Freedom High juniors produce angst-filled anthology

NEW TAMPA — The demands of her classes — French, English, History, Chemistry — as well as swim team practice, dinner, family time and sleep all collided in her mind like an interstate highway pile up.Her chest tightened and she balled her hands into fists trying to stop the tears. Why aren't I good enough? How can everyone else seem to keep it together? How can they do it all, and I can't do anything? Thinking about these failures only increases the flow of tears that come from simply being a teenager. The excerpt comes from a passage called Breaking Point, part of an anthology Freedom High teacher Andrea Rinard asked her Advanced Placement English Language class to compile at the beginning of the school year.The student-written essays comprising The Best Years? describe the high school experience and what differentiates today's teen angst them from that of their parents."I kept asking my students to write about something that exemplifies or typifies your high school experience," said Rinard, who has been teaching English since the '90s. "Some of the experiences were heart wrenching, some of them were funny, some of them were uplifting, but they were all very, very real and that's what we are trying to get at."Becky Smith, one of Rinard's 17-year-old juniors, said she and her classmates welcomed the opportunity to debunk teenage stereotypes."We looked at how all high school movies and books all have the same kind of layout," Smith said. "There's always the popular high school jock and there's all these stereotypes and there isn't anything realistic."By writing this book, people can finally know what high school is really like now."Rinard, as the only person to have read all the pieces prior to publication, said the range of stories — from secrets to parents to embarrassing moments — impressed her."Every single one of the pieces has some moment of vulnerability," she said. "There are stories of students sneaking out, of students trying alcohol, engaging in sexual activity, getting their heart broken, getting in food fights, there's just a whole range of things where students were really vulnerable, but there's a level of confession in every single one of them."While some of the essays deal with academic pressures, others revolve around the challenges of preparing for college and the future."High school is tough and sometimes may not turn out the way that our parents expect," said Reilly Titus, 17. "We tend to do things that we shouldn't do, but it's part of growing up and it's the high school experience."The essays are written in anonymity, protecting the identities of students who have engaged in questionable activities, like using a fake ID to get into an 18-and-over club."What is so interesting about this book are the mistakes and risks that the kids are taking and not sharing with their parents," Rinard said.Self-published by the class and available on Amazon, The Best Years? includes more than 80 student essays that were peer-edited in class. Through a fundraiser, the class collected $1,616 to publish the book on Amazon and print a copy for each student and each donor to the class. Contact Alex Rosenthal at hillsnews@tampabay.com.

Freedom High juniors produce angst-filled anthology

MORE FOR YOU

ONLY AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIBERS