This past summer, I spent 18 days traveling around Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, and while I had a fantastic time, I also realized that I love my hometown more than anything.

So, with a newfound appreciation of hot showers with water pressure, I enter into my senior year ready to soak up and appreciate my final moments at Bearden High School.

When I was in Belfast, I met an Irishman who told me that his entire view of the southern United States was based off of Friday Night Lights, a show about the trials of various people connected with a football team in Dillon, Texas. While I tried to dissuade him from believing that we were all ignorant racists, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride and excitement for Bearden’s own Friday night lights.

I probably wouldn’t have felt that way if we had not miraculously found two new sportswriters Tyler Hotz and Wyeth Wilson that were ready to take on the challenge of covering all of Bearden athletics for the Bark this year. Alongside them, we have a new entertainment writer Madison Chan and a new news writer, and legacy of the bark, Zoe Evans.

Our four brand new Bark writers join veterans. While I knew at the end of last year after interviewing all the applicants that we were going to have a fantastic year in The Bark, I don’t think I knew quite how good this staff was going to be. On the first day, when I asked the staff to come up with story ideas, I was expecting the usual silent reply with maybe one or two whispered replies. Instead, I received more than five story ideas from each beat. Two of those articles will tell the stories of four more Bulldogs’ adventures overseas.

I made some extraordinary memories this summer. I watched Zulu warriors perform a dance to celebrate their fighters in the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. I stood inside a prison cell that housed some of Ireland’s most passionate political prisoners in Dublin. I even visited some filming locations of a certain dragon-filled HBO show.

In all those memories made, I found an impetus to capitalize on the moments I have left at Bearden, and with my last Bark staff, I know the moments will be abundant.