With this semester coming to a close, it allows me to reflect on these past four years.

Regrets.

I’m not sure if regret is the right word, but if I could go back and do high school over again there are definitely some changes I would make. I would go to more football games as an upperclassman. I went to games as a freshman and sophomore, but as I got older I went less and less. I’m not sure why, but I wish I would have gone more. Although there will be football games in college, the atmosphere will be different than at an EHS football game. The excitement of the Catpound, the community support and I will never actually know the players on the field.

I also regret the amount of time I wasted my junior year. I spent all of my time with my boyfriend at the time that I missed out on quality time with good friends. I was looking through facebook albums a few weeks ago, and I realized I was in hardly any pictures junior year because when it’s just you and your boyfriend hanging out, pictures aren’t usually taken. I wish I would have found the balance I now have with my current boyfriend with my old boyfriend because I feel like I missed out on bonding with good friends junior year because I was just with him all of the time.

Appreciations.

I’m starting to be able to appreciate the way my teachers pushed me throughout these four years. My classes challenged me, but my teachers always helped me find balance between pushing myself and still enjoying school. I am now thankful I took those challenging classes, like A/LARP, AP Euro, AP Psych, AP U.S. and AP Lang because they allowed me to really dig deeper into learning rather than just going through the motions of school.

I am also really appreciative of my family. My parents were never too strict or pushy with me. They let me make my own decisions and always supported me through tough times from everything to arguments with friends to the dissapointment of getting a bad grade to the break-ups. I feel so blessed to have parents who let me make my own mistakes and not try to control every aspect of my life. They have truly prepared me for college because I am independent, but I know when to ask for help.

Insight.

These four years have allowed me to realize how much I have grown as a person. I have become more independent than I was freshman year. Freshman year I allowed others to heavily influence my mood. Now, others have an effect on me but I am my own person. I don’t allow other people to ruin my day. When classmates won’t be quiet in Newspaper class when I’m trying to concentrate, rather than getting frustrated and letting it ruin my whole day, I now understand I can’t change everything and I carry on with my day.

I also learned not to rely on others for everything. I worked two jobs throughout high school, so I did not have to depend on my parents to get me the things I want. When I got a ticket, I paid for it because I needed to fix my own mistakes.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I think others can learn earlier what I discovered. If I would have made these personal growths earlier, it would have saved me a lot of stress and heartbreak.