As a little girl, you don’t grasp what growing up really means. You don’t realize that the world doesn’t always wait for you to be ready. Sometimes, it just hits you all at once. Whether this is to my four-year-old self who thought high school would be like the movies, or to my sophomore self who’d stay up all night finishing her homework, it’s all coming to an end.
It’s very bizarre to comprehend that I’m actually writing my own senior column. As an underclassman, you constantly hear the phrase “time goes by so fast,” and only now do I understand what they meant. Only now do I realize how many memories I’ve made within these halls, in these classrooms, and I don’t know if I’m ready for it to end.
Freshman year was definitely a breeze compared to the rest of high school. From the faces to the campus, everything is completely new and unfamiliar, yet it all felt like a glimpse of freedom. I learned how to find my way not only around campus, but through change, slowly discovering who I was. I didn’t really feel the emotional weight of things quite yet – I still felt like a kid, like nothing really mattered.
Sophomore year was a change that hit me harder than I had ever expected. The classes became more intense, the work more rigorous, and the nights much longer. Getting used to AP classes was an adjustment in itself. However, it was a change I eventually became used to, one that taught me to stay grounded, to adapt, and keep pushing even when things felt beyond overwhelming.
Junior year was about choosing, sacrificing, and realizing that growth often means giving something up, even when it holds a piece of your heart. It was the year that taught me what it really means to care about people, passions, and myself. Through it all, I had to make choices that weren’t easy, like deciding between theater and soccer, two parts of my life that both felt like home. I experienced moments of joy, loss, and realization all at once, and somehow, I came out stronger.
As for senior year, there’s still so much to come. If anything, these last three years have reframed who I am, how I see the world, and how I love. I’m not ready to start my very last soccer season, or to take my final bow in a school musical. Everything feels like it’s ending just as I’ve finally learned to appreciate it. And in regards to where life takes me next, I am by no means ready or prepared, but by all means, I know it will be okay.
And oddly enough, I’d gladly do it all again. Despite the good, despite the bad, despite the days I dreaded getting through, it was all worth it. The lessons, the tears, the late nights, they all taught me one thing: that life goes on. Your story is just beginning, still being written, and you have so much left ahead of you.
Each conversation I’ve had about life, school, and everything in between with the people I love has shaped me into the person I am today. Thank you to my friends and especially to my mom, dad, and sister, for always believing in me and showing me what unconditional love truly looks like.
If the world ever feels like it’s closing in on you, remember, you have the rest of your life to find out who you are, and that’s something worth looking forward to.
