Oh, Murphy High School. Where to begin?
Three years ago, a tornado struck your campus, and consequently extended winter break for almost three weeks (at the time, talk about a Christmas miracle). Your student population occupied Clark-Shaw Magnet School for the second semester. The classroom buildings turned into portables, and the green grass turned into gravel. But hey, at least we were awarded days off when it rained too hard.
Just in case your centennial’s worth of existence dwarfed the fact, the tornado happened my freshman year. Up until 2016, traffic-clogged your main building worse than I-10. When it stormed, both your students and faculty became drowned mice due to the absence of pathway overhangs. Classrooms moved into different buildings or shifted into new portables. Let’s not forget the fact that, even before construction and before the tornado, more than half of your bathroom stalls did not lock, and some of the vending machines refused to work, as if mere decoration... At least the iconic Murphy auditorium was completed in time.
While the tornado may have been a defining moment in my high school career, I refuse to let it severely impact my last four years on your Foosackly’s-littered campus. While my fellow classmates and I complained about the curriculum, I acknowledge that was not directly your fault. You also could not help that an idea of a senior prank was to draw obscene graffiti and toilet paper the trees. In the end, now that I have graduated, I decided to look on the bright side. I will reflect on my high school experience with you through rose-tinted lenses.
Walking your halls, just as my father did before me, I met my closest friends, whom I would have never been introduced to otherwise if I had attended Davidson or Baker. Thanks to you, I met my best friend. Furthermore, your extensive and diverse student population of over two thousand opened my mind in a way that merely sitting in a classroom never could. I also encountered some of the best and worst teachers, and learned from both-- although, what I exactly learned varies. If nothing else, the traffic jams during construction taught me patience and how to weasel myself through small spaces. To put it frankly, you helped me become the person I am today: still a work in progress, but better than who I was before.
Murphy High School. You were not the best, but you definitely were not the worst, either. Our relationship can be best summarized as this: you are the obnoxious family relativeI can insult, but no one else can. I may have skipped the occasional class; I may have griped and complained. I may not know your alma mater by heart (but I do know that you always shout “Mobile Bay”). I may have never attended a Murphy versus McGill football game; I may have never painted the downtown cannon the school colors of blue and gold...
However, I am still proud to call myself a Murphy Panther, and always will be.