As my high school days are coming to an end, I can’t help but stop and look back through all of the countless memories that I have made during my journey through these high school years. As I look back at these precious four years, I realize how blessed I have been to be able to wear blue and gold with a “Kelso” written across my jersey. I know that something as simple as wearing “Kelso” or having a “Hilander” on the front of a jersey or sweatshirt may seem silly to so many people, but the amount of pride that I have while wearing them can hardly be explained, so I’ll do my best.

I will always remember the first day I walked into the front doors of Kelso High School. The rich traditions of the past generations before me practically flooded out of the doors as soon as I opened them. From that moment I knew I was accepted into the heart of student life and I was accepted into my new home. It feels like just yesterday I was a gangly, awkward freshman trying to find my way in my new environment and my new world, and all of a sudden here I am today, a not as gangly and a little less awkward senior trying to find the path for my next chapter into the real world. I guess what I am trying to really say, is from the moment that I walked into the doors of Kelso High School, I knew that forever more I would be proud to be a Hilander.

I love walking into the main street hallway and seeing the beautiful mural painted on the wall above the commons. I love walking into a home full of giant Hilander CLAN banners hanging proudly from the rafters, the colorful display cases showing the student life and all of the blue and gold everywhere. It’s just this weird and uncontrollable feeling of pride and school spirit that just floods through your veins. I have been taught by some of the most amazing faculty during my four years here at Kelso, but not only have I been taught about math and science and whatever other course I have taken, I was taught about character, heart, perseverance, and hard work. Some of the most important people in my life have been the ones in the front of the classroom, definitely pushing me and challenging me with their difficult courses, but giving me hope and time and showing me hard work pays off from helping me be the best that I could be even if it meant giving up some of their free time. There is just a family at Kelso that you feel in the atmosphere even in the teachers that are there to lead us to the start of a bright future. Because of their investment to your interest and of their interest in our future, you know how special it is to be a Hilander even in the classroom.

Not only do you feel what it’s like to be a Hilander in the classroom, but wearing that “Kelso” on your jersey or on a sweatshirt while playing a sport or going to a sporting event makes you proud to support the blue and gold. I have had the privilege to wear and play in a Kelso Hilander varsity jersey for soccer, basketball and track and field all four years of my high school career. Like opening the front doors of the school for the first time, putting on that Kelso jersey makes you want to play for everyone in the entire Kelso community. When you put on the blue and gold, you don’t play for yourself. You play for your coaches, your teammates, your family, the community, younger kids who look up to you, past generations who have worn those jersey’s before you… there’s just nothing like it anywhere else. Honoring the rich traditions of being a Kelso Hilander from years before me shows how generations behind me will honor the traditions from when I went to school here at Kelso. There’s just something special about a small, one high school town. All of the blood, lots of tears and LOTS of sweat from training and competing to be the best that you can be on and off the court and the pride of honoring the past while shaping the future when wearing that jersey, I can’t explain it. Kelso has helped shape me into the person that I am today, and the countless memories, and friendships made have shown me how truly special it has been to be a Hilander.

As graduation gets closer and closer everyday, and I think about closing this chapter of my life and opening the college chapter of my life, the gratitude I feel towards Kelso High School is infinite. Kelso High is it’s own community, it’s own family. The spirit and tradition flows into your body and you can practically see it plastered on the walls and inside the walls of Kelso. It really has been awfully hard thinking about my journey in high school coming to an end, but now that it is near the end, I truly understand what it has meant to be a Hilander. I will forever more bleed blue and gold throughout my heart and I have never been more proud to say that I was lucky enough to be able to say I was a Kelso Hilander. WE ARE *clap, clap* KELSO