Ready for my next chapter

Graduation is Saturday, and I’ve never felt more ready to start the next chapter of my life as I pursue journalism at the University of North Texas. However, as the days dwindle down, I’ve found myself reflecting more and more on my high school experience. If freshman, sophomore, or junior me had been asked “aren’t you going to miss high school?” it would’ve been a definitive no, but I’ve found I’m a lot more emotional about it than I ever thought I would be.

For the past four years, I’ve dedicated myself to choir and Wingspan. I met so many amazing people through these programs and had such great opportunities because of my involvement in them. My choir director Bruce Stevenson, and newspaper adviser Brian Higgins, have been extremely influential throughout some of the most formative years of my life, and I couldn’t be more grateful. And the hardest thing is that you can go almost an entire year not thinking much about leaving, but as you’re on your last school trip with your program, your last banquet, your last class— even writing this, I’m starting to realize this will be the last thing I ever write for the site— the reality suddenly sinks in.

Without the help of hindsight, I can’t currently say that I’m going to miss all of high school, but I know for certain that I will always cherish the people and memories from these programs. It’s difficult to conceptualize that there are friends I may never see again or experiences that will never again be a possibility. I’m not going to get on my soapbox and say that you shouldn’t wish away high school, because that would make me a hypocrite, but it is important to appreciate the good and the bad that occurred during high school. After all, they shape you as a person.

I’ve learned so many important life lessons in the past four years, like how to deal with failure, rejection, heartbreak, and conflict, and public high school is probably one of the best environments to teach those lessons. But I’ve outgrown this period of my life, and while it’s genuinely emotional for me to leave so much behind, I’m excited to move and grow and learn more about myself and the world as I enter college.

I just want to emphasize how thankfully I am for all that’s been afforded to me and the wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of crossing paths with. I believe that every moment I’ve been through thus far has set me up to fulfill my purposes in life, and that is something truly invaluable.