The Knox Student

Congratulations on making it this far. High school was an experience and now you are done, off to college and ready to embrace the world on your own. No more parents making sure you’ve come home on time. No more harping until your homework is done. No more home cooking. In most cases, you are clearly on your own.

This presents several opportunities for you to learn about different cultures, new subjects and yourself. You can find a passion and pursue it for four years. Or, you can drift between your several interests, receiving a truly liberal arts education. You will be encouraged by your professors to challenge yourselves. Most importantly, you’ll be challenged by your peers to think in a way you never considered before.

But that will all come later. After many hours of puzzling classes and discussions where you feel like you don’t know anything, you’ll all of a sudden realize that you are smart. You’ll realize that you have strong opinions and are able to vocalize them in a clear and concise manner. And you’ll know, you’re Knox.

Knox cultivates strong-willed and successful adults, hoping that they will make a difference in the world. With the amount of dishonesty, hatred and uncertainty in this day and age, the world could use as many honest and educated people as possible working to make it a better place.

Sure, you’ll have opinions and be able to voice them. You can sign petitions and cast your vote as an American citizen for the way you want your future to be. You can be responsible for gathering information about an issue from several different sources and then deciding the most correct solution. You can even write to your congressman or local newspaper to voice your praises or frustrations.

But we are living in a different world than we used to. We are living in a world where anyone can have an opinion and broadcast it as fact on national news stations or infinite blogs, gathering attention for heralding the most outlandish stories. Words can be thrown all over the place and if you hear enough of them, they tend to have no meaning at all.

In times like these, the old adage definitely applies. Actions speak louder than words. Live your life to match your beliefs and become active in your community. Stick up for those things you believe in and show the world what you’re made of. Don’t be afraid of taking action once in a while. That is how you’ll be able to show how much you really care.