Growth. It’s something that literally happens every day, yet it is astonishing to think about how much the people around me have grown in high school. While freshman orientation seems just like yesterday, it was over three years ago. The person I was then, compared to the person I am now may not be strikingly different, but there is no doubt that I have really come into my own.

My freshman year I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. At the time I sort of thought it would be acting, but I had never had a lead and didn’t have the intense drive needed in order to make it in that business. Today, although my dreams of being an actress are long gone, I still enjoy theater and had one of my first main roles as Lady Capulet in WJ S*T*A*G*E’s fall production of Romeo & Juliet.

During my senior year, I have grown to be passionate about journalism through writing for The Pitch. Nothing makes my day more than being in room 193 during fifth period. Now, I’m applying to schools with the best journalism programs in the country.

I think the largest difference from my freshman year to my senior year are my friends. The beginning of freshman year was rough. A lot of my middle school friends went on to private schools and I felt left out. Throughout the year, however, I built new strong friendships and couldn’t have be happier. Most of those friendships stuck through junior year, but this year has been different.

I don’t want to call people out or throw shade at anyone, but I have come to understand that things happen, people change, and though it may be awful at some points, it’s all meant to happen. People grow and that’s all that it is. Some grow for the worse and people find them unsuitable to keep in their livesome friends simply stop talking and sooner or later that one really good friend is a complete stranger. I think those friendship breakups are the worst. I have had a few of those.

Through these losses I have become stronger. I have learned how to sometimes eat lunch by myself, or go and talk to a teacher during lunch instead of sitting with a friend group around the halls. Please don’t pity me, I know it sounds sad, but as I wrote, I began to feel more comfortable with it. If I could do high school all over again, would I try to keep some of my old friends? Maybe. It may be nice to have a conversation again with some of my old friends, but I believe everything happens for a reason and one must adapt to whatever is thrown at them.