Mitchell Stroud

Blog 3

The building I picked for this blog is my high school, Harding Charter Preparatory High School (HCP). I have a whirlwind of emotions about this building. Unfortunately, HCP was forced to relocate under the “pathway to greatness” project. It might have been built in 1925 and still had asbestos in it (we were assured it was properly quarantined), but it was rich with history and character.

I did not start to truly understand how much this school meant to me until I graduated. Freshman year was a huge transition. The first two and a half years there I absolutely despised it. I complained that there was so much homework and I never had any free time. I did not see where all of the work was leading to until the last year and a half. My junior year I started to realize how all of the work that I had done over the past 3 years fell into place. I was taking college level classes that made it so much easier now that I am in college. I started to look at other schools’ high school curriculum and realized how much more that HCP taught me. This made the transition into college much easier. I already knew good study skills and how to write cohesive thoughts. These things that thought were common among college freshmen actually allowed me to stand out and excel in classes that my peers were struggling with. Finally, it gave me the academic resume to pursue college athletics at Syracuse University. Although I got injured my freshman year there, I would not have been able to get there without the work that I put in during high school.

Overall, apart from the visual appeal to this building, it became a symbol of the community and comradery that I formed with my peers while also gaining a top notch education.