I can think of at least 1,000 reasons why boys live easier lives than girls. If it wasn’t for the fact that being a girl allows me to wear cute clothes and make-up. There is no doubt in my mind that I’d rather be a boy. Seriously, they have it so good.

They don’t have to give birth. They don’t have to be skinny. They don’t have to wake up nearly as early to get ready. However, one of the most absolutely unfair advantages men have over women is in the gift category.

Men can buy their girlfriends jewelry, stuffed animals, and flowers without worrying in the slightest what they’ll think. These gifts are pre-approved, with guaranteed satisfaction. Not to mention that they all represent love and sensitivity, but what can a girl buy for her man that holds the same desired sentiment?

As a girlfriend I want to buy my boyfriend something reasonably priced that says, “I love you.” I want to purchase something that he will see and think, “wow, she really appreciates me!”

At first I thought the best idea was to get him a watch, but then he showed up at school sporting a brand new G-shock so that was out of the question.

Then I figured a new shirt would do perfectly. It was then that I remembered my boyfriend owns possibly every shade of polo in the entire world and works at American Eagle (the only two brands he ever wears). So once again I was back to square 1.

What to buy him that screams, “We are more than friends,” was the question, and I had yet to find an answer. I had reached the peak of desperation and resorted to doing something I had sworn to myself I would never do.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. Horrible… I know.

I expected him to mention several reasonable romantic options that I would then narrow down and choose from. Instead he responded…

“The Sports Illustrated special edition for the UK Championship.”

What a romantic gift! Replace the candlelit dinner with the both of us in UK jerseys and sweats discussing draft picks at Buffalo Wild Wings! I would be the perfect friend with the perfect friend gift. He would look at the magazine thinking of me as a girl-friend rather than a girlfriend, which is exactly what I DID’NT want!

I had finally reached the end of my rope. The only sentimental “girlfriend,” gifts I could think of were too small and cheap to dazzle him. What on this godly green earth could I give him that sent the message I wanted to send without being too simple?

Apparently nothing. There is no material good that is good enough for me, but I don’t blame myself. I am not incapable of finding the perfect gift. I’ve done it before with my friends and with my relatives. My only fault in this failed effort is that I pursued an impossible task; Attempting to buy my boyfriend a perfect birthday present.

Girls don’t have it easy, there is no gift we can give that sends the right message. Shopping for a boyfriend’s birthday is like Mission Impossible minus the action. There is no way to buy him anything without settling, unless of course he loves heart-shaped jewelry.

OHS has its fair share of problems that differentiate it from other schools. Throughout the halls you can hear the students complain about many things that all seem very familiar. All students that attend Owensboro High School struggle with the same issues because of the environment they share. Below are listed the many complaints of OHS students, and trust me, these statements are made a LOT!

*It snowed like crazy but I don’t know whether or not to set my alarm because school hasn’t been called off!
• Someone unbuckled my backpack on the stairwell!
• I lost my charger!
• Mr. Shelton just exited me out of my game!
• We have to MAPS test today!
• My Internet connection isn’t working!
• I didn’t sell market day so I can’t leave for prom!
• Mrs. Taylor is our sub!!
• I didn’t meet my benchmarks so I have to use Aleks in AE
• I can’t get on Aleks so I don’t know what to do with myself for 30 minutes!
• There’s only bar soap in the bathroom!
• Basketball season is over!
• It’s fajita day!
• If I get any more tardies I have AP!
• I need to go to my locker but I’m not allowed to until 8:15!
• I have to make up a test in the library!
• The Spanish students won’t share their baked goods with me!
• We didn’t get any singing valentines in math!
• I don’t know anybody in my testing group!
• The school blocked Twitter!
• I can get on Facebook, but I’m worried I’ll get caught and get re-imaged!
• My Internet connection isn’t working!
• I plugged my computer in for an hour before I noticed that the light was still green!
• The cookies are burnt today!
• There isn’t a talent show this week!
• Mr. McCollum isn’t in the student faculty game!
• I have to leave my laptop in the Help desk all period!
• I have to take all my finals because I owe15 cents in the library!
• I missed the fight this morning!
• I bought something at American Eagle and now I match 5 other girls today!
• There’s only 1 minute left in class but I have to sit in my seat because we aren’t allowed to get up until the bell rings!
• I left my laptop in my last class!
• I left my headphones at home!
• I left my charger at home and my laptop is on 4%
• No one ever wears red and black on Fridays so we never get doughnuts!
• There’s no pool and no track!

There you have it! The many celebrated “problems,” of OHS! Maybe some are more relatable than others, but you’ve got to admit, we’ve all heard them all at least once!

I’m going to be a very honest person right now. I might the biggest gossip in the world. When it comes to other people, I can always find plenty to say. I can be critical, and sometimes a little bit careless. It’s a fault of mine, and I don’t mean what I say the majority of the time. Not to say that that makes me any better.

The reason for my gossiping isn’t cruelty or jealousy or even hatred (rarely anyways.) The reason is purely for the purpose of my entertainment. Talking about the people I see everyday is natural. They interest me because their lives are a spectacle I get to catch glimpses of everyday. I can’t help but to discuss other people because I love getting to know more about the people I see so often.

What I’ve realized throughout my years of gossiping however is that I am not the only person that likes to judge, compliment, or discuss other people. I have never had a friend or acquaintance that failed to respond to my gossip.

True, there are always those people that say they never judge anyone. But in reality, those people still find narrow loopholes to criticize their peers.

Phrases like, ”I love her but”, “She’s one of my best friends but,” and “He’s really funny except he” are used prolifically. While they may feel like they make what you say less critical, in all reality all you’re doing is sugarcoating something bitter. Someone is promiscuous, someone parties too much, and someone gets on your nerves. Adding that the person your discussing is your friend and you like them doesn’t make what you’re saying any less gossipy or mean.

Typically when someone uses one of those phrases it isn’t to spare the feeling of the person their discussing anyway. The main reason these cop-outs are used is to make ourselves feel better about being so judgmental. We say that since we see the good in someone it makes it ok to see the bad. We feel that once we give a criticism, a compliment evens it out.

The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t. It’s like fighting fire with a shot glass of water; no tiny glimmer of kindness can wash out a field of harsh judgment.

What I’d love to write is that there is a way to stop gossip from spreading. However I have always believed that our desire to criticize others is a natural part of our beings. People are cruel, and they always have been. It’s an unfortunately permanent aspect of the human character.

There are always efforts to put an end to judging but can it really be stopped?

Junior Taryn Lewis states that, ”Behind closed doors, people will always gossip. Any time you put a group of girls in a room they will always gossip. There’s no way that anyone can just get everyone to stop.”

Personally I couldn’t agree with her more. I think that the idea of stopping pre-judgment is beautiful and desirable, but frankly impossible. It has become a major function of our society. It’s too late for it to be removed.

If you don’t believe me then why are shows like, “Real Housewives,” and, “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” successful? It’s because they are based upon gossip. They allow us to look into lives different then our own and judge the subjects according to what they say and do.

For this reason, I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a gossipy girl. I’m one of a million, and since it can’t be stopped I think that everyone should just start being honest with themselves. We all gossip and it’s not because we are cruel, uncaring people. We’re judgmental because it’s a part of our flawed human system. Until we can re-image personalities, gossip will always be a part of our lives.

I like to think of myself as a pretty chill individual. I’m usually fairly relaxed when it comes to the majority of plans and self-maintenance. However, when it comes to school dances all the relaxed aspects of my personality vanish. I become a high school version of a Bridezilla.

I panic about my hair. I panic about my make-up, and I panic that my eyebrows look like they belong to a hairy Russian. I usually break down in tears at some point and I always hate how I style my own hair and makeup.

For this reason, I don’t trust my own hands when it comes to important occasions. I go to a professional. I get my eyebrows waxed, I get a hair appointment, and I visit a makeup counter somewhere in the mall.

However this plan hasn’t yet proved to avoid disaster. Communication is a major issue with the professionals. “Natural” makeup becomes neon eye shadow. Curly waves become straight up-dos, and eyebrows become thinner than contact lenses.

For those people that believe it is impossible for a hair stylist or a makeup artist to mess up that bad let me tell you about my homecoming experience.

I had a strapless dress and wanted my hair down with big curls. I told my hair stylist that.
I said, “I want my hair down and with BIG wavy curls.”

After agreeing with my idea my hairstylist then washed my hair and diffused it with a blow dryer. I watched as she frizzed away until I looked like a poodle that had been run through a carwash. She then proceeded to curl it with the skinniest iron I had ever seen so that my hair stopped short of my ears.

2 bottles of hairspray later I was faux grinning and handing over 50 bucks to thank her for making me look like Marie Antoinette with a bob.

I smiled and took several pity compliments from the women in the waiting rooms and then walked outside of the salon and sobbed like the runner up of the junior beauty pageant. Which was entirely fitting, considering the fact my hair looked like it belonged to the runner up of a junior beauty pageant.

Needless to say, I didn’t post any homecoming pictures on Facebook and I was thoroughly scarred by the incident.

With the rapid approach of prom my fear has since worsened. Homecoming is a dance; Prom is essentially the focus of everyone memory of their High School experience. I do not want to cry at my reflection this time.

The pressure to look perfect has added so much stress to the event that I am a combination of excited and anxious for Prom. Last time I checked this was supposed to be fun, so why am I so nervous?

What adults tell you is how Prom night is one of the most amazing nights of your entire life. What they fail to include is that Prom day is also one of the most stressful.

Prom makes me crazy! If you care half as much as I do about making the night perfect you’ll be crazy too!

In my high school swimming career I’ve always payed close attention to the top girls in the sport. I’ve watched the way they start, the way they kick, and even the way they stretch.

One thing I’ve almost always noticed was the way they are shaped. Their shoulders are broad and muscled. Their chests are profoundly masculine, and their arms are so ripped that almost all aspects of femininity are stripped of their appearance.

I have always wanted to be good at swimming, but after seeing the sacrifices their bodies had to make I can’t help but feel that the effects aren’t exactly worth a blue ribbon.

I admire their strength and envy their talent but I can’t comprehend how anyone could want to look so… manly.

However, it has recently been brought to my attention that female swimmers aren’t the only girls aiming to bulk up. As a matter of fact, there is a large group of women pumping iron for the sole purpose of, “getting big.”

They are the female body builders of the world, and they boast to have the second largest female competition base next to beauty pageants. All it takes is a quick Internet search to uncover thousands of images of profoundly muscular women posing in flossy bikinis and spandex.

At first, I can’t help but view these competitions as a sort of freak show. The contestants seem gender confused and scary, like they could snap my neck in half between their two softball sized calf muscles. Their faces seem twisted with steroidal rage and their oiled skin seems to stretch out around their bulging veins prepared to rip at any given moment. I find it difficult to see anything attractive in these women.

After viewing hundreds of these images I began skimming down the comments expecting to see a plethora of slander and ridicule. I was shocked to note that actually a majority of the commentary was envious and admiring.

Men stated how some of the less extreme women had bodies they could only dream of. Other women claimed to be impressed with the dedication these girls had to exercising. I, however, didn’t see feel that any of these comments were reasonable. That is until I decided to research a name that had been frequently mentioned.

Jen Heath was a popular contestant categorized under the title of a natural body builder, meaning she used natural, non-steroidal methods to bulk up. Although she is still much more ripped than I’d ever like to be, after viewing photographs of her I could actually see a certain level of attractiveness in her figure.

As a matter of fact, I find her to be sort of inspirational. Her tone is a result of dedication and hours of exercise, not the use of illegal growth hormones. She isn’t a crazy middle-aged giant with a power-hungry motive. She’s a dedicated exercise guru. She has a body many men don’t have the endurance for, and she’s had twins! Talk about Girl Power! She brings a whole new understanding and viewpoint to the female bodybuilding genre.

Okay, so one normal contestant doesn’t exactly make the competitions something not to gawk at. The majority of the girls are still sort of, “freakish.” But still, you’ve to give kudos to these ladies bench-pressing their own obscene body weights. Someone’s got to prove the world that not all men are stronger!

The Digital Devil staff is aware that there are claims the whole KONY issue is a fraud. As we cannot accurately confirm or deny that at this time, we are continuing to bring to it your attention. Our mission is to inform and connect our student body to what is trending now. Thanks for reading and watching!

The most highly viewed videos on YouTube rarely have any substance to them. They are typically meaningless family movies, celebrity parodies, and slapstick web shows that leave you with many laughs and little knowledge.

Quite rarely do they make an impact. Even if they do present a question it is hardly worth pondering for more than a few moments. I’ve watched these aimless videos. I’ve followed silly links on Facebook and never gotten anything out of it.

Until March 7, 2012. Jason Russell, a graduate of USC film school, uploaded a 27-minute video to launch a 2012 campaign for the capture of Joseph Kony.

The movie begins innocently, explaining Russell’s life and how the birth of his son Gavin affected his view of the world. He shows his happy son playing and interacting with his dad’s life in the film world.

Then he begins to explain how he wants Gavin to grow up in a better world than he did. It is in this moment where he introduces the other child in his life. Jacob.

Jacob is a young Ugandan child living in daily fear of the rebel army led by Joseph Kony. His family has abandoned their home in the fear that they will be abducted and his brother was brutally killed for trying to escape. His heartfelt explanation of the lives of the people in Uganda tugs arouses a question.

How could anything like this be happening? Why is no one stopping it? How is one man given the power to abduct children and force them into a life of sexual slavery and war? Why is this the first time people are hearing about it when it’s been going on so long?

It is then that you witness the plight of Jason Russell and his friends to start a movement for the invisible children. Rallies and speeches and assemblies are viewed and eventually we learn that the U.S. Government has noticed the movement and is beginning to respond to the cries for help.

The 27-minute movie is truly one of the most moving pieces I’ve ever witnessed. Immediately after its competition I recognized that I couldn’t be the only one to notice. Everyone should view this, and everyone should react.

My personal opinion is that no student, teacher, or parent could watch, “KONY 2012,” and not have some form of emotional reaction to it. It is a cleverly created production with an honest portrayal of life in a third world country. It doesn’t frighten you with gruesome war scenes, or make you feel like a horrible person for living the way you do.

It inspires you with its honesty, and incites you to make a change. It reminds us that we can make small efforts and then collectively provide big change. Kony can be stopped, and this is the year and the generation to do it.

Please watch the video and start your page on the link below.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/join25

It’s that time of year. Facebook is filled with a mixture of complaining singles and bragging girlfriends uploading image after image of chocolates and flowers. The halls contain more hugs than high fives, and even a little public kissing becomes socially acceptable for this particular holiday.

Yes, Valentines Day is here. And though at midnight tonight the glorious day of love will be over, the warm occasion still carries on.
For OHS, the occasion will seem to carry on much longer than usual.

Why, you may ask? Because for the 2012 Owensboro school year singing valentines have yet to be sung.

That’s right, Digital Devils, the V-Day tradition of lip syncing student council members is set to begin the day after the festivities are typically over; February 15th.

At first, this concept seemed a little strange to me. It compared in my brain as going Christmas caroling in January, or perhaps setting off red, white and blue fireworks in August. However, after a decent mulling over in my brain I began to realize I rather like the idea of post-valentines day lovers’ celebration.

Who wouldn’t want more presents after Christmas? Who doesn’t want a chocolate bunny after Easter? Who doesn’t want to wear green after St. Patty’s’ Day?

Holidays are special, exciting, and painfully… short. There is no sadder feeling then the 11:00 pm realization that hits on Christmas Day, or the moment when you wake up on New Years Day.

The celebration is over and you have 365 and 1/4ths days until you get to re-experience the time you had.

What could have first been labeled, “bad scheduling,” becomes an excellent idea to keep those loving feelings flowing past Cupid’s favorite 24 hours in the halls of OHS.

One of the many singing valentine performers, Susan Parker, loosely agrees with the statement that Valentines Day deserves an extension saying, “When you’re like Susan Parker, ery’ day is Valentines Day”

As a lover of love, I can envy her ability to bring admiration and joy every day when so few even think of cupid after February 14th has passed. So many men cease buying flowers and chocolates when truly no good boyfriend or husband ever should discontinue such a practice.

On Valentines Day no man or women should ever think of cutting off a relationship or taking a break. But the week following the celebration is fair game for any tragic end. Every Valentines Day there is profound security that happiness in your relationship is guaranteed. But afterwards, words and actions must be chosen carefully to ensure a hand to hold.

What if Valentines Day was everyday? Would all couples stick together forever? Would there be world peace? Would the third world children quit starving? Probably, yes.

However we lack the technology and the funds to do so as a planet. So this year, OHS’ student council took the matters into their own hands and did the next best thing. They extended the festivities beyond the 14th, to the 15th and 16th as well.

So at least in our high school we can have an extension to the happiest holiday of all. Or at least, some bad scheduling thanks to the cheerleaders’ return from Nationals.

Enjoy your Valentines Day, get some rest, and come back again to tomorrow prepared to be struck with Cupid’s arrow again.

Everybody has that class. That class that the guidance counselors scheduled you in with literally no one you know.

On the first day of school you held your breath staring at the door praying that some familiar face would walk in. You watched stranger after stranger file in and your heart raced as you watched your friends pass the door to head farther down the hallway.

You reassured yourself that you couldn’t be alone, you were sure someone would walk in, but no one did. Once the bell rang and the teacher closed the door to begin class and it was clear to you what the rest of the year would be like.
Silence.

Group projects would ensue panic for you. Who would group with you? Everyone would be paired up. Everyone would be working together, and no one would ever invite you to help out.

You would be set to feel like a loser every other school day for 90 minutes all because you had to be scheduled into this awkward lonely class.

If you feel like this, trust me, you are not alone. This class period happens to almost everyone. So much so that nearly every student I asked about it had an example their life to provide.

When questioned what he considered the most awkward class of his high school career junior Zach O’Bryan replied, “It was definitely, ‘History and Appreciation of Arts,’ last year with Mrs. Calhoun. Nobody was really friends and when she tried to get us to volunteer to answer questions and stuff no one would. It was just uncomfortable.”

His response brings to mind a very important aspect of the awkward class. When you feel uncomfortable with a situation, it usually means every one else there does too.

Basically, when you don’t feel at ease speaking to your classmates and getting involved in discussions and lectures, everyone else feels prompted not to contribute. The overall lack of participation creates an awkward smog that wafts through the class for the rest of the year.

This year, I have a class like that. It’s my last period on black days, “Intro to Psychology,” with Mr. Tines. It’s not that I have no friends, because I have a few. And it’s not that everyone else is alone, because the rest of the class generally has a few.

It’s the fact that the class is so dispersed with different friends that no one wants to talk to each other. When Tines asks us a question there is an eerie silence. When something is funny no one laughs and I feel forced to stifle my own giggles as not to stand out.

I am mushed into the awkwardness as well as the rest of my class. It’s a perfect example of the chain effect an uncomfortable class has on everyone, even, though usually not admittedly, the ones in charge of the class.

“As a teacher I quickly learned to brush off the moments of awkward silence that sometimes follow the statements that only I find amusing. In fact, over the years I’ve learned to even appreciate a good moment of awkward silence. But every three or four years I’ll get that class that takes it to the next level and leaves me wondering if they are even registering anything that I am saying,” says Mr. Tines.

Perhaps this is the moral to the awkward class experience. People must learn to accept the uneasy silences and lack of comfort within this class. People must learn to appreciate it, and become more understanding of the awkward class. After all, it happens to everyone.

A Message to Underclassmen,

I hear you all in the hallways, halfway because you’re always screaming and halfway because I enjoy eavesdropping.
The most common phrase I hear you say is, “I can’t wait ’til I can drive.” This statement annoys me. This statement might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

I’m 17 years old and if I could do anything in this world it would be to make myself ineligible for a license.

The man tricks you. The man says driving is your right to independence, but the man is lying to you. Driving is a trap to ruin your life. If you want to know why I’ll tell you why in 3 good explanations.

1.) Half of every dollar you make goes to gas money. My first high school summer I made 600 dollars from babysitting. 6 months later, I still had 500 dollars left. You want to know why? I didn’t drive.

My second high school summer I made roughly a little more than I did the summer before. 2 months into school I had about 72 bucks. Do you want to know why? It’s because I started to drive.

Gas prices are ridiculous. They ruin your life. In my car, if I put 20 dollars in my tank I will get ¼ full. 4 days later I will be right above the dreaded, “E.” I will have to put 20 more dollars into my tank to get the same result.

The process repeats itself, over and over again. It sucks away every single fund in my bank account, and I can never ever stop it. You know why? It is because now that I have gotten my license it will never go away. I will have to drive forever. Or at least until I’m really old and no longer remember which color means go.

2.) Everyone in the world is a mooch. It’s the end of school. You just want to go home. You plan to take the quickest shortcut possible to conserve gas. You’re almost to your car until you hear…

“Hey man!”

You’ll turn around and see someone you occasionally talk to in between notes in math. You two aren’t even close.

They’ll say, “Dude, can you give me a ride?”

And you’ll think, “no shot,” but then you’ll feel super uncomfortable because you hardly even know this person. This will be like the first time you’ve ever talked to them outside of class and you won’t want to be a jerk so you’ll say, “sure.”

They’ll get in your car and start thanking you and starting small talk. You’ll think, “Ok this isn’t that bad.” You’ll pull out of the parking lot and before you turn out you’ll ask them where they live and they’ll say.

“Utica.”

Yeah, and it’s not like you can stop the car and say, “Sorry man, that’s too far.” Kick them out and be on your merry way. It’s too late. They’re buckled in and you already said yes. You’ll just have to stop at Shell and fill up for the 30-minute drive to take your little acquaintance home.

3.) You live in Owensboro. There is nothing to do. It’ll be Saturday night and you’ll pick up all your friends who wanted to hang out. Once everybody get’s in the car you’ll ask them what you’re going to do.

They’ll say, “Uhh I don’t know, just drive around until we figure something out.”

Which would be cool but your friends are probably lame and no one will ever invite them to do anything. Odds are, the only people they’d even ask to hang out with are in the car with you.

So you’ll be the driver, and that’s all you’ll do. All night. You’ll drive up and down Frederica and use the amount of gas it would take to get to Nashville.

So unless you’re a teenage millionaire with cool friends there is no justifiable reason to get your driver’s license. End of discussion. No exceptions. Don’t do it. You are not permitted to complain. You should actually be thankful that you’re too young. Embrace it while it lasts.

Owensboro High School has always been known as the high school of State champions. In our history of sports we have won a total of 39 state championships. A true testament to the success of our athletics. With all this hype within our school it is easy to say that OHS really knows how to win.

Truly, how impressive is that? Winning is a simple thing to do. When you win, the lesson is to keep doing exactly what you are doing.

A more complex question is what exactly do you do when the chips are down? Every team in the entire country can say they’ve had a bad year or a losing streak. It’s an unfortunately easy thing to happen.

I, personally, have been a member of many teams that are considered much less than best. My first year of high school swimming I quickly concluded that we were not going to win any major titles. Daviess County was the best, Catholic was a solid second and the only shot we had for victory was against Apollo. That was the mentality I entered in, so that’s how I scored.

But not my junior year, my junior year anything was possible; new swimmers, new team. This was our year.
So that’s where I found myself last Saturday. Halfway through the city-county meet entering in to the 200 free style relay, swimming anchor. Only this time, we were shocking everyone. We were ahead, beating everyone, with Daviess County a close second.

“Were winning,” I thought, “Oh my God, we’re winning.”

Olivia dove in and kept it going. Daviess County gained closer but we still secured first place.

Everyone was screaming and yelling at me to bring it home, saying I had to. I had to let us win. I climbed up to the blocks, waited for the moment and dove in.

I kicked as hard as I could and let the adrenaline drive my arms forward at my maximum speed. I didn’t look to my right to DC’s lane, I just kept my head down and pushed forward. We were still ahead.

Once I reached the wall I started my flip turn. Halfway through I knew something was wrong. My left foot landed lower than my right, and my right food hardly even scraped the wall. I kicked off sideways, moving practically nowhere and came up way too early.

This gave Daviess County’s final swimmer her opportunity to pass me. She did. Devastated, I swam faster hoping to gain back my momentum and pass her back up, but there was truly no hope.

I touched the wall second and took a moment to take it all in. We lost, and it was my fault. It was city-county. The biggest meet before region and I ruined it for three other girls and a whole team cheering us on.

I was mad about my turn, I didn’t know how it was so bad or what I did to mess it up but one thing was for certain. The wall didn’t move around. The water didn’t wave over and force me to screw up; I did that all by myself. My turn was bad. I had only myself to blame.

The race was over I couldn’t swim it again. We had lost in what could’ve been our big moment. So what could I possibly do to make it any better?

I accepted my failure. I saw the problem. My freestyle flip turn, frankly, was garbage. Now I need to fix it. Every practice from now until Regionals, I will practice that same turn, over and over again.

I will ask my coach to help me. I will watch Mackenzie and Olivia when they turn. I will better myself.

I will make this effort because, yes, we lost. But nothing is final in a failure unless you make it so. In 3 weeks our relays will meet again. This time I’ll drive into the wall and touch first, knowing that I couldn’t go back and swim it any better.

OHS is only reputable by its winnings. Its what we are known across the state for. However, it is my belief upon personal experience that winning is not what makes state champions.

It is the heart breakers, the buzzer beaters, and last second bad luck that drive us forward. It is the knowledge that one loss doesn’t decide you. All it does is drive you farther ahead. To lose it to learn, and if you can do that, I’d say that’s a pretty big accomplishment.