“Hello, my name is Harshi! I joined Sacred Heart in Grade 6 (2013). I’ll be attending Waseda University from the fall.

Some of my favorite memories at Sacred Heart are during the last days of school before winter and summer break. On these days, along with a feeling of relief that the holidays have arrived, there is also a sense of longing to go home and never get up from bed. However, there is also an indescribable excitement wave that passes through the school on the “last” days that I was always excited for. I loved the last three days of school before winter break when we did “Kris Kringle,” otherwise known as Secret Santa. The week before, when we got to know who we would be gifting to, was always exciting as we would all walk out of homeroom announcing our Kris Kringle and asking anyone and everyone for clues about what our Kris Kringle would like. Then, it became a game – guess who your Secret Santa is. At the end of it all, going to the Kris Kringle assembly was so thrilling – not only would we play Christmas games but we would also finally find out who was giving us presents and then give our present to our Kris Kringle. You could truly feel the Christmas magic of giving and receiving and the Sacred Heart magic of community in that one hour of games and fun. Another Sacred Heart tradition that I’m going to miss on the last day of school is “HAGS”. Usually, we are given around an hour and a half to sign yearbooks on the last day of school. In Middle School (and, embarrassingly, even in High School), it was funny to go around and just write “HAGS”, short for “Have a Great Summer,” in whoever’s yearbook you found.

All the excursions were great in their own way. It’s hard to choose the “best” excursion. Middle school excursions were exciting, funny, and I always looked forward to doing skits/dances. In sixth grade, our skits were about the Beatles, pizza, LCM, and dogs. I’ll leave it to your imagination to picture what the skits were like. In seventh grade, my groups danced to “Pop Danthology” and honestly, it was iconic. This other group danced to “Chandelier” by Sia, also another iconic performance. Then in eighth grade, John Harrison took over every skit. High school excursions were another level of bonding and excitement. In ninth grade, we sang chapel songs on our way back to the hotel on the ferry. In tenth grade, we made chopsticks with real gold :o. In eleventh grade, we did a fashion show with dresses made out of newspapers. In twelfth grade… let’s just say that what happens on the grade 12 excursions stays in Hiroshima.

First, I’m thankful for the people I’ve met and the countless doors that have opened for me at Sacred Heart. The people and the experiences will forever stay with me as I move towards my next adventure. Second, I’m thankful to everyone in our community for making our graduation and farewell memorable. I know virtual graduation was not what anyone was expecting. But, to have had so many members of our community tell us congratulations was truly so heartwarming– thank you to our teachers who sent us messages through emails and videos and our underclassmen who sent us messages and videos. Third, I’m extremely thankful to Ms. Shull for giving me the opportunity to become the editor of the HOSH series. Through this platform, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know so many talented and unique people that make up the Sacred Heart community. I hope that the readers have enjoyed reading the articles as much as I have enjoyed writing them. I also hope that you all continue to enjoy reading the HOSH series in the future as well.

Many of my friends and classmates have said this, but here I am to say it again – make the best out of your time at school. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and take chances. Know that you are in a community that will always support your successes and failures. You really won’t know what you’re good or bad at unless you try it. As my icon, Peter Pan says, “If you cannot fly, sing.” So, if you are going through a hard time, then just remember the best song ever, “Colors of the Rainbow”. You’ll feel a hundred times better just by singing that one song :)” – Harshi