Every year around this time at the end of May, articles and letters will pop up in news feeds about seniors in high school saying their final goodbyes.

These goodbyes have always touched me, but I never realized how hard it was actually going to be for me to be on the side of writing the goodbye.

I can honestly say that I have made a lot of friends and memories in my high school years that I hadn’t realized I had made until the time was up to really appreciate them.

Whether I like it or not, living in a small town my entire life has enabled me to have an emotional connection with every single person in my graduating class of around 70 people.

High school can be the best and the worst of times for some kids. For me, it was both and a very emotional roller coaster at times.

Through all of this, I have a few friends that have been my rock and have stood by me, and I don’t think they will ever know how much I truly appreciate them.

I am going to miss my teammates. Being an athlete has provided me the opportunity to befriend students at my school that I would never have considered being friends with.

To my fellow volleyball seniors, this year was awesome. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

To my underclassmen children, never give up. I’ve seen you strive for big things, and I know you’re going to do great things.

I was highly involved in my high school. I was in groups that were solely for community service, varsity sports, environmental knowledge and awareness competitions, and many others.

In nearly all of these, I was the leader. I was either the president or the captain figure. As a freshman, I would have never dreamt that I would lead my peers someday, but I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to, and I will miss these groups dearly.

Academically, I was heavily involved in our science department.

I had the amazing opportunity in the middle of the junior year to befriend our chemistry teacher. She was there for me during some pretty heavy times in my life.

The hardest thing I have had to swallow was coming to a realization that I will never be in her classroom again. She was and is one of the best teachers in that building.

I will never forget her, or her huge heart for her students.

All of this. These groups, these people. I love them dearly and I have gotten to know them so well over the span of my entire life.

They are what have become familiar to me. It is going to be weird not walking into my high school at the end of August but onto a campus of new people and new teachers.

I can only hope they will touch my life as much as everything McConnellsburg has for me. I am saying goodbye to my childhood and hello to my future.