is to embrace it. Find your people. Do what you love. Challenge yourself to think differently. 

My home became the sewing room. I walk into that room inspired, making pants out of a comforter and my prom dress out of a shower curtain.  With her kind words, Mrs. Pickens mentors me and encourages my endeavors when I experiment with something neither of us have tried before. My friends I have lost have given me a lesson for the next and the ones who stayed understand me better than anyone. I came to Olathe West feeling lost and I’m walking out with more understanding of who I’m going to be than I ever thought was possible. Lost is a foreign feeling long forgotten now since I found my people. 

Though I am leaving this school, I am leaving behind my legacy. All the connections I made and the teachers that have impacted me will continue to impact others. Mrs. Pickens will be placed into a different classroom where she can reach a new group of students like me. My underclassmen friends continue to affect the underclassmen behind them. Belonging doesn’t end when you leave the place you found as home. 

Find the people who see the best in you. Find the teacher that believes you can turn an old, thrifted shower curtain into an evening gown. Find your reason. Find your joy. That is what high school is really about. Make it happen.