When I started my high school career in the town I was born and raised in, I never thought I would end up graduating from a city I had never heard of in a state twelve hours away. I lived in Arkansas for sixteen years and during my sophomore year, I was told we were moving to Appleton, Wisconsin, for my dad’s job. Attending a school with complete strangers in the middle of a pandemic was certainly less than ideal but I can confidently say moving has been the best thing to ever happen to me. 
 Reflecting on my years in high school, the first two years looked very different from the last two. I find it crazy that a physical relocation can result in such a dramatic mental relocation as well. Being on the board of Key Club, submitting my photography to the literary magazine, and writing an article for my school has my younger self saying “Who is she?” There’s something extremely freeing about going to a school with people who didn’t know you when you had braces and wore a ponytail Every. Single. Day. This opportunity to continue high school on a clean slate has allowed me to grow in ways I never thought possible and I’m so thankful for it all, the good and the bad.
 I feel so nostalgic when thinking about my years in high school because it seems like such an iconic time, especially with the glamorization of it in movies. It makes me laugh thinking about how movies portray this time and what really happens. I mean who’s got the time to break out into song and dance when you have to ask permission just to go to the bathroom. Even if these past few years haven’t looked like the movies, I know I will cherish these memories and proudly look back on all that I accomplished. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me but as of the moment, I’m soaking in every last minute of being an adolescent.