Walking into this building four years ago, I had mixed emotions. Another year of change where I have to go into this new world, to meet an entirely new group of people and take even harder classes. And on top of that, I would always stand out, being the only kid who wears a turban in the school at the time.

But still, I was excited to start this new chapter in my life, where I had the opportunity to have a fresh start, make new friends and do things that I had not done before.

And that was exactly what I did. I got to meet new people, who are now my closest friends and who I plan to stay in touch with long after high school. Aside from that, I got to build more memories with the friends who carried on to high school with me, from middle and elementary school.

This all started at football games. Every Friday, my friends and I would hang out and then go to the football game together.This would become this routine every single week for the first marking period. The atmosphere and vibe of high school football games is one that I will miss, where my friends and I all got to tailgate and enjoy a night of football all together.

After that, basketball season would start. We would then do the same routine, but this time it would be more frequent, as basketball games were more often and not always once a week.

But yet, I still felt at school that I didn’t really have a group outside of my close friends.

Until course registration came, before junior year. As usual, my sister was guiding me on what classes to take, just like she did for me in both freshman and sophomore year. But this time, when I needed to sign up for an elective, instead of suggesting something that I loved, like gym or personal finance, my sister recommended I take Intro to Journalism and then newspaper.

At first, I had no idea what she thought was so great about the class. I thought the only reason she liked it was because she liked photography. But, I trusted her advice, like always.

And her advice was not wrong. I started off in journalism in the first semester with a full class of students, who were also juniors. In the second semester I then came into newspaper nervous, but the environment was much fun. With everyone welcoming each other in, I got the ability to make even more friends throughout my time in the class. Newspaper then became the class that I looked forward to every day, where I could talk and have fun with people who I had either lost connection with or never met before.

Newspaper became the community that I never knew I needed, especially after I became a sports editor. With press days after school, and all the editors working together, I would never go home saying I didn’t have fun.

Overall, my experience at Wootton came with ups and downs, but at the end of the day, it is about the perspective and lens that you look at it with. Now leaving Wootton, I am glad to know that I grew as a person, learned a lot about myself and lived life to the fullest, which I am most proud and happy about. I don’t know exactly what the future holds for me, but I do know that I will forever miss these days and the experiences that I have been through the past four years.