Dear High School Student,
I know you’re wishing these four years would fly by. You’re probably wishing you didn’t have to listen to your parents and how nice it would be if you could just do whatever you wanted and whenever you wanted. I bet you think about college more than you do your homework, and how it’s going to be the best experience of your life.
Take this from someone that has been out of high school for less than a year, and stop. Stop wishing these four years away. I know sitting in a school for seven hours isn't ideal, I know that dealing with immature kids and stupid drama isn't fun. I know that you hate that you have a curfew, and you hate having to account to authority.
I'm not here to tell you that they are the four best years of your life; but they are four years you will never get back.
These are four years that you just get to be a kid. No worries, no huge stresses, just relax and have fun. You can go to prom, sit in the student section at the homecoming football game, cheer at the pep rallies, spend nights chiling with your parents, throw bonfires, see your friends five out of the seven days a week, wing a test and ace it, or have no homework on the weekends.
I know you've heard all these words before, so you can roll your eyes, but I'm telling you, I look back already and I wish that I hadn't rushed out of high school as fast as I tried to. But I'm thankful for the memories I have from high school.
I'm glad I spent time getting to know my teachers because now they are people I look to for advice, and sometimes reference letters.
I'm glad I spent some Friday nights at home with my parents, because now I don't get to see them too often, and sometimes they send me a care package with food... and money ;)
I'm glad I went to prom, danced my butt off, and spent money on a dress, because it's a night I won't ever forget with some of my best friends that I'll always cherish.
I'm glad I played tennis all four years, because it taught me about dedication and hard work, and it gave me a group of girls that I will forever have a bond with.
I'm glad I dressed up during spirit week because now I will always have hilarious pictures of my friends and I, and I can someday show my kids how weird their mom was.
I'm glad I worked hard on homework and tried my best, because in college, you have to know how to study if you want to succeed.
I'm not saying that I wish I could be back in high school and spend another four years there- because I don't. That time has came and passed. But what I am saying, is that I'm glad I made high school memorable, because it's a time I won't ever forget. It was four years that I had to be a kid, that I had to make memories, and create the person I am today that walks on a college campus daily.
And college is great, I'm not diminishing it. These four years I will spend at Taylor University will be another great four years that I get to have fun, make memories, go on adventures, and build friendships. But in these next four years, I have to earn a degree, and study for sometimes seven plus hours at a time for an exam I might only get a C+ on. I have to make decisions I'm not necessarily ready to make, and rack up a debt that will take me years to get out of.
So, don't rush into college. Your time will come when you get to move away, as far as you want. You will have your moment when you don't have to account to anyone, and when you get to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.
But for now, enjoy your high school days; you won't ever get them back.
Sincerely,
a freshman in college