As the best years of my life come to an end, let’s recap on all the memories that gave my high school years that title.

Let’s start with freshman year. We went from being known as the bad class in grade school, to the most quiet class in high school. COVID was still in full effect, so we spent the year wearing masks and sitting between desk dividers. All of our dances got cancelled, and sports were all held during the spring. This year was definitely the softest launch a freshman could get going into high school.

Next is sophomore year, which is what I would say was my rebellious year. I got my license, tested the boundaries of the dress code, started talking to Mr Smith, and so much more. This was the year Zoey, Kiara, Aubree, and I got very close and referred to ourselves as the “snake squad.” There is no doubt in my mind that this year was the best year of high school.

Junior year was filled with the stress of school and future decisions. We all studied hard to keep up with our work and to get our best score on the SAT. This was when we started to think about where we wanted to go after high school. This year was probably the hardest year mentally and emotionally for a lot of us.

Last is senior year, our year. We did all the typical senior things like senior sunrise, senior skip day, senior sunset, senior assassin and more. We tried our best to make this year the best one yet, but no matter how hard I tried to live in the moment, I still got sad thinking about all the lasts. Now that the lasts have come to an end, the sadness of senior year still remains.

Although I am proud to say I have kept up with my school work between cheer and working multiple jobs, I wish I would have taken more time to just live as a high schooler. These are the years you will never get back. My biggest regret is not living like it was my last.

My advice to the under class man is to live a yes life. Someone asks you to hangout? Yes! You get offered an opportunity? Yes! Never say no. Get involved. Don’t just exist in your high school years, live them!