It’s hard to believe that High School is finally over for me. 4 years ago I walked into Ames High School as a tiny little freshman that was eager to get out of high school from day one. Now that I am finally here I’m not so sure how I feel about leaving Ames High behind. Don’t get me wrong I’m pumped for college and to finally get out on my own a little bit but I have a lot of great memories from my time here. It’s been a crazy ride. I’ve made friends, lost friends, had friends almost die, gotten new friends, played a lot of Axis and Allies, moved across town, thrown dance parties in my basement, and even had some feelings for a couple of girls just to name a few of the eventful things that high school has thrown at me. High school is one huge freaking mess that’s about all I can say. You start off as an immature little kid and then become an immature slightly taller kid and while your doing this you are learning life skills and setting habits for the rest of your life. I spent a lot of time doing extra curricular activities which was probably a good thing. Some of them I didn’t get much out of (like track) others I feel like really influenced how I will live the rest of my life. I also spent a lot of time not doing anything productive and just hanging out. Whether it was kicking ass and taking names in another strategy board game or if it was killing Jon Kaiser with Larry Bird in NBA Street Vol 2. or any of the other things we do for fun. However I think I have learned far more from just being with the people I cherish than doing things that are "good for you." Making those relationships were life changing and downright fun. So don’t take your friends for granted because you need them. When I first thought about writing my senior column I assumed I would either crack jokes throughout it all and be really sarcastic about high school in general or find myself saying something really profound and meaningful, but neither of those turned out to be true. The only advice I have to give to all of you that are staying here for one to three more years is don’t waste your youth growing up. You have decades to be an adult but only 18 years to be a kid. Don’t treat high school as a joke because it’s not. Get good grades and show some effort it will really benefit you in the long run and it really does not take that much work. But don’t burn yourself out find time for yourself. I won’t see most of you again which is not good but we have to leave our pasts sometime. So thanks for the memories I know I enjoyed them, I hope you did too.