High School

What has high school done to you.  I keep looking back to my freshman year, that first day, those first steps into a new school.  All those people around me, new faces, fresh faces.  I was nervous and I think my mind set was screwed up, probably not as much as it is now, but still a tremendous amount.  The thing is, I used to be so set on school.  I validated myself based on what grades I got.  I didn't think excellence could come in any other form than seeing straight As on my report card.  For me personally, I didn't see myself with any sort of identity, everything was focused on school, and by the end of freshman year I was the first in my class.   I put so much pressure on myself to maintain this and to show people how good I was.  However, mid way through sophomore year I began to break.  At first I ignored it, not wanting to let my weakness see the light, but by the end of the year I was consistently getting 3 hours of sleep and spent the other 21 hours worrying about homework, tests, and grades.  Summer before junior year is when I actually broke, I realized I couldn't do it anymore, I was exhausted and depressed and scared.  That's when I dropped all plans of going into full IB and began incorporating lots of cp classes into my class schedule.  And for the first time, I looked around and saw new faces that were actually smiling back at me.  I enjoyed the simplicity of our homework assignments, which finally gave me the freedom to dig deeper into my brain, but on my own terms and time frames.  However, I began to invest my time into getting to know the people around me, and I began to realize how much I had truly missed out on those first two years of high school.  The people that I surround myself with now make me happy. Really truly happy.  And each of them have a story and they have personalities and they're caring people.  I don't waste my time with superficial robots anymore, because they spend all their time stressing over grades and judging each other.  I'm so happy that I can embrace this new lifestyle.  I know this all sounds very dramatic, but I'm being serious, I'm happy, and Princeton really does offer you two completely different universes in which to complete your high school years.  I'm just glad I get to graduate on the colorful side.