I’ve attended Custer County School from preschool to 12th grade. I put 4 years into this purgatory (we all know it’s true) known as high school, but I can proudly say that I am who I am today partly because of my school. 

High schools in pretty big joke. We are taught things like the Pythagorean theorem and what the power-house of the cell is (it’s the mitochondria btw).  We’re taught to love ourselves unless it involves wearing pants that are too tight, shoes that are inappropriate, or a dress that does not “fit” our body type. We’re told that bullies suck but never really taught how to handle them. Pretty funny, right?

On top of that, there are some pretty lazy teachers. I mean, my friends and I know it and the other teachers do too. That being said, there are teachers that have impacted a lot of students’ lives including mine. I’m very grateful to those teachers because they believed in me like nobody (except my parents, of course)  ever has.  They encouraged, supported, and truly cared about me and other students. 

Like a lot of my peers, high school was a bit of a rough patch for me. Regardless I made memories that will last a lifetime. My junior year I was a foreign exchange student in Italy. While I learned a lot during that time but it was a really hard thing for me to do. Senior year was just intense senioritis from day one, along with the added fact that it ended early because of COVID-19. But through all of that, I had some good times as well. from the long practices, late nights, and rowdy bus rides for volleyball to planning prom my junior year, every day I became more independent and grown-up.

 Graduation is coming, and as excited as I am to get out of Westcliffe and start my own life I’m also worried about what’s coming next. I don’t know what the next step is but that’s part of life and I’ll figure it out. I know I’ll eventually miss High School, the friends I made, the memories I’ve shared, the teachers, the sports teams and the games, the school plays,  and the yearbooks but right now, I’m excited to start my life.

To CCHS  and all of the people who have supported me throughout the years, thank you for changing my life in an odd kind of way, and for helping to shape me into the person I am today. I will forever be grateful for all of your lessons and support and giving me the perfect launch pad to start my life. To the underclassmen, enjoy every moment because it really does go by fast.

Now that I’m a senior and I will be graduating soon, I always get asked the same questions. “Where are you going to college?”, “What are you going to study?”, and “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”. The thing is, I don’t really know what I want to do. My entire life up to this point has been designed for me to figure out the answers to these questions but every time I’m asked, I am never sure what should say. We are taught that we are supposed to go to college to become successful, but I don’t know if that’s what is best for me. I mean I’ve always wanted to go and experience college but I’m afraid of failing and I don’t want to let anybody down. I’m afraid that by not knowing what I want in life or if college is even right for me that ill be a failure and never be successful. Everybody says that I’ll figure it out but i just don’t know. I don’t know what I am going to study. I don’t know where I’ll be five years from now, and that scares me.

With everything going on around us, I didn’t think that we would be able to have a graduation at all, but we are and I am really grateful for that. It definitely isn’t a traditional graduation but that is alright. I actually think that it fits our class better. Its more laid back and the fact that it is outside now makes it even better. Hopefully it’s nice that day! I am a little bummed that the amount of people that we are allowed to invite is restricted but I understand why. Even though senior year might not have been everything I expected it to be, it won’t be something I forget. The school and the community have been really supportive and have done so much for us. We are all really thankful for it because we know that not everybody is getting the same treatment as we are. It’s really hard to express how grateful we actually are but I hope that everyone is aware that they are making a not so good situation, better for us. Now it is just a countdown until graduation day. 27 days!

As a kid, I would always imagine what I would be when I became an adult. When I was really young, I would always say I wanted to be a vet. I mean what little girl wouldn’t want to help sick animals all day! As I became older, what I thought I wanted to be would constantly change. I remember wanting to be a zookeeper, doctor, a model, even a flight attendant (so I could travel the world). At one point, I wanted to join the air force just so I could fly planes. That’s the thing though, growing up I could imagine being anything I wanted. Now I am a senior in high school and I have to finally decide what I want to be.

I had all these ideas about what I wanted to be while growing up but now, when its time to actually decide, I don’t know what I want to be. I am interested in crime scene investigation and teaching. But I don’t know if they are careers that are actually right for me. That is why I am choosing to go to college. So that I can explore my options and have guidance while doing so. While I don’t know what I want to be yet, I know that going to college will hopefully help me figure that out.

Westcliffe is a town that I love, filled with mountains and valleys, cattle and fields of hay, and people who never hesitate to lend a helping hand. It is quintessential, small-town Colorado, but despite its charm, growing up in Westcliffe has its challenges. Living 18 years in a town that only has 615 people and the nearest city being at least an hour away, I’ve acquired a desire to see what lies beyond the borders of Westcliffe. Fortunately, I’ve gotten many chances to travel with my family to other countries as well as by myself on foreign exchange, teaching me not only about other cultures but how to travel in general.

That being said, I have a whole list of places I’d like to see, so here are my top five 🙂

1. New Zealand

2.Greece

3.Thailand

4.Ireland

5.South Africa

I have so many more places on my list. If I could I would probably travel the whole world! Maybe someday I’ll get the chance to see these places but for now, I’ll just stick to my hidden country town that I call home.

My senior year is over. I don’t mean to sound selfish. I understand that I am not the only one being affected by this world wide pandemic. But I have worked so hard to get to this point in my life just to have it taken away by an invisible virus. I wont get to have a senior prom or experience a senior send off. Most of my friends don’t get to participate their final season of a sport they love. The worst part though, I might not get to walk across that stage in front of my friends and family, signifying that my hard work payed off. I know that we try to play it off like its not that big of a deal with memes and jokes but we really do care. As upsetting as this is to me, COVID-19 is just another event that is shaping not only who I am, but also the rest of the 2020 seniors that are getting ready to enter the world. It is the first and it most likely wont be the last but it’s comforting knowing I’m not alone.

I have liked all of the actual paying jobs I’ve had. With each of those jobs, I’ve enjoyed the work and the people I worked with. When I was younger though, my first “job” was working with my dad over summer break. My dad was a plumber and was really good at it so he enjoyed doing it. He also enjoyed spending time with me and teaching some of the aspects of being a plumber. But I could only do so much and I remember being stuck at the job sites for hours. I thought that it was a really boring job and I didn’t enjoy being a “plumbers apprentice” as my dad called it. I also thought he should have payed me more then he did :). Regardless, I made memories while spending this time with him and also retained the thing that he taught me then. He set me up to have a good work ethic and do well with any job that I do. For that, I will always be grateful.

Introducing the great tasting Hershey’s chocolate bar. From creating delicious campfire smores as a kid and baking sweet smelling cookies with grandma, to devouring delectable chocolate covered strawberries with that special someone. We know that family is the most important thing, so become a part of ours and with Hershey’s, we’ll help you create memories.

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As a kid, I would always imagine what I would be when I became an adult. Most of the time, I saw myself as a vet or a nurse, and I would play games based on those occupations. I would be Doctor Haylee, life saver of animals and people. It was around that time that I was introduced to books. I began reading with my family and eventually with my teachers in school. When I began reading on my own, I realized that through reading books I could be anything I wanted.

My family played a major role in my attitude towards reading. Not only were books always around my household, but my family would constantly read to me. One of my earliest memories is reading a book called, The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister with my grandmother. We would sit on my bed and when she began reading to me, I was engulfed by the images and words. It was like I became an actual character in the book. I also remember occasionally being given books as gifts. One year, I was given two My Adventures books, which were personalized stories that had my name in them. These books actually made me a character in the book, but I was different in each one. I was a Disney Princess in one, and in the other, I was a friend to Lightning McQueen. These books had pictures that would help me imagine each story like a movie. However, when I began reading in school, immersing myself into the book became more difficult. 

Each week during elementary school, we would have time to go to the library with our class. That time would always begin with the librarian reading a book to us, then proceeded with our own time to find books. I remember the very first chapter book I chose to read. The librarian had suggested a series called The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. The series followed a brother and sister as they time traveled through history. It was strange to read a book without any pictures, but these books were so vividly detailed that it became second nature to imagine the stories unfold. Each book was a different story, so I had many chances to be a different character. These books were the first stepping stone to a life filled with endless possibilities.                    

Through books, I was able to escape reality. I could be a princess, a race car, or even a fish. I could be anything. Although I don’t entirely remember how I learned to read, to this day, reading is one of my favorite activities and has a special place in my heart. As a child, I spent hours imagining what I might become when I got older. Now that I am an adult and all grown up, I can’t wait to come home, curl up and immerse myself into the pages and back into my familiar and wonderful world of make believe.

A Climate Apocalypse

By Haylee Hutterer

Our planet is slowly dying. 

Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey. South Asia floods. Droughts in East Africa and heat waves in India and Pakistan. Wildfires in North america and Australia. Natural disasters affect all countries and the people and animals within them. But as these events become more severe and more frequent, we have to face the reality that climate change is real. It’s killing our planet and eventually there will be nothing left. 

The Earth’s climate has been changing throughout history. Most of these slight changes are caused by minuscule changes in the Earth’s orbit. But climate change today is identified as an abrupt increase in the Earth’s temperature. The temperatures of our planet have risen an estimated 1.2 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in just the last century. Ten out of the last thirteen years have been the warmest years in recorded history. But 97% of climate scientists agree that these changes are not caused by the changes in Earth’s orbit, but by human activity. 

Since the industrial revolution, we have come a long way. Humans have built planes, cars, developed extraordinary technology, and used the natural resources around us to our advantage. While this has led to some wonderful inventions and advancements, we have increased our use of natural resources and, in turn, released a lot of greenhouse gasses. An excess of these gasses is extremely dangerous to our planet. These gasses (produced by the burning of fossil fuels) trap heat from the sun causing temperatures to rise and the planet to change. 

The most substantial victim of climate change is our oceans. Oceans not only regulate temperatures but also supply 50% of the Earth’s oxygen. Climate change has caused the temperature of the oceans to rise more than .3 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969 which has devastating consequences for life at sea. One of those consequences is ocean acidification which is a direct effect of increased dissolved CO2. A higher acid content means calcifying ocean species like shallow-water coral, in turn, putting the entire ocean food web at risk as well as the one billion people who rely on the ocean as their main source of food. Climate change has also caused sea levels to rise. In just the last century, sea levels have risen 6.7 inches but the rate of the last decade has nearly doubled. The main contributor to the rising sea levels is the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Since 1994, each year on average, the Earth has lost four hundred billion tons from its glaciers. 

Increased extreme weather events, like floods, hurricanes, and deadly heat waves, are more apparent to humans because of their immediate impact and spread in the media. But these aren’t the only consequences of climate change. Just because it doesn’t affect you directly, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.  

Climate change is not a “theory” it is a fact. Although we are part of the cause, we can also be part of the solution. If we don’t take action the life on our planet will be greatly affected. 

Our planet can thrive.