Ah, high school. We laughed, we cried, we went through our awkward phase where you look back and say, "Did I really do that?" It was good times that I would never willingly do again. But besides the awkward phases, endless homework and high stress environment high school is a different experience for everyone and I am here to reflect on my time there after being graduated for a year.

Everyone says when you start high school that the next four years are more important than any other years of school so far. With the thoughts of college and actually having to be an adult (scary I know), circling around your head it can be a little overwhelming. Being expected to plan out your whole life in four years starting at the age of 14 or 15 really has an effect on you. But being out for a year, I still don't have my life planned out and things are ever changing. Reflecting on my time there, here are a few of the things that I learned:

1. School isn't for everyone.

This probably has been one of the biggest things that I have learned since my time in high school. For me, school and education have always been a top priority in my life. I never really missed school, I took challenging classes and I was always motivated to learn. But when I saw the people around that didn’t try as hard or just didn’t want to I was always perplexed and confused as to why. Then as my junior and senior year approached and I looked and committed to a college, I noticed that others were not. This also stirred up my mind because I was never presented with another option after high school besides college, so when people were choosing not to go to college, I was just confused. Looking back now I realized that there are a lot of other options after you graduate, but college is the most popular choice. For some, a further education isn’t something that they were interested in. There are so many professions and careers out there that if someone decided to not go to college, they didn’t have to. Some decide to serve our country and others decide to join a family business or go into the workforce. School isn’t for everyone and that is okay.

2. Everyone becomes a stranger.

When people told me that I would lose touch with pretty much everyone when I graduated, I told them they were crazy. Now here I am a year later able to count the number of people I still talk to from high school on my fingers. Now when I go out to places when I am home, seeing people from school is kind of awkward. Depending on who it is there is either a quick, “Hi, how have you been?” the little wave, or the avoid eye contact and keep your head down. I just think that it is crazy that we all spent the first halves of our lives together and now we don’t really acknowledge each other anymore. Really, everyone just becomes a face that you see on Facebook or Instagram while you scroll through your feed. Although I don’t talk to really anyone from high school anymore, the people that I do still talk to will be near and dear to me for the rest of my life and for that, I am grateful.

3. I took a lot of teachers for granted.

Everyone has a favorite teacher while in high school. Looking back after my first year of school I feel as though I took a few of my favorite teachers for granted. Don’t get me wrong, the professors at Carlow are wonderful and I liked almost all of them, but I can’t help but miss a few of my teachers from high school. I feel that I took for granted some of the relationships that I had with a few of my teachers from high school since that isn’t something you really get in college. Semesters are too short to really get to know a professor like you get to know a teacher over a whole year and sometimes you only have that one professor one time where you could have the same teacher a few times. I took the time where I got to sit and talk to teachers or spend free periods in their rooms for granted because that is something you can’t do in college. I also took for granted the help that they would give me in their spare time if I needed it because in college it is hard to get a professor's help for more than 20 minutes since everyone has places to be and schedules conflict. The teachers that I got close with in high school were role models to me and I really appreciate everything that they did for me while I was there.

4. High school is what you make it.

The vibe that I got from everyone while in high school was that it sucked, but everyone has a different perspective. I feel that most people say that high school sucks because it either really does or they just don’t want to be there. But I mean who really does? When you start high school you are starting to get into the years of your life where you are exploring your independence and when you could be other places, why would you want to be at school? It can be kind of a drag sometimes since you are there every day for seven hours, having to get up at 5:30 or 6 a.m., and being stressed most of the year. But if you let all of that get to you, the good times won’t be as enjoyable or memorable. Personally, I would never wish to go back now that I have experienced this past year of my life. But all in all, high school was a great learning experience, not only academically, but there were some good life lessons, memories and experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.