With graduation quickly approaching, I can not help but feel relieved. Relieved that I can leave behind all of the expectations and pressure and move on to bigger and better things.  

High school was not nearly as glamorous as I was hoping it would be, but rather it was a grind to get through. Though it took a toll on me, it ultimately helped me prevail in the end.

To be honest, I really do not enjoy school. Never have. It does not make sense to me why I had to learn the pythagorean theorem or the quadratic formula because I am 99% percent sure that I will never use them in my life. I am also confident that I will not become a scientist of any kind, so why was it so essential that I learned how to balance equations and memorize the periodic table? 

It was experiences like these where it was especially challenging for me to stay motivated in school. Even though I felt that this thinking was logical, I still understood how important it was to maintain good grades, because in the long run, they really do set you up for success in the future. 

The problem with this idea of “success”, is that that word does not mean the same thing to everyone, and that concept is something that took me the past four years to learn. 

Throughout high school, I always felt like I was trying to keep up by constantly comparing myself to others or never feeling smart enough. I had always felt like I never truly fit in with anyone, but the thing was, I had no desire to change anything about myself. 

I now know that who I am as a person, my beliefs, morals, dreams, are more important than any test score or class that made me feel insecure. Although I believe that grades are necessary, it took me four years to learn that grades do not define you. Who you are and how you treat people is how others will remember you.

High school limited my abilities, but it also made me see my own potential. Just because I do not have a passion for something that was taught in a class, does not mean that I do not have a passion for something outside of class. In the next four years, I intend to pursue the passions that I never found in high school, but these past four years helped me find myself, which is something that could never be taught.