Dear High School,
You have given me so much. I feel like I either hear that people loved their high school experience, or just totally hated it. I’m one of the ones right in the middle- I am so glad I’m done, that I don’t have to step foot on campus again unless I want to visit teachers, but I am also so eternally grateful for what I have gained in high school.

My class’s high school experience has been like no one else’s ever has. COVID-19 sent us home during our sophomore year, and it really took a toll on me. Online school was tough, but it taught me how to manage things, prioritize, and learn how to teach myself things. It made me even more grateful for when I could go back to school the following years. It made me cherish the small laughs and hugs from my teachers and friends so much more.

High school has allowed me to grow as a person. For so long, I was so afraid of how people might react that I never shared my opinions, never shared my thoughts. Especially in the last year, I have realized that speaking up or saying what needs to be said is not a bad thing. Being myself and making friends that genuinely care about me was the best thing I could have ever learned to do; without high school, that may have happened much later in my life.

Being able to represent my school for sports is just another reason I am grateful to high school. Absolutely nothing compares to standing on the podium with my teammates because we placed third at states. Nothing compares. Nothing compares to doing a team cheer around the pool at city relay. Nothing. Nothing compares to crying on senior night, hugging my classmates that came to support us. I may not have liked everyone I had classes with, or everyone that I was around, but high school gave me a family of friends, and people I was proud to be standing next to.

I will never be able to express my gratitude for these past four years of my life. I have made some of my best memories…and some of my worst. I have learned how to be proud of myself in addition to others, how to be honest, how to respect others, and how being respected feels. One of the biggest lessons I have learned, courtesy of high school, is that life is meant to be enjoyed. Take it seriously, but if I do not like something, I can change it. I have the power to do so.

Being done with high school feels like more than closing one chapter of my book. High school became a comfortable routine- one that I am both happy and anxious to change. That being said, I hope me leaving Freedom gives someone else the space to have the happy and fulfilling experience that I had.

Thank you, High School, from the bottom of my heart.