My Dear High School,

Thank you for preparing me for everything in college. Thank you for teaching me to write a paper correctly with MLA and Chicago Style citations. Thank you for providing me with so many opportunities that got me to where I am today. Most importantly, thank you for never giving up on me.

Of course, this letter is more to the people who taught at the school, rather than the school itself. This letter is to the English teachers who taught me how to meet deadlines with papers and to the math teachers who tried their hardest to succeed at the impossible task of teaching me algebraic equations and theorems that never made sense. This is a thank you to the teacher who advised our school newspaper and fueled my love for writing. To the teachers who helped me succeed and the counselor who always told me that the sky was the limit, I thank you. This is an appreciation letter to the administration who allowed for the AP classes and the marching band program that inevitably caused my happiness and created my core group of friends throughout my high school days.

This is a letter to the students at my old high school. You should appreciate what the school offers you when you still can. To my former peers, take advantage of the opportunities. Take a chance and join that sports team or try out for that school musical. In high school, everyone worries about being judged by others. The judgments of others from your high school days will mean nothing to you in college.

This is a letter to everyone who told me that I couldn't. To everyone who said that if I didn't study I would fail. To everyone who told me that if I didn't try I wouldn't succeed. To the teacher who told me that if I didn't try I would never make it in the world. This is a thank you for telling me the true way that the world works.

Most importantly, this is an appreciation for the fine arts. The band program at my high school helped my through my worst days and allowed me to celebrate through my best. So I say a big thank you to both of the band directors I had in my high school, and also to the assistant band directors. I say a big thank you to the drum majors and the substitute teachers and the outside professionals who came in to help my former band succeed. This letter is also to any and every member of my high school band. This is a thank you for being there for me and giving me a place where I always belonged.

Finally, this is a letter to all of my friends from high school. Thank you for accepting me and supporting me and always giving me a shoulder to cry on. Thank you for the laughs and the tears and the crazy midnight adventures. To my old high school friends, I hope you are all happy and successful and I wish you the fullest and happiest of lives.

So, to my high school, I say thank you. Had I gone to any other high school I'm sure that my life would be entirely different, and that would be a shame. High schools don't get enough appreciation and no one every stops to say thanks. Everyone takes high school for granted and many consider it as an annoying necessity that they are forced to go to for four long years. While all of those may be true, high school can be an amazing thing. Maybe not the best years of your life, but still amazing.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Marissa, Class of 2016