Don't let anyone try to tell you differently, high school is by far the fastest-paced time period of your life. Looking back on the two and a half years that I've been in college, I realize that, although I'm having an absolute ball as a college student, time is taking its sweet time passing. Maybe that's a good thing. We know that life is short and that it slows down for no one. Maybe time moving slowly in college is a blessing; in that it is giving us just a sliver of time to sit back, reflect, and be thankful for everything going on in our lives that is forming us into who we were born to be. While college thus far has been the busiest, most stressful, most fun years of my life, there are four short years that I have to thank for shaping me into the growing "adult" that I am now. Yes, high school. I'm talking to you.

Let me speak for everyone when I say that freshman year of high school was by far the most awkward, self-exploring year of life. Wandering around the hallway mindlessly, trying not to be noticed by the intimidating upperclassmen was a daily activity in the course of year one of high school. By the time sophomore year moves in and settles down, you RULE that school. It's such a liberating feeling know that you aren't the school "babies" anymore, and that, for once, you can walk around and fly under the radar, knowing you aren't the subject of attention anymore. Junior year all the way to the long awaited senior year, though... SO FUN. Being the closest students to the field in the bleachers on Friday nights at the football game, because you already spent your two-year sentence to being in the back with a sucky view of the field is just one of the many perks that come with being top dog at your high school. Having your voice heard in student council meetings, because the council recognizes that soon enough, you're going to fly the coop, and they want as many of your ideas to come to life as they can squeeze into the last year of your high school career as they can. It is so nice to be seen as someone that your fellow students look up to. But it's not enough.

One day, you will wake up in your college dorm room wishing that you hadn't complained all of those times over little assignments you were given in high school. Now that you're in college, you see how drastically that workload has changed. You'll wish you had laughed a little more during senior week, because in reality, that was the last time you could cut up and be ridiculous with the people you spent twelve years of schooling with... your best friends. If you're a hopeless romantic, you might look back and wish you had taken a closer look at the decorations at prom. The way the string lights illuminated the sparkles in everyone's dresses, and the overwhelming shouting you heard when the most popular song of your senior year (C/O '14, "Dark Horse" Katy Perry, am I right?) came on at the DJ's table, and everyone immediately broke out in rapping and dance-offs, filling the entire room with contagious laughter and smiles.

Every now and then, you'll think of that one teacher who absolutely turned your world around and made you believe that you could be somebody. The thing is, they weren't lying when they told you that. They knew from experience how tough college was going to be, and they knew better than anyone that encouragement and motivation isn't handed out for free in life after high school. Telling you that you are somebody while you were in high school was all a part of the plan, that one day, when college seems too much and you feel like quitting, that you would look back on those four years of high school that you dreaded and realize that in the midst of all your teen angst and growing pains, that someone saw the potential in you to go a long way in life... because your big, big heart overflowed into an even bigger smile during all of the Friday night lights and school dances. Maybe we spend four years in high school practicing how to be adults, but maybe just maybe, we are given four years of high school to become professionals on how to enjoy the simple things in life. I think we could all do a world of good if from time to time, we took a trip down memory lane and remembered when being a high schooler was a beautiful time and that without it, none of us would be who we were born to be.

"We didn't know we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun."

Hail to thee, dear Brookland-Cayce! Our iconic football field, "The Cage."