Surrounded by orange stucco walls and turquoise tinted glass stands The Oak, a towering tree that holds a commanding presence over the school quad. It’s said that those who bow down before the tree for five minutes and thirty five seconds every day during break will be endowed with previously unobtainable wisdom – the perfect thematic statement for every essay. However, even after almost two decades, the origin of The Oak remains clouded in mystery, a mystery that remained unsolved until now.

After a deep search in the annals of Mr. Banks’ filing cabinet, I discovered an old Humanities 9 World War I journal project. Between the overly dramatized soldier diaries and a very superfluous death monologue was another story – the legend of The Oak.

According to the journal, a student named Ann Core tried to hide the shame of an A- paper from her parents by burying it in the center of the quad. Little did she know, the raw emotional power of her fall freshman tears streaming from her face as she buried the paper was enough to give life to a small acorn buried in the soil.

As the sapling sprouted, its roots twisted and twirled around the paper, embedding Ann Core’s words and knowledge into the tree. It seems that this paper became the source of the tree’s wisdom.

Ann Core refused to tell others about the secret power of The Oak. She feared that it could be falsely interpreted as academic dishonesty, which is a taboo for any student of Northwood High School. But over a long period of time, the power of this majestic tree was rediscovered by more and more students, and the rest is history.

Thus concludes the legend of The Oak. It’s a heart-wrenching tale indeed. If there’s anything I have learned from history class, I have no reason to believe that this story is made up. After all, it is a primary source from the journal of a World War I soldier. Thus, with all considerations of corroborating evidence and proper historian practices, the legend of The Oak is real and should be treated as official Northwood high school canon.