Paige Schepperley

As I end my high school days I am walking away from one adventure and enter a new one as I go to NC State in the fall. I’m trading my maroon for red, my family for roomates, and my six bedroom house for a tiny room with six girls to one bathroom. Pretty crazy when you think about it right? I leave behind so much to venture into a world unknown to me and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I can’t sit here and lie by saying high school was amazing or that it was everything I thought it would be. It was honestly a very messy series of events that were compiled into a four-year long journey. I’ll forever remember the heartbreaks, the tears, and the friendships that seemed to end for no reason at all. When you’re young you picture high school to be like what you see in the movies. In the movies there’s jocks, and nerds, and mean girls, and the happy ending where the nerdy girl ends up with the most attractive guy in the school. In reality, school is nothing like what they show in the media. I didn’t use my locker once, I never fell down the stairs, and I was never prom queen. High school for me was a large mixture of ups and downs, like a never-ending roller coaster that either made me feel sick or like I was flying.

I feel really lucky in many ways to have had the opportunities I’ve had in high school. I guess the main one being the chance to have been in newspaper. It was a class that made me feel like I was actually contributing some way to society and not just going about my school days mindlessly without purpose. Newspaper gave me an outlet to show things I am passionate about. I learned more in this room 2214 than any other room in this school. To grow and create with the same group of classmates over two years is a pretty amazing thing. Newspaper was really someplace special for me and I hope other future staff writers get to have the same experience I had.

It’s funny, looking back on all the things that have changed over my high school years.

I went from doing my homework religiously to having the worst case of senioritis most of my friends have ever seen. Heck, as I write this goodbye I’m rushing to figure out all that I want to say and how to sum up four years of memories. I guess the biggest thing about high school is that it’s not everything. You will go to college if you want to go to college, you will get through pre-calc if you apply yourself, and you’ll be surprised at how much your friends truly have your back. The most important thing about high school is to have fun, take chances, and not to worry what other people think of you.