I remember being a junior and senior and poking fun at the college students coming back to high school for athletic events or visiting the school during the day. Everyone said it: “they’re so stuck in high school.” Man, do I regret saying that.

I’d like to preface this by saying I HATE the phrase “stuck in high school”. Whether the college kids come back to watch a relative play in a basketball game or go to catch up with some of their high school friends, their being supportive and good friends. Why make it negative by saying “they peaked in high school”?

I have also realized how ignorant I sounded by saying these things when I had never left home and been thrown into a completely different world. Especially if you come from a small, tight-knit community, you begin to miss home like crazy. Maybe not in the first month or so, but I’m telling you, the first time you travel back home for Fall Break or Thanksgiving, returning to school will be horribly depressing.

There are a number of things that I miss about high school. It doesn’t mean “I’m stuck there” and it doesn’t make me immature. Missing the times I had and the memories I made is absolutely normal, especially for a freshman in college. Being on your own, with people you don’t know, in a place that is completely foreign to you can take a serious toll on a person. So, the next time you see a college student coming back to visit, maybe cut them a little slack and try to understand that college isn’t always as easy and wonderful as some make it out to be.

So, yeah, maybe I am a little “stuck in high school”. But I wouldn’t word it that way. I miss certain aspects of high school: the familiarity, the sporting events, and knowing every face you see. And although I am excited for my future, I will always have a special place in my heart for the place that helped to shape me in my most vulnerable years, and played a huge part in the person I have become.