When people ask me how my high school experience went, I often break out into a big smile. I consider myself very lucky and extremely fortunate to have gotten an atypical high school experience.

My senior class was about 50 students. Yep, 50. But these 50 people impacted my life in ways I can't even put into words. They're some of the most inspiring, supportive, kind, smart, and profound people I've gotten the chance to meet. They're going to be the next computer scientists, engineers, biomedical scientists, singers, actors, writers, designers, political candidates, teachers, medical personnel, you name it.

Don't get me wrong though, it definitely wasn't all smiles and rainbows the entire time - we were taking college-level classes as 11th and 12th graders, along with AP and other STEM classes that definitely caused a lot of late nights, study sessions, occasional breakdowns, and stress levels rasing through the roof. There was also your occasional high school drama fest but we all tried to stay away from that stuff.

However, the close-knit community of my high school helped me navigate many of the challenges that were thrown my way. I made my best friends during high school and we still try and keep in touch even today, though lots of us are at different colleges, miles apart, across the country (shoutout to you guys!!)

One thing that definitely impacted my high school experience were the teachers. Most of the teachers seemed to care about us, and because we were such a small school, they got to know us and watch us grow up during the 4 years we were there. It seemed that they wanted us to succeed, and they were always there to help us, whether it was a school or personal problem.

I think my favorite memory was graduation. By far. The feeling of all the late nights and hard work we put ourselves through the last 4 years finally paid off. But it was also probably the saddest I felt during high school. My last name came later in the alphabet, so I was called to the stage to receive my diploma near the end - I got the chance to watch all my classmates, my friends, walk across the stage and I'm not going to lie, I definitely teared up once or twice (okay, I teared up like 50 times) during the ceremony. I felt so immensely proud of all my friends. My high school was structured a little different - it was an early college, so students had the option to stay their '5th year' and graduate in 2020 while gaining a year's worth of college for FREE. So a few of my friends decided to stay their 5th year and graduate high school with over 60 college credits already under their belt. As my name got called and I walked across the stage, I could see my friends staying their 5th year and I could see how proud they were of us - I can't wait to come back this Spring and be in the audience and do the same for them.

All in all, my atypical high school experience shaped me into the person I am today. I feel extremely grateful and lucky to have gotten a good experience. I hope in 20 years when we have our reunion that everyone shows up because I need to see if anyone got famous so I can sell their autograph from my yearbook. JUST KIDDING! I actually want to see everyone again, my STEM family. Once a stemmer, always a stemmer.

Now that one educational journey came to a close, and my first semester of freshman year is ending, I am excited to see what the future of college holds. GO WOLFPACK!