I just want to start by saying that the fact that I’m writing this right now is crazy. I remember being a tiny sophomore sitting in Clarion watching my senior friends brainstorm their ideas for their senior column. And now, it’s my turn.
Ever since I was little, I always wondered what my life would be like in high school. I always wanted to have a locker that I could decorate and leave my textbooks in. Romanticizing high school was not something foreign to me, I often daydreamed of having a car where I could take my friends to the mall, and having fun classes where I learned how to count to one million (I was seven). I remember being in elementary school and anxiously waiting to be in sixth grade so I could pick my middle school classes. In middle school, I wanted to be in high school so badly, and now that I’m in high school, I wish I was in sixth grade again.
I was in high school for three years (COVID… yay!), and out of those three years, I can proudly say that my life has never been so chaotic, fun, stressful, and amazing in such a short amount of years. During this time, I have learned so many things, whether inside or outside the classroom.
I have learned to solve for x, while also learning that I need to run early out of 4th period when there’s orange chicken for lunch if I don’t want to spend my break waiting in line. I learned how to memorize whole essays while also learning shortcuts to avoid the massive ocean Selma High turns into after it rains.
I have lost and gained many people all through high school, and I don’t like to look at it negatively. I like to think that it just shows that we are all still growing and maturing. Every person that I have met has changed me into the person I am today. That girl I talked to once in my honors 2 math class? Yeah, she’s the reason I know that there are tater tots at lunch on Mondays.
Now, as much as I can go on and on about the social aspect of high school, let’s not forget that this place was where I failed my first test. Going into freshman year, everything was a breeze. I just had to log into class, do my work, fake my heart rate for P.E., and log out. It was simple, absolutely no stress. But then, the most atrocious and horrific school year was here. Sophomore year.
I quite literally had to take a deep breath before writing that. Tenth grade is a year I don’t even remember that well and for a good reason! I have trained my brain to block out traumatic events from my memory and this is one of them. I just remember feeling so tired and stressed. ALL. THE. TIME. I was the embodiment of a walking corpse, I was a zombie. But after the rain always comes a rainbow.
Sophomore year, I met two of my closest friends. Since they were seniors, they had to leave me behind but that didn’t stop us from texting each other almost every day. To this day we hang out frequently and play Roblox together. I won’t ever admit this to them in person, (because they’ll poke fun at me) but they are like the older sisters I never had. I look up to them a lot, and I consider them my role models. They are truly the reason I was able to pass sophomore year.
My favorite year yet has to be junior year. This year was full of so many memories that I will cherish forever. I was able to meet so many new people and have the opportunity to talk to some of my classmates who I didn’t think I’d ever have a conversation with. The schoolwork was moderate and I enjoyed coming to school every day. It was eventful and I truly wish I could go back and relive it over again.
Lastly, senior year. I have a lot of mixed emotions about twelfth grade. I get to spend time with my friends and I’ve been going out A LOT this year compared to last year. It’s all fun and games until I realize “Wait…I’m a senior.” Not only that but then I start thinking about graduation, FAFSA (go fill yours out, seniors!), scholarships, the senior trip, college, the future, taxes, global warming, the solar system, and I could go ON and ON. I start overthinking my whole life and go into a spiral.
To be honest, I won’t miss staying up late to study for AP Euro., trying to read through The Norton Reader, making and memorizing flashcards at 1 AM for history, and reading the textbook for stats notes. I will miss going into Filkins’ class at lunch and munching down my spicy chicken sandwich while I look around me and listen to my classmates talk about a class, how they have to study for Johnson’s essay test, how tired they are, how that one girl gave them a dirty look, how much they want to go home, how senioritis is getting the best of them, and how sadly, that classroom will not be the same without the class of ‘24.
Overall, high school is just so packed with stress over the littlest things but, once you get them done, you realize that it was never that big of a deal to begin with. Which is my takeaway from Selma High. Yes, you should do all your work and attend all your classes, but at the end of the day, you shouldn’t be stressed all the time. It’s truly draining. You shouldn’t care if you look undressed for school, or if you accidentally said your name weirdly during attendance. You’re still a teenager and you will never have the chance to live life with your friends as closely as in these four years. So text that person, dye your hair that color, and post that TikTok, you only get to experience high school once.
