Editor’s note: The Reporter staff requested that the principals of each of the high schools in our coverage area select two seniors to answer this question: What is the purpose of high school? Six students provided us with six very different answers. Here are the graduates’ answers from Tahoma High.

By Conner Durkin

Every morning for the past four years I’ve woken up, laid in my bed, listened to my alarm clock screech some horrible tune, and thought to myself: “why?”

The answer was always the same—I needed to get learned. “Getting learned” can happen in few different ways.

The classes I took certainly taught me something, as did coaching a debate squad, working on my Eagle Scout award, and just making friends with all the brilliant and funny people at Tahoma.

I learned from my course work, from extra curricular activities, and from my teachers and peers.

I learned how to do calculus and physics, how to read and write well, how to get into college and stay out of trouble (mostly).

But most importantly, I was able to meet dozens of the most influential people in my life.

My interactions at Tahoma have taught me how to care for my friends, love the family I had made, and recognize humanity wherever it occurred.

The purpose of High School was to get me learned, and in my learning I have become a better citizen, a better friend, and a better person to all those around me.

I’ll probably never get as learned as I would hope, but Tahoma Senior High

School has done a top notch job of getting me very, very close.

Connor Durkin is the 2011 WIAA 2A/3A/4A Lincoln Douglas Debate State Champion, an Eagle Scout from Maple Valley Troop 594, the Salutatorian of Tahoma Senior High School, and is currently a tutor at Mathnasium in Covington.

He will attend Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut this fall.

By Julianne Riley

High school has a different impact on each student. However, there is no doubt that one’s experience during the four tumultuous years of high school defines the type of person he or she will become.

The past four years that I spent at Tahoma Senior High School have been filled with laughter, late nights, and numerous challenges, but I wouldn’t have changed a single moment of it—well maybe I would have procrastinated just a little bit less.

I wouldn’t change my high school experience because it has shaped me into the person I am today. I am no longer the confused teen that I was when I began high school in the ninth grade. Somehow, during the four years I spent at Tahoma, I became an adult without even noticing.

Today, I can confidently say that I am a mature adult who is prepared to face the many challenges that college will present me with. High school helps to shape each individual student into an adult.

High school provides endless possibilities to enthusiastic students who possess the desire to learn. Passionate, curious individuals have the opportunity to flourish in high school.

Allowing students to explore their interests is essential to preparing students for whatever career they choose to pursue.

During these four years, many students discover what they are passionate about, whether it is art or engineering.

Even beyond academics, high school allows students to create life-long bonds with others who share similar interests.

Students from many diverse backgrounds are able to learn how to communicate and work together in pursuit of one common goal—graduating! Realizing that my high school years are coming to a close is bittersweet. No student has the same experience at high school, yet for most it is a time filled with some of the best and worst moments of their lives.

Julianne Riley is a member of Tahoma’s class of 2012.