Coming to high school was not as I thought it would be. I came thinking it would have been this fun high school experience with lots of friends and fun classes. But it was exactly the opposite. 

I came to school with an anxious mindset hoping to make new friends. Unfortunately, that did not come easy. I had a lot of social anxiety and was scared to talk to new people. I would make conversations here and there, but it wasn’t like people I talked to were besties. They were people I had classes with, occasionally saw in the hall and said hi to, or people I asked questions about where everything was. 

But this anxiety came from being apart from people for two years. It wasn’t until I had this random thought pop into my head about graduating a year early. It was the randomest thought, but the more I thought about it, I liked the idea. It wasn’t until I managed to email my wonderful counselor who walked me through the process of it. Turns out, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Thanks to her!

In the long run, I had a lot of pros and cons about graduating early. Benefits would be going into college a year earlier, getting out of school faster, and hopefully becoming successful. Cons were not being able to graduate with my junior friends. That was mostly it.

According to “Pros and Cons of Graduating High School a Year Early” by College Raptor Staff, “You can get a head start on college.. You can save a lot of money…You may be able to start working early… You’ll skip the senioritis.”

But I knew in the long run, that this would be the best decision for me. I felt that I have been held back in some ways; I felt stuck. Not to say that high school isn’t beneficial at all, don’t get me wrong, but mentally and physically, I was exhausted. I think this is mutually agreeable within students.

In some ways, there were days when I would come to school and didn’t want to be here, but then there were other days where I was sad at the thought of leaving. But school isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. You can be successful in your own way without anyone’s judgment getting in between that. 

I think I’m a little sad at the thought of joining programs a little late and that I didn’t get to experience what those programs could have been at the beginning of the year. But it’s okay. All I can do now is live in the moment and learn.