With Thanksgiving approaching, taking a few minutes out of your day to think of things you’re grateful for can be very beneficial. According to Harvard Health, people who wrote about things they were grateful for were more optimistic, improved relationships with others, were motivated to work harder, and felt better about their lives. Insight thought of a few things around our school and our community for which we’re grateful. Happy Turkey Day from us, and remember, be thankful for the things in your life. Gratitude can go a long way.

Class choice variety

Although there have been different opinions about adding a seventh class, you can’t disagree that it gives us the opportunity to add more variety to our schedules. Here at BHS, we have many unique classes and resources that many schools don’t have. We are very grateful for our courses like woodworking, ceramics, studio production, newspaper, astronomy, psychology, drama & theater arts, graphic design, fashion design, music technology, and many more. These classes give us the ability to find our voice in the midst of crazy high school. Having a class that sparks our interest and allows us to express who we want to be is something to recognize and thank our school and our teachers for.

Water Fountains

At almost all times of the day, there is somebody at one of the water filters filling up a reusable water bottle. We are lucky to have three water filters —one at each cafeteria and one in the athletic hallway. This helps limit the amount of plastic around our community, and saves us $1 anytime we get thirsty. We are fortunate to have such a handy device around our school, because not many other public buildings around our community do.

Custodians

Custodians–we appreciate you for putting up with our childish ways in the cafeterias, our messiness in the bathrooms, and our yelling in the halls. We sometimes take your hard work for granted, but we thank you for your hard work day in and day out. We know BHS would be a gross mess without you.

Security

Although it has taken us a while to admit it, we actually do appreciate you, BHS, with all the additions to increase security. All of your work to help keep the students feel safe in the parking lots and in the classrooms is very important in today’s day and age. We appreciate the lanyards, added security cameras, parking passes, and additional security for people to enter the building. Without these efforts to change things for us, we can admit that Barnstable would feel a lot less safe.

Sports teams

Coaches, teams and fields: we love you. Sports allow kids to express who they want to be athletically; our school takes pride in the sports we play. Without the coach or the teammates who soon become our best friends, school wouldn’t be the same. Thank you coaches for always putting in your extra efforts to make sure we strive to be our best, and always pushing us to get there. And teammates, thanks for acting as second siblings.

Murals and Creativity

Get off your phone in the hallways and look in front of you! The murals we have painted by students are beautiful and are something to appreciate on the dreadful walk to your least favorite class of the day. The creativity around BHS has skyrocketed in the past few years, and we are grateful for the wonderful, intricate artwork done by our students and teachers. Next time you’re in the hallways, take an extra minute to really look at the artwork surrounding you. You won’t regret it.

School Counselors

Guidance counselors are a no brainer with public schools, but guidance counselors, we don’t want to take you for granted any longer. Your work every day to make sure we’re getting the attention we need to succeed is something we appreciate beyond measure. Especially the stressed out juniors and seniors – honestly, what would we do without you? Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being there for our mid-day breakdowns and our sudden need for a class change as soon as we see the class roster on step up day. Guidance counselors are our rock at BHS.

Free and Reduced Lunch

The free and reduced lunch option is so helpful to those who qualify. Not only do you get lunch for either a reduced price or for free, but it includes free SAT and ACT waivers, and free college application waivers. This is gives students the opportunity to plan out their futures without having to worry about cost restricting them. In addition to the free and reduced lunch plan, we appreciate you, lunch staff, for making our lunch for us every day.

Job and Volunteer Opportunities

We are grateful for the amount of job and volunteer opportunities that are offered in our community. In every one of our seven villages, there is a place to find a job or find ways to help out. This helps many of our friends in the community get out of a rut and make money when needed, and motivates people to find community service hours. Turns out, being in such a diverse, densely-populated location does pay off.

Rec Center

Many of us may have faded memories of the old Hyannis skating rink from when we were younger; the large-scale renovations were significant to the community. The Hyannis Youth Recreation Center has plenty to offer from skating rinks, basketball court, indoor track, food stands, and activity room, and sport shops. We are grateful to have a building like this so close to us where anybody is welcome to use its’ features anytime of the day. Many of us can find a use for the Recreation Center at all times of the year and without it, many of our sports players would have to travel far to find one like ours.

Tight-knit community

How many times have you started talking to somebody around you from the Cape that you’ve never met before and realized, “wait, I actually do know you!” and it ends up being through somebody else? That’s why we’re grateful this Thanksgiving. Barnstable’s tight-knit community feels like a big family – most places you go you can easily spot out somebody you’ve met before. From village activities such as strolls, parades, and fundraisers, to even our own BHS community, like our clubs, honor societies, and classes that feel like a family, we’re grateful. For the places and people that we live our everyday lives going to or being with, our community is something to cherish on such a unique area like Cape Cod.

Living on Cape Cod

Whether you want to stay on Cape later in life or get away as soon as possible, our home is beautiful. There’s no denying that Cape Cod’s landscape is special and fascinating to other people that don’t live here, followed by the classic “what’s there to do in the winter?” At all times of the year we can drive to our beaches and take in the beauty, and oftentimes, the beaches during the winter are our meeting grounds or peaceful stress relievers. Following the landscape of the Cape, being in the center of everything is very helpful. We’re near the hospital and the mall, both buildings of it’s kind on Cape Cod. Others that live farther down Cape have to make a much farther drive to go to either of those. We’re thankful for Barnstable High School and Barnstable’s community, for constantly showing us signs to be grateful for our lives and the people around us.