As the current season comes to an end, a fresh new year is coming into play. Students get ready to celebrate the holidays with family and friends in hopes of reminiscing the good old times while excitedly anticipating the ones to come. Allowing the past year to be remembered but not forgotten, making the 2024 school year to finally take place here in OHS.

This past year was filled with new changes, the most prominent one being the new school building. But, besides a change in location, the OHS student body has undergone major changes in the world from sport highlights to devastating occurrences of war. Taking what our community and town has been through will help influence the wishes for this coming year of new adventures. Allowing us all to prioritize what is truly special to us by looking at what is lacking or being overused in our life. 

Many times during the month of December, people will start brainstorming ideas on what their New Year Resolutions are going to be. Commonly revolving around self-love, physical fitness and spending more time with family. All of these wishes of new goals are all influenced by each person’s individual environments. Almost all are based on statistics recorded by the Forbes Health which takes surveys and finds the most common wishes made for New Year’s. Meaning that one’s own experiences dictate one’s outlook on life. Making resolutions become commitments to better habits in life.

New Year Resolutions have been a tradition for many years all based around implementing new habits into each person’s lifestyle. According to The History of New Year’s Resolutions, “If the Babylonians kept to their word, their (pagan) gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor—a place no one wanted to be.” Originally starting with the Babylonians 4,000 years ago, their initial goal was to make promises to God and to their king in celebration of the new year. Now, our society has altered the fabrications of the idea of resolutions to better fit the wants of others. With 80 percent of participants creating new year resolutions to feel confident in achieving their goals makes the overall mission of resolutions to be a triumph. 

Entering into the 2024 school year, let’s hope that all those making new resolutions for the upcoming year will have the strength to make their goals and have a festive and joyful holiday season.