The school year is coming to an end, however the class of 22’ are only beginning a new chapter in their life. Saying goodbye can be hard, but with friendships and memories being made, they make leaving a familiar place not so scary. 

“I have had some good times in cross-country, especially when we traveled for races,” senior Merrick Peeples said. “Also going to dances for the first time was really fun; hanging out with friends made these experiences great.”

One of senior Juniper Floyd’s favorite memories she made during her high school years is when she and her friends would do “theme hangouts”. 

“It’s where we dress up in random stuff from different themes and eat lots of junk food together,” Floyd said. “However, living outside the school district is hard to be a part of your friend group when no one wants to drive 40 minutes to your house.”

Kazour’s challenge were figuring out all the details of being an adult while trying to maintain school work. Getting a job and dealing with certain family issues made keeping grades up a challenge for him. 

“I learned that if you keep your mind focused on one thing at a time to not get overwhelmed, then you’ll be able to handle bigger problems,” Kazour said.

Peeples expressed how he was immature and irresponsible when entering high school.  By overcoming his own immaturity when it came to deadlines and work, he had to learn self-discipline to survive. 

“Some challenges in high school have been adapting to the amount of work and balancing my life with school,” Peeples said. “Also finding a place to belong in school because finding people similar to you can be difficult.”

Floyd and Kazour express how making friends is key in high school, especially to make the effort to put yourself out there. Make at least one friend in each class or team/club, for it makes classes bearable and more enjoyable in their opinion. 

“My advice to incoming freshmen would be to join clubs,” Floyd said. “I know people tell incoming freshmen to join as many extracurriculars as they can, but they don’t really highlight how much colleges want you to join the random bread club to show that you’re interested in student life outside of studying.”

As the year comes to an end, many reflect the past four years of their life. Whether it may be making friends, procrastinating on assignments, regrets, there’s always something to learn from high school. 

“I would tell them that they should use this time to improve their lives and have experiences that will form them for the rest of their life,” Peeples said. “This stage of their lives is a stage that will determine their future selves.”