Around the beginning of September, our principal introduced a once in a lifetime chance for a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia. He explained that all we had to do was turn in a slip, write an essay, and go through an interview then 9 of us would have a fighting chance for this amazing trip. What he didn’t explain was the social side of it all. Friends would be separated for weeks, and some would be heartbroken and disappointed in themselves for not making this trip.
Yes, it is agonizing to wait and wait for the dreaded envelope holding the results to arrive to you and 16 others. Some who passed as far as to the interview couldn’t even open the letter themselves. They chose for their friends to open it. Most didn’t make it to the interview. They went as far as the essay, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try. I know many that put all their effort into that one page essay and were not chosen. It is truly heartbreaking to have all of your work and preparation cast aside, because it wasn’t what the judges were looking for. As many have seen, students, out of intense emotion, were casting their anger out to those who got farther than them. But the kids who did make it, knew that they didn’t mean it and were just dealing with this rejection the best way they could. It took courage and understanding to get through this process.
On the other hand, many found the announcement day to be the best of their lives. The ability to go to Virginia and see where most of America came from, is all anyone could ask for. The ones who were going on this trip were mature about the way they celebrated and showed true sportsmanship that day. Nobody tore anyone down for this, and above all, most everyone congratulated each other.
In conclusion, the selection process the students were taken through was heartbreaking on both ends; on one end to see their friends go through self doubt and see their self-esteem plummet, and on the other end, to see their friends succeed without them and leave for more than two weeks. Although only 9 out of over sixty kids got to go on this trip, everyone worked hard and proved that Riverton Middle School has an extraordinary student body and amazing teachers who tried to prepared everyone for this opportunity. It was only the beginning of many opportunities to come. Though I did talk about the worst of it all, this trip was an incredible opportunity for my fellow students, and I hope to have many more like it in the future.
