Dear freshmen who don’t believe high school flies by

 

Welcome to prison. Correction. High school. The colossal hazel, chocolate, and caramel colored building looks promising from the outside, but don’t let that fool you because from the inside it mocks a jail. The cinder block classrooms, dull moldy eggshell color walls, and sketchy air returns make the seemingly preppy building seemingly less preppy. However, I can reassure you that by your senior year that prison is a place you will grow to love and cherish.  

Surely waking up at the crack of dawn to sit in a prison for seven hours doesn’t sound like something you will learn to cherish but it isn’t the building you will remember, it’s the memories created. These are your last years, that for many of you, you will spend with the peers that you have grown up with. In a split second you will go from being an awkward little freshman to a junior choosing classes for your final year, realizing that the “next year” promises will soon turn into a missed opportunities. That being said please take every opportunity given to you. You could join a new club, do something out of your comfort zone, try out for a new sport, or even take a class that, heaven forbid, you might actually enjoy. It will make the seven hour days feel like minutes. Time flies when you’re having fun, so why not make it fun? 

High school is the time to learn who you are and what interests you. By trying new things, you will be able to test what you may potentially want to do for the rest of your life while still having fun. With that, you don’t need to know what path you are headed down the second you enter high school. Surely it might make your counselor’s job easier, but they know what they are doing so please listen to their advice and take it seriously. If anyone wants to see you do your best and succeed it’s your counselor, so build a bond with them and take your guidance appointments earnestly.  

As a new high schooler, everything seems freakish, foreign, and fresh. Hence the word FRESHman, but this is your chance at a fresh start. I know that high school will be absolutely terrifying in the beginning, but you don’t understand how important it is until it passes you by without you realizing it. Time is in control and you are its passenger. Surely you won’t believe that high school flies by while you’re sitting in Biology confused on why you’ll ever need to know the parts of a leaf or how photosynthesis works. But when you’re staring out the window during tenth period counting down the seconds until class ends, appreciate the time that you’re with your friends, because when you’re a senior counting down the days until you leave your friends rather than the seconds you’re still with them, the impatience will seem useless.  

Of course, many will probably disagree by saying that high school goes by slowly. And when looking at it on a day to day basis, I understand that. I too dread homework, AP projects, and the sleepless nights. You will probably object by saying that high school is harder than middle school, it’s a gigantic school, you don’t see some of your middle school friends anymore, and the days seem to be dragging on forever, but when senior year finally comes you won’t feel prepared. You will be prepared in the sense that your counselor helped you with applications and everything else college related, but no one can help you redo high school because you missed an opportunity. You will soon realize that the homework is fine if you manage your time, projects help you learn, true friends will stay your friends, and that the school is one big square. High school is nothing to fear. 

In all honesty you will never feel like a senior. I still feel like a freshman, because I remember it like it was yesterday. The awkward times of going to the wrong classroom, showing up five minutes late because of confusion, or even accidentally walking into detention thinking it was study hall. They all add to your high school experience, and although you’ll find it embarrassing and awkward at first, you’ll look back at it and laugh. Once you’re a senior getting ready to leave for college, you will appreciate any and all time with your friends, even if you’re being embarrassed by them in prison.  

You will begin missing the times when your friends embarrassed you in the hallways by screaming your name in various voices. You will miss the inside jokes with your teachers and classmates (If you don’t have inside jokes then you’re doing it wrong). You will miss the many football games that you were freezing but decided to stick it out to support your team, even though you were sick for the next week. You will miss the countless hours spent finishing that history project hours before it was due. You will miss the times the hallway smelled of a mix of body sweat and french toast sticks. You will miss the confusing classrooms that are numbered in the 500s but are on the second floor. You will miss the classrooms that are negative 1,000 degrees and the others that are 10,000 degrees. You’ll even miss the school’s alma mater that no one knew had lyrics.

High school is the time for memories, and weather you have a good or bad experience, it is a time that will help you grow and mature into the person you’re supposed to be. These are all things that you will remember and learn to appreciate. So when you’re spacing out during Calculus your senior year please appreciate that you are still with the people who have helped shape your life in one way or another. It’s your job to turn your time in prison into the best years of your life. So, when it comes time for your senior year and you’re closing your locker for the last time, please have something that will make graduating become a chore.