If I could give you one piece of advice to Freshmen Raina, it would be “learn how to love being alone.” I wouldn’t trade my experience at West High for the world, but changing relationships and dynamics were also big markers of my high school years. As people grow, they grow apart… and that’s okay. I think the most important thing, though, is to cherish the memories for what they are. I loved my time playing volleyball and losing my voice from singing karaoke with my teammates on the bus trips. Or cheering with Blue Crew during basketball and football games. While the memories and countless stomachaches from laughing were always worth it, I built a community of friends that I will forever cherish, even if the only thing that connects us in the future is our experience at West High. Family is what you make it.

I’m amazed at how fast time flew by. I remember walking through the front gates of West High for the first time on August 6th 2019, so terrified of what high school would be like. Little did I know, we would live through a pandemic, our sophomore year spent on a screen, mental health struggles, and many other trials that would ultimately test us in ways we could not imagine. Nevertheless, we persisted and proved our resilience time and time again.

If you told freshmen year me all of the things I accomplished, I think I’d be immensely proud. I’d open my own small business by sophomore year, run two donations drives for a domestic violence agency, be accepted into nine colleges, including Spelman College, and ranked in the top 10% of my class with a year of college already finished. Ultimately, the only person in life you have to please is yourself. And I think I’ve done myself proud. Make it a great life, or not… the choice is yours. Goodbye, West High!

“In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” -Mother Teresa