Going home for spring break, I realized a lot. Being away from a place you used to call home and feel comfortable around had now completely changed. These are the six things that came to mind as well as the thousands of memories that I had within the past four years.

1. Perspective is everything

Your reputation that you once had, will remain within the eyes of the teachers. If you were a goodie-too-shoes or a rebel, the teachers will assume you are the same as you were in high school. If you loved school then, they assume you love college now, regardless of how you really feel. If you don’t like it or are being negative, they will tell you to have an open mind. They assume you aren’t trying had enough and tell you things to go after to make it more achievable and likeable. They will assume you will be popular and have a whole pool of friends to choose from, when they don’t know the whole story or what is on your plate. You are the same person that you were then and according to them, you will never change.

2. People change

People that you loved and still love, have changed. They claim that everything is the same, but since you left them behind back at the high school, they have become dramatically different. They can no longer find time to hang out with you. They act happy to see you at first but them run off to their other friends who they see every day.

3. Respect is questionable

“Respect the seniority” is definitely just something people say, but never really instilled. When you come back, you get questioned why you are back and judged for coming back to the “prison” that everyone perceives it to be.

4. The effect of your impact

When you graze through the halls and see the pictures in the halls that became murals when you were there. When you see the banners of the things you were a part of. You walk back and see the publications you produced. You get on the computer and see the archived pictures and everything you accomplished starts flooding back into your mind.

5. Life goes on without you

The halls get remodeled. The kids get gossipier and complain more. Teachers start to slowly care less because the students degrade and ware them out. You walk down the hall and see all the new faces of the freshmen, transfers, or academic center students. When you see the facial expressions of the kids you made relationships with or that you used to just share a friendly grin. When you catch the attention of teachers you forgot about and how they influenced. When you go back and see how the facility has changed or moved within.

6. It will always be a place that I will want to return to

I have had so many memories within the halls. Its where I met my best friend. Its where I gained family relationships. Where I experienced diversity. Where I dedicated my blood sweat and tears. Where I became a part of something and published something. It was my foundation I was proud of. It was a place I belonged and where I still belong.