Editorials

Last First- A Letter From the Editor

Maliah Miskiewicz, Co-Editor in Chief • September 11, 2024

A lively student section celebrates the first pep rally of the year.

Life is hard, and being a senior might be even harder.

All future, past, and present classes of seniors alike can collectively agree, whether we publicly want to admit it or not, that no matter how ready you are to leave Wheeling Park, conquering these “last firsts” can and will be hard.

The last first day of school, last first pep rally, last first football game, and so many more minuscule acts that we might not even deem to be important. While things such as your last first time picking up your schedule might seem absolutely minute in the immediate picture of things, as time begins to pass, some of these once day-to-day tasks begin to become more meaningful.

As a perfectionist, I constantly feel the need for everything to be picture perfect, and this issue has only grown worse with the fact that I am now a senior. With the constant reminder in the back of my head that anything I do, whether it be something as small as driving to school or as big as homecoming, will be my last, has taken an immense toll on not only my mental health, but in the way that I perceive these events as a whole.

I not only want everything to obviously turn out absolutely perfect, but also enjoy everything to the fullest capacity. This repetitive act of both striving for any event or activity to turn out exactly how I planned it to go, while still managing to enjoy and fully live in the moment, is sadly an impossible cycle that will lead to unrealistic expectations about your completely realistic life.

The first step to not letting life pass you by, is by not sweating the small stuff. My junior prom, which also happened to be my very first prom, is a moment that I heavily associate with these specific feelings of perfection preventing you from fully enjoying the present. I had everything completely planned out and needed everything to go a specific way. Key word— NEEDED. I had a completely one track mindset where if something even ever so slightly went a way I was expected, I was destined to freak out.

And freak out I did.

While I’m not proud to admit that fact, this is just a prime example of what is almost predestined to happen when falling into this extremely toxic mindset.

Whether you’re a senior experiencing the same feelings as most of us already are, or even a freshman who has yet to even experience a full semester of high school, whatever you do, don’t take your time here for granted. Go to that basketball game you might have not considered ever going to, stay in school for that once dreaded pep rally, and most importantly, just enjoy the small stuff.

While some deem this to be a great thing And genuinely have no and absolutely cannot wait to leave the halls of Wheeling Park, there is still a bigger question waiting to be answered: how do you plan on leaving your mark at Park? How can YOU make the most of your situation?

So what can we learn from all of this? It’s simple. Live your life in the moment, enjoy the smallest things, and most importantly, don’t forget to take a huge step back and look at your life from a bigger perspective.

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About the Contributors

Maliah Miskiewicz, Co-Editor in Chief

Maliah Miskiewicz is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Park Press as well as a senior at Wheeling Park High School. When not designing the Press or taking pictures of everything, she devotes the rest of her time filming, anchoring, and doing whatever she can within WPHP. When not surrounding herself in everything journalism, you’ll find Maliah practicing and competing with the Speech and Debate team where she is not only a State Champion in Humorous Interpretation, but also a qualifier for Pennsylvania's State Championship. Maliah is also the Humorous and Dramatic Interpretation Squad Captain of the team, where she guides her teammates on the road toward the 45th state championship. Maliah is a freshman mentor, REAP Counselor, the Social Media and Publicity Director for WPHP, member of National Honors Society, SkillsUSA, The Quill and Scroll Society, The Thespian Society, Radio-TV Club, The Park Players, as well as playing tennis recreationally. Maliah is proud to have been a member of the Wheeling Park Press during the revival era of our paper, where our staff only consisted of 16 members who re-built our paper from the bottom up… #FoundingFather. She started as merely a Staff Writer, moved her way up to help develop an official aesthetic for the Park Press as the Design Editor, and now is proud to take on her title of Co-Editor Chief.

JaiLynn, Staff Writer

JaiLynn is a 10th grader at Wheeling Park High School. She is a first year staff writer for the Park Press. Her first writing experience was at Warwood Middle School in 7th grade. She wrote for the newsapers for workplace, and greatly enjoyed it. She has been doing All-Star Cheer for 4 years at ICE in Washington, PA. Her awards include hitting zero deductions at competitions due to her amazing coaches.