Nervous running through the halls making sure in those five minutes I would get to my next class. As a freshman, those five minutes I took for granted. I would sprint to my next class to make sure I was there almost four minutes before the bell rang. That’s a one minute transition from class to class. I would not stop to see my friends, say hi to other teachers, I would just go. As the years passed though, I would eventually walk with some friends to classes, say hi to other teachers, or even stop to check how I looked in the mirror in the near bathroom. Now all I wish was to have those five minutes back to take in what high school really was for me. 

I do not think I truly understood when I was a freshman in high school how my life would be forever changed. I met some of my best friends, learned some important lessons, and most importantly made amazing memories that will truly last a lifetime. Always hearing about how you need to soak up these next four years of your life when you are a freshman but I don’t think I ever really understood that idea until now. My childhood is now over, and my future awaits. I have to leave home to attend a college nine hours away, and away from all of my friends who I have known for a lifetime.

I guess that’s the point though of these transitioning years from high school to college. Learning how to become independent from parents, how to stay on top of work without the help of teachers, maintaining friendships with peers. If someone were to have told me as a freshman that I was to learn all of these ideas, I would have thought they were crazy. But I think the best lesson I have learned was that of disappointment. Whether it was not getting a good grade, or failing a quiz, or not getting a certain leadership position in a club, I had to learn how to turn this disappointment into good. So maybe I didn’t do well on the test? I learned that I needed to study harder and more in advance of the test, or ask for help from the teacher. Lessons like this were so important to learn early on because without them, learning them in the real world is much harder to then further ask for help without knowing how to.

So as I end this final chapter of my childhood, I am able to say that I was able to take some amazing lessons and memories with me. Learning that from freshman to senior year you completely change as a person. And that’s OK! I believe I was truly set up to achieve greatness in the future.