High school is what you make it

“We come up with names for the reasons why high school sucks, like “sophomore slump” and “senioritis.” What we fail to mention is that high school is, to a large extent, what you make of it.”

When I first started at San Marin High School, I was clinging to everything I had built at Sinaloa Middle School. Every adult in my life told me that I would make new friends, find new hobbies, and find a new routine. I did not want that. I wanted to keep my friends, my hobbies, the routine that had taken me three long years and a pandemic to figure out. After four years at San Marin and building a new sense of self, I now understand the importance of letting go.

I know that a lot of people hate high school. I know a lot of people are counting down the days until we can walk that stage and then walk away from this school forever. I know I am. But I also appreciate this time as four beautiful years of development in my life, and I appreciate the experiences I had in high school that made me who I am today.

We come up with names for the reasons why high school sucks, like “sophomore slump” and “senioritis.” What we fail to mention is that high school is, to a large extent, what you make of it. High school is not something that just happens to you. It is four years you live and grow.

When I was a freshman, I would go home crying every night. I hated myself, I hated my friends, and I hated everything going on in my life. The second I started branching out and trying new things, the second I stopped being scared of being alone, and the second I realized that a whole life was waiting for me if I would only live it, I became immensely happier.

Of course, I was always happiest onstage, so it makes sense that my happy place became the Emily Gates Performing Arts Center. Doing theatre, you will meet the best people, who are kind, loyal, and funny. People who would drop everything at a moment’s notice to come pick you up at 11 p.m. because you are sitting in your garden crying. People who would drive you to school every morning for two weeks because you totaled your old car. People who would jump your new car for you when the battery dies. People who love you for exactly who you are, but who will also help you to grow. The friends I have because of San Marin’s theatre program have always had my back, and I will always have theirs.

But by far, the best decision I have ever made in these four years was to join San Marin’s journalism class. I did this knowing that I would be joining as a junior, and every junior in the class would have a year of experience over me, and that every first-year reporter would be younger than me. I chose to do this knowing that none of my close friends would be joining me. I did this knowing that I would probably be quiet and shy and sit in the back of the class for at least the first semester because that is just who I am. I still joined, and it is what I will miss most about San Marin. I will miss the process of writing articles, editing, making the book, and even passing out the paper in the rain. But mostly, I will miss the people. I will miss all the friends I have now because of this class.

Yes, I know high school is long and that homework sucks, not every teacher is a gem, and tests are hard and seem pointless, but high school is something that shaped me into who I am today. However, I cannot stress enough that high school is what you make it. If all you do is just one routine: waking up, going to school, writing your name at the top of each paper, going from class to class, and moving through your day like a zombie, then of course you are going to hate high school. But guess what? You will hate college, too, because college is also what you make it. You need to find something to be passionate about, something you love. I am lucky that I found what I love early on. I am going to be majoring in musical theatre, the thing I have been doing since I was six. But I am also going to be minoring in creative writing, because of the courage being part of The Pony Express gave me to share my writing. I am going to be joining clubs, trying new things, and making as many friends as I can. The people you meet can make or break any experience. And my people certainly made my experience.

High school was not perfect. But neither was middle school. And neither was elementary school. We are all just looking for the next good thing to come along and be better than the last, and that is not how it works. We cannot expect these four years to be amazing; that is an impossible standard to hold anything to.

I suppose that if high school were perfect, there would be no room for self-growth.

I am content with where I am now and who I am. Although I am also looking forward to seeing who I will become in a new town, at a new school, with 14,500 new people to meet, and four more years ahead of me.

But I will not forget the dozens of people and the four years that got me to where I am today.