The things students carry are pencils and papers and folders and calculators all in a book bag: 10 to 15 pounds,

sometimes 18.

They carry responsibilities and expectations and deadlines and fear or uncertainty;

Nothing

but everything.

The musical kids who aren't as elitist as this school makes them seem carry their instruments, violins and cellos and basses and voices and trombones and tubas and trumpets.

Their best, Julia, carries a 3 ounce charm bracelet for good luck, she learned in August it was essential to a good performance.

The crew kids, who are all just as scared of you as you are of them, carry long forgotten screws from last night, swiss army knives because “you just never know what you’ll need to fix” and the exhaustion of a job well done.

In February, Troy, a trusted kid in that neck of the woods, felt that exhaustion more than anyone.

Students give it their all with nothing but weight on their back.