Well we did it! We are finally here. Twelve years of our lives we have dedicated to this crazy and sometimes emotional rollercoaster called school. We made it through every ridiculous class teaching us God knows what, every annoying lecture, every group project, and every test...barely. At certain points, we thought we were finished, that we couldn't continue. We thought the drama was too much, the school work was too plentiful, and that the stress was too overwhelming. I'm sure if we could all go back and tell our freshmen year selfs what we know now, our paths here would have been very different. But that is the thing, would we want our paths to be different? Look at where we are now, soon to be high school graduates. Look at everything we've learned, how much we've grown, and how much we've changed. As we get ready to graduate, think back to all the lessons high school has taught us over the years. Here are 10 important lessons we learned from high school.

1. Your friends from freshmen year aren't forever.

Friends come and go. This is true all throughout life, but especially during high school. Most likely the friends you had your freshmen year aren't your close friends anymore. Unless you are super lucky and have had the same best friend your whole life, more than likely you have experienced one, if not many, friend feuds. Nothing was worse than friends fighting, it made every situation awkward. Looking back now I bet you are laughing at the stupid arguments that broke friendships up. But you have to think, things happen for a reason and those friendships weren't made to last.

2. Most people do not peak in high school.

Contradictory to popular belief the high school girls do not look like playboy bunnies and high school boys do not look like Zach Efron. Unlike in the movies, the boys don't have rock hard 6-packs, the girls don't have boob jobs, and nobody has really peaked. Yeah some of us are considered "more attractive" or "hot" but we all look pretty much the same. You don't peak in high school people. We will not look like this forever. We are going to look back at how we look now and realize there actually was hope for us.

3. You are not defined by one bad choice

Yes we all had that "one night" we wish we could just forget from high school. Everybody has made choices that if they knew the consequences of beforehand they defiantly would not have made. Everybody has gone on that one bad date, made a fool of themselves at a party, or embarrassed themselves in the hallway. Well here is the good news, nobody is really going to remember every mistake you ever made in high school. Thank goodness.

4. School actually is important.

Whoever says your GPA does not define you must not have needed help paying for college. I currently worship the ground my GPA walks on because thanks to it, my college tuition is paid for. Succeeding in school takes hard work. It is not a walk in the park. One bad grade in ninth grade can affect you in the long run whether you think it will or not. So sometimes you can't throw school to the wind and just be carefree. I bet those graduates who aren't honor grads, and have to pay full price for school, are looking back and wishing they had dedicated a little bit more time to their studies.

5. Some of your teachers may be the devil in disguise but some actually really care about you.

We have all had that one teacher, the one we swear finds joy in watching us fail. As soon as someone finds their one teacher nemesis, they often stereotype that all teachers want their students to fail. Don't base your view on teachers based on one bad one. Building a supportive relationship with a teacher can be a very rewarding thing. They will want to see you succeed because they believe in you doing your best. They will encourage you and support you because they want you to do well in life. The best part of establishing such a relationship is that even after you leave their class they are still there for you. They will write you awesome recommendations, let you use their microwave, and gossip with you....at least in my case.

6. Unfortunately, people are going to talk about you regardless of how nice you are.

This is so sad but so true. We have all been the topic of discussion many many times. One problem in high school is that everybody gets talked about. You can be the meanest person under the sun, and people are going to talk about you. You can be the sweetest, kindest, never hurt a fly kinda person, and people are still going to talk about you. It's like regardless of how you treat people, people will still find something to say about you. Whether it's random rumors that don't even add up, or stories that have been twisted, high school is full of people talking about other people. Sadly this isn't changing anytime soon. But acknowledging that it is going on and understanding that you can't do anything about it may help people deal with it. They may be talking about you today, but something new will be the topic tomorrow so don't fret about it.

7. Staying true to yourself is hard but important.

High school is a time where staying true to yourself is really tested. There are so many opportunities for you to go against what you believe. To say, or to act in ways that you don't think is right. You might feel tempted to go along with the crowd and do what the majority of people are doing. But this isn't what you need to do. Staying true to what you believe in is such a powerful thing. Most people don't realize the importance of this lesson until the end of high school.

8. Your family is worth your time.

There are so many fun, crazy, and exciting things going on all through high school. Every Friday night in the fall consists of football. Every Saturday in the spring brings beach trips and pools day. During the week, there are club meetings, sports games, hanging out with friends and pretty much anything but hanging out with your family. One thing I would say most of learned over the years is that a making time for family is important. Your parents love you and they love watching you go off and have fun, but sometimes they want time with you. A simple conversation over dinner could mean the world to them. Just think we are all going off to whichever college we chose and our parents are going to miss us. It makes sense why they wanted us around more often.

9. High School is nothing like High School Musical.

Sad face on this one. Unlike the idea that most of us had when we were in middle school, high school is absolutely nothing like High School Musical. There is no bursting into song, dancing in the hallways, and no school looks like East High. We don't have a rooftop garden, our athletes don't take over the drama department, and being on the science team isn't very cool. The saddest difference between High School Musical and real life high school is the boys don't look like Zac Efron. This was a tough lesson for all of us to come to terms with.

10. Cherish the memories.

Oh no she said it, the time old saying of "enjoy it while it lasts", well guess what you need to. High School flew by whether you will admit that it did or not. We all were just living in the moment at the time, we didn't realize we were making memories. But now as we look back through all the pictures from football games. parties, homecoming week, spring break, and prom we realize just how many moments we have to cherish. We have so much to be thankful for. We have so many people that have been a part of this journey with us. We need to cherish every moment because you never know when it is going to end.

Thanks for everything you taught us high school. We say we won't miss you but we will.