Cataloged by trips taken, lessons learned and national news with harrowing implications, 2018 has been, in a word, “eventful,” according to a handful of Haines students.

Second-grade student Makayla Henry said she got smarter these past 12 months since she “learned about reading.” Her favorite book has been “Pig and Pug,” she said.

Nate White, fifth-grader, learned not to overestimate himself when he tried playing his drums while his teacher was on vacation. “It was too hard for me, and then I realized I need to practice it more instead of just thinking I could do it,” White said.

Sixth-graders Alex Weerasinghe and Hayden Jimenez studied “trash island” in science class—a floating mass of plastic in the Pacific Ocean—that struck a chord with them both. “It was pretty crazy,” Weerasinghe said.

“We’re going to send letters to the borough for ideas we have how to reduce plastic,” Jimenez added.

In high school, junior Dori Getchell said that 2018 “has been the year of internet movements about major things.” She said that hashtags against sexual assault and gun violence have gone viral on the internet to raise awareness and gain momentum.

Student body president Marie Rose Evenden, a junior, pointed to the March for Our Lives and National School Walkout that Haines participated in back in March as defining events that have shaped the year, and school gun violence as a problem shaping her generation.

“It’s becoming normalized, and that’s scary,” Evenden said.

Second, sixth, and ninth graders unanimously answered “shootings” in response to what national news they remember from 2018.

“It’s not even school shootings, it’s just shootings in general,” Jimenez said, referencing the October synagogue massacre of 11 people in Pittsburgh.

Second grader Henry pointed to a “violent and weird” event she heard about, in which a man shot up his neighbor’s house, killing the entire family.

Though shootings have become a prevalent topic, many students chalk it up to just that, saying they feel safe in their small community in Haines.

“I’m not scared, I live in Haines,” Jimenez said of the threat of shootings.

Weerasinghe suggested that bigger schools break down into smaller units, so that everybody knows each other, community ties are strong and the threat of a shooting is diminished.

Evenden said that the national attention on gun violence has allowed people to ban together and spread information. “I get most of my news from Facebook and Twitter, and a lot of it is because people are concerned about things that are happening,” she said.

Getchell said that while 2018 has been a year for conversation about uncomfortable topics, she hopes 2019 will be a year for action.

“This was about bringing up a lot of past issues finally and really talking about them and I think for 2019 it would be nice to finally see change,” Getchell said. “To take action on what’s been said and not sweep it under the rug again.”

Many students echoed similar sentiments of doing better as individuals, siblings, students and a community in the coming year.

Sixth grader Weerasinghe said he wants to be a better person this year. “You can always be nicer,” he said.

Evenden said we can improve on being better people to each other by really listening to each other. “It would be amazing to have someone listen to what we’re trying to say because a lot of people are trying to say something,” Evenden said.

“We are the future of this town, we’re the future of the world, so to have our voices heard is probably really important,” she said.

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