As my high school experience comes to an end, I reflect on my years at Hart with boundless gratitude and fondness. I started these four years feeling completely unprepared for the tumultuous process of growing up, but I’m leaving them feeling more ready than ever.
I’ve always been one to grow too attached to my teachers, and I can’t say that has changed at all in high school. I have so much admiration for the people who filled my days with new information and helped me expand my intellectual horizons.
Through my English classes I learned what I wanted to do with my life, through my elective classes I discovered that learning doesn’t have to be boring and through my math classes I learned that…I really don’t like math. Learning became something I enjoyed instead of something I felt forced to do, and I found my passions along the way.
Even though my high school experience was rudely interrupted by a global pandemic, one of my favorite things about high school remains to be that it seemingly never changes. Even as time passes, teenagers still love to blast music in the halls, go to football games, stay up too late studying, complain about finals and ditch class to hang out with their friends. I remember being a kid and feeling so excited to live the classic American high school experience that I’d see in the movies, and it’s been everything I imagined.
Above all else, the thing I’m going to miss most once I leave this place behind is the ease of friendships. Seeing friends every day, being able to support them just by showing up to their sporting events and all living in the same place is a special privilege that inevitably fades in adulthood.
It feels surreal that this chapter of our lives is coming to a close, but I couldn’t have spent these four years with a better group. Friends, acquaintances, classmates and even people I’ve never spoken to have shared such a special experience with me. We watched each other grow up, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for every one of us.
Farewell, Hart High. I hope the Class of 2027 treats you well.
