With only one semester remaining in the school year, seniors may be fantasizing about graduation (162 more days, but who’s counting?) while others see this date, Saturday, May 27, as a deadline – the end of their four years at MHS and the day they want everything to be crossed off their lists of things they want to do before they graduate.
Seniors Jordan McGee, Tim Downar, Josh Hammack and Alex Cook will be busy this semester trying to minimize and eventually conquer the list of 22 things they made in September.
“I was sitting in class one day and I realized I was sick and tired of the monotony of our lives,” McGee said. “Me and Tim sat down in the library and typed up our list. The show ‘The Buried Life’ is a pretty cool concept and we wanted to do something like it.”
Their goals for the year include trying out for a random sport, announcing something in front of the whole school, going on a blind date with a random girl and taking a road trip.
McGee said they have already crossed off “Be the Homecoming King” as Hammack won the title in October.
They have made plans to accomplish the rest of the other items on their list as well.
“Tim’s going to try out for volleyball in the spring,” McGee said.
Courtnie Henson, senior, also started a list with her friend from another school of things to do before graduation.
“I have things I want to do that are really trivial but didn’t deserve to be on a ‘bucket list,’ so I decided to do them before graduation,” Henson said.
Henson’s list of about 10 things includes anonymously paying for someone’s meal at a drive thru, zip-lining, being an anchor for MHStv and being selected as Student of the Day.
Henson said she is making progress with a couple specific thin__gs on her list as she will begin ballroom dancing lessons in January; go out of the country, possibly to Africa, with her two aunts over spring break; and might even get the chance to go zip-lining while in Costa Rica for three weeks this summer.
“I definitely want to live my life adventurously,” Henson said.
Henson and McGee said they still add new items to their lists.
“We recently heard about the 50 Chicken McNugget deal and we wanna try to eat that in one sitting between the four of us,” McGee said.
Vicki Kemp, gifted education teacher, said goal setting is motivating and very important for all people, not just high school students.
“I do think we should live each day to the fullest and never take this life for granted,” Kemp said.
McGee agrees with Kemp’s ‘Carpe Diem’ attitude.
“You only live once,” McGee said. “I don’ t want to regret anything.”