Bittersweet Farewell

As the days in our high school and AP English career wane, I am in utter disbelief as to where the time has gone.  I fully realize that our last day of school is this Friday and I know how soon we will go off to college and start real life, it seems to be anything anyone will talk about nowadays.  Yet, I am still in complete shock.  I feel like an underclassman, blundering about without any grasp on reality that I’m even in high school.  And now it’s time to go.  I’m not old enough for this.  Somewhere in between the journals and multiple choice games and complaining about datasheets and soapstones and graded discussions and blogs of course, we grew up.  Definitely in intelligence.  Inevitably in age. Debatably in maturity.  Now, despite learning for two years how to best express my thoughts and emotions into cohesive prose, I will turn to various song lyrics as a means of attempting to relay this fleeting, bittersweet, incredulous, feeling to you all.  Without further ado, I leave you with a short play list of song lyrics:

“Say goodbye to the freak show
Say hello to the footlight's glow
Your success can only grow
Say goodbye to the freak show
…
Farewell don’t forget us
Do tell how you met us
Don’t dwell on sorrow as you go
You will farewell” (“Say Goodbye to the Freak Show” Side Show)

“How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad
I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away
It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday” (“It’s so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” Boyz II Men)

“Something is stirring
shifting ground
It's just begun.
Edges are blurring
all around
and yesterday is done
Feel the flow
hear what's happening
We're what's happening
Don't ya know
We're the movers and
We're the shapers
We're the names in tomorrow's papers
Up to us, man, to show 'em.” (“Our Time” Steven Sondheim)

“I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through
We are the champions - my friends!” (“We are the Champions” Queen)

Why AP English?

1.  Are you a GPA-monger? A’s in AP classes count for a 5 on the 4 point scale, but you already knew that didn’t you? If you get an A, first I applaud your dedication and effort, way to go! Also you’ve just boosted your GPA, well done.  Even if you get a B, still a lot of hard work, more applause, you will still find a grade booster in the effort.
2.  The quote sheets.  Essentially a list of inside jokes that you’re a part of! Hooray for friends! Plus, you can revel in the thought of people laughing about how funny you are by something you said, or at least could have said.
3.  Your AP English class can become like a family.  You’ve been through some good times, and oh, how you’ve been through some tough times, but it was all together.  It’s so nice to have a group of people on the same page as you (oh, the English puns!).  You’ll also find some fantastic friendships with people you wouldn’t necessarily befriend without this class.
4.  Stickers.  There is no greater accomplishment (total hyperbole guys, don’t worry, it’s not only downhill from here on out) than finding a shiny sticker atop your paper.  You probably worked very hard for it, and you earned it, these bad boys are few and far between.  Simply knowing that you are among the elite few to receive such an award should make you happy.
5.  You’ll end up feeling like a really smart person, because you are, of course.  This class stretched my brain further than most, from the sometimes deep in-class discussions to out of class papers.
6.  The multiple choice game. At the end of the quarter, after working your butt off to maintain your thin-ice grade, lies two days of stress free pure competition.  You can make up cool team names and cheers and cheer as you rack up extra credit points. 
7.  Understanding poetry is such a good skill in life.  Not that people go around forcing poems upon others at gunpoint making them analyze them or die an early death, but I’ve heard stories.  Seriously though, it’s nice not being a dense, soulless human being when it comes to poems.
8.  Field trips!  You may get a chance to go downtown to see Othello or another play you’ve read.  As a bonus to the fun, you could be the lucky winner of a seat on the bus with Ms. Serensky.
9.  For the day that it’s over.  These two years of painful strife, as much as I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat and as much as I’ve grown as a person, have been well worth it, but it’s nice to know there is no datasheet in my immediate future.  I cannot explain the pure elation I’ve felt today.
10.  Bobbie Jo Serensky.  You may fear her most, if not all, the time.  But a) she’s 100% for your success, she’ll help you out; and b) she’s one of the funniest people I know, she will laugh at you, but you’ll probably deserve it, and it will be hilarious.

Flies on the Wall of the AP English 12 Exam

[Lady Bracknell, Ralph, and R.P. McMurphy peer through the Rec Center window to watch the AP English 12 students writhe in anxiety as they take their AP exam]

Lady Bracknell: “It’s delightful to watch them” (Wilde 9).

Ralph: [with disgust] “It’s written all over you” (Currie 245). 

[The three zero in on one particular student, a Miss Mary Beth O’Neil, who seems to be working slower than her classmates]

Lady Bracknell: “I wish [she] would arrive at some conclusion” (Wilde 52). 

Ralph: “Quit worrying!” (Currie 246). 

R.P. McMurphy: “Why, don’t you know, buddy?” (Kesey 60). 

Ralph: [glances at the multiple choice question] “I’m not really sure I understand it myself” (Currie 249). 

Lady Bracknell: “Come dear. We have already missed five if not six” (Wilde 50). 

[She finally selects an answer and they let her go on without much heckling and turn to the rest of the room.  Next comes free response and they again find someone who seems to struggle with the time, comparatively]

Lady Bracknell: “It is obviously the same person” (Wilde 50). 

R.P. McMurphy: “Well you didn’t make her feel like any queen” (Kesey 185). 

Lady Bracknell: “most attractive young lady, now that I look at her” (Wilde 47). 

R.P. McMurphy: [looks at the stop time rapidly approaching on the large clock] “Not very long…” (Kesey 278).

Ralph: “I don’t really keep track of time out here” (Currie 253). 

Lady Bracknell: [sees Mary Beth dividing her time into sharp eight-minute segments] “It looks so calculating…” (Wilde 49). 

Ralph: “it feels like [she] wants to do everything all at once” (Currie 245). 

[At the anticlimactic end to the long exam, and thus the end to the students’ AP English career, the three observers disappointedly walk away from the Rec]

Lady Bracknell: “Education produces no effect whatsoever” (13).

R.P. McMurphy: “For a minute there, I thought I was back in a Red Chinese prison camp” (Kesey 66). 

Ralph: “It doesn’t take long in this place before you start looking like you’ve been here forever” (Currie 245).