Most people may think that as the days start counting down to zero, I would be nostalgic about my time here at West Bloomfield High School, instead I’m relieved. I always hear adults say “High school is the best time of your life, you should enjoy it! Years from now you’ll look back and miss it,” Maybe it’s because I’m young and the advice from adults goes in one ear and out the other, but I have some doubts that what they say is the truth. I’m not saying that high school was the worst experience of my life and I plan on repressing everything from memory. I’m saying that though I’ve made some great memories and friends within the confines of the school, there are bigger and better opportunities awaiting me after I graduate.

All year long I’ve been stressing out about the inevitable trap of responsibilities that has been awaiting me a since I started elementary school; jobs, college, taxes, and not to mention, living on my own and making sure I survive. The idea of suddenly becoming a legal adult was (and still kind of is) terrifying to me because I’ve depended on my mom for 18 years and now everyone expected me to suddenly know how to be independent. How can people expect me to be an adult when I forget to eat?

After a year of freaking out and trying to somehow reverse time so I could be a child again, I somehow grew up. In the midst of avoiding homework and trying to stay home everyday, I began to take on more responsibilities, especially in the drama department. When we were building the set and constructing the show, the more I noticed other students coming up to me for advice or help and I found that I knew the answers. It was crazy to me, thinking about how I did the same thing when I was a freshman. In some ways I had grown up and progressed without even knowing it.

So when I say there are bigger and better opportunities for me for me to have after high school, I mean that there is so much more room for me to grow, especially in college. I’ll still look back at my time here at WB with a smile but I’m also looking ahead at memories still to come.