May 24th 2022 was a dark and tragic day for not only the people in Uvalde Texas, but a scarring and horrifying shooting for the rest of the country to hear about and even watch. The shooting that took place at Robb Elementary High School, was orchestrated by a former student, 18 year old Salvador Ramos murdered 19 students and two teachers in cold blood, as well as wounding 17 others. As if that wasn’t enough, Ramos shot his grandmother in the face earlier in the day, severely but not fatally wounding her. Using an AR-15 style rifle, he killed the victims and within over an hour, the US Border Patrol Tactical Unit killed him. The mass slaughter was the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook and occurred 10 days after the Buffalo Shooting in New York. Many schools across the county, including both our own Meridian High School and Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, organized nationwide walkouts in response to the school shootings. Both Students Demand Action and senior Elijah Pelton, a graduate of the Class of 2023, students, staff and admin all stood together as we demanded change from the politicians who have failed to do so. In no other place does events like these happen and we should not have to live in fear of whether we’ll leave school alive or if we even should go to school because of the fear that holds us back!!
A Famous Meme Recreated
At Meridian High School, students form great relationships their teachers, some stronger than others. This would work well in my case as well because I knew my teachers had my best interest at heart and I found most of them to be very fun and hardworking people. I was big fan of the iconic superhero Spider-Man, and I even gained a school wide nickname by many of my peers; “Miles Morales” due to my striking resemblance to the character. Because of this, I came up with a hilarious and excellent idea that would for sure be one for the books of Meridian High School. I brought together seven teachers at Meridian who all look ironically similar to recreate the iconic Spider-Man pointing meme. The group consisted of Mr. Beau Fay (white shirt), Mr. Steven Knight (black shirt), Mr. Josh Singer (purple shirt), Mr. Richard Spartos (green hoodie), Mr. Jon Pepper (blue and white shirt), Mr. Eric Duchaj (black sweater), and Dr. Al Defazio III (brown shirt). This photo would be so well received by everyone around the school when it was posted in the school newsletter a few days later, that I decided to surprise the seven teachers with a framed copy for each of them. So with some help from my Spanish teacher; Ms. Suzanne Planas who got the frames for me, we got to work and the iconic photo now known as “The Good, The Bad and The Bald” was born.
One Final Flick
Photos can have more meaning that some people realize. To some eyes of regular viewers, this may seem like a normal photo of students enjoying a game, but it has a far bigger backstory than some people realize. This photo I captured on February 4 2022 was the last photo taken of my friend, Andrew Weichert, before he unexpectedly passed away later that night. He is remembered for his kindness, loyalty and undying friendly attitude to his friends and family, and the memories he made with them.