Everyone enters high school in the same condition, whether or not they like to admit it. Everyone is scared, their expectations of what will happen here are low, and no one really knows who they are. Over the course of the four years they spend in limbo- caught between adolescents and adults- those scared middle school kids become something else.
They find passion. Whether it is passion for sports or learning or helping others, in a quest to find a niche many high school students make their own. And there they thrive. I have witnessed and experienced this myself.
Here, I’ve seen kids who just last year didn’t know up from down figure out whom they are and what it is they plan to do for the rest of their lives. I’ve seen kids who started off shy and withdrawn become friendly and outgoing and, most importantly, comfortable. It is miraculous.
High school really does go by in a blur; people told me my freshman year at Union Colony that these would be the shortest years of my life so far. I didn’t believe them then but now I preach that message to any underclassmen who will listen.
In that blur, I have had too many best friends to count, I’ve found love for things and then hate for them, and I’ve changed my views on politics and religion and society so many times that at it becomes hard to remember what I believe.
I do believe, though, that these years have been transformative and that I wish I had more time to spend here before entering the adult world. It’s been fun and unforgettable.
Despite wishing I could linger a while longer, I am not afraid to leave high school because I trust all that I have learned inside and outside of the classroom. I have an innumerable amount of people to thank for all of that knowledge, and I know that even many years after graduation I’ll still be thanking them for what they’ve taught me.