When I was in 8th grade, we were in the middle of COVID-19. It had just happened that year, and I honestly was not looking forward to high school. I was not thinking that far ahead in my life, but that year went by super fast and high school was right on my doorstep.

In my freshman year of high school, I kind of threw it away in my mind but now that I look back on it shaped my life and the young man I am today.

That year was kind of weird in the sense all the freshmen were new to high school, but we had not been to school in over a year, so we had to learn how to do in-person school again.

It was a pain but people like me who played sports and had some sort of extracurricular activities had this escape from reality like finally were allowed to be ourselves again.

Then comes sophomore year, the year where I felt I broke free of that COVID bond that we all had. I started branching out and trying new things in my life and meeting new people and making new connections. Honestly it was the most fun year of my life; the people I met changed my life.

I have a lot of gratitude to my brother who invited me into that friend group, and I feel I had a lot of older people taking care of me because they were all a year older than me. It honestly matured me a lot.

Then comes my junior year, in my opinion my hardest year. I had a lot of stress with school and then thinking about going to college and doing what my older brother did and picking one. Later that year I figured out that honestly, college is not for me right now, and maybe I wanted to branch out and try going into the military or doing some sort of trade.

The end of my junior year, I had a long talk about going into the military with my parents and finally persuaded them. I figured out a lot about myself from that summer. I went into the navy recruiter’s office and started what I thought was a short process but honestly it had turned into a months-long process.

Then comes my Senior year, the year I had been patiently waiting for this day to come since my junior year. I had finally finished all my Navy papers and was picked to become a Damage Controlman, which is a firefighter. The downside is that I am leaving on my 18th birthday, and since we’re almost done with senior year I can say that this year has been such a blast.

I want to thank Mr. Wichman who has been my PE teacher since middle school and my Coach in football and golf for making me into the person I am today.

Also, my parents and brother because I would not be here without the struggles and sacrifices that they made.