Real Talk

I thought saying goodbye to my middle school was hard. Trading everything I knew, my comfort zone with the 24 other 9th graders and moving to 900 sophomores.

The beginning was scary, I had about 6 friends from middle school, other than that I only recognized a few people from way back in 3rd grade. It was very interesting seeing how much those people changed while I spent 6 years at a small charter school. That first year of high school I grew in a lot of ways and moved on from a lot of things, I made so many new friends and I'm still thankful for them. I was finally able to figure out how to best get along with my mom while dealing with my own problems. I went to New York City for my first time and fell in love with the city and with Newsies.

Junior year was hard but in different ways than sophomore year. I was able to meet even more people and had the best group ever in my english class that year. I went to my first school dance, and was turned down for the first time for Sadie's. I grew even closer to a lot of my friends and lost some others along the way. It honestly wasn't anything too special, but I'm glad that I was able to have the experiences that I did. I feel like there is more that happened junior year that has been repressed because I can't think of anything else.

This year I joined the swim team and made so many friends, I don't know how I went so long without knowing these fantastic people. I also fell in love with biotechnology. I also took one of my favorite classes ever and gained a new appreciation for poetry in this class. Ever since I was little I thought I would be going to BYU, that's just what I was raised to think, then I realized that BYU is just not my school, it's not the perfect match, I decided on Utah State where I can have the major I want and escape the "mormon bubble". I was turned down for Sadie's twice and Preference once, but I am so glad I was because I was able to have so much more fun with the boys I ended up taking, two of my best friends. Prom wasn't what I had imagined; set up the night before with a junior I had never met. He was really nice but it was the most awkward date I have ever been on, I also thought I was going to die on the ride to the Capital and the ride back, seriously the boy driving was the scariest I've ever experienced.

I may only have taken one AP class in my entire high school career, but for me that's okay.
I may not have done everything I wanted to while in high school but what I did do was fantastic and there are so many things that I'm so glad I did. I have so few regrets and I'm really pleased that it is that way now.
I'm proud of where I am today and how far I've come since finishing middle school. All of the memories I've made and friendships that have grown are not to be forgotten.
So here's to all the first kisses, last dances, and ACT tests.
And here's to the class of 2015, we've made it this far together, now it's time to head out on our own and make new memories and find new friends.
Best of luck to all of you.

Sylver Rayne/Kirsten Cluff