High school. Two words that I have spent the last four years accomplishing. Graduating on the tenth with about 400 other students, I look back on everything that has happened.

I look at all the stress and all of the heartbreak. But I also look at all of the smiles and all of the laughs that I achieved through these great, yet terrible years. Many people have told me “high school will be the greatest four years of your life. Enjoy it while you can.”Well, I completely disagree with this advice.

I stressed myself with countless activities that led to a well decorated letter jacket. I have taken countless tests, scrambling to finish immeasurable amounts of homework, and studied for more hours than I even want to count. Yet, what has it done for me?

Being accepted into a school that I have never toured into a program that I am quite sure I want to go into, I still look at all of the work I did in high school and wonder if all of it was worth it. Is it easier to go through high school with a leisurely pace and a nonchalant attitude or is it about stressing yourself out to stay awake to the earliest hours of the night studying for tests and quizzes that are menial in retrospect?

Well, I have a simple answer. It’s both. But first let me explain a few things. I have had some stress in my home life throughout my entire high school career. My grades have fluctuated because of all of this. I have survived my parent’s divorce, having to move addresses twice, switching high schools once, driving to and from Colorado by myself and being the girl with the most amount of tattoos in the school.

I take everything with a sigh of relief when it is over. I wing everything in my life. Oh, my homework isn’t done, well, I’ll get over it or I’ll just hand it in later. Oh, I have a test tomorrow, well, I’ll just wing it and hope for the best. But on the other hand, I have stayed at the school for countless hours work on pages for the Crier or photographing games. I haven’t gotten home from tournaments or matches until like midnight. (But this applies to anyone in an activity or sport.)

I’ve realized through everything I have gone through during high school, these have been the best, worst four years of my life. Everything that has happened has made me stronger, even when I am at my weakest. I have been waiting for this moment since I was 10. In under two weeks, I will walk across my stage to receive my diploma. And I couldn’t be more excited.

I have survived these four years; we have survived these four years. But personally, I feel like I have barely survived. Sure, for some, high school was a walk in the park. For me, it wasn’t.

What I realized as the silver lining of high school is that it inevitably ends. And for me, that is sooner than ever. I have realized, as my road is coming to an end, that people can survive anything. As well as, you are probably going to come out of it stronger than going into it. I know this is stereotypical advice, but it’s the truth.

I am here, through all of the tears, sorrow, smiles, happiness, excitement, sadness, laughter and beauty. I have survived peer pressure and societal standards of people. I have survived all of the judgement and all of the hate. I have survived a wide diversity of people, place and events. Due to everything that I have lived through, I couldn’t stand any stronger or taller today.