As four of the best and worst years of my life come to a close, I stand back and reminisce on the memories I’ve created sitting in these classrooms and walking these halls.

This time last year, everyone started to tell us that we needed to really cherish the time we had left together. Yes, we listened, but we were just so excited to get through it and finally be done that it never really registered that those small things we had become accustomed to were happening for the last times.

Through waking up way before the sun rises, taking the bus until we could drive, desperately trying to stay awake for the next seven hours, somehow surviving the teenage drama, and barely surviving the standardized testing, and so much more… we made it.

Some kids can’t wait to grab their diploma and never look back, but for those of us who like to reminisce, we’ll there’s surely a lot. There’s the good, the bad, the crazy and so many other emotions that range in between.

That last Friday night football game, standing wedged so tightly next to someone that you can’t even breathe without jabbing them with one of your ribs, yelling out cheers that have been engraved into your brain or sitting in the gym with the rest of the senior class yelling, “back to Sandburg” at the freshmen.

From the class group chats that always seem to explode the night before an assignment is due to that feeling of support from those same procrastinating classmates when the scores come out, from the wise words of the Wildcats in “High School Musical,”—“We’re all in this together.”

Like most of you, high school wasn’t exactly the easiest time for me. Freshman year’s a blur, sophomore slump hits, junior year I was so unfocused it was scary, and senior year was intense senioritis from day one.

It’s funny though. I wouldn’t trade the lectures from my parents, the groundings, the sleepless nights cramming because I know I’ll miss it, no matter how much I think I hated it over the years.

So thank you, thank you all for being apart of this wild journey that we call high school. Thank you for being there in all my memories, the good and the bad. Thank you for the homework answers and the mental breakdowns. Thank you for changing my life, in an odd way, and thank you for helping shape me into the person I am today. I know I couldn’t have done it without you.