On this weekend, a year ago, I graduated from high school.

Graduating from boarding school and hearing the stories from your friends who are still there creates a certain sense of nostalgia unique to only those who had the fortune of attending one of these elite schools. I had the honor of attending The Lawrenceville School, a boarding school of about 800 students on a 700-acre campus sandwiched in between Princeton, NJ and Trenton, NJ.

Though I did not go to Lawrenceville for all four years (I did three years there as a “new sophomore”), I would like to think I got the full boarding school experience. I was a member of various sports teams, working my way up to captaining one and getting my name permanently painted in the field house; participated in many community service ventures; made friends from all over the world; lived with my best friends; got the course experience of a college student as a high school student; hung out with the animals on the school farm; and got to witness one of the longest standing high school rivalries in the country.

As graduation weekend looms ahead, the graduating seniors don’t realize the emptiness that they will soon feel once they realize that they will not be returning to the place they called home during the most important years of their lives. You will miss the teachers being around every corner and having a close relationship with them. You will miss being on the same schedule as all of your friends. You will remember the good times and the bad times, the hours studying in Bunn Library for finals week every term, lunches at the Bath House, breakfast at Maidenhead Bagels, getting pizza at TJ’s for dinner when dining hall food was bad, and of course, the dances on Saturday nights.

Over the past year, I have come back to visit Lawrenceville a few times, but when I look at the campus, I see Lawrenceville as my Lawrenceville, not the Lawrenceville that’s standing before me now. I see the path in front of the Crescent Houses (dorms for sophomore/junior girls) as a road, even though it's no longer there and the old math building that got torn away for my senior year. I see myself living in my old rooms, not the girls who live there now and myself sitting in my old stall in the locker room, not the senior who sat there during the season. I don’t like to see the new math building, the re-done pathways, and the new senior dining hall that’s being built to replace the old one that stood there for decades.

I had the best time of my life, thus far, on that campus, but I do have regrets, and I try and tell my friends who still go there to graduate without regrets. I regret locking myself in my room to finish my homework instead of going to dinner with friends. I regret not going to see teachers to get help in class thinking I was too good for help. I regret not trying new things and meeting more people.

This is where you grew up, where you became the person you are today. Many life lessons have been learned and many memories have been made. You know this place like the back of your hand, the “ins and outs” of campus, the secret paths, the best hangout spots, the best places to be alone. This is where you found your lifelong friends and found yourself along the way. There were times where you wanted to leave or go home, but then you have the times where you didn’t want to go home for break. You have found your support group, your family, your home. There truly is no place like Lawrenceville.

Remember your Lawrenceville, because in a year, you won’t be able to recognize it.

Congrats Class of 2017! You've earned it.