Looking at Hollister in the rearview mirror
Well, that went quickly. Another school year has come and gone,
with finals at San Benito High School beginning after Memorial Day
weekend and graduation at the end of next week.
Another 600-plus students will enter the real world as Baler
alumni and find out if their

I can’t wait to get out of Hollister

mantra is as fulfilling as it sounds.
Looking at Hollister in the rearview mirror

Well, that went quickly. Another school year has come and gone, with finals at San Benito High School beginning after Memorial Day weekend and graduation at the end of next week.

Another 600-plus students will enter the real world as Baler alumni and find out if their “I can’t wait to get out of Hollister” mantra is as fulfilling as it sounds.

It certainly was running through my mind back in 1987, when my thoughts were on moving to Fresno to begin the college life in an apartment with my best friend. I was ready to leave Hollister in the rear view mirror and never look back.

About two months later, when I realized how expensive real life is and how inconvenient it is to carry clothes to the laundry facility at the apartment complex, I began my periodic weekend return trips to the city I had forsaken – if for no other reason than to enjoy the perks of not being totally dependent upon myself.

I also thought it would be cool to be a “college guy” returning to town for parties, but that didn’t hold the appeal I had hoped for and my friend and I eventually settled into our routine away at college, where we came to enjoy our life of relative independence – once we figured out the difference between laundry detergent and fabric softener.

The end of the year is a reflective period for graduating seniors, who say they can’t wait to leave but are reluctant to admit that they’re a little scared. Teachers, too, reflect as May becomes June, thinking about what worked and didn’t work in the classroom and looking forward to de-compressing for a couple of months before school begins again in August.

A student in one of my classes asked me this week if I ever noticed the friendships that had formed in that newspaper class during the year.

“Mr. Breen,” she said, “Do you realize that we all became friends because of your class?” as she pointed to the people sitting around a table.

I hadn’t really thought about it until then, but she was right. It happened not because of anything I did as a teacher, I’m sure, but because of proximity.

At the start of the year, many classrooms are quiet – or at least subdued – as students get a lay of the land and scope out those assigned to sit near them.

After settling into a routine and sitting through two to three 100-minute classes each week for a few months, socialization patterns emerge.

Students assigned to sit by one another invariably strike up a conversation or ask each other for help or say “thanks” when a worksheet is passed from one to another. Not everyone becomes friends, though some do, and to some students that may have been their favorite part of the class.

The class of 2011 is ready for the world, or at least as ready as they can be, let’s hope. They might have a plan for their future – college, entering the workforce, or mooching off mom and dad for as long as possible – but they have no idea what the future holds.

They want to get away, just like I did, and some of them will never look back. Others will return for money or food or to have mom run their dirty clothes through the wash without needing quarters to make the machine work. And some will never leave.

I tell all my students it’s OK that they want to leave Hollister. If they have the opportunity to see what the rest of the world is about, go for it. College is great. Travel is great. Even getting a job can be great, if you can do it, as it offers lessons about survival and socializing and responsibility that the relatively sheltered world of school barely touches upon.

After telling them that it’s fine to want to leave, I do add that, believe it or not, many of them will eventually come back to Hollister and some will even settle here permanently. Most don’t believe me.

Even if they choose not to make our humble city their permanent home, a lot of them will one day look back with fondness on their days growing up in a place that is still small enough to feel like a community. Some will miss the great weather, others will miss the Baler spirit at sporting events, a few will miss the slower pace of life that they so dread as a teen.

The school year is ending for thousands of students and the life hundreds of graduating seniors have been waiting for is about to begin. We wish all of them well and hope they find the success they seek elsewhere.

For those who think about returning to Hollister in a few months or a few years, don’t be disappointed about wanting to come home. As much as we complain about it and resist it when we are teens, the allure of a real hometown is a powerful pull. It’s OK to get away. It’s also OK to come back – even if it’s just to do laundry at mom’s house.

Adam Breen teaches yearbook and newspaper classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance. He can be reached by e-mail at ab****@pi**********.com.

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A staff member wrote, edited or posted this article, which may include information provided by one or more third parties.

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