For many people high school is either the best or worst time of your life. Regardless of whether it's the best or the worst four years, it's important to not forget the times you had. You wouldn't just throw away your baby pictures or block out your childhood, so why would you throw away your high school yearbook? Like it or not high school is a part of growing up, and even if it was the worst days of your teenage years, it helped shape you into the person you are today.

I thought that the day I graduated high school was going to be one of the saddest days of my life. My friends and I spent the summer anxious and excited to start the new chapters in our lives. But as our last days of summer came to a close, we started to realize how weird it was going to be to not see each other for the next four months. As summer was ending and our rooms started to get packed, we decided what better way to spend the last weekend of summer up north on the lake.

We took three cars and drove three hours to Sugar Lake Lodge. It ended up raining almost every day, so we spent the time inside playing games and reminiscing about our favorite high school memories. The last night of our trip it finally stopped raining. We went out to the golf course and laid watching all the stars. The stars are crazy up north, the whole sky was filled with bright stars, and you could see a shooting star almost every three minutes. It was the last time we were all really going to be at home together until the following summer.

I wondered how was I possibly going to move hundreds of miles away and go to a school where I barely knew anyone. I was lucky enough to love almost every second (key word: almost) of high school. I had a fantastic group of friends that I knew I'd be friends with for the rest of my life. I couldn't have asked for a better high school experience that was filled with spending every Friday night at football games or hanging out in our parents' basement.

Everyone always asked me "Why Kansas?" To me, college is the place you can see yourself making a home for the next four years, and I knew Kansas was home for me. Summer went on, and I was anxious as ever to spend the next nine months living in a dorm with nearly a complete stranger, but she ended up being awesome. I got to school, and before I knew it I had a fantastic group of friends, got in the routine of classes and began studying and going out. I slowly stopped talking and texting my group of friends from back home, but our friendships didn't change. College is a time for change, a time for finding yourself. No matter what high school meant to you it is important to always remember the lessons it taught you.

Don't let your high school experiences effect who you are in college. I learned that who I was and who I was friends with in high school didn't matter in my college journey, but regardless, it would always be a time I would cherish and no matter the friends I make in college, I will always have the friends I have at home. As much as we have all grown up and grown apart, there is no question in my mind that I will forever have the same group of friends that made going to college that much harder.

So what's the point of this you may ask? Well for all of you going off to college it is important to open your eyes to all the changes in front of you. The summer before you leave for college can be one of the scariest, craziest and best times of your life. There's no reason to block out high school from your memories, but there is a reason to move on. That is why you should always keep the yearbook somewhere you can open it. Don't be afraid to reminisce on the silly high school times. These were the days that shaped you in to the person you are today.

Keep that yearbook close to your heart, and take time to take a glance and cherish that point in your life.