After being a college student for over a year, who would have thought I would have missed my small high school surrounded by a cornfield, but I do. There’s nothing like the community at Triopia Jr. Sr. High School. I miss the days when I would walk down the halls of Triopia and be greeted by our smiling teachers. I miss the days of knowing each and every person personally in my classes. I miss skipping class for a day to help out with the Annual Cornfield Olympics. I miss traveling around with a group of theatre students and performing for the area grade schools. I miss helping with the Jr. High speech team. I miss learning life lessons inside the classroom and out on the field with the most genuine and kind teachers and coaches I’ve ever met. I miss going to Friday night football games where the entire community would come out to support our boys in blue, but what I miss most of all is the outpouring of love that the Triopia community has. You see, Triopia wasn’t just a learning place for me, it was a place to grow and become family. When times of tragedy would strike, this community would surround each other with love and prayer. When it was time to celebrate, the community would be joyful and go all out in celebration. When someone in the community needed something, the people of our community would be there in a heartbeat. I often think of how blessed I was to be raised in such an amazing community as Triopia.

High Schoolers, cherish each moment you have left in the school surrounded by a cornfield. I went through all of high school saying “there’s always next year” or “I’m ready to get out of this place”, but now, I wish I could go back. Get involved, smile back at your teachers, go all out during homecoming week, and play your hardest in each and every game, because one day, you’ll look back and miss it.

Teachers, thank you for the mark you’ve not only left on my life, but the lives of many students that have walked through the doors of Triopia. Thank you for the endless love and support you show your students. We often don’t take the time to appreciate you, but we definitely do. Thank you for always caring about what is going on in our lives. You guys go above and beyond being teachers and I’m forever grateful for the impact you made on my life.

The community, thanks for showing up for every sporting event and teaching me how to love and serve God. One of the best feelings is walking down the street and knowing each and every person you come in contact with knows you and is willing to have a five to ten-minute conversation with you to catch up on life. Thanks for the outpouring of love you show. I’m forever grateful for growing up in our small community.

Coming to college was a big culture shock for me. Now I go to classes in different buildings, I don’t know every person in my classes, I live in town that is three times bigger than the three towns that makes up Triopia, there’s no cornfields, and I don’t have the same teacher’s each semester, but the life lessons that I’ve learned and the love that I was shown through the Triopia community will forever be in my heart.