“I cannot wait to graduate and leave this place,” is a phrase commonly heard amidst conversations with high school students. College and the freedom linked to it are believed to be the light at the end of the tunnel that is high school. Many students think they will go off to college and never miss a thing about the place and the people that they left behind. I was one of these people, and I was proven wrong as I walked onto a campus states away from my high school where there was not one familiar face. I was forced to deal with the fact that as great as college truly is, there are Instagram posts and younger siblings that will force you to remember all the aspects of high school that you would give almost anything to experience again.

You will always miss consistently having classes that were a breeze. College only gets more difficult after you complete the mandatory first year introductory liberal arts class. You’ll miss not being able to get away with a good grade just because you completed an assignment and turned it on time. There are very rarely any throwaway classes in college that you can study for and complete homework for the period before the class starts and still do well.

Having the same teacher for more than one class is something you probably did not think you would miss about high school. When you have the same teacher for a number of different science classes in high school it sure does make it a whole lot easier, because after one year of having class with that particular teacher you are at least a little bit more familiar with their teaching style and what they expect. At college when you have a different chemistry professor for Inorganic, Organic, Analytical, Physical, and Forensic Chemistry you have to keep relearning whether each professor tests on textbook information, lecture information, or a mixture of both and believe me it is definitely harder than it sounds.

Attending and participating in high school sports is something you know you will miss, but no one often truly understands just how much they will miss it. Whether you were a football player, cheerleader, danceline member, majorette, marching band member, or just a fan it was exciting to go to games on Friday night whether we by some miracle managed to win a game or you just got to be a witness to how badly we lost. The hometown rivalries and the importance of supporting your team at the expense of those who dared to sit in the opposing team’s fan section because they were dating someone from the other team is just one example of some of the drama that made these games unforgettable and makes you want to relive them. If you were a high school athlete, you know just how much you miss getting your pre-game or pre-meet playlist ready for the bus ride or how much you miss the nerves that came along with it being a game day or the day of a meet. Even if you move on to college sports, you will always miss competing with the people that began your long-term sport addiction.

When most of your class has gone to school together since kindergarten, you get used to one another being there. You get used to always having people around you that you are comfortable with purely because you have spent so much time together. Every day in high school you see your classmates that you only ever talk to at your locker because their last names are alphabetically close to yours. Just like you get used to ignoring the annoying comments from the notorious class clown when you have a class with them or get used to hearing the nicknames that everyone knows but no one can really remember where they began. When you go from seeing these people everyday to seeing them at the grocery store once a year, if you’re lucky, you realize just how much you took them for granted.

So, whether that nickname annoys you or that one kid at the locker below you is always in your way remember that high school goes by more quickly than you think is possible. Take it from someone that could not wait to leave high school and move on. High school is hard and it is really difficult, but more so than that college is not any easier and high school is four years of your life that you will wish you could go back to once your in college. You truly do not realize what you had until it is gone, so please learn from someone that never thought they would miss elements of high school.

You will miss it, so enjoy it while it lasts!