To most teenagers, their high school years were a make or break it situation. In my case, I was fairly fortunate. I was given incredible opportunities, teachers, and friends.

Growing seems so exciting when you are a young kid, unaware of the impossible and scary things that the world presents. Life is unfair. This world is unfair and yet, we find our way. I am forever in debt to those who guided my path in high school, however, it was absolutely time for me to leave it behind.

Going away to college teaches you many things about yourself and others. The greatest one of all is that cliques and drama do not go away. However, I am over it. I make choices that keep my life on the right path and don't involve petty, useless arguments and stress. I have learned the value of a true friend rather than trying to be popular. It is important to be happy, and striving for something you want, rather than striving for attention from others.

Things will never again be like high school for most. In my case, I didn't have to work as hard for certain things because I excelled where others did not. Being in a Liberal Arts University, everyone here is studying the things that I excelled at in high school. We all are good at what we do in different and similar ways. I am no longer a big fish in a little pond.

While people watching, it is so clear when a student or person is trying to get what they want by becoming buddy-buddy with someone like a teacher or director. It is important not to follow in their footsteps. It will never get you anywhere in life if you do not assert effort, intention and passion into what you do. I will never be proud of an accomplishment I receive if I know that I did not get it from my work or talents.

High school was often a place where you had to look and dress the right way and conform to styles and groups. In college, I am finally free to express myself in ways that I feared throughout my early teens. At a Liberal Arts University, I came with a clean slate. Everyone here dresses and expresses themselves in dress, art, dance, music, film, etc. It is not uncommon to see people showing love for their bodies and feeling confident in what they chose to wear that day. It is truly a breathe of fresh air.

If I could change one thing in high school, it would have been to have actually gone the extra mile. Absorb as much information as I could while it was available at a reasonable cost. Paying to pick a teachers brain in college is rewarding, but comes a cost sometimes. I have transformed into a new person because of my new outlook on learning and taking risks. This semester alone, I am nothing like the actress, human, and artist I was last semester or in high school. Thank god.

Don't take your education for granted. Be yourself and do not get caught up in drama and people that won't matter after you graduate. Be the best you there is.