Dear Mom and Dad,

For 13 years of my life I attended a private school. Four of those years I attended an all-girls private high school. Those 13 years and those two schools formed me into the person I am today. As I sit in my college classes and hear some of the questions other people my age ask, I just can’t help but think how blessed I am to of had a private education. I am not in any way saying that public schools are inadequate, just that I know that my education fully prepared me for what was ahead.

For nine years I went to a private, catholic co-ed grade school. Nine long years in the same dark blue plaid skirt and white shirt. At the time I hated it. I always had way more homework than my friends who attended public school, and could never play outside with them because I was stuck inside doing my math worksheets. Now, looking back, I could not be more grateful for the sacrifices my parents made so that I would have more homework than my 8-year-old counter parts.

The following four years I attended a private all-girls catholic school. Four short years in a wonderfully worn-in blue plaid skirt and the most comfortable royal blue polo known to man. Four of the most academically and emotionally challenging years of my young life. That place was magical. I fully credit that school for the woman I am today. My high school is so much more than a school, it is everything you need in those oh so important teenage years. It is a support system, a community, a sisterhood, a safe haven, a home, and so much more. It is everything. I met some of my best friends there, and learned the most important lessons in life.

Unlike most 18-year-olds, my whole class cried our eyes out on our last day. There was no celebration, there were tears and hugs. My high school continues to impact my life in ways I don’t even know, even in college. I can never ever thank my parents enough for sending me there, it truly changed my life. I walked into that school with only one little brother and left it with 143 sisters. I met my maid of honor there and would not want to change a thing.

So thank you, mom and dad, for sacrificing everything you had to send me to these wonderful institutions. As I sit here in my college courses, knowing almost all of what my professor is saying, I can’t help but think how prepared I was for this, even though I didn’t know it.