A Face in the Crowd

• Seniors
• Juniors
• Sophomores

Remember those terrible, tyrranous days back when we were but lowly sophomores? It seemed that no matter how hard we tried to hide the fact, everyone knew, and they acted as if they weren't about to let us forget that we were plagued with thes terrible disease. We even resported to not cheering in favor of the sophomore class during lunchtime pep rallies, just so we could remain anonymous. Remember also how the seniors looked oh-so-mature and it was athe dream of every sophomore girl to have a neior boyfriend? It was so important to be popular, or even accepted. And it never failed that just when we thought we were making a good impression on someone, along came a sneaky, low-down, slimy, conniving senior and blew any chance of fame and recognition we may have had by making us crawl on our bellies during class change.

We were promoted to the rank of junior and thngs began to look up. No longer were we at teh bottom of the evolutional ladder. As juniors, we were finally allowed to assert aourselves and prove to the world that we really were human after all. Our old friends came up from jr. high, and we had left over friends from the year before, so we were finaly in friend-city. Trying to recover what ego and pride we once may have had was not an easy task. With the coming of fall, and thus a new school year, came also fierce determination to prove that we couldn't be stepped o any longer. It became our ultimate goal to destoy any moral the new sophomore class had, our reason being that we already had our share, and now it was our turn to disk it out. We also set out to prove that the seniors weren't the hot stuff they thought they were.

Ever since schools have been in existence, the battle of the classes has been ragin, and now we were, literally, cought up in the middle of it instead of watchin homecoming from the sidelines, we were able to take part in it actively. Our junior year brought other such events as the PSAT, the Fla. Statewise Assessment Test, and putting on the ever important and memorable junior / senior Prom. Finally a genuine part of the school, we were ever eager to carry on the traditon of trying to make this prom more memorable than the one before.

With the coming of senior-hood, apathy set in. It was no longer important to us to prove that we were #1. A general dood feeling permeated the class, and we knew we were the best and didn't care if anyone else did. With almost 12 years of school beind us and who knows how many years of not only school, but new experiences and encounters ahead, it was time to kick it in neutral and take it easy for a while. It was as good a time as any to take a rest and party for a while. It wouldn't be long before mommy and daddy would tell us to fly the coop, so it was time to get what we could while we were still at home.

We moaned and growned and complained about this class or that teacher, but when if finally boiled down to it, these were the best 12 years of our lives so far. We may not believe it now, but where else could we have met so many people, had such fun times, caused to much trouble or learned what we have? We may think that we could have made it on our own, but really think about it. Think about it also while you're taking that much awaited walk down the aisle during graduation. We're being thrown from our sheltered high school lives out into the world, a world that doesn't much care if we make ir or not. The time will come when we find out just how tough we really are. Soon all of our friends will e getting married or getting jobs taking them to the four corners of the earth. We may even see some fail, or some go off to a war, never to return.

We're starting out a new decade, a dacade thtus far unmarred by any corruption or blakc marks. The seventies saw its start with the Vietnam war, Watergate, and an unstead beginning trying to recuperate from the era of the flowerchild and the Woodstock Generation. Ours is a more refined generation, one more apt to choose the finer things life has to offer. We take things in stride and try not to put up with any bul from anyone. Maybe we really are the answers to today's problems. One thing is for sure, we'll soon find out.