The night was just like any other dance we seniors had attended. North Marion’s Prom of 2009 hit it off from the start. Students danced to songs including “Just Dance”, by Lady Gaga and “When You Say Nothing at All.”
It was the last song of the night, though, sung by the few seniors left on the dance floor that ended it all. North Marion students gathered around into a small circle as they sang “The Alma Mater.” Laughter and tears alike filled the room as the night came to a halt. It was only then that we seniors came to realize that our time was almost over. Soon we would be joining a place called The Real World. Like the many seniors before us, we hated to see it all end.
We had known that our time would come, when we would walk the halls for the last time. From the first time we stepped through those doors, we knew four years later that we would be leaving through those same doors. For many seniors the highlights included the state championship for the girl’s basketball team and the boy’s first football win for the season. That night was filled with fireworks and cheers of victory. Indeed, every senior would remember that final year.
“We come as strangers and leave as friends,” is the saying placed above the doors at North Marion. I cannot count the many friends that I have seen come and go. Like any school, we had our troubles and problems, friends and foes. However, on Prom Night, as we stood together, we saw the truth. The differences that had kept us apart no longer mattered. As I looked around at all the smiles and the faces, I knew that these strangers were more than friends. We were family.
It was not until I stood outside that reality sunk deep inside. Prom had ended in smeared mascara and blank faces. Many of my friends had admitted being scared of going on to college. Many seniors chose to stay local at places like Fairmont State and West Virginia University. Couples or high school sweethearts every year are faced with the decisions that will affect their future. For some, the military was their path and others, a vocational school. However, no matter what path senior chose, they cannot deny that longing for their first home away from home, North Marion High School.
The many events that seniors planned came and went so quickly. As each one passed, they seemed to make reality seem a little more real. Things like honor chords and graduation invitations reminded us that our time was little. Soon, we would be faced with summer jobs and trips to the beach, before we would begin another chapter of our lives. When the day finally came, when we walked to the podium, the cameras flashed across the stands. Pictures, though, can only do so much. For many seniors it was a moment that they would look back to and remember those many friends who once again were practically strangers.
The best of friends are never forgotten. Jane Debord once said, “Simple pleasures of growing up together are preserved in the keepsake albums of our hearts.”
In our hearts is where all seniors from every school will keep those memories. Items like senior pictures and the senior video may remind us of those friends, but the memories will never be lost like a photo album sitting on a dusty shelf. They say that these are the best days of our lives.
On May 29, 2009, we realize that those days would soon come to an end.
“There is a path before you that you alone can walk. There is a purpose that you alone can fulfill,” said Karl Dornacher. Though we may walk on to our future, we could never forget that place in the hills that brought us to where we are today. I look at my class and wonder who will be the next congressional representative, the next fry cook or the next teacher. Even though we know that our paths may grow apart, we still have that hope for tomorrow in seeing those friends again.
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PHOTO BY NEISA FLUHARTY
May 19, 2009
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