It’s tricky to be a Rickey

  I am a Rickey, and most of the time that comes with its benefits. All my life, I’ve been known by people who know my family-  all 19 of them who share the Rickey name in some way. It’s nearly impossible to go somewhere in northern Harco without someone knowing somebody related to me somehow.

    It doesn’t hurt that all of the Rickeys live on the same road right next to where they grew up;

my dad and his siblings all went to North Harford and since then, they have stayed involved in the community through the rec programs, 4-H and countless other ways.

    So entering high school, I already had a label as a Rickey since many of my cousins and my siblings already walked through these halls and made impressions on the teachers and staff that work here. This comes with a lot of pressure, since I’m the LAST one in my family to leave my mark and to define the Rickey name.

    One of my major concerns was living up to the expectations I had of myself to be as smart and as involved as my siblings were.

    Both my brother and sister are smart. I don’t mean like they did pretty well in school, they freakin excelled.  Like get a 5 on the AP bio test smart- or genius smart ranked 12th in your senior class of 350. Really. That’s pretty hard to live up to.

    I have always admired my brother and sister, and watching them both graduate high school with my entire family so proud of what they achieved made me nervous for what I would really be able to accomplish in my four years here.

     As I began freshman year I wasn’t surprised when I got the question “Are you related to, *insert Rickey name here?”

And there it was:  the Rickey standard I had to meet.

    I couldn’t have people think yeah she’s a Rickey but her sibling are smarter, or more talented, or better behaved, or…

    This meant when I signed up for classes I didn’t shy away from the AP courses because if my sister took that then I definitely could even though when I went into those classes I was told things like “your brother was one of my smartest students” or “ You know, I just love your sister.”

    So I learned to go into class expecting to be compared to others but instead of stressing about becoming them I had to figure out how to be just me. Through this I built my own relationships with teachers and set my own standard for who I was supposed to be.

    I didn’t come out of high school as just another one of those Rickey’s I came out as CASSIE RICKEY.  Someone who understands her self worth, yet never puts herself before others and someone who knows her strengths and how to implement them effectively.