I was doing some math the other day, and when I do math, it is usually for a purpose. I am into into doing math for pleasure, and let’s just say that it is not my strong suit. I was doing some counting, and I figured out that we are in high school for about 160 weeks over our four years. 160 weeks means 800 days. 800 days that we are in high school, and we have 35 more school days. 765 out of 800 days, that is how far we are. That means 96.6 %. Thinking about our time left in numbers has given me a new perspective on my experience, and knowing that we have 35 more days means a few things for me.

One is that I have learned to focus on my learning, and not my grades. For 765 days, or 96.6% of my time at FHC, I was focused mostly on grades. Sophomore year, I was focused on that APUSH test that needed to raise my grade .23 percent in order to secure my A, and junior year I was focused on my AP World review that needed to raise my B+ to an A and raise my GPA that pivotal .03 points. I stayed up until 4 AM to finish projects and procrastinated homework, and I refreshed Powerschool by the minute. Now, when there is legitimately no incentive to have high grades in these waning days of high school, I am doing HAP labs for the pure enjoyment of learning something new, analyzing poetry in AP Lit because I have learned to appreciate it, and writing creative writing papers because I know that writing will be vital to my future. It is both relaxing and maddening to think that I am spending only 3.4% of my high school career enjoying the process of learning.

Another lesson that I have learned from that math is the reality that I should no longer be dreading these days, but cherishing them. There are only 35 more times that I will wake up at 6:30 to drive my brother to school, and only 35 more times that I will eat lunch in the lunchroom. Sadly, there will only be 35 more times that I will see some of my closest friends every day. I need to continually remind myself that I have 3.4% of my high school experience to make a conscious effort to cherish and celebrate my days.

Some of my closest friends and I have a group text, and one of my friends texted in it this morning simply saying “we actually graduate so soon…” It was another reminder that we are seriously so much closer than we think to graduating. Soon we will be in caps and gowns, and the math that I did this morning only intensified my belief that I need to capitalize on these final days.