Tears, happiness, cuddling, and understanding are only a few of the things I learned as did the other sophomores, at Sophomore Awareness Week. When I first heard about this ‘Sophomore Awareness Week’ I thought ‘how dumb,’ but it was really my thinking that was extremely dumb. Awareness week was a once in a life time experience, unless you go back as a guest to tell about an event that you’ve gone through. This week was also a great week for getting away from school. We had hardly any bad weather except that it was exceptionally cold.

A lot of the people I have talked to say they’d like to go back and tell an experience that they’ve gone through. Well, why not? I have tons of stories to tell, and many of them could make anyone cry, not that I would want them to. I learned so many new things about people I would never of guessed. There was Mr. Foyt and his smoking habits, Mrs. Pollis and her personal story about the death of her son. Then there was Mr. Cote, who spoke about substance abuse. There were many other people as well, but these were a few that I could really remember.

One of my preferred events wasn’t a speaker or a group activity, but the candle ceremony. The reason I can say why I liked the ceremony was not because it was the last thing on our agenda, but because candles were passed out, then they were lit. The way they were lit was each person had a candle, and we were standing in a circle. When the person with the lit candle was finished saying what they were most grateful for, they’d light the person’s candle next to them. As each person said what they wanted, the circle would keep closing in on me. I kept thinking to myself ‘what am I most grateful for, and why?’ Well my turn came quick enough and out of the blue, my mind spoke for me. I heard these simple words come out, and I didn’t even realize the thing I was most grateful for was being a part of Monmouth and finding a family such as I have recently.

Well my turn was finally over and so was the day. When the candle ceremony ended, we counted to three and we all blew out our candles at the same time. I know that sounds kind of boring, and a waste of time, but you’d have to be there to understand what I am saying.

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