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Beyond the Bell
Real talk from real Patriots - Stories from Mount Pisgah Christian School
Beyond the Bell
Farewell, MPCS
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In this episode, we are sitting down with two Beyond the Bell staff members as they reflect on their time at MPCS and everything that has shaped their high school experience. Through the highs and lows, they talk through senior year and share the memories and advice that they will take with them after they graduate.
You're listening to Beyond the Bell, a student-produced podcast from Mount Pisca Christian School. I'm Lila Bell Mutch, and this podcast is a space where students, teachers, and the whole community can connect. Here, we believe every person has a story to tell, and we want to bring these stories to life. In this episode, we're taking a step back to reflect on our time at Mount Pisca Christian School and everything that has shaped our high school experience. I'm joined by one of my best friends, Maddie Kupia, and together we're talking through senior year and the moments we'll carry long after graduation. From the highs and challenges and growth along the way, this conversation is a chance to look back on what these years have meant to us. I'm so grateful to share this reflection and to celebrate a season of life that has had such a lasting impact. Hey y'all, welcome back to Beyond the Bell. My name is Lila Bell Much. And my name is Maddie Coopia. And we are here to recap our time at Mount Pisca because we only have one week left of our senior year.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it's crazy. It's all come to a close so quickly. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we're here to do our little farewell, and I think we're just gonna start by talking about a little look back for a little then versus now. Thinking back to like our very first day we stepped in the Geyer Hall on a freshman, the first day of freshman year.
SPEAKER_03So who do you think you were? Like what kind of person do you think you were when you um stepped in?
SPEAKER_01I think when I think back to like the first day of freshman year, I definitely remember being nervous and excited for like the start of the start of something new to like go to another side of the school that I hadn't like been a part of before and figure out like who I was gonna become and how I was gonna change um in high school. I think I was like a lot more of a perfectionist then than I am now. I definitely cared a lot about how people like perceived me and how like I was gonna leave a mark and like my reputation and stuff. So I was definitely a little more self-conscious, I think, than I am now.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, the same for me too. Like, I definitely cared a lot more about like external validation or what other people thought of me or what my grades said about me or what my performance in volleyball said about me, and that's been something that's like very much developed now that I can look back on as going into our last week of school and realize how much that's changed since freshman year. Like the stuff that I value externally but also about myself and like my values have developed so so much through everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I definitely value things in my life now that I don't even think I had like when I was a freshman. Like I cared so much about like what things I did or my grades like said about who I was, and I think now I care a lot more about like the people that surround me and like what that says about me as opposed to like what things I did or accomplishments I had said about me.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, for sure. And I feel like um I like I don't know for me like all of that change like happened through volleyball for me, which is fun to look back on now and like my time playing that sport because I started in sixth grade and then I started club freshman year, and I've spent so much time playing volleyball that like of course it's had such a huge impact on like my values as a person and all of that. But like I remember freshman year when I went into it, I cared so much about the outcome, like the win if I won or if I lost, it was very black and white, but through it I've like come to learn what leadership is like at its core and how to collaborate with people in a new way, and the respect that comes with having teammates and things like that. So it's um I don't know, I just feel like it I won't say like a full 180, but definitely like new new perspective on a bunch of different things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean the same, I pretty much had like a very similar relationship in terms of like when I felt myself change and grow with like it had a lot to do with like my athletic journey. Like because when I was playing or not, I was running across country like um freshman and sophomore year, I was like very invested in it and very invested in track, and when it was supposed to be just something I was doing for fun, but it like very quickly took up like a lot of my mental space, and I really couldn't like separate that from like the other things in my life that really did like matter for me to be perfect at. So, like my junior year I had a very interesting like episode in the fall with cross country where like I started getting really intense anxiety, and it kind of had to teach me to like give up that perfect mindset for myself and realize that I could be doing things just for the good of it and for the social aspect of it and how it was gonna like add something to my life, and it wasn't something that was gonna like take away anything from my life, so very similar in that way, too. That's when I like feel like that was a moment that I remember that I feel like I really had a lot of personal growth.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, junior year for me too was huge, but for me it was second semester specifically academically, like um the jump from sophomore year to junior year. Like, I don't know if you remember also was one to three APs and it was very dramatic. Um but second semester I remember like I had put like I'm very similar to you in the perfectionist way, and I had put so much um of my value in my academic performance, and I started not failing things, but doing worse than I had done in the past, and I was like, oh my gosh, like what do I do with this? I don't know what to do with this, and it just I guess that like sometimes like on certain days, one of the biggest things I've learned is that like you're a hundred percent on one day can be like only 50% of what you can do the next day the next day, if that makes sense. Like just how important it is to like um give yourself grace in that, like not every day is perfect, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, yeah, junior year is definitely when I felt myself go through this transition of like okay, life is just getting harder. Like, no one really tells you like high school is fun with like social stuff and playing sports and winning awards and doing well in school, and then senior year is obviously a blast, but until it's just kind of not for a while, like in junior year, at least like I that was my like kind of rough patch that I experienced. And you really do just have to like give yourself grace to be able to find the enjoyment because high school is such a it's such an up and down journey, and if you're so focused on your performances, you're not going to be able to like find the good in like the little moments, you know. Oh, definitely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Ms. Sari helped me with that a lot, I remember, with AP laying and stuff because with taking AP writing and you're in it right now, like it becomes a lot more of like how you can do in the moment, but then also there is not necessarily a specific formula, like you can make a formula, but it doesn't have to be that way, and I struggled with that so much. But Miss Sari helped me definitely realize that like there's so much more than just like your performance and what you're doing, and she helped me to see like enjoyment in my relationships um that I have like with my friends and then also with my teachers, um, and valuing those things over getting an A and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, another teacher that really sticks out for me in a similar way was um my experience in AP Psych with Miss Coleman because that was a class, that was a class that I took and I like knew it was gonna be challenging, but it was one that I walked out and being like, wow, I really went on this, like that year was like such a learning experience for me. It wasn't like uh let me learn this to take this test and then it'll all be over, but it was something that genuinely added benefit to my life, and it kind of taught me that like school can be enjoyable in a way where learning can really be fun. Like learning in that class was just so fun, and I was so in interested, and it really was kind of a breath of fresh air for my junior year because it wasn't just like do this, do this, get this grade, move on. It was a moment to just like experience a love for learning that I think I had lost somewhere along the way in high school when things started getting too hard. It was the kind of like love for learning that you have in I don't know, elementary school, like early middle school that you just kind of forget about until it's like reignited again.
SPEAKER_03No, yeah. It like uh I remember it stopped being like a to-do list or like a checklist of things that I needed to get done and things like okay, I need to understand this concept, but once I understand it, I go to the next thing, and like it went from being very like um uniform to more just it just was so much enjoyable, like so much more enjoyable, I think, to learn how like learn how learning can be fun.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, in a school aspect, yeah. I mean, like obviously you start ninth grade and things are kind of easy, and then you go on this full 180 journey of like trying to get everything ready to rush to be ready for college stuff, and then once all that's done, then you kind of can feel a little weight off your shoulders again. But on the non-academic side, like what is something just looking at all of your MPCS journey? You've been here since you were a little baby. Three, three. You were three. I feel like I've been here for a long time, but I've only been here since I was 10 in fifth grade. So, but I feel like I mean eight years like I've experienced all of this side of campus. I never was a lower school kid, but um just what is your favorite Mount Pisca tradition? Just off the top of your head, the first one you can think of. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_03I think okay, big tradition, I'm gonna start with Sharp Top. I say it all the time. I love it so so much, but I feel like we hear about Sharp Top all the time. So I think one of my favorite traditions is always I the little moments of community that happen. So, for example, in lower school, all of the faculty kids, which there are a lot of in our grade, a lot of in our grade, like yeah, a lot, a lot. We used to take a bus ran by this man named Mr. Ted. He would drive us over from the upper school campus to the lower school campus, and I remember that bus so vividly because we would all like be together in the morning and then go to class together, and it was so much fun. Just like I like so many funny things always happened on that bus, and it was just like the little moments of community. I think another thing in middle school that used to happen, I don't think it happens anymore, was that bonfire? Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_01Yes, like in the um sanctuary garden.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I do remember that. Yeah, I like loved that, and then in high school getting to hang out with your friends, like this year specifically, like going to all the senior nights from fall sports, winter sports, spring sports.
SPEAKER_01Gonna like every single one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's been so much fun. Like, just to like girls across I went to earlier this week, and it was so fun to just see like these people that I've grown up with and I've known since lower school and middle school, like um complete this huge chapter of their lives and just be able to be there for them and celebrate them before you know we have graduation and grad parties and things like that, but I think for you two, like sports were such a huge part of your time at Mount Pisca. Being able to celebrate the end of sports for everyone is always so much fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh my gosh, off the top of my head, like my favorite or my favorite memory from middle school was the eighth grade spring fling. I know.
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01That was the first time I remember our grade being together, and because it was just our grade. And I remember that night so vividly because I was like, wow, we are really close. And like I remember thinking like this is going to be so fun, like going into high school. That was something from middle school I'll always remember. And then um high school, well, my favorite Mount Pisca tradition, just like in general, is convocation. Convocation just means a lot to me because like I think it's such a meaningful um time for not only seniors, but just like the whole like seeing everybody together and all the parents and just our entire school community being in one place is like so beautiful. And I also I lead worship, so that's always such a special time for me to see everybody worshiping and singing together, like from kindergarten through seniors. Like, that's just it just makes my year, honestly. Like, I love seeing that such a it's such a good like we have at the beginning of the year, we have it any at the end of the year, so it really is just always a full circle experience, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, back to what you were saying a little bit earlier. I not to brag on our grade, but like since fifth grade, even I remember being told by so many teachers like how much fun it's gonna be once we get to senior year because of how naturally close our grade has always been. We have a lot of people who have been here at least since middle school, if not before that, but also just like our grade is really good at getting along together like really well, and it's been so so fun to just like grow up together all throughout high school and hang out together, and that like just we're I feel like we're always together, like there's always something going on. There's always um like even during lunch, during study hall, there's always moments where we're all trying to be together just because we all enjoy each other's company so much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it just makes it so we've had such fun, like I think about like even just the start of the school year, we've had like moments of our grade doing things together and accomplishing things together. We it started with we had Sharp Top and Senior Skits. Yes, and then we had we all got together for the Super Bowl, and we've had senior getaway days, and we had homecoming, and we had Sadies, we had prom, we had Senior Assassin, which was a fun game. Um which is opportunities for us to all do stuff together. Um, so and I think just all of those little experiences that we've had have only brought us closer and closer and closer and closer. But we've always even before those things, we've always been able to naturally get together and accomplish things together because we already have been so close. So that's something that is a blessing that I really am so grateful for because I realize, especially at a lot of like other schools, like I don't think people feel the family as much as we do here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh definitely. I um I have friends at other schools and they talk about like they'll see how close we are as a grade, and just like the fact that we know it is because it's a small school, but also I think that how caring our grade is and our community is in general at Mount Pisca, like we all know where each other's going to college, what they're majoring in, and like what they're planning to do, how they're feeling about it. Like, maybe not in depth for every person, but you know what I mean. Like, we genuinely care about each other and each other's like college journeys specifically just for senior year. Um but also I want to ask you when you were talking about like all the traditions for the beginning of senior year. If you could go back to the first day, what would you tell yourself?
SPEAKER_01That's crazy. I remember the first day of senior year, like honestly, like it was yesterday. Like I remember parking in my parking spot that I that's still the paint was still a little wet. Yeah. I remember having our like boas and tiaras, and it was like 95 degrees out, and we were taking pictures. Um I think I would tell myself to just do not be afraid to say yes to everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Good.
SPEAKER_01Like, not just in terms of like saying yes to going to sporting events or anything like that, but saying just say yes to things that scare you, or say yes to things that like my perfectionist bringing and be like, no, that doesn't make sense. Just like any opportunity that presents itself to you, just take full advantage of it because I feel like I did a honestly, I feel like I did a really good job of that this year. And I think that's why this year was so amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like I think I said yes, not just doing everything, but to feeling everything. Like, I opened myself up emotionally, I formed new relationships with people, I went new places, I tried new things, like just say yes to everything that this year offers because you don't want to miss out on any of the moments that you could get back in the future.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah. Senior year comes with a lot of emotions, like the definition of bittersweet to me is senior year, and how closing a chapter and starting a new one. Um, like I know for me personally, I'm so excited to graduate, but I'm also like I'm scared, truthfully. Like, it's been the past 15 years I've been here, and now I'm moving to a different state, and you're also moving to a different state. And it's like I would also like second that you just need to let yourself feel. Like, I think that's big, as I was always so focused, like, especially with college and writing essays, which I felt like I was doing every day, every week last year. Um like I would just be like, no, I don't want to like think about the fact that it's last year. I don't want to like like embrace that, but I think that's so important, is just to like it is the last year, and I still think I did a pretty good job of it, but I would definitely go back and be like let let yourself fully just soak ever soak everything in is kind of cliche, but like just let yourself be sad that you're graduating on certain days, but then celebrate it on other days and um like don't be like you were saying, don't be afraid to just feel it. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_01Okay, quick little game off the top of your head. Yeah, number one high of senior year, like the best feeling you've ever felt, best day of your life. Oh my god. And what was a low?
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_01And I think our low might be similar, but what's your low? My low has something to do with college acceptances and stuff.
SPEAKER_03Oh, definitely.
SPEAKER_01But I mean, I'll get into that in a minute.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, I'll I'll start. I can do you want to just do like our lows and then our. Yeah, we'll do the highs and celebrate. We'll start with lows.
SPEAKER_01My low was um just very bluntly, I got rejected from my dream school. And I've like accepted that it happened and I'm not, and it's all like for the good. Um, but that was definitely a low of my year. It took up a lot of my time, like thinking about it and worrying about it, and like wondering um what my future was gonna look like, and honestly just dealing with feelings of like just being disappointed in myself. But I mean, that was a low. There's been plenty of highs, and I've overcome that, but that was something that happened to me, and I have come back from it, so that is does go to show that like even the worst thing that could possibly happen to you senior year is not a year ruiner, it didn't ruin my life. Um, but yeah, that was my low.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I have a very similar one. I got deferred from the school because we both applied early decision places and I got deferred, and now I'm currently waitlisted at that school that I um applied early decision to, and I think like um I remember it just making me so anxious all the time. I the day that I flew to senior spring break was the day I heard back regular decision to see like what had happened after I got deferred, and I just remember being so anxious that entire day, but I was literally going to do the most fun thing ever, which was spring break as a grade. Um but I just took up literally all of my time and my thoughts and everything, um, which was definitely annoying and I would say my big low, but also has taught me a lot about how everything happens for a reason. This like fordom, which I'm committed to now, like I would not have found that if it weren't for getting deferred. I um a teacher asked me the other day, like, how did you find fordom? And I genuinely don't remember. Like it just kind of happened, and now I'm committed there, and I think that everything that happened with getting deferred and now being waitlisted happened for that re happened for a reason, and now I have this really great school that I'm so excited to go to. I think it's somewhere for you too.
SPEAKER_01It's weird to say like everything happens for a reason, but it's the most true thing I've ever found. Felt in my entire life. Like the moment I got rejected, I mean, I I was sad, but it honestly felt like a way off my shoulders because it's like a okay, this thing that's been taking up your mental space, it's something you can just release. And so, like, I just was able to release it and know that as our our friend group says this all the time, God is not a god of confusion. And I just know that I was like, okay, God's not confusing me right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like he told me this was not the place I meant to be. So even for the worst thing that could happen to you when you're a senior, it really did have the best outcome.
SPEAKER_03Yes. So sure. Yeah. Okay, highs. Let's talk about highs. I think specific highs. Um I would just like piggyback off of what I was saying earlier with how much our grade has come together this year, even more than years past, is my high. I want to think of a specific one. I don't know if you have one off the top of your head. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, mine's kind of like that, but I think a high for me was um homecoming. I think that was just a really special week for me. Um I won Homecoming Queen. Yes, you did. Um, and that wasn't like that was just a high for me because not for the award or not that I felt chosen or extremely loved, which those that was all true, but I felt just so involved in my community in a way like I've just never felt before. Like on the most like community-filled night of the year, like I got to experience that, which just it really did just like cap off my time at Pisca in the most perfect way, and I couldn't have asked for it to have gone any other way. Like, I'm very grateful for that experience, and so that was definitely like a high for me. And then obviously, just like the game was so fun and the parade was so fun. So, like, homecoming was a high for me this year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, homecoming. That was so funny. It was so fun to see you. That was amazing. Okay. Um I think my high of senior year was senior spring break. And it it was just like it was such a fun week, but also I think what makes it the high for me was I had for the first time like ever, because at the beginning of the that week it goes back to my low. I got waitlisted, but that was kind of once again, God is not a god of confusion, and so I like kind of took that as a sign that like this is not where I'm meant to be, and so I for the first time literally all year was able to let go of the stress of college and just exist and like be like fully let in senior year and fully just be present with everyone, and I mean we were in Punta Khan, it was so beautiful and so nice, beautiful, it was warm, and I love that everybody that I loved in my life was there.
SPEAKER_01Yes, like I had my family, my mom, my dad, both my sisters, all my friends, like like everyone I care about was in one place, and we always got to celebrate this amazing year together, and so that was just that was such a high.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, but I think that's like not only was it such a fun trip, and I love traveling, so it was so so fun to go there, but also it was just such a freeing week, if that makes sense, to just be in Punta Cano with everyone.
SPEAKER_01So just I mean, this is actually oh my god. What is something that you've learned from your time at Pisca that you will take with you into college? Like one piece of advice that you'll remind yourself about Pisca and what Pisca taught you in general, okay, all of your years.
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness. Okay. I think one of the biggest things that I've learned is that um you can't control what happens to you but how you respond to things. I have had a lot of moments specifically in during senior year, but also just at my time at Pisca where things haven't gone my way, or they I've just been hit with a scenario that was fully like didn't expect that to happen. Or like even the little things, like I failed a test that I fully thought I did good on. Like, and there's a lot of things that happen in life and that have happened at my time here that have been completely out of my control, and I put my best foot forward and it fell short, and I didn't get what I wanted or didn't like receive the outcome that I thought was gonna happen. But I think that the biggest thing that I learned is that you can control how you respond to it, but then also what you learn from it, what you take from it, and then how you can balance back from it. And that's definitely something I will take with me forever the rest of my life. But it's just um I mean, I literally there's gonna be so many things that happen in college with starting a new chapter that I'm not gonna expect or that I'm definitely not gonna be able to control. And Pisca has taught me that that's okay, and those things um they're gonna happen and it's going to number one turn out fine, and number two, you can always control that you learn from it instead of letting it beat you down. What about amazing?
SPEAKER_01I love that. Um my one piece of advice that like I always say this when any whenever anyone asks me, like, oh, what's one piece of advice for underclassmen, or what's one piece of advice for someone starting their journey at Pisca or anything like that? This is the number one thing I would say. Like, surround yourself with like-minded people who have the same values as you and are loyal and who are going to support you. Yes. And that doesn't just go for friends, that goes for any community that you're in. And I always think about like the moment I stepped up Pisca for the first time, and when I sat down with Miss Woods and Mr. Rogers in the middle school and had a little interview with them and told them why I wanted to come here as a fifth grader. Like, I had never felt more called to be somewhere and more at home somewhere in my life. Like, this was the only school I toured when choosing a private school, and it just felt like the perfect place for me because I felt at home there and I felt cared about and I felt supported. And I felt like people wanted the best for me. And then in terms of the friendships I've made here, I found amazing friendships that will be friendships that I have forever because I was able to surround myself with people who are very similar to me, not just in the things we like and the stuff we like to do, but in that we're very similar people like-minded wise and have very similar values. And that's why good that's how good relationships are formed. So that is something I will always remember, especially like starting a new chapter and going to college and moving to a new place and just meeting so many new people at once. I'll think back to how I was treated at Mount Pisca and how people treated me at Pisca and how and the people who I met at Pisca and the people that I connected with here and use that to model how I want how I want my community to look for the rest of my life. I think.
SPEAKER_03Definitely, that's really good. Okay one last little question I have for you. If you could describe your time at Mount Pisca in one word, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01Describe my time? I mean, aside from perfect. Oh my god, it goes and those. No, truly though, I mean perfect, I just couldn't have asked for a better experience. Yeah. I know it's different for everyone, but oh my god, I literally could have not asked for a better last eight years. Like it just was the perfect, most perfect experience of my life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I mean, it's gonna be just home. Yeah, home. It feels like home. Like I will miss coming here maybe because I feel like a part of my life is like part of my home is gone. Like it just feels like like I could walk in here any day and just be like, this is like where I live, this is my place. Like, it just feels like home to me. So home and perfect. Like, I couldn't ex I couldn't explain about it in the suit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I'll say impactful and not in just a like I've learned a lot kind of way, but like impactful in the relationships that I've formed, and impactful, I mean obviously in the things that I've learned academically, um, but impactful in the values that I hold from my time here and the teachers that I've learned so much from and gained close relationships with, and um just impactful in how formative the past 15 years have been. I mean, obviously it's been my entire life, so of course it's formative, but just how big of a role Mount Pisca has played in that, and that's it's just been so so impactful in so many good ways.
SPEAKER_01Like I could not ex I could not imagine a better way that I could be set up to go into the future, right? Like college prep, life ready. Yes, college prep, life ready, and it's true, like I feel life ready because of my time here, and like that's the number one like takeaway. Like, I do feel life ready because of the people I've met and the things I've done and the challenges I've overcome at Mount Musca. Definitely so college prep life ready is true, yes, it is for sure. But yeah. Thank you so much for being on this podcast with me. This was so much. Yes, this is amazing, and thank you for being my friend.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for being my friend. I love you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for being my fellow patriot and my classmate and my friends and go pats, go patriots, man. Go pats, go patriots for the rest of my life. Yes, definitely.
SPEAKER_03From who we were freshman year to who we're becoming now, it's clear that our time at Mount Pisca has been filled with growth, challenges, and people who shape us. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow us on Spotify Podcasts. And if you have an idea for a future episode, send us a message on Instagram at MPCS Liberty Bell. Thank you for listening to this episode of Beyond the Bell, and we'll see you soon.