Piper Nicely- Editor in Chief
On June 6, 2021, I am going to graduate.
The thought of this is insane, after twelve years of grade school filling every moment of my life, I will be leaving it all behind. High school was one of the weirdest, most chaotic, most dramatic, and yet best experiences of my life so far. I have definitely grown as a person while attending Southview and have come to learn many things I don’t think I would have been able to learn anywhere else. So here are some important life lessons high school has taught me, hopefully you’ve learned them too and, if not, you can be inspired to start.
You Are Going to Fail
After years and years of being a straight A star student, high school came as a complete shock. I failed my first test, got my first bad grade in a class, and at times fought to keep my head above water when it came to the endless flow of work. I fell victim to AP exams and honors classes and ACT prep. But this also taught me that sometimes things don’t go your way and I couldn’t expect to be perfect all the time. Because yes, I shed tears over my AP Euro exam and dreaded getting my geometry tests back, but I also learned that these things truly do not impact your life. Failing a test didn’t mean I was a bad student or a bad person, it didn’t mean anyone was mad at me, it just meant the learning strategies I was using weren’t working and I needed to try something new. I learned to laugh these things off and take them with grace, failure in high school truly does not have a big impact on your life in general and allows you to learn how to handle it. Despite having my share of failures, I still made high honor roll every quarter, made it into the NHS, and am graduating with an honors diploma. Even if you fail from time to time, you will be alright.
Participate In Life…Even If You Drag Your Feet
I hate participating in school events and I always have. However, even though I often hate doing silly school activities, I still did some and had a great time every single time. Go to Dance for a Chance and make a fool of yourself, you’ll only have that chance for these four years. Go to homecoming and prom, date or no date, and take pictures and dance with your friends. Go on the school trip, travelling to Chicago with the band is one of my fondest high school memories and gave me a chance to bond with so many people I rarely get to talk to. Participating in class activities, I ended up having an amazing time doing things outside of my French class, from movie nights to museum trips to going out to dinner, even though I thought I wouldn’t love it. Even when it comes to competitive things, give it a shot. I competed in Speech and Debate for all of high school and, even though I desperately didn’t want to, I went on an overnight trip for a two day competition.To be honest, I didn’t have a great time, but I learned a lot about working with others and improving my speaking skills so I still feel like it was worth it. You are only going to have opportunities like this for these four years of high school, so take advantage of them while you can. These are memories you’ll be happy you have to look back on.
Be Proud of Your Interests
I have always gone through phases of intense interests, loving books and movies and bands, but felt compelled to keep that part of me quiet for a long time. Coming to high school showed me a very different world, one where everyone was extremely expressive and honestly, no one cared what you liked. It was refreshing to be in an environment where no one really cared what I did, I could do anything that made me happy and that was normal. So love your interests, be proud of them, and show them off. I spent all of high school wearing band t-shirts, sharing earbuds and making friends over book exchanges. I’ve done presentations about movies, joined the writing club and talked incessantly to my friends about video games. Love your interests, because you never know who else might love them too. I have made so many friends over my love of the band BTS, even if they are just brief encounters in the hallway where we recognize each other’s pins or shirts, my friends and I did book exchanges for years, I joined the short-lived movie club, and my recent interest in Dungeons and Dragons revealed to me that many of my friends close friends love the game but never spoke out about it. Be open about what you love and never feel you need to hide that part of yourself, people either won’t care or will be your new best friend.
Never Do the Bare Minimum
High school gives you so many opportunities to try new things. Whether you join a sports team or an academic team, band or orchestra, or even just take some fun classes, there are so many things to try. I started high school thinking I could pass through without a lot of extra effort, but upon getting here, I realized that I could never live like that. Specifically, I mean taking extra classes. Take classes that aren’t a part of your curriculum, just because they interest you. I took American History Through Film because I love movies and had a great time in APUSH with Mr. Fritz; the class wasn’t required and was some extra work but I had an amazing time and discovered one of my favorite movies. I took journalism because I loved to write and ended up falling in love with the class and putting in the work to become editor-in-chief. I took global studies capstone thinking it would just be a fun class, it took a ton of time and work, but now I am about to graduate with a global studies diploma and had the chance to study my interests for a whole year. I even left the honors science track for a year and had the time of my life in forensics, and I was still able to take an AP science the next year. Put in the work, study what you love, you’ll never regret it.
Slow Down and Enjoy the Little Moments
For me, a lot of high school is a blur. The days start getting repetitive, the homework is overwhelming, you put your head down to get to work and when you look up, the whole year has passed you by. It is this strange, manic energy that taught me to enjoy the little moments of clarity. Looking back, I can remember the moments I shared with my friends sitting at the lunch table and laughing about nothing and the friendships I created with my teachers. I remember walking to the library to study with my friends, borrowing practice rooms in the music hallway, and walking through the crowded halls with my friends. It is movies in class and acting out Shakespeare and collectively failing a math test that truly stick with me. These moments are so precious in the scheme of things, we worked so hard to graduate, but these are the moments when I was truly a kid. I realize now that it is not the good grades I got or the classes I passed or the trophies I won that I’ll remember as an adult, it’s being with my friends, it’s the teachers that made an impact and it’s the fun I chose to have.
I know that I’ll miss Southview going forward, but I also know that it has allowed me to grow into the person I am today. I hope all the classes to follow us get the chance to learn these lessons for themselves, and to see how much they have grown and changed along the way.
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