As Senior year is coming to a close, I must say I am quite late in writing this reflection.  It was only months ago I walked the halls as a stranger, and now I am leaving them as an old friend.  They took me to class, and led me through four years of emotional and physical growth. I am not the person I came here as, nor do I plan to stay the same I am now once I leave.  If I have learned anything of value from highschool, it is that the experience and memories are either meaningless or worth more than gold. That is, to truly embrace the experience, you have to take the good and the bad and learn to make something worthwhile of them.  The journey I’ve been on for the last four years was amazing, and I can only say that now that I am starting to feel the bitter-sweet pangs of reminiscing.

    When I was a freshman, I was far different than I am now.  I came to school on the first day wearing Vans- hot-pink bottom

ed and paisley on top.  I had a heather grey tank and black shorts, which, now that I look back, seemed to be the typical freshman uniform.  After four years of a changing wardrobe, another wonderful lesson I learned was the value of individuality: without it, we risk losing our sense of purpose as creative and unique beings. To anyone who knows me now, it is needless to say that I disagree with my younger-selve’s fashion sense.  Regardless, I am glad that I wore what I wanted to the first year, and as time went on, I am even happier that I became more comfortable in my own skin, and was given the chance to do so.

  Whatever mainstream movies I had seen about high school somewhat tainted my idea of the real deal.  My ideas were both disproven and proven. Yes, I did have a group of friends. No, no one tried to ruin my reputation, or start a revolution against the populars.  Yes, I was let down by my peers- and yet sometimes, they exceeded my expectations. They came together to prevent drunk driving, and they joined hands at a vigil to remember one of our own who was a victim to suicide.  I think we as young adults make ourselves believe that we are incapable of maturity because of our age and the stage we are at in our lives. But, that doesn’t stop us from acting maturely. While I didn’t attend the vigil, I did sign the massive poster that simply said “You Matter”.   It was an amazing experience to see so many familiar names on the poster, and so many I hadn’t learned yet, and may never know.

  Early on, I felt like an ant on a mountain, and it was difficult for me to see how, in a sea of people, I’d be worth something.  I had to work hard to find myself; and I don’t think I’ve even finished that yet. But I’ve learned to wait, and let time reveal what it will.  Through all of my time here, enemies have become friends, and some friends have become enemies. Your world may be turned upside down, or you may have the best day of your life.  I’ve learned that life is far too short for small arguments. Your time is better spent watching hard work being paid off after the four years are done.

  I will miss the friends I’ve made, though I do plan to keep in touch.  I will miss the books I had first read, and the movies I had gone to see.   I will miss the teachers who supported me, and pushed me to be a better student.  I will miss loud halls full of us; the geeks, the jocks, the populars, and the artists, all together for a short time.  We are all going to be on different paths and different laps of a long marathon called “life”. But, for these short four years, we of all different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds were together in one place.  I think that is what I’ll miss the most- the people I met, the people I didn’t, and the journey we went on together.