"Four Years" by Nadeen M.

This is it. May 22nd, Graduation Day, is right around the corner. Suddenly, there is less than 30 days until we receive that diploma. A vast majority of us cannot wait until we walk out of those arches one last time. Throughout the year and more so recently, I have heard several of my friends and classmates say, “High School was the worst four years of my life”, or along the lines of “High School was a joke”, and even “After I graduate, I’m not talking to anybody that I used to talk to in high school”. Come on, I know we are all guilty of reprimanding these last four years, maybe only one year or even just one semester, to some extent. I have to admit, these words have slipped from my mouth one time or another. However, as I began to prepare for graduation, I started to reflect and realize that I will cherish and am truly thankful for my high school experience.

I have come to believe that it is important to appreciate the good and the bad that high school had to offer. There is a saying that goes, “Every experience, good or bad, is a priceless collector’s item”, which can be closely associated with our own high school affairs. I think we can all agree that these four years had good parts and bad parts, rarely anything in between. Good, in terms of meeting new friends, falling in love, joining clubs, participating in sports, taking new classes (particularly those that will further develop skills needed for future careers), earning awards, experiencing new things, finding yourself, etc. Along the way, a lot of us have lost friendships, been through traumatic experiences, developed health conditions, lost loved ones, academic obstacles, bad decisions, suffered heartbreaks, and so on. Whatever the case may be, all of these events have collectively made us into the kinds of individuals we are today. In fact, I personally do not feel any remorse over some of the things I have done or despair for what I have faced (harsh, I know) because each action or event has allowed me to learn from my mistakes, has made me stronger, and a better person overall. This sounds a little cold-hearted, but this mentality has caused me to become more open minded about the tribulations that have come from high school and reciprocate them into learning experiences.

Following this, I view high school as a journey that leads to growth and development of knowledge in different aspects. In the last four years, we have all grown as individuals, into adults. Over time, we have gained a sense of the real world through different events and meeting new people which have influenced our viewpoints and thinking. Not to mention the AP courses we took have instilled new concepts and formulas for our academic knowledge. As you can see, this time may have given us a push for change in a multitude of areas in numerous ways.  Like I mentioned earlier, despite the negatives that I have personally endured, you will never hear me say again that high school was the most horrible four years of my life. As we begin to go our separate ways and start our new lives, it is essential that we never forget where we come from, more so the experiences that have molded us to this point. This message can still be applied for the rest of your lives for what you may encounter in the future. When we graduate, remember that these good and bad experiences from the last four years have greatly carried us this far and made us into the individually beautiful, strong, intelligent human beings we are today.