After having a somewhat sour middle school experience, I was really looking forward to high school, being able to get a fresh start and make new friends. I figured it couldn’t be any worse than what had already come, and thankfully I was very correct.

Freshman year was exactly what I wanted. I had made a handful of good friends, and I had some absolutely incredible and forever memorable teachers. Overall I don’t remember much, but every time I think back to freshman year, it feels like a much simpler and homier time.

And as the school year closed, I looked forward to the summer and sophomore year. Although suddenly a very short “two week” break happened, which turned out to be a two-year break instead.

Sophomore year, the online year, all I can say is that it was certainly the most unique year of my high school life. 2020 was possibly the most wild year of humanity I’ve ever lived through. So much happened, that when it ended it felt like four full years had passed. Then 2021, not nearly as bad, but still pretty terrible.

Although while the rest of the world suffered, I managed to grow immensely as a person over the online year. I discovered a passion for writing and am personally happy with how I did, if not feeling slightly robbed out of a year of school. Oh yes, school online, I paid just about as much attention to it as I did to it in this paragraph.

Junior year was probably my favorite year of high school, while also practically feeling like the first year of high school all over again. Lots was different: new school building, new school name, and now almost all work was done on new school-supplied Chromebooks. 

It felt like a reset almost, with many people kind of being socially awkward, rediscovering how to interact in schools again.

Aside from the insanity of post-Covid, I loved my junior year. I expanded my social circle wider than it had ever been, with some truly great people. And I had possibly my favorite roster of teachers and classes that I’d ever have.

Senior year has been a blitz, and while it’s been fun, it’s also somewhat somber to have it all coming to an end. So I’d like to thank all of my teachers and friends that have been with me throughout my high school life and have shaped it into the memorable experience that it has been.

While I have had an incredible experience, I do have regrets. There are people I would have liked to have made friends with, a lot of regretful interactions, and classes I would have liked to have taken.

Although looking back, there’s not much I would want to change about my high school life, and I’m looking forward to what comes next.