The Black and White

by Black and White Staff

Aubrey Butler

When Thanksgiving comes to mind, you usually think about eating lots of food with family and relatives. But I don’t think we ever really appreciate the person who makes it all happen. My mom is the one who makes all the food and sets the table with little to no help every single year, never expecting anything in return. On Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful for her. She always takes the extra steps, bringing snacks to the football games for my cheer team, showing up for everything, and most importantly, always being there for me no matter what. She puts so much love into everything she does for my family and I, and makes holidays feel warm and special every single year. I am truly grateful for everything she does and blessed to be able to call her my mom. 

Michaela Conrady

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for my friends, family, and with that, my pets who are family. I’m very grateful for having a good start to sophomore year and getting to spend a quiet holiday at home with family this year, and for the opportunities I’ve gotten a chance to pursue as this year comes to an end.

Sophie Henner

Every day I wake up and I am thankful for my home, food, and the amount of privilege I have in my life. However, this Thanksgiving season, I am especially grateful for all of the people I am surrounded by daily. Whether it’s in the walls of Pilgrim High School, or sitting around my table at dinner time, I am so incredibly appreciative of everyone that is a part of my life. To my friends, thank you so much for always being able to make me laugh. I don’t think that I would be able to survive my teenage years without my best friends by my side. To my family, thank you for always supporting and giving me the opportunity and security to become the person I am today. And finally, to my teachers, (although sometimes I feel like I’m genuinely drowning in the amount of work I receive) I am so grateful that you have dedicated your time to helping me as a student. Every lecture, test, and piece of homework challenges me to not only expand my knowledge, but also learn new skills that will help me for the rest of my life. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to learn these lessons from people who truly care about their students and the gift of knowledge.

Emilia Koopman

As Thanksgiving fastly approaches, remembering that it’s not just about the food but feeling grateful for things in our lives. I am thankful for my friends and family who make my life better. I feel fortunate enough to have access to education and be able to have a place to live. I’m incredibly grateful to have clubs and sports through my school to be able to express myself. Being able to join the tennis team and clubs VAASA and newspaper gave me a group of friends that became close to family and a safe place to be able to do things I love. Without these things, I wouldn’t be me and that makes me incredibly grateful for everything in my life.

Kaitlyn Limoges 

As Thanksgiving is coming up, this season of gratitude has reminded me of the person who has had the greatest influence on my life, my older sister Brianna. Brianna, being more than just family, has been my built-in best friend throughout my life from day one. She is incredibly strong, guiding, and has shown unwavering love to my family and I that carry us through our lives every day. Her being the motherly figure in my life, and giving me the care and helping hand I needed to grow, I couldn’t be more thankful for the strength and compassion she has provided for me. She has always been the person I look up to. After spending our entire lives in the same house, sharing a room, and spending every day together my sister going to college made my eyes open even more about how much her presence and impact changed my life. This Thanksgiving I am so grateful to have her come home and have dinner with my family and take the time to appreciate the hard work she goes out of her way for every day. I realize not everyone gets to experience the gift of having an older sister, I consider myself very lucky, and I definitely wouldn’t want it any other way. As she comes and fills our home with the love we have all missed, I am reminded that the greatest blessings are not things, but people we get to call family, and my sister will always be my greatest. 

Kaylie Martell

As I reflect on my life, I realize that there are many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. For example, my family. Their encouragement, support, and belief in me have been a reliable foundation to count on. Whether I am celebrating something I have succeeded in or if I am struggling with a challenge, they are always and will always be there for me. I’m thankful for all the opportunities that were presented to me, big and small. These experiences opened my mind to new perspectives and taught me how to view and appreciate life differently. Another significant thing in my life that I’m thankful for is tennis. It gave me so many sincere friendships; ones I wish to have forever. I often wonder how my life would look if I hadn’t joined. For example, I might not be a part of this newspaper, which finishes my list of things that I am thankful for. This club has allowed me to not only improve and better myself as a writer, but also as a leader, as I step up and follow through with the responsibilities of being one its editors. I am truly thankful and appreciative for everything in my life, every experience shaping me into the person I am today. 

Jillian Mastrostefano

One thing I am definitely not thankful for on Thanksgiving is the food. I don’t enjoy turkey, stuffing, potatoes–any of it. Luckily, the food isn’t what makes Thanksgiving such an important holiday. As much as the food contributes to the celebration, there are so many other things to be thankful for. This year I am most thankful for the friends I chose to surround myself with my senior year. I’m so thankful that after all of these school years together, I can spend my last moments with my favorite people. Also in my senior year, I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities and experiences high school has given me over the four years–all the friends, teachers, and adventures. I am especially thankful for the responsibilities I face through how I involve myself at school. The tennis team has alone provided me with so many things to be grateful for. Through tennis I have met so many people who I know will be my friends for life, and I have so many happy and emotional memories to look back on. I am also thankful for the newspaper, being an editor has given me the opportunity to consider writing as something I want to do in the future. I can’t wait to find more people and form new experiences to be thankful for, but this year’s Thanksgiving is looking pretty good. 

Will McColl

I am obviously grateful for my classmates and my family members and my teachers, but I am also grateful for something else: my failures. I am thankful for the questions I fail to answer because I will then grow from them. I am thankful for every relationship that has ended because I now know how much that person truly means to me. I am thankful for the times I overslept, they have made me more punctual. I hope my loved ones and I will continue to fail and grow together. 

Kaia Patty

This Thanksgiving, I have an abundance of things to be thankful for. For starters, I am surrounded by such loving and caring people: my family and friends. These people have left an undeniable impact on my life and I doubt I could accomplish half of what I’ve done without their love and support. As far as school goes, I have further advanced my studies in music through school, being a part of Pilgrim’s chorale, something I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve even taken it upon myself to try harder in school- to take more challenging classes and apply myself. I’m thankful for the opportunities these classes have and are giving me as well as the ways in which they will hopefully aid me in my future. I continue to be thankful for my passions- theatre, music, film, and literature, hobbies that have made me who I am today. This year, though I’ve faced many hardships, I’ve come out stronger and I am continuing to work toward being the best version of myself. I’m thankful for each person who has helped me on my journey thus far as well as all of my interests that keep me moving forward. 

Alexandra Smith

There are a lot of things that I am thankful for in life, but one of the major ones is the ability to be able to do anything in life. Life is different for everybody, but everybody, no matter what has or hasn’t happened, we all have the ability to do what we want. You could reach for the stars if you so wanted (no seriously, become an astronaut) or maybe it’s something smaller, and you want to start a family, whatever you choose to do, if you want to do it, then put in the hard work and do it.

Bridget Pouliot

This Thanksgiving season, I’m thankful for people’s kindness. I’m grateful for the couple of regulars at work who’ve spent several weeks trying to learn my name, and who now come in and say, “Hi, Bridget” with an adorable amount of pride in themselves. I’m thankful for Mrs. Soares for her help with “all the things” – especially college audition material – and her ability to make my day. I’m grateful for my friends with their random hugs in the halls and the laughs over dinner. I’m thankful for all of the teachers who spend so much time helping me understand the material, and those rooms I randomly pop into just to chat. Most of all, I’m grateful for my sister; the source of the random emails I get from colleges about FAFSA being completed, the creator of my college spreadsheet, and the first one I called when I accidentally opened my first acceptance letter. I’m grateful for my brother, who’s spent a crazy amount of time learning harmonies with me and debating songs for a duet. And I’m grateful for my mother, whose strength, belief, and love keeps me going.

In a world where it’s below freezing when I wake up, there is nothing that warms me more than people showing they care. Especially as I prepare to leave high school, I’m thankful for all those who have been part of my support system.

Zoe Anderson

I am thankful for my mom, out of everyone in my life she has been the most constant and stable relationship I have had. Family is extremely important to me and I believe it is because of the amazing bond I have with my mom. She goes out of her way to allow me to have as many opportunities as I can to achieve what I want. She has given me everything I have ever needed and more. If it wasn’t for her love and support I would have never been able to get so far in sports and just life in general. I am so grateful for having my mom just in my life and even more as my mom. 

August Pittman

As I reflected on what I feel grateful for this Thanksgiving, I realized how immensely fortunate I am to live at this time and in this place. While this time and age is far from perfect, it is so far beyond what the females of the past ever dreamed, and likely inconceivable across the globe in countries without women’s rights. I recently had an English assignment about political songs, and I stumbled across one about a woman desperately trying to become an engineer, facing many obstacles. It soon struck me that today, I am participating in an engineering internship supported by our school, which starkly contrasts with how the girl in the song was expected to type and sew rather than prepare for a professional career. I’m not entirely sure if engineering is right for me, but I’ll receive the information to make a more informed choice. After all, isn’t the freedom to choose (even if it’s overwhelming) worth being grateful for?

Ethan Smitherman

I am thankful for the arts. Personally I couldn’t imagine myself without the arts. Films like Interstellar, The Matrix, Wall-E, The Pursuit of Happyness, and more leave me in awe every single time I see them. How thousands of people can come together to create something as visually stunning as interstellar, or as emotion provoking as is truly incredible. Honestly I could analyze these films forever, questioning every scene and what it could have taken to create it. Whether I relate to a character or despise them, they all have shown me who I am as a person. If it weren’t for the arts I wouldn’t have nearly as much to talk about, or even to think about. I wouldn’t have the music that I listen to whenever I am doing all of my thinking. The only thing I could see myself doing for the rest of my life is using my passion for the arts and creating with it. That’s why I’m thankful for the arts for giving me purpose, a way to express myself, and a future.

Mr. Lawton (English)

The love and guidance from my mom, who I remember and honor every Thanksgiving by making her elaborate, multi-step stuffing recipe that she passed on to me.

Mrs. Meyer (Art)

I am thankful for the ocean, good books, and tea.

Mr. Silva (Guidance)

Family & Friends; Healthy kids! Getting to do a job where I get to help people!

Dr. X (Social Studies)

I am thankful for:

• another cancer free year for my wife!
• my two incredible children.
• baseball
• the amazing students who devote their time and energy to the Black and White

Ms. Fontes (Guidance)

I am grateful for many things in my life: love from family and friends, good health, a nice home and all the pets I’ve had throughout my life. I am most grateful for the caring and loving upbringing that my parents gave me as a child. Although my parents are no longer alive, each day I think of the things they taught me and provided me, even when it was a struggle.

Mr. Gibbons (Principal)

Time with my kids – my children and Pilgrim Patriots.