Graduates. Well, almost. We’ve gone to school for too long now. Countless nights of homework, hours spent sitting in a wooden desk, and so many people that we have talked to on a day-to-day basis have lasted for some fourteen odd years. From making best friends to passing that very hard class, we have spent a majority of our life being in school.

We started in Pre-K counting numbers and saying our ABCs. Homework consisted of coloring within the lines and connect the dot pictures. Year by year we grew. In our elementary days, we learned cursive, to write paragraphs, do countless science fair projects, and learned long division. As we grew to endure the dreaded middle school years, our math became tougher, papers became longer, and classes seemed harder. We wished we could go back and take naps and have recess again. In high school things became real. We understood why we had to learn to multiply 9 and 8. We understood why grammar is necessary for our future. We understood why the American Revolution shaped America into what it is today.

Teachers barred with us. Even though they piled test on top of homework mixed with projects, the same class we have walked into will now become a faint memory. Our favorite teachers will become another impacting part of our life after they taught us more than to read and write. Those teachers sparked a love that will travel with us for the rest of time. They also showed us life lessons that will be forever ingrained in our minds.

Some friendships that started those fourteen odd years ago will fade out. The people we have grown to bear “those” teachers with will now become another heartbeat that walks on the same planet as us. Other friendships will be a continuous snap streak or the occasional like of a picture on instagram. Good friendships (the rare 1-3 friends that you survived years with) will stay in constant touch. Those friendships are the ones that will be ready for enjoyable laughs and constant lunches when you are all in the same city. Those are the friends that you high-fived when you both failed the same tests. Hold those friendships close to your heart.

We will miss it though. Not the school work, but the ideas and lifestyles that came along with school. We will miss the Friday night lights. Standing in the bleachers cheering for our school as our team tries to win yet another game. We will miss the long bus trips with some of our best friends and teammates. The boys and girls we have become so close to after surviving tough wins and bearing the losses. We will wish to ride a bus with them just one last time to do more hair braiding and eat at just one more fast food restaurant together. We will miss the shenanigans of throwing a tennis ball in class or climbing the social ladder. We will miss the days we once could not wait to happen.

The past fourteen years have been filled with drama, random naps in the middle of class, and eager anticipation for that day in which you will finally walk across the stage only to obtain a piece of paper. If you’re fortunate enough, you will be able to go through 4+ more years of schooling. We only have one more year. We just finished our Junior year. 180 more days until we can say, “I made it.”