A: What do you want to be when you grow up? Half of you just thought: uh, I’m already grown up. Duh. Why are you wasting my time? The other half just thought… I have no idea! Why must you never stop asking this question! All the rest of you think I’m crazy. Well, no one is truly ever grown up in my opinion. There is so much that people can do and change in their lives even when they are "grown up". Teenagers, most of all, have no idea how to answer that question. Seriously, we dread adults walking up and asking us anything pertaining to our future. However, most of us have figured out a specifically vague response that satisfies the adult so that they start talking about "when I was your age" and we’re therefore permitted to lose interest.

C: Well, when it comes to Oak Ridge High School, we get asked the growing up question a lot. At ORHS, I am a pretty average student… but that means I am in 4 AP classes and two honors courses. For those of you who don’t know, AP means Advanced Placement, basically college entrance level classes. As an AP student, I’m taking: AP U.S. History, AP Jr. English, AP Psychology, and AP Environmental Science. On average, I arrive at school at 6:45 AM and spend 16+ hours of everyday doing something related to school. The other 8 hours I sleep. Going AP has its derogatory effects: grey hair, insomnia, and carpel tunnel at 17. In AP Psych I learned about the damage stresses have on the immune system and have felt it all year. According to my textbook, after a certain amount of stress is expended on the body, it will shut down (leaving you in a coma or dead.) So at the rate I’m going, who knows how much longer I’ve got!

However, AP classes are amazing. Learning has become an awesome experience rather than a chore. I’ve found passions I didn’t know I had, and I can finally answer the ever annoying question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I love APES and psych and even math on occasion, and I know I’m setting the ground work to successfully pay off my Dad’s plans for a lavish retirement. The coolest part of being AP is the group of young adults I get to learn with. Some of my best friends are also my 6:45 study buddies and the people I depend on the most. That early in the morning, everyone seems friendlier and we usually end up turning our math classroom into a comedy club- but of course we still learn. Many of my teachers will do just about anything to drill something into my head. If that means Ms. Osborne needs to head bang to a WWI song or Ms. Hillis and Dr. Bertrand need to do the High School Musical dance to keep us inspired, they will. The AP community has been a very nurturing experience for me thus far. But I truly believe that AP goes beyond the plywood that holds our school together (and Tim, I still don’t think you’re going to finish that construction on time.) I think that any place where people gather has the potential to be an advanced placement facility. On our way home from Florida on our band trip I witnessed 50 sunburned kids make a bus more like a library. Teenagers are experts at putting their heads together because we know we’re not smart enough to figure stuff out on our own. Oak Ridge is a remarkable place to grow up especially with our city’s background. I have no doubt that my nerdy friends will run engineering firms and invent the water powered car. That’s just who we are. I believe our potential comes from our connections, and that is definitely not something we learn in out textbooks.

A: ORHS is supposed to teach us spectacular things and help us set our goals in life, as Claire said. Our new facility with amazing features to enhance our educations is ensuring us the best possible future. Well, it’s working. I’m taking GREAT classes just like Claire (minus APES and Psychology… plus Physics and Spanish). Unlike Claire however, I’m not sure I have it totally figured out… you see, I love calculus, physics, English, and history… and I know for sure that I don’t want to be a Calculus-Physics-English-History major in college. That is just too much work. So… in order to help us make these difficult decisions we turn to our parents. They tell us that we can be whatever we want, as long as we make enough money to pay for their lavish retirements and European vacations. They are our pushers, and we appreciate them, but they should at least offer to let us travel to Europe with them next time.

C: These support systems through school and home life are great, but the church plays a huge role as well. You ask, how can Presbyterians be AP? Well let’s start with a fact: y’all gossip more than my friends do. So instead of using our parishes as complaint groups, why don’t we use them to learn about each other… support rather than torment? Last year my family’s parish had a "gathering" for lunch just to get to know each other. That sense of community was one I didn’t know our congregation could share. And as I got to know my pew neighbors I realized something: not once did we talk about church. Sure, I come to church to worship God, but I come back because of the people here. I know that every last one of you has something to contribute to our community, and I’m not talking about what you put in the offering plates. Many of you do an outstanding job enhancing our community through more than Sunday morning handshakes.

A: Back to the "growing up thing". We’re all God’s children; we know that as an AP Presbyterian community. Well, if we’re all God’s children, why don’t we ALL walk to the front of the church for the children’s sermon? Apparently we have all reached a point in our lives (let’s call it 5 feet) where we think we’re big enough to go our on our own. Plus, the first pew isn’t big enough for everybody to sit on. Asking "what do you want to be when you grow up" is a lot like asking a teenager "what do you believe?" Once again, we teenagers have the by the book answers. And, once again, we have no idea. Faith is always changing; it’s hard to find the right textbook. However, we do have our fearless leaders: Tim and Teresa Myrick, Daniel Tipton, and Keith Jeter… and those retirement-planning parents of ours. Now I ask you, Can we really reach 5 feet-faithfully? I can honestly say that I have not reached the point where I know everything about God and faith. That’s why I come to church, to learn. Everyone in the congregation is learning (whether you know it or not) all the time, that’s why you are never bored. There is a lot to learn in church. Faith of course. Then there are Principal Chuck Carringer’s "character focuses of the month": Responsibility, trustworthiness, respect for authority, honesty, and citizenship. These school topics are reiterated in church and everyday life, and thanks to Mr. Carringer, I will never forget them. In church we learn about each other and we learn that we will never stop learning. If we come to terms with the fact that we’ll never know everything (and never answer all of the questions on those AP tests) then why can’t we come to terms with the fact that we might not be totally sure what we’re going to do when we grow up? We will never be totally grown up, always changing, growing, living through others, and learning… we will never, ever, ever, ever stop learning. Don’t stop asking us what we want to be when we grow up, we all need to keep thinking and learning every day.

C: You’ve all got the learning thing down, Just embrace the AP part! Together the youth and adults in this congregation can truly make something happen. Our youth are awesome, we’re energetic and we’re hysterical. We really want to see our church turn into something incredible. Amelia and I were proud of the "pookie pack" (the youth who went to Belize) and the connections they made with others could be the beginning of a really cool community. Unfortunately, however, our youth are shrinking in numbers. Even though Amelia and I graduate in 2009 and many of the youth here follow shortly thereafter, we want to make the program last for the younger ones in our church: Cade, Kate, Wyatt, Ashley, Russell, McKenzie, Maddie (aka Pebbles) and Bam-Bam (aka unborn baby Stone), River Tilley, and Ryleigh. We show great potential for our future, just give it time, and continue nurturing our youth program! The congregation has truly reached AP status, it is just time we turned this AP community of ours into an intergenerational learning community. Talk to us! We need your experiences and your knowledge of faith so we can continue learning. Share your views of religion with us… or not… talk to us about our hobbies: band, geocaching, woodworking, being the number one rock band in Oak Ridge, helping out with a group called STAR, rowing, line dancing, Sound Company, being a black belt, soccer, school, and being with our friends. Your faith and love rubs off on us in lots of ways. The way to a teenager’s heart is through their stomach, everyone knows that, and many of my friends have seriously considered converting because of Peggy Hilliard’s brownies and the awesome church lunches that are provided on Fridays. Sunday school also provides an outlet for our faith and helps us to learn (and yes Tim, I still have my 10 commandments of dating in my purse). There are ways you can get involved, just call Daniel and get on our youth schedule. Come to one of our outings and see what we’re up to. I challenge you with one of our Presbyterian pick up lines: I’m one of the frozen chosen, can you heat me up?

A: Being Presbyterian is in essence being enrolled in a never-ending AP class, but don’t stress out. You should always be on your toes, because you never know when you are going to be asked a new question with no right answers. This community of faith will always be there to turn to.

C: So, are you ready for this AP class? Being AP isn’t easy, but when we gather as a community, we’re "predestined" to get a perfect score on the AP exam.