High school.

A time for fun and enjoying the last moments of childhood. 

A time for new experiences into young adulthood.

A time for growth and exploration. 

That is, to a certain extent.

What more is there not to love?

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The thrill of being under the shining Friday night lights when watching your hometown football team score a touchdown. 

The butterflies erupting in your stomach when you meet the eyes of your crush walking down the hallway. 

Messing around with your friends at lunch.

That moment of relief when the homework was based on completion and not on accuracy.

Even the worst experiences of high school are some of the most cherishable memories. For instance:
cramming for a test the night before it is taken. 

Stressing over the SAT’s or AP exams.

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Perhaps, dread over the fact that you have three projects and two essays due within the same week. 

For some, high school is considered to be the greatest time of their lives. They are “the glory days.” However, others view it as an abomination to mankind. A place where they spent their time stressing out rather than enjoying their last spare moments of childhood.

These years are a place where you can not only discover yourself and what you want to do with your future, but also make some cherishable memories. It should be a balance of both. The stress faced in high school will help prepare for the stresses in adulthood.

My focus of this narrative is not to speak of all the good and bad of this time period, but to allow a time of reflection on your experience. A sense of nostalgia. The ability to time travel through your own mind. 

Has high school changed between when you were in school versus now?

The answer to that question is most likely a yes, if you are above the age of 25. 

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With technology consuming our lives now more than ever, the system of education has been changed multiple times within the past decade. 

For instance, the standardized tests that you may have taken years ago have been completely restructured on a different scoring system and with more rigorous questions. There has also been a change in the school-based grading system. It is now common that schools are now switching to a proficiency based scale, rather than letter based. 

Perhaps, education was always evolving back when you were in school, but you didn’t take notice?
If change wasn’t noticed, that is not necessarily a bad thing. As I have stated before, high school is a place for both discovery and creating memories.

One thing I find interesting about this topic is that when I ask adults about their high school experiences, nine times out of 10 they will refer to a memory about sports or a story involving their friends. I also find it ironic that some of these adults haven’t spoken with any of their old friends or been involved within sports since high school. 

It’s amazing how we spend four years of our life with the same people and doing certain extracurricular activities. After that’s gone, we tend to not look back. That is, in the sense of staying within that moment. Sadly, we have to move onto other things. It’s part of evolving as a human being.

The same thing goes for any other type of school. Whether that be for elementary school, middle school, or college.

As a junior in high school, I personally care more about the education aspect rather than the social life, so I can understand why some of us tend to not look back. However, that’s why we have class reunions. These planned events allow us to relive lost memories with our buddies and remember both the good and bad times.

Every now and then a distant memory will pop up of the younger days; And that is simply refreshing. 

What are your distant memories?


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