It’s true when they say “time flies.” It sounds cliche to say so, but this senior reflection will consist a lot about time so brace yourself. 

I feel as though I barely started high school as a freshman, learning where I belong and where I want to be. It’s crazy to think that in less than two weeks, I’m done with high school forever. It’s even crazier having to write a senior reflection for the Clarion Newspaper because now it’s starting to feel real. 

Senior year has served as my way in finding myself and realizing who and what I want to be in the future. As we all suffered through the last year in a pandemic, it was even harder to accept that this was my last year of high school and I wasn’t going to experience the ending we all have worked our entire lives for. This was my mindset at the start of my senior year. I was very negative and didn’t understand why we deserved an ending like this. 

Being a swimmer, though, has taught me that this is not the way to think. Negativity only brings you to a darker place and once comfortable in that place, it’s hard to get out. When the pandemic became longer than we expected, I turned to new things to keep me happy. Spending more time in nature and around my family helped me get through the rough start to my senior year. When things began to become better and the school came to a return, I realized all the growth I have gained just from the past year. I used to think that I’ve changed from my freshmen year, but I also changed from who I was a year ago, three months ago, and even four weeks ago.

Although my senior year didn’t begin the way I hoped it would’ve, I feel lucky and thankful to have gone through what most of us went through because I now value the little things so much more. 

My senior year has taught me that time is precious and even when given the worst circumstances, there is always a way to make things a bit better. Whether it’s simply going on a bike ride or going on a hike with friends, there comes a moment where you look back at your past self and wonder if you could’ve done something differently. Senior year has served as that time reflection for me. 

As the days continue to count down until graduation, all I can do now is look back. I look back at the funniest moments I’ve shared with friends. I look back at the dumbest moments I’ve shared. I also look back at the moments I wish never happened and the moments I completely regret. All of these moments, however, do share one similarity; They’ve brought me to where I am now. Through good and bad experiences, I’ve been able to find myself at such a young age and really understand life to the most of my young capability. 

I appreciate all the moments and memories I’ve shared with others and myself throughout highschool. I feel satisfied with the person I’ve become and feel ready to close this chapter and open an entire new one full of empty pages I have yet to mark. 

Thank you Selma High, you’ve done me well.