The Kids Are Still Alright

One thing I look forward to every year is the chance to be one of the Experienced People interviewing members of the junior class at my old alma mater and stomping grounds (literally!), Towson High School. 

Every April, every junior prepares a résumé, dresses up as if going to an interview, and reports with their English class to the school library, where they spend 15 minutes or so with one of us, doing a mock interview. Since everyone will be interviewed for something down the line, be it for college admission, military enlistment, or a job, it's best to have a tryout before the real fastballs of life come at you.

I enjoy this every year. With very few exceptions, the students take it very seriously, and do a heck of a job. As someone who still largely clings to his teenaged sensibility, I relate to 17-year-olds, and these folks are at that wonderful age: old enough to drive a car and register to vote, but still young and full of hope, without it being clouded by cynicism. They have the technological advantage of being born with computers and cell phones at their fingertips from the start, and they want to make it a better world. I think they will, if earnestness and sincerity are any indicators.

Tell you the truth, I get a lot out of this annual exercise too. It recharges my belief that the future is very bright, with these guys taking over. This bunch had the COVID awfulness hit them while in 7th grade. Several of them told me they were alone in the house with parents at work and their only connection was their computer, and they did great on their schoolwork because teachers and parents cared enough to keep things reasonably together for them. They've seen sadness and rough times but that teen sheen is still on them, and I hope it never leaves.

Thank you, THS '25!

PS - Speaking to us superannuated types - the school is still full of lockers. The students don't use them! They tote their books and Chromebooks and water bottles and healthy snacks in backpacks just slightly smaller than the ones used for Admiral Byrd's expedition. I wish we had had them!

PSS - There was a certain waxy smell about the library entrance when I first paraded down that hallway in September, 1966. It still smells just the same. I think the school must have purchased a lifetime supply of Johnson's Library Hallway Wax. I'm sure they'll be running out sometime...