This was nothing like High School Musical

“This was nothing like High School Musical”. I’m sure this is a phrase everyone in our generation has heard at least once. When I walked into Oak Hill High School on August 28th, 2019, I had no idea what High School was actually going to be like. I had grown up watching High School Musical, so I was prepared for the most glamorous experience ever. Oh boy was I wrong. Now, I didn’t expect people singing and dancing in the halls, but I guess Mr. Zuis making up his random routines in his classroom comes pretty close to that. So, let’s take a journey together through our not so glamorous high school experience.

Fall of 2019. Our freshman year. We all know that freshmen are the perfect bait for the upperclassmen. Small, innocent, gullible, you name it. Maybe it was because I was finally in those freshman shoes, but this had to be one of the WORST years to be a freshman. Or maybe it was just due to the fact that VSCO girls were at their peak, and every person passing by us freshman would say “sksksksk”. Besides those awful jokes, freshman year started off on a good note. TikTok was at its prime, the app houseparty was our new form of FaceTime, and we were all adjusting to the highschool lifestyle. It was like a breath of fresh air compared to middle school. I mean this when I say it, nothing will ever compare to the euphoria felt during fall of our freshman year. It was one of those things where you had to be there to understand. And looking around this room at the faces of my fellow graduates, I think we all know exactly what I’m talking about. Our first homecoming was definitely an experience. This is where the innocent freshman became innocent no more. Let’s just say I think High School Musical left out that part. We’ll leave that there. As the year progressed we grew and learned.  It was all good… until it wasn’t. Everyone knows what happens next. The World shuts down, and we go online. I’m not gonna lie, freshman year me was kinda happy to get a 2 week break from school. But, as the 2 week break turned into 3 weeks, a month, then suddenly 3 months. Seeing our friends through computer screens was suddenly our reality. Before we knew it we had spent the second half of our freshman year listening to our teachers teach us on google hangouts. We spent our days and nights playing fortnite and indulging in the quarantine tik tok trends. Not the end we wanted for our first year of high school, but hey we still have three more years left. 

September 17, 2020. By the time sophomore year rolled around we were all ready to go back to school. Wow. Did I really just say that? There was a time when we actually wanted to go back to school? Although we returned, we quickly learned this year was going to be tough on all of us. Teachers, parents, and students had to get used to the new ‘hybrid school schedule’. Attending school two days a week was not ideal, but the best we could do at the moment. I remember the desks set up in the gym, six feet apart. Lunch was miserable. Everyone was facing the same way, eating in almost utter silence. It was never this quiet before. In class, it was the same. Silence. No one talked. It felt like a bad dream, that we couldn’t seem to escape. The days when we were at home were no different. We would wake up just as the clock turned 7:35 am and open our laptop screens to ‘attend’ class. Bad habits were slowly creeping into our routines and before we knew it we were in an endless cycle. Just as excited as we were for the school year to start, we were excited for it to be over. I think the only thing that kept me going was my friend groups late night Among Us games. We would all sit on google hangouts, playing Among Us until we couldn’t feel our fingers anymore. The sophomore slump was real. We were exhausted. 

September 2nd, 2021. Junior year. The year that gets the most hate, and I think we all learned why. This was the first step we had back to a ‘normal year’. Walking into school after the previous year was a big wake up call. As I finally saw people’s faces I realized how much we had all started to grow up. I hadn’t seen some of my classmates in over a year and it was refreshing to be back with the people I grew up with. Homecoming was finally back (kinda) and it was the same story for our class as freshman year… a flop. I think I can speak for all of us when I say this but Junior Year was a blur. We were caught up in our endless school work. We all know how we were robbed of our spring fling, but that’s a story for another time. Junior year came to an end and suddenly our stress had disappeared. 

August 31st, 2022. Finally, the moment we have been looking forward to since we stepped foot into high school. Our High School Musical 3 moment. The one where we graduate. With a normal year on the horizon, we kicked off senior year. Homecoming was first up and let’s just say our Junior Spring Fling selves would be disappointed. 2nd place…again. But we made sure to quickly forget as we progressed through the school year. Just as we thought we were going to have a normal school year, we all quickly learned about the 30,000 gallons of water covering the floors. Back to online. It was strange. A full circle moment for our freshman selves. Luckily this time we were back within a few weeks. When we returned it was time for spring fling and we took home the win. The best way to close out senior year. As our time here has come to a close, these last few weeks have been nothing short of memorable. From our senior trip, to reminiscing on our high school memories with our friends in class, we have finally reached the end. 

It felt like just last week we were walking through the main entrance of the high school for the first time as a student. And the week before that, we were singing “Don’t Stop Believing” as the middle school dance was coming to a close. And just last month sitting in our 4th grade classrooms playing Wolf Quest on our big bulky mac books. And just last year, meeting each other for the first time as we took on Pre-K. The harsh reality is that it’s all over. For many it symbolizes the end of our childhood. The start of a new chapter. The end of another. As 5th graders receiving our school email accounts for the first time, we looked at the number following our last name. “23”. As this felt so far away for us at that moment it came quicker than we could have ever imagined. So take a moment to enjoy the good and the bad, because before you know it, all these moments will turn into forgotten memories. As we take a step towards our futures, look at how far we’ve come. Class of 2023, we did it.

“Graduation 3” by wrightbrosfan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.