After spending much of the last year outside the building, I have been reflecting on how much progress I’ve made as a person during my high school years.

Looking back to when I first walked through the North doors is a cringe-worthy experience. I was a short scrawny kid coming from a Catholic school setting, so I had zero fashion sense. I also didn’t have the built-in friendships a lot of my peers had been cultivating since preschool, and I didn’t really know how to talk to people. Graduating 8th grade with a class of 48 kids and entering  North with a class of almost 600 to say it was a culture shock would be an understatement.

Eventually, I discovered my niche in the band program and spent a lot of my free time running around a field hitting things with sticks. Through that activity, I found some of my closest friends and made some of those lifelong memories everyone is always talking about. Even so, during that first year in the building, I still lacked confidence

Going into sophomore year, I continued marching band and even branched out into independent ensembles. I formed more solid relationships with my peers, and I felt like I was finally fitting in. In just a year I had grown from a short scrawny kid to a slightly taller scrawny kid, but with that growth came confidence. While sophomore year wasn’t the best year for my mental health, I saw what kind of person I could become over the next few years and looked forward to it.

Junior year was the best year.  I was still heavily involved with marching band, and at this point had been doing it year-round for two years. I had really solid connections and friendships in many friend groups, I was listening to more and more good music and just enjoying life.  It seemed nothing could stop me, not even physics class. Well, it turns out a pretty good way to stop me was a global pandemic. During quarantine, I took time to reflect on the growth I had made since  I was a little freshman, and it was an eye-opening experience. I look at the way I used to interact with people and the way I used to view myself and I wonder what I was thinking? I used to overanalyze every little thing and weigh myself down with burdens that didn’t really exist outside my head.

Senior year has been amazing, despite the setbacks. I have been living my best life, and mentally I’ve never been better. All this goes to show, it gets better. The work gets easier, the future becomes clearer, and the stress gets much more manageable. Keep pushing because no matter how hard sophomore year seems, it’s all uphill from there. Also, if homework takes you more than three hours, it is not worth it.  Trust me.