May 15th - High School Senior

Forever a Royal

As I have entered my last week of being an HBR Royal I have started reflecting on my time I have spent here. I started thinking about all of the magnificent teachers that helped shape me into the person that I am today. I started thinking about my classmates, who I have shared so many great laughs and memories with. I started thinking about everything that I have done, all of the clubs, sports, and events that I participated in. I started to realize how truly blessed I was  to have been a Royal. I take so much pride in being able to say that and I hope that my fellow classmates do as well. That being said, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you all some of the things I loved and learned from high school.

Extracurriculars

I am not sure what it was, but I loved being involved in as much as I possibly could during high school. During my four years I participated in Student Council, Renaissance, FFA, SOS, Spanish Club, Leadership Retreat, Academic Challenge, The Harbor, and NHS. There was rarely a morning where I didn’t have a meeting of some sort. At first I had joined all of these because I thought it would look good on my college resume, but over time I learned that it was about so much more than just a resume. All of these clubs presented me with so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to gain if I wasn’t in them. As student council president this past year I was able to help plan the homecoming parade and learn what goes into putting together such a huge event. As a renaissance member I was able to entertain the whole school and learn to celebrate others’ achievements. You aren’t able to obtain lessons like these without being involved and I am so thankful for everything that these activities taught me.

Sports

Sports have played a huge role in my life and coincidentally it is what I want to spend the rest of my life involved in. I played Soccer, Basketball, and Baseball all four years and loved every single second of it. There were probably around only 3 weeks of the year where I didn’t have practice or a game after school, so you could rarely find me sitting on the couch. Sports were by far my favorite part of high school. I loved the rush of adrenaline that I got every time I stepped onto the court or the field, and I fell in love with the competition.

You can ask any of my coaches and they will tell you how much passion I had for the game, almost too much at certain points in time. I find myself blessed to have been able to find my passion so early in life and have the rest of my life to pursue a career in this field. I would like to say thank you to all of my coaches for helping me to grow and learn, each of you taught me so much. I especially want to thank Coach Sanderson, Coach Olsen, and Coach Runge for always being there for me. There were some days where I hit some all time lows and they were right there to pick me up. They stood by me through thick and thin and made sure that I held myself to a high standard and pushed for nothing but the best.

Teachers

I would like to say thank you to all of my teachers. Each of you has had a lasting impact on me and each taught me so many different lessons both academically and just about life in general. Hinckley-Big Rock has such an amazing set of teachers and the dedication that they showed me and all of my classmates is amazing and we couldn’t thank you enough. Specifically, there are really three people I want to thank for everything they have done for me, those three people being Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Larsen, and Mrs. Halverson. In each of these people I found a mentor, or I would describe them as almost my school moms. They each guided me through so many aspects of life and gave me someone to look up to. They showed me what hard work and selflessness truly looked like, because everything they did, they did it for their students. They work tirelessly in order to make sure their students are provided with everything they need and are always there for their students. I will miss all of the teachers with all of my heart, and hope you continue to carry your passion for teaching through the halls of HBR.

Lessons

I would summarize the most valuable things that I learned into these three things:

1. Be a go-getter: Don’t sit back and coast through not only high school, but life in general. Go accomplish your goals and get things done.
2. Give everything you do 110%: When you give something everything you have, you will always end up with a better result in the end. Put your blood, sweat, and tears into everything that you do.
3. Be true to who you are: Follow your passions in life and play to your strengths. Learn how to use your strengths to your ability and how to better your weaknesses.

To those of you reading this that still have years of high school ahead of you, I challenge you to make a difference. It doesn’t always have to be something big either. Whether it is you going to games and rooting for your Royals, helping to organize events, or helping students in subject areas they might need help in, every little bit counts. Getting involved is such a great way to do this, and the best thing is there are so many ways to get involved. Don’t be the person that sees something that needs to be done, but just keeps on walking. Be the person that stops and gets the job done. Those are the people that are going to be successful in life and those are the people that HBR needs.

I can easily say that the last four years of my life flew by in the blink of an eye. I never really believed anybody when they would say how fast time goes by, but I wish I would have. Because now as I sit here writing this, I think of all the great times I had at HBR and all of the special bonds I was able to form. I think of all of the memories that were made in the halls, on the fields, in the classrooms, and in the gym. I think of all of the things I did right, and more importantly all of the things that I did wrong. I think of how much I am going to miss HBR and how excited I am for what lies in my future.

Forever a Royal,

Carson Pickert