High school: “The best 4 years of your life.” I was told that by my parents almost any time I would complain about having too much homework, a long track practice, or receiving a bad grade. Frankly, high school isn’t as glamorous as High School Musical makes it out to be. But thankfully, high school is full of good, bad, and ugly memories you will never forget.

     Freshman year: There are simply too many good things about freshman year to only name one. Walking through those front doors for the first time, I felt so powerful, so happy that I was officially a high schooler. I felt so smart, but only because I was in Honors Biology. But taking Honors Biology was not the best choice I had made throughout my 4 years. I learned that once I finished the first semester with an 82% (barely a B, and the worst overall grade I ever had). At that point of freshman year, I envied my brother, who was a senior at the time. I wanted to be graduating with him, but I still had 3 more years.

     Sophomore year: Probably my favorite year of high school. For the first time in my life, I genuinely enjoyed a math class. That was only because Geometry was the easiest math class that all high schoolers had to take. Yet, I digress. The Honors English class I took led me towards a love for writing and speaking. I will never forget the 94% I received on my last paper in that class. Now I wish I could forget the score I got on my AP World History Exam. Disclaimer: You actually need to study the night before an AP Exam. After that AP Exam in the middle of May, I really wanted to be done with school, but I still had 2 years left. 

     Junior year: the most stressful year of my life by far. How is a 16 year old supposed to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives? I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but I can promise you, that changed about a total of 10 times before the end of my junior year. Although, AP Language and Composition taught me that it is much easier to speak to people about an article than it is to write a 6 page rhetorical analysis essay on an article you barely understand. It did not take me long to learn that. Obviously, that year, 2020, was not the school year any of us wanted. But the loss of half of my junior year made me realize not to wish my time in high school away. Now, after finishing online classes, I only had one more year.

     Senior year: it went by too fast. Ever since the first day of school, I had a countdown of how many days until I was OFFICIALLY done. Looking back, I am so sad that I created that countdown so early. Only having 5 classes a day shorted my time in Norwin High School to begin with, and I was wishing it would go faster. I will always remember the tears that ran down my face when I got accepted to my number one school. Oh and the look of disappointment in my face when I failed my first test (took me 4 years of high school to do that). Now, I have no time left. 

     High school moves so fast. Although 4 years sounds like a long time, it’s not. I would like to believe I took advantage of all the time I had in high school. But my biggest regret is wishing it would have gone faster. My advice to underclassmen: don’t wish your time in high school away, because in a blink of an eye you will be wearing your cap and gown holding your diploma.