I’ve been asked many times what I will miss about high school, but I think that question is more complex than one might think. 

Sure, I’ll miss the Friday nights under the football lights, and, yes, I’ll miss prom and homecoming; what I really think I’m going to miss the most is simply having a place to be morning after morning with all the friends I’ve grown up with in one building, and a reason to wake up. I like structure. 

Or, the feeling of getting ready early in the morning to show off the new shirt I just bought; not because of some boy, but because I know my girlfriends will absolutely adore it.

Sure, I’ll see my friends outside of school but it’s not the same. I’ve been with these kids day in and day out for as long as I can remember. They have watched my brunette hair turn into a fake blonde. They watched as I had my first love, followed by my first heartbreak. They have seen me grow up and change as a person, and this whole year I’ve never been able to grasp the idea of leaving. 

Never seeing that kid again who sits in front of me during math class or the girl who compliments me in the hall. 

To put it simply, it’s scary. Change is scary, especially the change of growing up.

I remember all the upperclassmen I once looked up to so greatly telling me to enjoy high school but how fast it flies by, and I wish I would have listened to them. I wish I wouldn’t complain about waking up early or sitting through the boring lectures because looking back I’d give almost anything to have those classes again. 

The immature beauty of high school is ethereal and movies truly can’t depict how amazing it is. Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s complex and messy; the low moments make you appreciate the high moments even more. 

Being voted onto prom court, singing karaoke at Camp Henry, the state football championship, and the nights spent laughing until I couldn’t breathe with my best friends in Theas Sloat’s basement are all a plethora of memories I hope to share with my kids one day. 

Sure it’s scary, but I’m ready for the next chapter even if it means saying goodbye. Just know, FHC, you hold a huge part of my heart, and I can’t thank you enough for the wild, sad, happy, and beautiful 4 years you have given me. Class of ’23 is officially out.