As a student at Bow High school one of the requirements for graduation is to complete a senior project. It’s where you spend time doing something that gives back to the community. You can really do just about anything.
Now that I am a senior (or will be in a few weeks), it’s time to start thinking about where I want to go for college and what I want to be. I’m supposed to be ready to move on, but I’m not. Thinking about where I want to be in the future, I can honestly tell you that I have no idea. So for my senior project I decided that I wanted to explore people’s passion.
What is passion? Well according to Bing’s dictionary (which is something we high schoolers use) it’s “strong and barely controllable emotion.”
And since I have no clue what I want to do with my life, I thought why not start with something I enjoy – like writing.
This summer I was lucky enough to land an internship with the Concord Insider, where I was able to go out into the community, take photos and write a few articles about whatever the Insider guys asked me to cover. I really got to see all different sides of the community that on a normal day-to-day basis I wouldn’t. As my internship progressed, I found myself going out and doing things on my own. Let me tell you, I learned that I am horrible with directions because during my time at the Insider I got lost a lot. Now as someone who is usually the shy kid in class that doesn’t speak very often, and when I do I’d need a megaphone in order for you to hear me, I really came out of my comfort zone for this project.
The whole experience was really fun and new. I was able to join in on their brainstorming sessions, along with getting to plan my own story. I was part of the team, and I was thrilled.
As my project proceeded I came upon that word again – passion. Why is it that I’m not able to find mine? Sure, there are many things that I enjoy, but how do I know which thing gives me those strong emotions.
During my time at the Insider I was able to see first hand what passion looks like. For instance, Insider editor Tim Goodwin’s shows when telling other people’s stories. The vendors at the farmers markets showed their passion when talking about the hard work they put into their products. The summer camp advisers expressed passion when talking about all kinds of things their kids are able to do. And you could just observe the passion of The Bow Performing Arts cast of Pippin when they showed their love for acting.
With all of these examples of passion, I can feel myself getting closer to finding my own.
But for the time being, I am still that lost puppy dog not quite sure where to start.
And so I have seen what wearing passion does to a person. They beam with this bright glow of being able to share their story. That’s what my experience at the Insider taught me.
Megan Marshall will be a senior at Bow High School this fall. She spent the summer interning at the Insider as part of her senior project.
