High school is defined mainly as one of the most critical moments of a person’s life. It’s the time in which you find the friends who you click with the most and you discover what you’re genuinely passionate about in your life. However, a lot of people, albeit not all, define it as the most important part of their life because of the impact it can have in defining themselves as a person. For me, over the last four years, I’ve come to realize that, though high school is truly important in shaping a person, it’s only a small, minuscule part of my life that will ultimately become unimportant in the future.

Arguably, when I first got into high school, I viewed it as the defining moment in my life. High school was presented to me in a way that said that how a person viewed me determined my value and worth. And being truthful, that thought instilled a harmful mindset that I’ve had to work incredibly hard to get rid of. Although working towards getting rid of that head space was not an easy feat, it was a long process that I did occasionally want to give up on,

While working towards getting rid of that way of thinking, it was affecting me greatly. I vividly remember my freshman year of high school being a struggle as I dealt with constantly comparing myself to other people while putting on a front that didn’t let people besides a few of my closest friends, see that side of me. It shrouded my freshman year in a disastrous light that created a lot of moments that I wish I could go back and redo. Based off of how my life was going at that point, I wasn’t even sure if I would ever be able to lose that mindset.

Yet, though this is not the case for many people, quarantine was there to help me out of that mindset during my sophomore year. I spent about the last quarter of my freshman year in online schooling as a result of COVID-19, but my entire sophomore year was spent doing online schooling in both the first and second semesters. Quarantine, though an effect of the devastating consequences of COVID-19, was a largely positive time for me. It was a time in which I didn’t have to worry about other people viewing me, and I could be left alone by myself to deal with the things that were causing the negativity in my life. It gave me a chance to be with my family more and connect with them on a deeper level, and it allowed me to address my problems head-on rather than constantly avoiding them like I typically would have. And, even now, I would say it largely was beneficial for me. It was the time in which I successfully got out of that mindset and found the little things that actually mattered to me in life and made me happy, such as taking care of plants.

Surprisingly, I noticed that difference too when I returned in person to the school during my junior year. I viewed myself in a different way, and I no longer cared about the opinions of people I barely knew, unless it came to school work and other things of that matter. I taught myself to put my attention elsewhere, primarily in school. I started to actually focus on my schoolwork and take back control of what high school meant to me. And, the difference was astronomical looking back at in now. My grades were substantially better than any of my previous years in high school, and I was slowly reconnecting with the world around me. Junior year was the time in which I saw legitimate differences in myself as I grew as a person and matured more. It was the only time, besides quarantine of course, where I came to accept the fact that I’ve grown away from people I was once close with and that’s okay. That’s how life is–people come and go throughout your life even though it may be painful when it occurs. It’s the time in which I learned that life happens, and sometimes you just need to accept that and move on with your own life.

Now, that brings me to my senior year of high school. Confidently, I can say I’m ready to move on from high school to college. I think I’ve had my fair share of high school experiences, and I’m excited to end on a good note. I’ve come a long way, and I’ve worked on myself as a person a lot. I’m now a substantially different person than I was my freshman year, but I consider that a good thing as it’s a result of the things I’ve actively worked towards. Do I have things I wished I did differently? Absolutely. Almost everyone does. Do I wish I would’ve reconnected with people more? Definitely, but sometimes you just gotta accept things don’t work out that way and it’s okay.

I’m happy to bid farewell to Millard South and move on to the next chapter of my life. I will remember it for the impact it has created in my life, but I definitely will not remember it as the most important thing in my life. I hope my fellow seniors are also excited to move on to the next chapter of their lives wherever they may go, and I bid Millard South my final goodbye.