Dear High School,
I know we spent a lot of time together, and I know we’ve been through so much. I’ve seen you change in many ways, and you’ve watched me do the same, whether good or bad. You were present during my hardest hours and my greatest moments, for my sorrows and my cheers. But it’s time to let you go.
I have been in college for nearly a whole semester now, and so far I have felt better than my entire time with you. I’ve entered a healthy relationship. I’ve stopped worrying about the trivial things that you forced onto me. Of course, I still have my anxiety and the horrible insecurities, but I’m handling it all much better than I ever did with you.
I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you. I hated my entire time with you, that’s true, but I have come to terms with that experience and will continue moving on.
There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to leave you and never have to think about you again. Now that I have gotten to the point where I can do just that, I won’t. I won’t because you made me who I am. Yes, you broke me down first, but the pieces of me that were glued back together are stronger than they ever were. I guess this was just something that had to happen in my life, and honestly, I’m glad it was done by you because if I had been torn down here at university, I never would have been able to continue through my schooling. I probably would have quit and never gotten my degree. I know, I know, I’m stubborn and so are my parents, but I imagine I would have been so depressed I couldn’t have been convinced to go back.
How many people have you broken down in your time? How many have you kept from continuing to reach for their goals? How many have been so stubborn or guided that they kept going?
I think about it all sometimes. How many of the people around me had great high school experiences and how many had bad ones? It surprises me that more people than I had once believed had excellent times in high school. It makes me wonder what was wrong with me.
But I know now that nothing has ever been wrong with me. It was just how you made me feel, not how I actually was.
Once again, I hated you, and I still hate thinking about you. Though, I really do appreciate the lessons that I learned. I know how to be a more effective adult now and how to actually take care of my responsibilities.
I hope you are well. I hope you can one day become the safe, healthy learning environment you have tried too hard to become.
Treat those kids well. They don’t deserve to go through harsh experiences when they are supposed to be having fun growing up. They will be facing the stress of adulthood soon, so if they can have just a single day with you to have a good time, please give it to them.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Cassandra Izaguirre
Class of 2016
