Entitled
Arick Ames
Opinion Editor
On August 14, 2013, every Waverly High student anxiously rushed through the doors on the first day of school.
As we gathered into the auditorium for our annual first day of school speech, we were not expecting what came next.
No one wants to be told on their very first day of a brand new year that as a generation they are selfish and care only about themselves.
We were labeled as entitled.
But we proved to everyone that we weren’t who they thought we were and it only got better from there.
Following this assembly, the 2013-2014 Waverly Viking Annual staff decided to take a new spin on the yearbook. They turned something negative and did a complete 360 degree flip to make it something positive. The opening on page three and closing on page 153 explains how we as a generation changed the meaning of “entitled”.
The inspiration for this whole idea came from what was unique to us as a school.
“You really want to figure out how the book fits to your school, but also to that year in particular,” Yearbook advisor Erin Konecky said. “We were sick of the negative stuff and we wanted to make ‘entitled’ a good thing so that’s the direction the girls took it.”
There are always two sides to every story. Even though most of the students took the whole speech in a negative way, it was never intended that way. In all reality, it was meant to show what kind of challenges we have to face as a generation and how we can work on them together to make our school a better place.
It just came out the wrong way to the students.
It was all about a matter of perspective for the adults, and the students, also.
“The purpose of the speech was to help students understand skills and characteristics that we have to do a better job of developing,” Principal Ryan Ricenbaw said. “My whole intent was that I wanted kids to be aware of what our concerns were, but the point was to help correct what we were dealing with.”
Even though the teachers and Ricenbaw were only trying to help, the message wasn’t entirely received. Regardless, we took matters in our own hands. None of this would have ever been thought of without the help of the students and all of their amazing triumphs and failures that made some great stories. There wouldn’t have even been a yearbook to make if it weren’t for everyone’s courageous work. The Annual staff would have had nothing to write about, no pictures, nothing to make our yearbook stand out from other books in the past if it weren’t for our brave actions of changing who we were.
The school as a whole stuck together through thick and thin only to come out on top with radiating confidence.
“Not a lot of people are capable of seeing the positives in the obvious negatives,” Viking Annual editor Shelby Boehler said. “We wanted to really focus on those positives, though.”
As an entitled generation, we took what we had and did good with it. Our phones; what everyone thought would destroy us; were actually our secret weapon. All of the things that we get handed were used positively and with purpose. From raising money for our community, having each other’s backs and genuinely caring about one another when the chips were down, to spreading awareness of ALS through social media, we were more than just peers.
We were a family who didn’t want to be compared to anyone or anything else.
“Overall, it was an amazing year, and I’m so happy I got to be a part of the vikings,” Boehler said.
We let our strengths shine and will continue to do so in the future.
Everyone wants to leave their mark on school in some way. Whether that be through sports, academics or the arts, something is left behind that will be remembered by many.
To be entitled no longer stands for something opposing.
It has a new meaning of opportunity and hope.
