The End of the Beginning

Wow. I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm a Senior. That's right. All my hard work in middle school and high school has led up to this: the finale of a great secondary education.

I moved to Lexington in fifth grade from a small rural town in eastern Kentucky. I attended Athens Elementary in fifth grade. Even in when I was fifth grade, I was exposed to many new opportunities that I would not have been aware of if I stayed in my old town. For example, in fifth grade, I joined Academic Team and won the OCOV Mayor's Cup and Superintendent's Cup with the rest of my team. Had I not come to Lexington, I would have never joined Academic Team and had an opportunity to win these competitions.

As middle school approached, I started branching out and making more friends. I joined new clubs that targeted my interests, such as Track & Field and Math Team. I loved all my teachers and classes. Most importantly, I made sure to enjoy my three years at this school because I knew that everything would become a lot harder when I entered high school. I would have to grow up, which was an alien idea for a twelve year old.

High school came and hit me. Hard. I never received more than half an hour of homework a day in middle school. I had time to go to as many after school activities as I wanted, and still have time to go outside for a couple of hours. The concepts of stress and time management were foreign to me. After my first week at Henry Clay High School, I knew that I had to focus. I needed to become organized and learn the art of time management. I needed to mature fast. It turns out that freshman year was going to be the easiest year of my secondary education. Little did I know..

I transferred to MSTC as a sophomore. Wow. Compared to Henry Clay, Dunbar was college. By the time I had transitioned, sophomore year was done. I was not able to hit the ground running that year. It was by far the worst year of school to date. I hadn't made many friends in my MSTC class at the end of sophomore year either. Most of the MSTC students had already made their own cliques and I felt like I was always the odd one out. I was always with the "leftover" group in labs and I didn't have any friends to call to answer my questions. Then came Junior year. Most of friends were from the MSTC class of 2014. I thought that I would continue to talk to them more than the people in my class. Unfortunately, I found that I had very few classes with the underclassmen. I was disappointed. I thought it would be a long, mundane year again. I was starting to regret that I ever transferred to Dunbar. Surprisingly, some of the groups opened up to me and allowed me to join in on the friendship. I had study buddies. I felt comfortable with my MSTC Junior-only classes. I felt invited. It was almost like I was back at Henry Clay with all my childhood friends. I decided that I could not wait for Senior year.

Senior year has arrived. College applications are going to be tedious and aggravating. My classes are going to be difficult. I am going to confined in high school for another year (compared to the freedom in college). But Senior year doesn't just come with negatives. It has a bright side too! In fact, the good side outweighs the bad side BY FAR. I'll be with my friends for another year. I have the best teachers. I get to enjoy the rewards of working hard in high school when college decisions are mailed back. I get to relax and forget standardized exams. I can drive to any place I want. And most importantly, I can sleep in when zero hour is canceled (trust me, zero hour is rarely canceled for underclassmen).

I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm looking forward to school. I have come a long way since I first moved to Lexington. I have matured, both emotionally and physically. I feel like I'm ready to conquer the world. Why? Because I'm a Senior.