Four years later: What I learned from high school

As the final bell of the school year rings, a wave of nostalgia washes over the senior class of 2024. It’s a moment both bitter and sweet, as the soon-to-be graduates reflect on the four years that felt like a lifetime and a heartbeat all at once.

Let us walk down memory lane with some of those seniors and see what high school was all about for them.

For Besserat Stifanos, high school felt like a push into a big crowd, gaining new friends she never thought she would meet.

“As a freshman starting online and going straight into sophomore year in person, I was pretty closed off, only sticking to my same group of friends. It wasn’t until junior and senior year that I branched out, and I am so glad I did. I met some of the greatest people during this time of my life and made the best memories,” she said.

Brendel Kuignou had a similar experience and gained confidence in being unique.

“The one thing I’ve learned from high school is that being different is not weird. I learned to just be myself and whoever found me unsettling or weird, I just left them, and the people who didn’t were the ones I would hang around,” he said.

For Madison Snyder, friendship was also one of the most important factors in high school. Through color guard, she found people she would never forget.

“I have gained friendships and amazing relationships with a team that I love. I think that’s the most important thing that I have gained, to be honest,” she said.

“One of the most important things that I learned is how to place value in the right things. I used to be the type of person who cared about a lot of things [that didn’t matter], and now there are a lot of things I care about doing, but some things I don’t care about at all,” said Anna Ginsberg-Sullivan.

Four years of high school develops new personal values for many, overcoming new challenges and possibilities

Resilience was of key importance for Pace Dominguez-Hultgren, learning to adapt to the moving world.

“The biggest lesson I say I would have learned that’s helped me through my high school career is adapting to change and learning how to read a situation. It gives you more empathy towards other people and helps you best understand how to help other people,” they said.

Like Dominguez-Hultgren, Omar Ibarra learned resilience.

“I learned how to overcome difficult obstacles in my four years of experience in high school. And if I could, I would do it all over again.”