In ninth grade, I thought a lot of my teachers sounded like the one in Charlie Brown: “Mwah wah wah.” In fact, I thought a lot of students sounded like this too. I was in my own little world: my ears and my voice were not strong. And, until I began to open my mind, to listen and build off the ideas of teachers at students at Ames High school, it stayed that way.

Ames High School is the perfect place to not only build your voice, but build your ears. I’ve found that you can find what you want to say, but you can also find the people to listen to. You can give your own wisdom, but there is so much wisdom already within these halls, waiting for you to hear it.

Take Mr. Mooney. I’ve learned the value of time and how simply be from him. Mr. Brekke will teach you how to be in love with life. And Mr. Webb has more than a few stories to share that will make you laugh and appreciate things.

Join Spectrum and hear stories that might open your eyes. Stay after school to visit a teacher you haven’t seen in awhile, ask how are you and they might just give you insight to what the meaning of life is.

But don’t be afraid to turn it around and say something back. Take government with Mrs. Sullivan and dare to raise your hand, challenge something one of your classmates said. Join choir or band, and learn to say things without words. Join the WEB (shameless self-promotion) and write a controversial article. Take a photography class and go home and tell your parents, no, mom, dad, I’m going to be what I aspire to be when I grow up. Not only listen to your heart, but make sure your heart has space to shout what it wants to shout.

Ames High School has not only taught me how to listen and how to sing, but it has balanced those two things. Yes, on occasion your teacher might indeed sound nearly like a droning trombone using a mute in a very inefficient way, but look up. There is always something deeper there.