Dear High School,

Let me first start by saying how glad I am that you’re done. You were an incredibly awkward, strange, emotional, and overall sucky time, full of some really fake people.

But at the same time, I learned a lot from you, but not in your typical math or English class.

I always find it a bit odd when people say high school will be the best four years of your life, because I’m already having a better time in my first two years of college than I ever did throughout high school. Nonetheless, people are entitled to their own opinion; I just happen to strongly disagree. But high school, instead of being completely negative towards you like I wanted to do, I decided to write you something about all the life lessons you’ve taught me. (Life lessons in high school? What?) So high school, this one’s for you.

I think one of the most important lessons I learned from high school is that people will leave and it will hurt initially, but life goes on and sometimes it’s for the best. I lost a great deal of innocence at a young age during high school, but it had nothing to do with sex or drugs or any other forms of teenage rebellion. I lost a great deal of innocence when I realized those I thought would be with me for the rest of my life were instead only temporary. I used to believe that some people were forever, but then I found out there is practically no true forever in life. Finding this out while I was a teenager prepared me for the losses I will continue to experience in life.

Overall, though, the most important piece of knowledge high school bestowed upon me was the fact that better times are always ahead. I’m not actually sure if I learned this in high school or when I came to college and looked back on those high school years, but either way, I would never have known this had I not completed high school. Throughout high school, if I’m being honest, I was convinced life would never get better. I would never enjoy school or learning, never meet people who didn’t constantly act like 2-year-olds, and never go anywhere in life. But then when I stepped foot onto this college campus, everything changed. And while I hate to admit this because it practically makes me cringe, I don’t think this would have been possible without the experience of high school. Sometimes you have to go through less than stellar life experiences in order to appreciate the better experiences that lie ahead, which brings me to the final lesson from high school: if you’re going through hell, keep going. It will always get better.

So high school, thanks for sucking, because I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. Oh, and thank God I don’t have to go back.