As 2016 is coming to a close, many people are claiming that it has been the worst year ever. While I agree that in total 2016 has been a pretty crappy year for everyone especially because of the election and tragic celebrity deaths (RIP Carrie Fisher-one of my favorite totally bad-ass, don’t take life too seriously honest women), 2016 has also been the best year of my life personally, which has been striking to balance with all of the year’s problems.

As someone who graduated from high school this year, 2016 is a number and year that I have been used to hearing since I started high school in 2012. After being the class of 2012 since I began at my K-8 school in 2003, I was upgraded to the even-farther-in-the-future 2016. 2016 always seemed so far away, and is a year I couldn’t actually imagine getting to. Although I was used to checking off the “class of 2016” box on google forms and signed my emails “KF ‘16”, I couldn’t actually imagine being that senior who was living in the same year she was graduating from high school! Graduating from high school meant leaving home and slowly becoming part of the real world.

Slowly but surely, 2016 crept along. The class of 2014 graduated and we became upperclassmen, and then the class of 2015 graduated and we became seniors. The start of senior year also meant the end of my time as a camper at my beloved summer camp. For the past five years I had associated myself with “Hevrah 2013” “Avodah 2014” and the ultimate pinnacle, “CIT 2015” (it’s ok if these words mean nothing to you). With CIT over, there were no more years and sessions to associate with, which meant I was changing and really becoming a real “Staff 2016” adult, something I had been imagining and waiting for for years.

My shirts representing my different years at camp from 2013-2015

The end of 2015 and beginning of senior year also meant applying to college. I had known for a little while that I wanted to go to Barnard, but this was the time to actually start working on making that happen. By the end of the year I had applied early decision to Barnard and was admitted, starting 2016 off on a really high note.

My facebook announcement about Barnard aka my most liked photo ever on FB

At the beginning of 2016 I could not be happier. I had been admitted to my dream school and could enjoy the rest of the school year with my friends. Then after school ended I would go off to camp, and then off to be at my dream school and live in New York City. It was the perfect plan.

First, enjoying the rest of the school year with my friends. It was finally 2016, the year we had been hearing about since 2012! By this point in school I knew who I was in the school environment, how to take the classes, which classes I enjoyed, and who I wanted to be friends with. While I had mostly figured that out before the last four months of high school, I had spent so much of the fall stressing over grades and my classes and was finally allowed to just enjoy learning. I also had spent so much time trying to climb the social ladder at the beginning of senior year which really taught me that I didn’t want to climb it at all because I was way happier where I was. Instead of feeling left out when I didn’t go to parties, I was relieved and actually content. During these last few months of school I also expanded my horizons and got involved in ways I never had before, like writing a One Act play with my friend.

My friends and I enjoying a senior year tradition

Marching at the San Francisco Walk Against Rape- a new experience I loved!

My friend and I with the cast of our play that we wrote!

The most surprising but also one of the biggest blessings of 2016 was how much I enjoyed my summer at camp. While I had been looking forward to being a counselor for years, by the time 2016 rolled around I was actually very nervous about it because a lot of my friends were not staffing with me. But I decided to take a leap of faith and still go, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Being a counselor, especially in an environment where I had to expand my horizons and meet more people because I did not have my core group with me, taught me so much about myself and helped me grow. In many ways I felt like more of an adult there than I do in college. I was working all day in a capacity where I was basically a parent to 12 children but then also was able to drive all over the Bay Area and plan fun activities with my friends on our days off. I also formed relationships with the campers and other staff that I never thought I would have that summer and completely changed my outlook on life and how I view myself as a person.

Enjoying some silly time with my youngest campers. Getting to be like a mother to them was an experience I’ll never forget.

Some of my friends and I at color-coded Song Sessions. Just some of the many people who heavily impacted my summer and life!

Lastly, never in my wildest dreams did I ever really believe that one day I would be living on my own in New York City at the top women’s college in the nation. While the first semester was A LOT rougher than I had expected I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the opportunity to go to such an amazing school with so many interesting people and so many different opportunities.

One of my first days in New York and taking in all it has to offer at the Top of the Rock.

The year you graduate high school is something you never get to experience again. In the same year you get to live completely under your parents’ rules and on your own possibly thousands of miles away. You get to be the big fish and top dog of your high school and then the smallest little guppy of your college. And then smack in the middle is the one summer where you don’t really have to worry about working or having an internship and can focus on what you want. Luckily for me, my graduation year was everything I wanted it to be and more. So while I will look back at 2016 as a pivotal sometimes not-so-great point in history like everyone else, I will also probably look back at it as one of the greatest experiences of my young adulthood and a year I will most certainly never forget.