Riverside

Read about musician Emma Hall’s last song during her music residency, which centers around Riverside High School. https://soundcloud.com/citygallery/riverside-song-final

My time at Herron High School continues to be incredibly important to me and everyday I think back on my experience there. I wasn’t awarded with “Most School Spirit” by my senior class for no reason. I am an avid defender of my high school; its classes, its staff, it’s quirks, and its mission. Herron made me inquisitive, it taught me to use other’s criticism to better myself, it showed me the power of being kind, and it proved to me that there is no shame in being whatever it is you need to be.

There is no doubt in my mind that Herron is special, and that is why the news of a second school gave me pause. How could there be two Herron High Schools? Well, the answer is there can’t be. Riverside may be connected to Herron, but I think it would be wrong to hold it to all of the same expectations. It is its own thing.

Riverside is like Herron was in the beginning--something new, unusual, and open to every possibility. It will also be one-of-a-kind. A lot of what made Herron what it is now is the surrounding community. Riverside High School is a replica of Herron's culture and curriculum offering the same classes, same values and the same love to the city. Riverside's community will effect it in ways that we cannot begin to predict, and it will make it into an entirely different school; equally amazing, but for different reasons. So this song is me wishing Riverside High School well. I hope it does for its future students what Herron has done for me.