High School can either be the best four years of your life, or the worst. And honestly for me high school was fun. Yes there were some bumps in the way and I basically was grounded my whole sophomore year, but I am so thankful for the people in AHS.

You never realize how much you will appreciate these unique things about AHS until after you are gone and off to college or wherever life takes you. AHS was unlike any other high school, and here are 20 great reasons why:

1. The Award Winning Lunch Bunch

I don't think people appreciated this enough. Benway and Speil put in so much work for lunch bunch they basically lived off of three things: eat-sleep-lunch bunch. No other school can compare to this. I honestly think I had more fun at lunch in high school then I ever did in middle school or elementary.

2. Dr. Siracuse

There was no love stronger than Cuse's obsession with James madison and no hatred stronger than her hatred for everyone but seniors.

3. Ashland Call Out

Every school went through these phases where kids made anonymous account, but for some reason "Ashland Call Out" stuck. Me being 1/4 of ACO, I'm allowed to talk about this. For some reason ACO stuck and it now became a saying that anytime anyone said anything savage someone will respond with "the real Ashland callout" and the legend lives on.

4. Senior Pranks

We never got to do a lot of these because strict faculty, but some senior pranks always stuck. Like telling freshman about the indoor swimming pool under gym, or the clown on the tricycle that rides around the halls at night. There was nothing like when all the seniors parked like jackass' in the parking lot, or on the side of the road so underclassmen had to park a mile away. or... Nicolas Cage.... Nothing beat the dedication of the students when it came to pranking.

5. Two Words: Chicken Bowl

Chicken bowl day was no joke. Everyone sprinted to get first in line, and some teachers were even cool enough to let their students out early so they could get in line.

6. Door Decorating

Students and their home room teachers spent hours upon hours trying to have the best christmas themed door in the hallway. Everyone was way too excited for this to time of the year.

7. Rudolph

Since we are on the topic of Christmas, what about Rudolph? A typical AHS tradition with video production and the staff and the students.... aaaaaand the Wasowski's...

8. The Dress Code

Since i've been in high school, the rules have changed a bit. But there was nothing like running from the clinic lady if you violated dress code- which I did almost every day.

9. Traditions

At AHS we had many traditions. May Madness was the best time for seniors. A week of dressing up in ridiculously themed outfits with your graduating class was way too fun. Also Follies, Were it was a student talent show, with some funny senior student led skits in between. I was lucky to be a part of the skits and this was so fun to get together with other kids in my class and create AHS influenced skits.

10. Dance Parties

For some reason I thought a lot of schools had these, but apparently Ashland was one of the only ones who did- but we knew how to throw them. If you ever went to one of them you know exactly what I'm talking about. Students from all over Ohio would literally come to one building just to jam out to music and dance. Kids fead off of this.

11. Lex VS. Ashland

Every school has their rival, and Lexington was ours. There was nothing like a Friday night football game, especially facing Lex. It was always a good game. Buuuuuut we will always have the best student section known to man.. End of discussion (Luck Fex).

12. The Donut Auction

Another competitive time of the year. The donut auction. Students and staff all came together in homeroom and gathered all the money they could to bid on boxes of donuts during the live ATV show.

13. The Band

You always see on television shows about the band kids being hated and geeks but honestly everyone at AHS loved the band. The band and the student sections at football games were one. And every Friday when the band marched down the hallways getting everyone ready for the game, and Jake Coffy pounded on the trashcan, these were they days we all lived for. But if you had a locker in the band hallway, you were screwed.

14. Disney Trips

If you were in choir, band, or sweeties- you know what I'm talking about. This was probably one of the best things being a part of any of these three groups. Who doesn't love Disney?

15. Mr. Fortune and Mr. Carr

These two people I believe hard some of the largest impacts on the students, an I had the privilege to have classes with both of them and even have Mr. Carr as my homeroom teacher.

16. Video Production

This is one of the best things about AHS I believe. Although VP is constantly on thin ice with its staff because of accidental slip ups of cuss words or leakage of Carrbeque videos... I think this is possibly one of the best thing the students can get into. Mr. Carr understands each student and allows them to express their creativity in as many ways as they can, even if that involves making a student led short film that probably could never be aired. We are so lucky to have had a class like this at this type of level with great video equipment because almost no other school can compare. With this class I was able to advance in my college majors because I had three years of experience as a back bone.

17. Wasowski

Honestly, there is no other person like this man. He was bold, wild, and unlike anyone. Even if you didn't have a class with him, you still know exactly who he is. One thing I will never forget about him would be him saying, "better late than pregnant" and I honestly will forever live by this quote.

18. Freshman Orientation

For freshman this was scary, but for the other students it was hilarious. This was a time where the senior VP students went around an pulled pranks and asked trick questions to the new freshman and aired it on the morning announcements in embarrassment.

19. The "Parent Teacher"

Each student I believe had at least one teacher or faculty member who was like a second parent to them. That was another great thing about AHS, the student to teacher connection was great and the teachers actually cared about the students well being and not just their grades.

and finally, number 20..

20. The Love

I'm not sure if this was just the class of 2015 or if other classes were close, but there was something about the class of 2015 that made us all so strong. There was still the typical diversity of friend cliques but we all were friends. We all cared for each other. Our four years in high school together we went through a lot.. from the loss of many friends and classmates, to total school black outs, to Sonya slamming a girl into a microwave and breaking it... we have been through hell and back, but did it all together.

There were times in high school that I absolutely hated but its high school. You're not going to love every minute of it but all the heart break and tragedies will help shape you into a better you.

So thank you class of 2015. Thank your Ashland High School. Thank you Mr. Carr. And thank you to everyone who helped me along the way on this journey we call life.

Thank you all for everything. Each of you are the reason I am where I am today and I am so greatly thankful.

If you are reading this and you still are in high school, or you are graduation this year this is my advice to you:

Enjoy it all. Enjoy every person. And enjoy the little things. All of these things about AHS might seem irrelevant but later on down the road you will be thankful, for it all.

Whether you like it or not, you will always be an Arrow.