High School Confidential

By Tory Elmore

	Tory Elmore is a senior at Somers High School. She loves animals, long walks on the beach and slipper socks. She tends to write about topics most people would rather avoid.

I’m not exactly sure when, but somewhere along the road from freshman to senior year, it seems like half of my grade turned 21.

Between older siblings, fake IDs, and the family fridge, getting beer was no longer an issue at high school parties. Our (well, my) generation contributes billions of dollars to American breweries every year. I’m not one to judge; whether or not someone drinks in high school hardly reflects on his or her character in the long run, if you ask me. What I am concerned about are the hundreds of thousands of pounds of aluminum litter that the teenage population has dumped into our environment.

Now, before all you parents start hunting me down to “set me straight” on my seemingly cavalier opinion on teenage drinking, hear me out. The fact of the matter is many kids experiment with alcohol in high school. By no means do all high schoolers “party,” but we’re all just growing up here and making mistakes is a part of that process.

Back to my point: It seems to me that while getting beer is easy, disposing of the cans poses more of a challenge. Tossed from car windows, dumped in an unsuspecting neighbors’ wooded property, or merely left behind when a suspicious parent interrupts a backyard game of beer pong, it’s not just the kids getting trashed.

Granted, I have the horrible disadvantage of looking my own age, but I’m not the “cool” kid that brings the beer, the one that “gets a party started.” Instead, I’m the weird one collecting hundreds – maybe thousands – of discarded Bud Lights, Coors, and the occasional Corona – and recycling them. Sometimes I feel like a homeless person, collecting cans for the nickel refund. But on any given weekend, I earn upwards of $10 at Stop & Shop and then I buy myself breakfast.

The trouble is I can only do so much on my own. I can’t pull over and snatch every discarded 18-pack on the shoulder of Route 202, nor can I make the rounds on a Friday night to clean up after everyone’s parties. I understand why people are hesitant to do what I do. My mother was furious with me when she found out. I didn’t know the consequences of being found with alcohol (empty regardless) in my car at the ripe old age of 17.

The irony of the situation is painful. In exchange for cleaning up our little town, I could get arrested. Not to mention the dirty looks I get on Sunday mornings at the Stop & Shop can deposit. Give me a break, people. I’m a straight-A student, the captain of two varsity athletic teams, and if you hadn’t guessed, a member of the Somers High School environmental club.

I’m not a bad kid, much less a delinquent. I’d just like to see a bit of green grass around this place in 20 years.

By Jacklin Aronchick

The holidays are past, the parties are over, and enough leftovers remain in the refrigerator to last you a lifetime. Going back to school seems like the bane of my existence and yet I miss the familiarity of its blanch walls. As much as I love vacation, being away from school for too long makes for a boring and meandering lifestyle. While we aren’t occupied with the repetitiveness of a school day, where would our path of activity wander off to?

What would I be doing if I weren’t in school for six hours a day every week? I’m pretty sure it would involve eating and sleeping a lot more than is healthy, or mindlessly playing whatever game is available. I’m sure that some people would be studying, but the majority would find many more amusing things to occupy their time.

The past two weeks were filled with videogames and whatever I found that was amusing. I’d much rather say that I got a great deal of important things done, but I didn’t and to say so would be lying and I prefer not to lie to a large mass of people I do not know. Actually, I got bored enough to completely clean up my room and start cleaning the house, but not in a productive way. Instead of tidying up the already clean space, I completely dumped everything out and started from scratch. Not a terribly productive endeavor but in the end positive.

I smile at the prospect of the end of vacation, and I’m no prodigy student. The early mornings, the boring classes, the procrastination that would come back in a flurry of late nights and assignments. The fact of the matter is I don’t mind being occupied by school. In fact, I like it and look forward to it.

Beyond looking forward to the next school day, I also look forward to the New Year. Coming back to school after New Years, though everything is physically the same, I find everything has freshness to it. Whether it is because it’s been void of the legions that call it school, or because of my new outlook after a reflection of the past year. My idealistic side insists that it is the latter and so I will believe that school is once again a beneficial endeavor worth pursuing. The renewing of this belief brought me to make a resolution suited to furthering that enterprise.

New Years was rather uneventful this year. I stayed home with my parents and brother and we watched the ball drop, stayed up for another hour or two and then went to bed. I thought it was the best way to ring in the holiday. No drinking at a random party or sneaking out, or something equally illegal. Why would you want to start off the New Year hung over or fearing the wrath of your parents? No thanks. I’ll take my quiet celebration at home and save all the real partying for St. Patrick’s Day!

That brings me to another hot topic: teen drinking. As an adolescent, it is normal to feel compelled to do what is considered “cool.” Consuming alcohol is definitely at the top of the list. There is nothing especially cool about puking your brains out or having a skull-splitting headache in the morning. Socially, it is widely accepted and even heavy drinking is accepted; it is simply hidden or hushed up and swept under the carpet. I blame a few things for teen drinking: No. 1 is, hands down, the teenage thirst for freedom from the hold of parents. If there is anything that a teenager can do that is against their parents’ wishes, they will do it. A close No. 2 is societal norms. Drinking is a socially acceptable activity, so it is something made to be desirable so as to tear down any social boundaries that would be put in place by a non-alcoholic lifestyle. Though highly debatable, I also believe that the drinking age has a hand in the teen drinking problem. In other countries where the drinking age is 18 or younger, the problem with alcohol is little if not non-existent, yet in the US, teen drinking is a major problem. One will always want what one cannot have.

This year is another opportunity to try and break out of bad habits and self-destructive ways. Look on it as such. Be more self-aware and think about how you can better yourself. Try and see the good in people, and the good in yourself. As a senior in high school I know these may seem like empty words and blind statements, but seriously try it.

I know I will.