I always hear people tell me, “Cherish high school, you’ll want to go back later.” But I don’t think that’s true. I have had moments where I have been absolutely in love with life, for example spending the entire summer with my best friends.  I recall wanting so bad for the minutes to last just a little longer, for our laughs to continue for just a minute more. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how intensely I’d stare at the clock, a minute was still a minute. My curfew still arrived. Summer ended accordingly and life went on. I appreciated the time we spent as deeply as I knew how. Just like the summer, all good things come to an end.

It’s comparable to the first time I saw mountains. Sitting in the backseat of my father’s car with my best friend by my side, both of us wide-eyed. The simple beginning. A sneak peek of what was to come. Similar to leaving the mountains. I remember looking behind me as I left Colorado for the first time. The mountains disappeared behind us, but they were still beautiful and still very much so there.

The memories I have made at Ames High will remain as I drive my way towards the mountains, just as beautiful as they were when I experienced them initially. I will never feel the way I did the first I saw a mountain and I will never spend another summer exactly the same. I might miss some things about high school when I’m gone, but I can take comfort in knowing that with every ending there is some kind of beginning. The end of high school is the moment I will see mountains on the horizon and be able to look back on my experiences thus far in life and know that they are still beautiful, and very much so still there. There is so much to look forward to.