Going into High School I was told, “High School will fly by faster than you know it”; though it didn’t seem that way when I was a sophomore at Hellgate High School, I feel it now. It sounds cheesy, but it is actually crazy to me to think about being a senior and the reality of what that means. Yes I hate High School and being excited to graduate is an understatement, but I have to say I am nervous and, for some reason, I am sad about the thought that I will have to leave my family and friends.

Before this school year I had my life pretty much all together, yes some minor inconveniences but nothing too serious that I thought would affect my future. Throughout my highschool years I was dancing and I seriously thought that dance would be a part of my life forever; I suppose I didn’t consider that there was a possibility of injury. As you can assume after my last sentence, I did in fact get injured. At the end of Junior year and having to take a 6 month injury break, then trying again, taking my last bow and having to quit for good and say goodbye to my passion, as you can imagine my world was altered. I went from having a serious passion in dance and thinking that’s what I would go to college for and have a future in, to having that taken away from me and left being completely confused about what I would do with my future.

This year academically has been pretty good for me personally. I think not dancing has been able to leave me more time to do homework and just to focus on something besides the dance world. In my Lit/Writ class taught by Mrs. Conner, we have been writing lots of college essays and we have been reading a lot of ethics and the meaning of life pieces, and I think that it’s the first time in my life where I’m actually considering the reality of my future. Something that I have been reflecting on a lot, is the idea that you can either swim or float in life. To me, I think I’m swimming towards a destination/goal but at times I’m floating and trying to not drown by the waves hitting me.

Through the stress of it all it’s an exciting time and I’m grateful for my high school experience. Looking back I wish I would have known a few things such as; there is no point in faking who you are and trying to be someone who you’re not, this is the biggest one and took the longest time for me to learn. My time in high school isn’t over and I catch myself still trying to be someone who I’m not, but as soon as I realized that who I am for real is great it changed who tried to enter my life for the better. I’m no longer afraid to stand up for myself and that’s something else I wish I could have done for myself earlier in high school. Lastly I wish I would have realized that all you really need to succeed and to be happy is yourself; I spent years relying on people for happiness and receiving none and not until I let those people go was I able to be happy and find myself. 

For those who are seniors, I hope you somewhat agree with me and I hope you were able to learn something in high school about yourself besides the fact that you are maybe bad at math. For those who are underclassmen, I hope you realize that high school isn’t supposed to be your peak and instead of trying to impress others, you should take that time to try to better yourself and grow as a person. I will most likely grow new ideas and conclusions about my high school experience and as I go through my last months of school before college but for now I will continue applying for colleges and try to better myself and maybe be better at math.