Looking back on the past four years of my life, I’m able to see all the different versions of myself that have grown through these years with me. If the freshman year version of myself could see where I’ve ended up, I think she would be really proud of how far I’ve come.
High school is weird for a lot of reasons, but I think one of the biggest reasons is the variation in the stages of life students are all in. It’s a little crazy, thinking back now, that I thought I was so grown up in freshman year and now I feel so young going into my first year of college. There are no words to describe the feeling of seeing people you have known since the first grade all grown up, collecting caps and gowns and about to walk across into the next stage of life right next to you.
Our class this year is super small, and I’ve known many of them since middle school. Growing up in a small town is weird, because even though we’ll all be coming back on college breaks, I know I’ll probably never see most of them again. Our world is so small but so vast, and it makes me so emotional to think that in ten years from now, I might be as unrecognizable to my fellow graduates this year as they are to me.
No matter what happens next, I know that my experiences here at Calvert High will stick with me all my life. Whether in small or large ways, Calvert’s been such a huge part of my life. I’ll be forever grateful for the teachers who helped shape me, the friends who grew with me, and the person I’m becoming because of them.
Thanks for the memories, Calvert High.