Hi! Some of you might not even remember me from High School. I was rather shy and kept to my circle of friends.
High School for me was a time of discovery, figuring out who I was. I don’t think I really knew back then. I had many happy memories and also some unpleasant ones. I guess that’s typical of what all of us as teenagers dealt with. I remember a lot of laughter & fun, being allowed to finally go to parties, letter exchanges, the first crushes, & first loves. I also remember a lot of tears, friendships tested, open forums, & first heartaches. Oddly enough, I don’t remember doing a lot of studying. Haha! Although I remember the friendly teachers, the terror ones, & the funny ones. We had a great group of them teaching & guiding us, we were so lucky!
We all have our own high school stories. We all have our own versions and memories of encounters, conversations, events and even people. What’s beautiful about coming together after 25 years is that we all have written our own stories since March of 1996.I for one discovered the love & passion for teaching. Now, I’m the one doing the teaching and the guiding. Who would have thought? Haha!
What I learned through all these preps for Silver 2021 is that our stories have changed. From being quiet and shy, I have found my voice. I’m now working with a small group of women with amazing journeys of their own. Some A LOT different than mine, some similar. I found mutual respect in a space where shy girls could also lead. I have gotten to know them better these past 5 years and now call all of them my friends. I have found similarities with girls who were different from me, some who I thought were masungit or snobbish & some who I didn’t understand before. I’ve renewed friendships and formed new ones. From the girls they were, I’m getting to know the women they’ve become.
I hope in this road to our homecoming, we get to meet new old friends, we get to mend broken ties, we find it in ourselves to break the mold. Your memories are just that – memories. We take the good ones with the bad and let us hope that in our journey to our homecoming – we get to change our stories 
