Showcasing San Clemente’s Hometown High School
By Shelley Murphy
Spring is the season of growth and renewal. So I find it fitting that last week San Clemente High School hosted its showcase presentation. I volunteered at the event, which combined the school’s annual open house with its eighth grade parent information night.
Seven years ago, if someone said to me I’d someday be standing in the SCHS gym promoting its virtues, I would’ve politely suggested they seek immediate psychiatric help.
When my older son graduated eighth grade, I begged him to attend a smaller or private school, and he refused. Convincing my husband proved impossible, he flatly rejected sending our sons anywhere but to their hometown high school.
The high school scared me. For years I’d drive by the beast beckoning to my boys in the backseat of our car and I’d stare back at its buildings stretching blocks while silently vowing to keep my boys far from its belly.
But, as usual, my sons and husband deemed me and my fears irrational. Out of options, I reluctantly enrolled our son as a freshman at SCHS. Seldom do I admit my husband is right, and rarely in writing, so it pains me to concede he was correct. Our boys belonged at their hometown high school.
At last week’s showcase, I sympathized with the anxious parents flooding into the crowded gym. Enrolling a child in high school can be overwhelming; it’s a painful parenting step on the lonely road of letting go.
Greeting parents of prospective freshmen, I recognized a familiar panic on some faces. As an admitted overanxious parent, I’m quick to spot a fellow tribe member.
I empathized with their expressions and remembered my apprehension as my older son approached high school. Most of my anxiety stemmed from the school’s big buildings and sprawling campus, I feared my son would be lost—figuratively and literally.
I sought advice from a trusted girlfriend whose kids were enrolled and enjoying SCHS. The advice she gave me seven years ago holds true today: “He’s got to get involved in something, anything. I don’t care if it is the Pokémon Club, get him involved.”
I thought she was crazy. How could joining a club tame the beast? But she’s right, getting involved shrinks the size of the school and provides something we all seek—a sense of belonging.
Taking her advice to heart, both my boys found their connections through academics, arts, athletics, clubs and other programs.
But even connected kids struggle to survive high school; it is emotionally, physically and academically challenging—at least that’s how I remember it.
The 1985 movie The Breakfast Club examined the complex coming-of-age high school existence. Thirty years later the cult classic’s cliques – “a princess, an athlete, a brain, a basket case and a criminal” – still tell the story of teen struggles and pressures.
My kids encountered their share of potholes along the high school road and through their experiences learned valuable lessons inside and outside their classrooms.
My boys, and I, embrace their time as Tritons. Sure, I’d like to change some things about their high school, and yes it has its faults, but I don’t know of any school that doesn’t suffer shortcomings.
I agree, 50 years after its opening, the high school lacks curb appeal. But looking past its exterior and peeking inside reveals a spirited student body, supportive professional staff and rigorous academic coursework.
I respect that choosing a high school is a private and daunting decision for each family. My recollections of my kids’ high school years represent my personal experiences and aren’t intended to recruit students.
SCHS embodies spring’s spirit of growth and renewal as it welcomes prospective freshmen embarking on their four-year journey and prepares to say goodbye to graduating seniors commencing on their adventures.
With three short months remaining on my younger son’s senior school-year calendar, picturing him walking out the doors of SCHS for the last time is far more frightening than anticipating his first steps into high school.
Shelley Murphy has lived in San Clemente with her husband and two sons for the past 14 years. She’s a freelance writer and contributor to the SC Times since 2006.
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