Parents always say that high school will be "the best four years of your life." I'm here to say that's only partly true. With all the great experiences it's given me, high school has its lows too. There are many times when I wasn't sure that I would make it but I'm here to tell you that if I can do it, anyone can.
High school was a very interesting time for me as I'm sure it is for most people. I started my freshman year bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for something new. I quickly realized that the next four years weren't going to be everything that you see in movies. It actually might be hard. The school books and work started to pile on and I wasn't sure I could handle it. I decided something needed to change. I got my first planner and discovered my love for organization and color coding. I know, that sounds a little dorky but it helped a lot. I had a color for every subject and wrote everything down in my planner.
Soon, instead of missing assignments and feeling like I was drowning, my grades started climbing. I applied my strategy to my notes. I was soon keeping up in classes and my academics had never been better. I always made sure to ask questions whenever I had them. There's no point in sitting in class confused when you could change that in a second.
The academic side of school is very important but can be very overbearing at times. I surrounded myself with a great group of friends to help me through it. We studied, joined activities, and just enjoyed life together. When the pressure of school was just too much, I knew I could lean on them for support. If you're introverted like me, friends can be hard to find but when you do it's the best feeling ever.
One of the best parts of my high school experience was the clubs and extracurricular activities. My activities of choice were choir and drama club. As you can tell, I really like music. These clubs created a great community of people just like me that came together almost every day and provided a great creative outlet. These activities were my safe place. When school became too much, I would count down the hours until I could be doing what I love with the people that I love. I loved being in a creative space with my friends and working together to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. Yes, these activities were fun but they also taught me so much. I learned how to work together toward a common goal, that every person has a voice that is very important, and most importantly how to work hard.
High school has taught me so much from how to color code to big life lessons like teamwork. High school not only gave me an education but the people I consider my best friends. And for that, thank you high school. You challenged me and pushed me to become who I am. Thank you for the growth. Thank you for the learning. Thank you for preparing me for my next step. Just know that not only will you get through this, you'll have a great time along the way. Remember that discipline goes a long way and if I can do it, so can you!