High school. Some may say it’s the best time of your life. It’s the time where you leave behind your ugly middle school days. You feel more grown up and independent in high school. School work gets harder, taking APs are stressed tremendously, trying out for sports can be competitive, and you’re raised to higher standards.

But, some may say that high school isn’t the best time of your life. You’ve still got a full life ahead, filled with new experiences, independence, and life itself. High school is not the best time of your life, but it is the start of something better. You’re surrounded by the people that shaped you, that raised you into the person you are today, your peers. Some were there for you, and maybe some of them turned a blind eye.

With high school comes responsibility. Responsibility to keep up your GPA, PSAT/SAT scores, and participating in after school activities. When you were a child and your mom made you clean up your Legos or Barbie’s after spilling them out on the carpet, it was your responsibility to clean them up. That responsibility has since grown in maturity but it molded you into the responsible person you are today.

With high school comes curiosity. A chance to step out of your comfort zone and experiment with different subjects. When you were a child and you would read The Hungry Caterpillar, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, or Goodnight Moon, you were fascinated with annunciating and pronouncing new words that you had never heard of before. This has challenged you to be more outgoing and to find the activities you enjoy to do today.

Maybe anatomy, astronomy, or maybe you’ve figured out by now that you can’t solve a calculous equation to save your life. With high school comes respect. Where some learn what it means to be respectful and where others never change. You were taught as a toddler to say please and thank you after receiving or asking for something in return. Those manners have stuck with you since you have grown up and have made an impact in the way you treat others.

Popularity does not matter. It does not matter if you’re a freshman on the varsity lacrosse team, or if you take all AP classes, or what parties you went to on Saturday night. People dwell on the exclusiveness of this idea of popularity but, it is just another stereotype and in all honesty it’s a waste of time.

High school isn’t the best time of your life, but high school has done so much for you. Its surrounded you with friends that you may have for the rest of your life, its challenged you to test your boundaries with different subjects, and its help inspire the person you are and hope to be.

So, high school isn’t like Sky High or High School Musical, but it’s not so bad after all. I mean after high school you’re going to have to grow up and take on even more responsibilities. Enjoy high school because in the blink of an eye you’ll be wearing a cap and gown at your graduation, wishing you hadn’t taken it for granted.