My senior spring is something that has stayed at the forefront of my mind for nearly the entirety of my high school career. As a freshman, I watched as my older brother spent his days playing Minecraft with his friends in class, going to Chick-fil-A with his friends for dinner nearly every night, and enjoying the seemingly most carefree and fun months of his life. Drowning in algebra and natural science homework, fifteen-year-old me was given a glimpse of hope for the future. The next few years, I watched as my best friends, cousins, and teammates experienced similarly exciting ends to their high school years. Now, sitting here writing my senior testimonial, it feels surreal. While I have discovered a lot about myself and grown into a very different person throughout the past four years, it is really hard to grasp that I’m not still that fifteen-year-old version of me longing for a break from the mental turmoil and algebra homework that taunted me every day.
I’ve gotten a lot of advice from people throughout the past four years of my life, but the thing I’ve found the most important I have learned by myself. During high school, you will be told a lot about what you should be doing with your time to “optimize” your years and set yourself up for a successful future. While there certainly is value in joining clubs, playing sports, and challenging yourself academically, the most valuable thing you can do is find things to do solely for yourself. If your life is consumed entirely by grades, clubs, and sports, it is easy to let your performance in those activities define your self-worth. It took me until the end of junior year to realize that the best thing I could do for myself was to set aside an hour or two every week to try a new coffee shop, go on a walk at a lake, or sit in my car and journal while listening to music. It sounds cliche and obvious, but it is difficult to find happiness and motivation if every part of your life is just something to add to a college application. Self-care is lectured about in SEL lessons and on mental health social media accounts, but it is so easy to get stuck in the busy cycle of work and extracurriculars and neglect your well-being.
Another thing I’ve realized is the value of an optimistic mindset, especially towards other people. In high school, you will often meet people with a me-versus-them mindset and an extremely apparent external locus of control. If I could count how many times I’ve heard the phrase “everyone in our grade just sucks”, I’m sure I’d be in the thousands. It is easy to get stuck in that way of thinking because, more often than not, you will have a lot of reasons to dislike the people in your grade as well. However, a little bit of forgiveness and optimism can go a long way. I have become friends with a lot of people throughout high school whom I had negative first impressions of. I had had a few bad personal experiences with some, and some I had heard other people speak poorly about. If I had let those first impressions define how I saw those people for the rest of our years in school together, I literally would have missed out on becoming friends with some of my favorite people. I understand that there are experiences that warrant disliking someone and not wanting to interact with them, but if the list of people you feel that way about is in the double digits, you might want to do some self-reflection. You don’t have to be friends with everyone; in fact, you shouldn’t be. However, being nice to everyone (even if it isn’t reciprocated), and being open to forgiving and befriending anyone can truly change your social experience.
Over the past few years, I have also learned the importance of community and finding a group of people who build each other up unconditionally. For me, the community that has gotten me through every treacherous year of high school and middle school is my dance team. I used to feel like I was missing out on a core part of the high school experience because I didn’t do a school sport. I was envious of the fun traditions and camaraderie that my peers enjoyed with each other through athletics. However, the girls on my team have become not only my best friends but my unwavering support system. I found that even at the end of the most horrible school days, I’d be able to walk into a space surrounded by nothing but love and kindness from my teammates and coaches, and feel at least a little bit lighter. I will have to say a lot of very difficult goodbyes within the next months of my life, but my dance family will be the most difficult to part with. I can confidently say that there’s no other group I’d rather grow up with. I can’t thank my team or my teachers enough for the years of my life I’ve been lucky enough to share with them.
When I look back at my high school years, journalism sticks out to me as one of the best parts of my experience. I have always enjoyed being creative in academic environments because it is rare that you can do so. Being able to write any kind of article and make broadcasts has been a great outlet for creativity and a refreshing break in the school day. The classes have also been an opportunity for me to interact with people I’ve never gotten to have classes with before. Working with the same group of people for the past few years has been a unique experience since you typically don’t have the same group of people in a class multiple years in a row. The program wouldn’t be the same without the help, kindness, and patience of Ms. Conrad and the team at WTV. I’ve known Mrs. Henderson for nearly my whole life, and I’ve especially enjoyed being able to work with her the past two years. She has shown our classes such great support and positivity, and it has made the journalism program insurmountably stronger. Journalism is a big responsibility, but to have such a great system and resources is so lucky, and should be taken advantage of by any student who has the opportunity to.
Leaving high school is something I’ve both looked forward to and dreaded for a while. Honestly, if you offered me a million dollars to relive a single year of high school, I’d turn it down in a heartbeat. High school was not an experience I’d consider overwhelmingly positive, and I think most people who have gone through it would agree. However, I have been lucky enough to form and keep many relationships that got me through the past four years. I look back at the most positive memories I’ve made in the past four years and feel incredibly thankful for all of the people who gave me reasons to want to come to school even when I dreaded it. From laughing to the point of tears with Georgia on the way to second period, sharing music with Ms. Millett, and updating Bram on my life in journalism for the last three years, it is bittersweet to come to terms with this being the last of it all. I was also fortunate enough to be surrounded by a family that was always rooting for me. My mom, dad, and brother have always been my number one supporters, from my first day at the JCC to now. I’m lucky to be able to go into my college years with the same amount of love and support I’ve always received from them. Thank you to my family, teachers, and friends who have made these years much easier to get through. Lastly, if you are a current high school student, I hope you take some of my advice to heart. Find time for yourself, find your people, and try your best to have a positive mindset towards others. High school will, hopefully, not be the best years of your life, but you have more control than you think over making the most out of it.
