Saturday, September 7, 2024
Hailey Hughes waves pom poms for the Showstoppers.
Joel Bird powerlifts during a meet in 2022.
On May 26, seniors and their families gathered at Porcupine Stadium for graduation ceremonies, and many of the senior athletic stalwarts were feeling equal parts nervous, excited, and sad.
Nervous and excited about what lies ahead, and a bit sad about what was being left behind.
“I’ve been trying to learn a bit on how to let things end,” said Joel Bird, who played football for four years, wrestled for two, and power lifted for one year. “Being a senior, you don't want it to end.”
He joked that being “head of the campus” feels good and “gets to your head a little bit.”
Bird relishes the valuable lessons learned at high school, and not just the ones absorbed from books and classwork.
“I’ve learned a lot about life these four years, like who your friends are,” he said. “You figure out that sometimes you and your friends don’t get to hang out all the time, but they’re still your friends, still your buddies.”
The graduation ceremony hadn’t yet begun, and Bird looked out over the mostly empty football field where he bled and sweated during games and practices. This year’s football team went 3-8 and lost their first playoff game. The team had gone 10-4, 11-3, and 13-2 during its previous three seasons.
“We didn’t exactly do too great this year,” Bird said. “I feel like I could have done more. It definitely was not the closure I wanted.”
He learned from the disappointment.
“That kind of taught me how to take a loss,” he said. “Even if it is your senior year, you're not owed anything. You just get what you get. Don’t throw a fit.”
(Dealing with disappointment in oneself is a lesson he might continue learning for years to come. The reporter/photographer on this story learned the same lesson in high school 45 years ago and is still learning – he failed to put a disk in his digital camera while on assignment for this story. Thus, the photos of Bird and Hailey Hughes taken for this story during their graduation cannot appear in this story. Oops. Lesson learned. Again.)
This month, Bird will leave for basic training and a stint in the U.S. Navy.
“I've been learning a lot of that type stuff, and I'm ready to continue,” he said. “I’m ready to go on to bigger and better things. The plan is to use the Navy to help me pay for college, even if it may be a trade school. I haven’t exactly decided. I figure I'd cross that bridge when I get there.”
The stole on his graduation gown held a couple Navy patches, a perfect attendance medal from his freshman year, and a red cord to signify giving blood twice during his senior year.
He will miss SHS.
“I made a lot of good friends,” he said. “Also, acquaintances that I've talked to once or twice, but they're still super cool with me. They treat me right. I treat them right. I’m going to miss seeing their faces every day.”
Hailey Hughes was also decked out in a graduation gown with bright red Converse on her feet adorned with Red Raiders on the sides. She will attend Texas Tech University and study music education and become a music teacher.
At SHS, she was a member of the International Thespian Society, a four-year member of color guard and choir, and a two-year member of the Showstoppers dance troupe.
“Throughout my four years of high school, I've done a lot of different things,” she said.
The experiences taught her “how to be a good person,” she said.
Surviving it all wasn’t easy.
“It takes a lot of self-discipline,” she said.
Her stole was heavily adorned with cords for honor guard, student council, blood donations, choir, theater, and other endeavors. She looks forward to moving ahead in life and earning more accomplishment.
Still, she will never forget her alma mater and those four years in high school.
“I haven’t been in Springtown all my life, but high school definitely brought me closer to pretty much everyone that I know,” she said. “I've met my hope-to-be lifetime friends here. I'm really excited to see what the future holds for me.”
