Growing up we expected high school to be like the movies. Films showed people getting leads in plays, falling in love, having amazing grades and making memories. As many people are aware, the reality of high school is not as glamorous.

My freshman year was during COVID, which was already a rough start. Instead of football games and parties, I experienced life with my peers through Zoom. Soon, we started going to class six feet apart, making the most of our situation. It was not anything Netflix worthy, but for the class of 2024, it was our perfect at the time.

Soon the mandates started to lift, and we could slowly go back to school. It was sophomore year and I was ready for my moment in a Kansas-version of High School Musical.

I lived in this mindset of bliss. I created memories in theater and choir, even went to my first high school dance. I was able to make the most of a social life I was deprived of since middle school. I created amazing friendships and even fell in love.

Yet, being so focused on living my High School Musical fantasy, I forgot about the important part of school: school work. I let my grades slip and I fell behind. I was able to get pretty good grades at the end of that year and thought nothing of it when time came for summer.

Onto junior year. At the start of eleventh grade, I lived in a bubble of ignorance. I didn’t go to school much, yet I still focused on social aspects: choir, theater, show choir, musicals, plays and parties. Basically I did anything related to school, except the work I needed to do. This all came and hit me like a bus in December of 2022.

I realized I used social events and friends as a mask of sadness. When the workload started to pile up, I froze, yet I got my stuff done. Although I worked through and came out with only two mediocre grades, I knew I needed a change.

During my second half of junior year, I moved in with my grandparents in Illinois. While there I learned I was capable of creating long-lasting friendships and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. I created a new life for myself through growth.

I tried new things, like joining the newspaper staff and evening finding a Christian faith. Though I changed and evolved, I knew that it was not my home.

Senior year, I came home. I took myself and developed new habits. Instead of missing 40 days of school at BVHS, I changed it to 4. I learned the importance of balancing a social life and an academic one.

Senior year allowed me to grow in ways I did not think was possible. I started volunteering with kids and at the food drive. I learned I could go to football games and wake up the next morning to do my calculus homework.

Through the challenges high school has brought, it also has given me memories for a life-time. I am thankful for the tough parts so I can recognize the good. Although movies like High School Musical create an ideology that high school has to be film worthy, allow yourself to have balance and know it’s OK not to be like Gabriel and Troy.