Today At School

A question I was always asked growing up was “what did you learn at school today?”, and I would always just say, “nothing much”, but I think I finally have an answer. High school was a turning point for me just because of the things I was going through, but because of what I was going through I feel like it changed my highschool experience. Going to a public school, there is more diversity than going to private school, and even though Oak Hill is a small school, everyone is still so different. It took me a while to be comfortable with not fitting into a group, but it was the truth. I wasn’t like everyone else enough to actually fit in any group, but eventually I realized neither was anyone else. My junior year I found a group of friends I really clicked with, and it was people I never expected to be friends with. Today at school I learned you can’t pick your friends.  

I faced a lot of things at home that interfered with how I was able to go about school. I didn’t talk about it much, because I was always the person to help everyone else and face my problems myself, but when the time came that I needed help, no one was there. All of the people I thought were my friends really weren’t, it was the people I least expected to be there for me, that actually helped me. Going through what I did, and having the people that helped me come into my life out of nowhere made me realize that no matter how much you want someone to be there for you, how bad you try to put them in your life, you can’t make someone be there for you. The people that helped me were people I had gone to school with, but I wasn’t friends with them. They didn’t know of my problems,or that I needed help, I didn’t reach out to them, they didn’t reach out to me, naturally things just fell into place because we went to school together, and they changed my life more than anyone ever has. Everyone always says “you can pick who your friends are”, which yes is true to a point, but high school taught me sometimes the best frends are the ones you don’t pick. 

Another thing I learned in highschool, is you cannot predict the future. Everyone has an idea of what high school is like, and once I was in high school, I thought I knew how things were going to go. I planned on a regular senior year.I would procrastinate, which I did, and in the last month I would do everything. Not the smartest plan, but that was just what was going to happen. What I didn’t plan on happening though, was COVID-19! At the same time, I don’t think anyone really planned on it happening. Today at school I learned you cannot predict the future. 

I work at Main Street Market, which is essential by the way. However, that does not mean call and order food, please and thanks. Since all nonessential businesses were shut down during quarantine, things at work got extremely busy, and because I was no longer going to school, I could work as many hours as I wanted. Which at first, was really cool, but now that graduation is only weeks away, I have to do an entire semester’s worth of work, in very little time. I stayed up for 48 hours straight because I had to work during the day, but I had procrastinated too much to not do school work at night. cI wish I could redo my senior year, I definitely would have done more school work when I could have, but no one planned on a state shut down. 

It is my last “day at school”, and I just want to say, today at school I learned so many life lessons no curriculum could ever teach. Today I realized school is not just about what is learnt during classes, but also the mini life lessons intertwined in everyday interactions, the decisions we as students make, the plans we make for the future. Today at school I learned…  

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