by Amaya Hipsher

Everyone has a different high school experience. Hanging with your friends, finding out who you are as a person. Let’s just say mine was not so great. I learned a lot of lessons very fast in a short amount of time. This not only affected my feelings, but also my character.

Let’s start off with freshman year. I had just started a new school. I was going to school with my sister. I had just started a relationship with someone, and I had a lot of friends.

Sounds like fun, right? That went downhill quickly. My relationship lasted for a while, but then we broke up. I fell into a really bad depression for about three months. I would come to school looking messy, sleep or cry somewhere, and I would go home and cry for hours. I got into a fight and got suspended, came back, fought again, and went to alternative school.

Then, I came back to regular school the second semester of my sophomore year. I came back with little-to-no friends, but that was nothing new. It just made me realize who really cared for me and who didn’t when I left.

I started to keep distance from everyone to realize the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with. I started to just sit back and listen and try to figure out who I wanted and needed to be. I also realized was that I needed to focus on my future.

After that, I entered junior year. I still talked to some people, but it was rare. I was usually by myself or with my best friend, I’Yonna. I also became really close with another friend, Brionna. I tried to stay focused on school but kept slipping. But then, I picked it up and ended up getting better grades. Towards the end of the year, I’Yonna and I decided that we wanted to graduate early. That  was the end of our junior year.

Now, it’s senior year, and I’m trying to make sure I stay on task and I keep my friend group very small. I learned that high school goes by fast, but it also teaches us many life lessons. When I came to high school I thought everything was going to be cake. Oh, boy, was I wrong. High school taught me just to be myself and stay true to myself to bloom into who I truly am. 

Moral of the story – high school can change your life in different ways. No matter what happens, stay who you are and push through – it’s going to be worth it. Keep pushing and work through it. It may seem like a weight and a burden, but it will always be worth it.