What High School is All About

Growing up I always thought high school was so far away; that by the time I got there I would be a grown, successful, young adult who knew everything. To put the facts straight, I know nothing. Not nothing, I know that the symptoms of a stroke are: face dropping, arm weakness, slurred speech and that time is essential. I know the medical terms for the whole body and what each medical word means, for example; dyspnea means difficulty breathing. School may have also taught me how to solve for ‘x’ and ‘y’. What country is the most populated and luckily, I was able to take classes to further my career choices. “What I don’t know?” You may ask…  Everything else. I don’t know how to pay my own bills; my mom does them and I just give her the money. I struggle driving my car into an auto shop on those stupid ramps for them to change my oil, so I make my boyfriend do it for me. I don’t know how to call and make my own appointments, even that one bugs my mom. She’s tried to teach me multiple times. I do know how to do the laundry and wash dishes, and sometimes I can navigate through a grocery store. Now that graduation is almost here, I’m starting to realize that I know absolutely nothing about real life. I received high honors, studied hard and spent time with friends in my free time. I worked two jobs as well to pay for my car and my Hulu account, (which may I add, is only $6.99…  such a steal), my gym membership, and my excessive Dunkin orders. However, my diploma won’t tell you any of that stuff. I never went to a party, drank a single sip of alcohol, or skipped school. I studied hard and paid attention because that is what my parents expected of me. Now looking back I didn’t do as much as I thought I would have. My freshman year was probably the most exciting with the least amount of responsibilities: no car, no job, classes were easy, and friends were unlimited. While we were in school we only thought about the school work in front of us, not life itself. We complained about the stupid membean minutes we had to do, the essays that took two or more tries to figure out what we were doing. We started to talk about gas prices once we all got our licences but that’s about it. 

So my advice to you is: have fun. Yes, college looks at your grades. Yes, scholarships are important, but high school only comes once. Study when you need to but don’t stress about your work. Stay on pace but don’t overload yourself. Go to your friend’s house, go out on the weekends, and just have fun. The only actual things you will remember from high school are the fun times. The hard tests that you spend a week stress fully studying for that actually weren’t that hard is not what you will remember. Take school seriously, but make your four years of high school something to remember. At the end of the day, your diploma will be the same as the person sitting next to you, never forget that. 

Featured Image: “BW Cisco Throwing Grad Cap” by nickvallejo34 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.