Sean is the first teenager to write a Barrhead News blog - this week he reflects on the importance of cherishing your school years.
Sixth year pupils in Barrhead High School are currently in full fund raising mode - for a variety of projects of course. Leavers dance, the yearbook, trips that have yet to be confirmed and of course, charitable contributions. I think that it is very important for sixth years to take an active interest in what happens in their year and indeed the school as a whole because, for all of us, it is our last year in secondary education before moving onto employment, college or university. That means it is our last year sharing classes with people that we may have known since the first day of primary school. Some of whom might be your best friends, the people that you have come to rely on most in twelve years of education and the majority of our lives so far.
The fact is, that without schools none of us would be sharing our lives with the people we are now and in many ways we wouldn't be the individuals we are now. It's this sense of achievement gained by placing a young person on their track in life, giving them the time, resources and the people necessary to begin working towards their goals that draws people back to schools and education. Soon, the supplied resources, the time and a lot of those people will be gone as we are expected to start living our lives by ourselves in the big bad world. Once everyone has moved on, often to different parts of the country for higher education, or being preoccupied with full time employment, people will drift apart, new friends will be made and the people you spent your childhood and teenage years with could vanish into memory.
So by that reasoning, sixth year should be a celebration, as an era of our lives comes to an end.
I personally applaud the students and staff who are really making an effort to make this year a most memorable time by organising a prom - that by all rights is going to be a spectacular night - writing, organising and compiling a yearbook to cherish, and raising the money to make all this possible.
I'm asking you to think, the next time someone asks you to put five, ten or fifteen pounds towards your prom, or your yearbook, or the last school trip of your life, or maybe for all of them, is it actually that much to pay? Considering you are celebrating the end of what could be the most important and certainly one of the most memorable times of your life.