Between waking up at six-thirty in the morning and the lack of recess---high school at the time seemed like such a bother. When I was a senior in high school, it was without a doubt bittersweet when graduation finally came around. Now, prior to entering my senior year at College of Charleston, I have found myself craving the opportunity to redo high school. A lot of people might say, “Why would you want to go back to high school when you have so much freedom in college?” Well, that’s a valid question, and quite frankly, there are a few reasons for such nostalgia.

Firstly, high school prepares you for college. I know that this concept seems pretty implied, but it’s worth mentioning. I can think of several people I grew up with that just didn’t comprehend how important it is to maintain beneficial habits and routines. Now, they find themselves struggling to keep pace in the latter part of their education. More people need to take this seriously, one of which being me at the time. Throughout my high school years I always figured that doing enough to just get by was sufficient. I now know firsthand that this belief simply isn’t true in 2017. Everyone who wants to stand out or be noticed will do anything, and I mean anything to get a leg up. If I had to go back I would definitely revisit my priorities. Understanding what needs to be done---like schoolwork -- and what can wait is vital, and definitely helps later in college.

In short, my freshman year of high school was a blast. I played football and baseball in high school, all of the squads being very close. We went to parties together, we sat together at lunch, it was definitely your stereotypical high school athletes and I totally bought into it. The constant grind of waking up, class, practice after school, and doing homework was great. If going back to high school were a feasible opportunity, I would continue to relish all the time spent with my friends and teammates. If you’re not a washed up athlete like me and play a sport in college, then you’ll most likely experience this again, but in my case I’d give anything to be able to see the guys everyday and misbehave occasionally with them. I think that’s one of the things I miss most, just seeing everyone in the halls of the school day in and day out. There are so many people that I wish I had stayed in touch with that have faded away over the years, which is a sad reality. My friends and I make an effort to reunite with some, but it’s not the same. If I found myself back in high school in some bizarre world, I would without a doubt make an effort to hang out with everyone and broaden my friend groups. The days of playing baseball and football were great, and I wish they lasted longer.

Lastly, for lack of a better term, finish high school with no regrets. In a lot of ways I think I satisfied this idea, but as I’ve said there were areas in which I wished I had tried harder. Looking back on it, I saw myself as kind of a shy kid in high school, and by the end I grew increasingly outgoing and carried that into college. Forget what anyone thinks or says about you, you do you. Take advantage of opportunities given to you, and just have fun. In the end, you don’t want to be walking in June to grab your diploma, and thinking to yourself, “man, it’s over.” Do you want to finish high school with a 4.0? How about playing a varsity sport as a sophomore? Even if you want to just get hammered with the guys on the weekend, finish your high school career with no regrets. If you have this mentality throughout the four years, you’ll be happy with the outcome.

Writing this now I smile every couple of sentences as memories flash in my head. My best friend and I always reminisce about the glory days in high school---it sounds kind of lame, but honestly I think it’s a reflection of how much we accomplished. My freshman football team went undefeated, and that’s something I’ll never forget---and because of that I’ll always be good friends with my teammates. Preparing myself through hard work and studying, seeing everyone day in and day out at school, and going through high school with a “no regrets” mentality are just a few things I would take with me given the opportunity to redo high school. This is no 17 Again, so all I can do is laugh over the memories I made and take what I learned in high school with me moving forward. Not a lot of people love high school, but to that I say “how could you not?” Reminiscing about all the things I went through in high school and the friends I made, suddenly waking up at six-thirty in the morning Monday through Friday make it all worth while.