Finding my People

If anything helped me make it through my four years of high school, it was definitely the people I chose to surround myself with — and, ironically, they’re the same people I have to leave to start a new chapter. The most influential people in my life during high school were my friends who eventually turned into my family, but also one of my favorite teachers, who I could go to if I ever needed anything.

Mr. Carwin is the first teacher who really saw me as an individual and not just another one of his students. He pushed me out of my shell and helped me make new friends, even if I didn’t want to, and even if I claimed to hate his class — which I didn’t. Mr. Carwin has taught me multiple valuable life lessons, like if I want something I have to get it myself, and I can’t depend on people to do things for me. He also taught me to believe in my ability to achieve big things, even though sometimes I doubt myself.

Similar to how Mr. Carwin helped me, my friends also made a big impact on my high school experience. It took me a while to truly find my people since I was new to the school freshman year, and even then it took me until junior year to truly find them. But since finding them, they have truly turned my high school experience around in a way that I never thought was possible. If I am going to be completely honest, I won’t miss much about high school, but I will definitely miss my best friends.