A couple of words to summarize four years of experience is like trying to fit thick yarn through the eye of a sewing needle.

I still remember my first school day as a freshman, which was peculiar at the time because of the pandemic, but I did not have a good feeling. Obviously, communicating back then was not the norm, so no one let a word out to me, and I got the idea that it would be like that until I graduated. Coming from a different education system, enduring the challenge of the academic transition and the effort to get an acquaintance was hard to manage. I started my high school journey with low expectations along with low self-esteem. Every aspect of this institution seemed intimidating to me; I did not plan on having the common high school experience as everyone else, I just wanted to satisfy my parents with straight A’s. I began with a friendless and dull routine, which fulfilled my desire to get excellent grades but with the cost of being mentally restricted.

I was lucky enough one day and someone approached me to talk about our history homework, which was the beginning of my first friendship in this school. Gradually, I started to meet more people through random circumstances, which turned my life around completely without me being aware of it. Things started to fall into normalcy; I found my special niche and it became the reason I woke up every day looking forward to going to class.

Although it was not only my friends who motivated me to attend school, but also the adults that make West High feel like a second home. I have taken classes that I never thought would be so nurturing and not only with knowledge, but also with life lessons that have been engrained in my head forever. I liked school for once in my life, and the thought of leaving a place where I grew up and matured in gives me the nostalgia I am supposed to experience years after graduating.

Fortunately, I leave alongside many good friends who showed me that high school can be fun, even when you are struggling. I wish I could stay a little longer, but my desire to launch myself into the complexity of the “real” world is bigger than the feeling of comfort I got in here.

Change is inevitable. We might want it or not, but it is essential to embrace it in order to grow. I am embracing it right now, therefore I think I am ready for what comes next.