My name is Michael Holloway, I am a senior at Downers Grove South, and rumor has it I am more or less 100 days away from graduating high school. When I entered high school as a freshman, I was a bit stuck up and immature, I felt as if I knew what life was about, which way to turn, where to go when things got rough, I assumed that I had it all figured out, If you're a freshman, maybe you can relate. I was blessed to have been able to find Campus Life as a freshman, or rather that it found me. When I look back at my 4 years in high school, I don't see College Algebra Trigonometry, or the ACT, granted both of them brought me sufficient stress, they hold no place in my heart. When I look back, all I see is people, students, adults, teachers, friends, principals, administrators and everything in between. Why? Well it's quite simple. As I progressed in age, in maturity, in class, I found that life was less about math tests and english homework, and more about how the 4 walls of DGS could be broken down and expanded into the outside world, more about how I could apply the love I found in Christ to school. It is essential that you take classes seriously, yes, that you study, and prepare yourself, because you do learn valuable things in school, and it does prepare for college, especially the schools in this area, but that isn't the only reason you're there.

I am about 6'4, one of the tallest kids in our school, so naturally I spend a lot of my time looking down on people, literally that is, not metaphorically. Let me tell you what I see, heads down, big back packs, and a bunch of kids who are seemingly having the worst day of their life, some may even argue that each day in high school is worse than the day before. In 4 years you will spend about 10,000 hours in high school, that is a very long time to be upset with your educational situation. I look around and I see pot heads, kids who cant hold their pants up, goths, whites, blacks, hispanics, emo kids, preps, and everything else you can imagine. But the greatest thing I see is division, a lack of community, a lack of hope.

It is a great truth in my life that high school is what I choose to let it be, If I choose to have a bad attitude, then my time spent at school is going to be terrible, but if I choose to take these 4 years of my life, and make them mean something, then I will stand out, I will be different.

As I mentioned before, my high school has a huge variety of people, someone from every walk of life, and the unfortunate truth is that those differences are not always embraced the way I feel that they should be. I can't tell you the moment it happened, but a change arose in me. I realized that if I am going to spend 8 hours a day, 9 months a year, for the next 4 years of my life with these people, then I want to learn about them, I want to hear them, I want to know about who they actually are.

In high school and every chapter of life there are ups and downs, and how ever alone you think you are, if you would just reach out a hand you will see that in fact you are not. I know students who spent their 4 years doing drugs, partying, hooking up, and proving to the world that they were too cool for school, and if thats the path that you choose to take, then you can walk it, but I would argue that there lies no value in a life like that, that even if you spend all 4 years looking for happiness there, you will not find it.

I have been given much, a nice house, parents who are still together, good friends, and talents that I cannot claim my own. But to whom much is given, much is asked. In my time at DGS I've met students who have no home, and what some do call home isn't safe. Kids who have no parents and kids whose parents beat them. But most wont ever see this, because they got their big back pack on, head down, going to their next class, as if they were programmed to repeat the same thing everyday. You cannot see if your eyes are closed.

So you may choose to go through high school with your head down, your big back pack on, eyes closed, and just go through the motions everyday and hope something comes of it. Or you can try something new, and open your eyes, bring change, and be bold. Like I said, I have been given much, and when I met those who weren't given anything, or what they did have was taken away, then I give. I help them stand, walk, and give them something to hold on to. High School is not just about your GPA, but also about finding truth and hope in people.

When I look back, all I see is people, and how thats shaped me, I see all that I've helped, and all that have helped me. I made high school the way that I wanted it to be, I opened my eyes, and made it mean something, and I have found comfort and hope because of that. So if at this point in time your find your self doing the head down, big back pack deal, then I encourage you to bring change into your life.

High School is grades, tests, and percentages, and you can't avoid that, no matter how hard you try to forget school, or just go through the motions it will always remain. So I challenge you to embrace the academics, lift your head up high, open your eyes, and speak to those next to you. Help those who cannot stand on their own, and you will find great reward in it. There is no greater hope in the world than to love and be loved.

-Michael Holloway