By Grace Whitaker
The Tower
Grosse Pointe South HS
1st Place Division 2, News Writing
Personal Narrative
JUDGING CRITERIA
- A first-person account depicting a personal experience
- Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity
- Topic relevant to interests and/or welfare of school or students
- Effectively combines basics of good news and feature writing
- Effectively organized with smooth transitions; carefully outlined
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar
- Should have byline, which could include mug shot of writer
I had gotten to school at 7:25 a.m. to hang up locker signs for the varsity football team. That Friday’s game was senior night, and I had spent most of Thursday after school making my posters. At 7:50, I got a Remind text from my coach calling us into her room. At first, I was nervous that we were in trouble- even though I knew I had done nothing wrong.
Coach Gerbi then told us that my teammate Dylan’s younger brother had been in an accident.
As the words “critical condition” left her lips, my body shut down. I could see her mouth moving, but the only sound I could hear was my heart racing. I walked to my first hour in a haze. Tears in my eyes, heart pounding, legs shaky. I sat in my seat with a blank stare. That feeling of nervous anticipation hasn’t left me since 7:50 a.m. last Friday.
I was in the counseling center by 8:20 a.m. when they announced the accident to the school. Pretty soon, the counseling center was filled with crying students who didn’t know what to do or what to say. That’s when we relocated to Cleminson Hall.
I left Cleminson around 10:00 a.m. and went home to a quiet house where I laid in my bedroom surrounded by my thoughts. I couldn’t sleep because my heart and mind were both racing, but sitting there in silence was so much worse than being in Cleminson surrounded by people I love. So, I got up and went back to school.
I spent the next three days commuting between Finn’s hospital room and the Huston’s home, trying to be there for his sister and their family in any way I could. Finn had been one of my best friends in middle school and was a close friend of mine in recent times as well. He introduced me to Dylan, who I later became closer with through our shared sport. Even though being there for her never felt like enough, it was all I could do.
Nobody knows what to do right now or how to react. You’ve probably thought about how you can help or how you’re not helping enough, but the best thing you can do is be there. Be there for your friends and for strangers who are hurting. If there is one thing that Finn has taught me, it is how to be a better friend to the people you love and to those you’ve never even met.
I have learned a lot about friendship in this past week. I’ve learned how important a friend, or even just someone to lean on, can be. People who I’ve never met have stopped me in the hall to make sure I am okay, people I haven’t talked to in over a year are reaching out to offer support. This tragic event is mending broken relationships, strengthening old friendships and creating new ones. Everyday, I am surprised more and more by the kindness and love I have been shown by a community that is grieving together.