Accomplishment. It’s something that every person in the world strives for. The human mindset is built around accomplishments. Whether it’s winning the game, getting a good grade, making someone else happy, or simply just reaching a certain age, life is centered on the milestones of achieving something.

Individual achievements, however, vary between person to person, creating an intricate system of varying mentalities and certain goals between different individuals. This creates a myriad of possibilities, as everyone is striving to reach that certain standard as to which they feel resonates accomplishment.

This can be a very good thing, especially when operating in a quasi-community such as Arlington High School. But when asked what accomplishment means to them, no student gave the same answer. “Accomplishment is knowing that I’ve tried my best,” said Cordell Cummings. Senior Cameron Ferreira said that accomplishing something to him means, “It’s a lot of pride, I feel accomplished when I do something helpful, or when I do something nice for someone and make someone’s day even though most people don’t necessarily see it.” Jacob Rengen added, “Accomplishment for me was becoming an eagle scout, or eventually getting my diploma, it’s something I worked hard to achieve.” To me, accomplishment means being the best. Whatever the situation may be, I always feel as if it is a competition, and I aim to accept nothing less than first place.

The difference in definitions can create a thing of wonderment. Because everyone is striving for these different goals, everyone is unique, and everyone has some feeling of importance. This sense of accomplishment is what drives us; it is what makes us a cohesive species, as we are all striving for something.

AHS needs more than just individual achievement however: we need to help build each other up, and celebrate each other’s diversity. One of the only things that can triumph accomplishment in helping spread the recognition of others’ accomplishments. By recognizing someone’s individual accomplishments, two things happen. 1.) The person feels a sense of external joy, which combined with the pre-existing internal feeling of accomplishment, creates an atmosphere of overall exuberance throughout the school. 2.) By recognizing someone else’s accomplishments, you yourself are accomplishing something. If executed properly, this eventually turns into a cycle, reinforcing positive messages across campus, while systematically removing many of the more negative emotions that constantly plague us as a school. Obviously, this is an extremely optimistic view on how something as small as accomplishment can affect an entire school, but I think it is valuable, and definitely is a globally transferable theory as well.

By accomplishing something, you are moving forward, and by recognizing someone else’s accomplishments you are moving someone else forward. This is vital in the sense of becoming a better community and can have a huge impact here at AHS. So, I hope to leave you with two questions. 1.) What accomplishments can I strive for to better both the school and myself? 2.) How can I help someone else reach their own accomplishments? Once you do these two things, only positive things will come, reflecting in internal, and external appearance of AHS.