There are a thousand things I took for granted when I attended my small all-girls high school. Having almost completed my second year of college, I have often wished I was back at that small high school enjoying all of its traditions, students, teachers and community. The excitement of heading off to college wears off after a few weeks when you realize that it is nothing like an all-girls high school. I hope to put into words my gratitude for my four years with all of my sisters, and the love I will always have for the community that became my family.

To begin, I feel as though I should address uniforms. I miss throwing on my plaid skirt and Nike mid-calf socks that were against the uniform code and heading off to school. Coordinating outfits is not an enjoyable activity, let alone early in the morning before class begins, so the uniform is sorely missed. What I am grateful for are the fond memories of being scolded for wearing an “out-of-uniform” sweatshirt, being threatened with detention for my similarly “out-of-uniform” moccasins or simply showing up to school wearing a sopping wet sweater because I threw it in the wash that morning.

While uniforms were a great comfort, my teachers were as well. I am blessed to say that I’ve had some of the finest high school teachers that I could ever imagine — people who have inspired me to pursue interests, degrees and possible career paths. It is common for teachers to enlighten their students and assist them in learning to get to the next level. It is rare, however, to find a teacher who sparks such an intense passion in a student that leads them to pursue a career. I doubt I would be studying Spanish and biology today if it weren’t for two educators who showed me all of the opportunities in front of me in their respective subjects. My teachers not only taught my subjects, but cared for each girl in that school as if she was her own daughter.

I am eternally grateful for my sports teams for a million reasons. Unlike public high schools with boys’ teams, we obviously had only girls’ teams that competed in athletics. I loved this because we were the main event, the big game and the place to be. Some public high schools focus so much on boys’ athletics that girls’ teams are like the warm-up or the sideshow. This was never the case for me, and I’m thankful for it because it allowed us to feel important, to feel like we had something to prove to our school, and our students and faculty. We represented the name, the logo, the mascot — #Rollbears — and the tradition. Games were heated and hyped, and playoffs were like the Superbowl. I will have everlasting memories of pre-game trips to Panera, long practices full of suicides, team buses to away games and all of the locker room conversations.

I am so thankful for these various things, but what sets all-girls high schools apart from the rest is the community and the family created around you that extends beyond graduation. I found some of the best friends in high school that I could ever ask for, and I know this because two years out of college, we still are picking each other up, laughing together for hours and supporting each other no matter how many states apart.

During my four years, we would always comment that we had 67 sisters, not classmates. Through the good and the bad, through the losses and the victories, through tragedy and through triumph, my 67 sisters supported each other through it all. Whether it was a text to let me know they were there, a smile in the hallway that told me everything was going to be OK or a hug that ensured a friend whenever I needed one, these girls had my back, and I hope they know I always did and always will have theirs.

These are the girls I would straight up go into battle with, if we’re being honest. That slang is necessary because it conveys how much I admire and support these 67 ladies who have each inspired me in so many ways. They have each taught me lessons that I have taken with me after graduation, and I feel privileged to be in the company of some amazing alumni.

I love keeping in touch with my close friends weekly or even daily sometimes — Facebook pokes are apparently a new way of annoying each other instead of being face-to-face. What I love just as much is hearing from those friends whom I lost touch with for a little while, or who have been busy and reach out just to say hello. It’s so amazing to start up right where we left off and remember high school like it was yesterday. Over Christmas, last break, a group of my friends and I met up at someone’s house, and talked and laughed for hours on end. I hadn’t seen some of those girls since graduation or at least a while, but I felt like no time had passed at all. I believe that is really the essence of my high school — the idea that from the minute we start freshman year forward, we all will be connected for life through a bond that no other type of high school can give, and that’s a sisterhood.

I hope the girls who are about to graduate this spring will cherish the last few months they have because you absolutely will miss it once you’re gone. Don’t forget that no matter what, you’ll always have classmates and teachers who care about you and want to hear from you. Once a bear, always a bear.