High school is usually described as a time of change, the bridge kids cross to go from childhood to adulthood. These things are true, people do not leave high school as the same person they were when they entered high school.

To me, the craziest part about this, is these changes are so little but they leave such a big impact. For most high schoolers, including myself, high school is started with excitement, anticipation, and fear.

Freshman year everyone is so excited to make it to where the big kids go, imagining who they will become. But by the time senior year rolls around, reality has already hit and shaped us into ways no one would have predicted.

We learn that life is unpredictable and anything can happen, which is not always a bad thing. One major way school changes people is through relationships. Friends come and go in ways that feel out of your control.

Sometimes you lose touch with people you thought would be in your life forever and it doesn’t feel great. On other occasions, you spark the biggest connection with someone you never thought you would connect with. Another change that comes with high school is limits and pushing past them.

High school is constantly jumping from one place to another. From classes to sports to your workplace. There’s always a point in time during high school where you feel overwhelmed, but those are the exact moments where we learn what we are capable of doing.

From time management, to asking for help, or pushing through it yourself. The most important way high school changes people is by helping us figure out who we are or at least pointing us in the right direction of who we are going to become.

It’s easy to get caught in the crowd and want to fit in with everyone else and trying to become what people want you to be. But the sooner you realize their judgement means nothing is the moment you actually will become happy.

By senior year many people realize you don’t have to be the smartest, funniest, or most popular. Just embrace who you are becoming because everyone is unique and not everyone’s standards matter, just yours.

We may leave high school with some regrets but we will also leave with lessons that will help us with whatever comes next. In the end high school doesn’t just change people, it shapes them.