Surprises seem to find me easily.

For example, I was pretty surprised when, in an improvised scene, my Drama classmate screamed at me and demanded to know if I possessed any illegal substances.

Like any good journalist does when faced with a puzzling situation, I asked myself a few questions.

First, how had we gotten to this point in our scene?

And more importantly, how in the world was I supposed to respond?

I’ve asked myself these 2 questions many times over the past 2 months of this school year, albeit under slightly more conventional circumstances. I thought that after three years I’d have this whole high school business down to a science, but my senior year has been full of surprises. I find myself constantly amazed and shocked by to how little I know about Campolindo – and myself.

For a start, I’ve learned that not one, but two Campolindo teachers can be inducted into their high schools’ hall of fames in the span of two months. I’ve learned that contrary to the school policies outlined in the student handbook, Campolindo does occasionally give campus tours to visitors. I’ve also learned that helicopters are actually really noisy.

On a more personal level, I was terrified by the thought of having anything to do with computer science for years, but this year I finally decided I needed to get out of my comfort zone and signed up for Intro to Computer Programming. Coding has actually turned out to be enjoyable for me.

However, the biggest surprise for me this year was about the thing closest to home: Journalism. This year the Yearbook and Journalism classes have been combined into one class, Publications. As contradictory as it sounds, Journalism, one of the few classes at Campolindo where no two days in class are exactly the same, has been one of the few constants in my high school career. I’ve been in the class all 4 years, it has demanded a consistently high level of performance from me, and it has unfailingly produced a quality product for the campus and community.

Fate it would seem, or perhaps the administration, has changed all of that this year.

The combined class has been quite a roller coaster. Veteran staff are faced with new and complex challenges as we struggle to achieve our customary level of excellence with essentially twice the work load.  Some newcomers to the class have balked at the challenge all together, opting to jump ship rather than adapt to a situation they did not expect when they signed up.  Through my experience trying to hold the program together, I’ve come to realize that one thing is certain: surprises aren’t as bad as they initially seem.

After that initial sense of panic, a tearing-out-your-hair panic, a what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do panic, an I-am-going-to-cry panic, a sense purpose and determination often takes its place.

Publications hasn’t been a walk in the park this year (unless that park is filled with land mines, poisonous plants, and Bengal tigers), but it has inspired us to utilized a more diverse skill set, and forced us to grow in ways that will likely be critical to our chances for success in the real world.

Although I have, at times, questioned our ability to pull it off, that doubt has only made me more motivated to make it all work.

I’m proud of the work my staff has accomplished. Much of this issue’s photography is fantastic. Additionally, I’m impressed with how well our new staff caught onto news style in spite of the abbreviated time we’ve had to formally teach it. And while I’m no expert on yearbook, I think this year’s book is on track to be far superior to anything our school has produced in the past.

As for my drama classmate screaming at me about possession of illegal substances, it turns out that (in the scene, of course) I did. As a fairly straight-arrow student I definitely did not know what I was doing in the scene, but it actually ended up funnier than I had hoped.

Don’t be too obsessed with exercising so much control over your life that you avoid surprises all together.  Adversity is a necessity for growth.  We need surprises.  When they occur, take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that what lies on the other side of the unexpected is usually a better version of yourself.