My Senior Voice

Legacy, what is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me You let me make a difference, a place where even orphan immigrants Can leave their fingerprints and rise up I'm running out of time, I'm running, and my time's up Wise up, eyes up I have never been a girl who fits in with the crowd. One of the things that have defined me most since I was in middle school was my love of broadway musicals, specifically Hamilton. Thus, it is only fitting that I begin my senior voice with a quote from Hamilton. Although dramatic, Lin Manuel Miranda makes a point. What is a legacy? How do people remember us after we have gone? Over my four years at Marianapolis, I have worked meticulously and diligently to craft my own legacy. I came into the school as a freshman without knowing what I wanted to get out of my high school experience. I joined sports teams, like field hockey, swimming, and tennis blindly, and quickly began to develop relationships with my co-players. I attended club meetings, and slowly began to meet more and more teachers. I went on the most amazing, life-changing LEAP week trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and I finally understood what it meant to work to benefit the community. My underclassman years built the strongest foundation I could have asked for. My junior and senior years, I hit the ground running. I took leadership roles as team captains, I finally achieved the role of class president on my third run, I began a club, a student newspaper, and built a role in community service. I took on leadership roles because I enjoyed making connections with others. I can look back on everything I did and be proud of my efforts, but the feeling that I may not have done enough will always loom. I was once told that I seem to start things but never finish them. I pondered this thought. I can start a bunch of new clubs and take new positions, but when will I finish? The answer is I won’t. To help a community continue in strength after you have gone, you must plant the seeds. Lin Manuel in his quote doted on the fact that America was and still is an unfinished symphony. The people who came before us planted seeds in a garden they will never get to see. By honoring their legacies, we can nurture these plants as they grow, and plant our own seeds to expand on our garden. We play our instruments to continue the unfinished symphony. As Hamilton circles closer and closer to his fate, he anxiously says, “I’m running out of time, I’m running, and my time’s up.” I am six months from graduating, and six months from leaving Marianapolis. My time is running out to craft my legacy. I ask myself, have I done enough? Will people remember me after I am gone? Will anything I did in my four years here matter? The answer is, I don’t know. Those who came before me, I look up to and hope to be a fraction as impactful as them. I hope I honored their ideas and contributed to my school in a way that would make them proud. All we can do as humans is what we believe is right. As I approach the end of my time here, I reflect on my actions and accomplishments. I may never know if I did enough to leave a legacy. But what I do know is that I am satisfied with my actions. I am satisfied with the amount of effort I put into my goals. My legacy is dependent on how those around me perceive my actions, and while I do factor this idea into what I do, I work to improve myself. I want to look back at my high school years and be satisfied with how I impacted those around me. I leave you with this. Make every action with intention. Leave your legacy not for other people, but for yourself. You have the power to control the actions you make, and the intentions behind them. With that, your impact will be greater than you can imagine. Whether or not you leave a legacy, the choice to build it is yours, and nobody can take that away from you.