Steve's Video Introduction

Warning: some material may not be suitable for devout Catholics.
Reader discretion is advised.

INTRODUCTION
What follows is part of the speech my high school principal gave on my first day of high school, ninth grade, in the Fall of 1971.

PRINCIPAL
Good morning. On behalf of the faculty and staff here at Holy Name High School, I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you all on your first day of a new life. And it is a new life for you, because today you become part of a new family: your high school family. Over the next four years, you will develop many friendships that will last throughout your life; you will become involved in many extra-curricular activities; you will study hard, and—if you are lucky enough to join one of our sports teams—play hard. I believe you will find these next four years challenging and rewarding, and you will discover, like so many before you, that these four years, your high school years, are the best years of your life.

Over the course of the next four years, I remembered his words very clearly. Almost daily they echoed in my head as if I were lost in a cavern and calling for help. Soon after that first day, I began to fear that these would indeed be the best years of my life, and I knew, if that were true, that I was in deep, deep sh—err, trouble.

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© 2004
Stephen A. Schrum