I haven’t been at Forest Grove High School long, but even I can see that this year has been a formative one. We’ve stepped back, and no matter what your beliefs are, we’ve all taken a broader look at our community. In many ways it’s been a fantastic year for Forest Grove High. We conquered the Pigeon Bowl once again, had impressive academic achievements, along with many more accomplishments. In other ways it’s been a difficult year. We’ve seen unfortunate events that have either hurt those in our school, or have been a cause for disappointment. However, whether it’s positive or negative, the events of this year have caused us to start conversations about how to improve our school. Only good can come from that.

If you haven’t been paying attention this year, allow the Advocate to catch you up. This year we’ve been reminded of the talent and hard work that so many of our students put forward. In October of this year, many of us headed out to McMinnville to witness the infamous Pigeon Bowl. It has taken a place of pride in all our hearts for the past few years, and thanks to our football team we earned that pride again. This is just one of the many athletic accomplishments Forest Grove saw this year. We saw the same charisma and success from our arts department this year. Our theatre department had a stunning season, and an especially gripping Unify Theatre show. Out of Choir, Orchestra and Band, we saw a level of performance in both competition and concerts that we’d never seen before. Everyone involved should be very proud.

Something I noticed in particular this year was the roles our clubs played. Thanks to the CLC and many dedicated students and adults, there was an impressive amount of involvement from our clubs. Earth Club has been seen throughout the school this year, collecting recycling and continuing to make the world a better place. I don’t know if the school can give Edgar Sanchez the amount of credit he and the rest of Earth Club deserve. Taking action again this year is Forest Grove’s Youth Ending Slavery club, geared towards spreading awareness about and ending human trafficking. At the end of May will have held the 2nd annual “Let Freedom Run” 5k. We also saw the emergence of new clubs this year. Pacific University, in collaboration with the CLC, has assisted the new and student-led Young Feminists Club. The club includes many students at our school and tries to understand issues surrounding gender through discussion and action. Of course, we can’t talk about the amazing work all of our clubs have done, that would take forever.

As all years do, this year saw unpleasant events. Some saw that this year showed a lack of enthusiasm from the students regarding some incidents. We didn’t get every win we could’ve, but it’s foolish to aim for that instead of improvement. We all know the recurring and unfortunate actions and words taken on race and other issues that took place this year. However, we also know about the bravery and integrity many students and teachers took against this attitude. While it’s upsetting unity has to come from such events, I have hope that remembering the past and working towards a compassionate future is possible. There are many within our school that are kind, hardworking and hopeful, whether they are silent about it or not. Aspects like these are in all of us, and that’s what makes me believe that Forest Grove High School is good and has the potential to be great.  

Let’s not forget this year also saw the founding of the Advocate, your only news source dedicated to Forest Grove High School. The Advocate wishes all the seniors good luck after high school, and we hope you keep reading. It’s been a good year overall, and an interesting year entirely but let’s make the next one even better.