Fully prepared to be a freshman, again

I did not believe graduation day would come, but it has. From the outside Lawrence Woodmere Academy (LWA) looks completely diverse, full of kids with backgrounds from all over the world.

From the outside, no one would know all the things we have in common, from bonding over how badly we think we failed a test, to cheering on this year’s championship baseball team. It is easy to form connections with people here. LWA is about getting to know people whom, without LWA, you would not have known.

As a freshman I was one of only a few new kids. I thought it was strange that there were so few new students first entering as ninth-graders. Then, as I started to talk to my classmates I realized that LWA is all that they have ever known since preschool. Although you could say my journey started later than most, I had no problem feeling welcome by faculty and students.

As sophomores I thought, as did my classmates, that I knew everything there was to know about high school, because we were not the lowest on the totem pole. Despite this, there’s no doubt everyone had matured.

As junior year came upon me, reality set in. Each student found his or her place in clubs and on sports teams, and built a college résumé to stand out from the crowd. SAT and ACT tests were the trending topics in the junior classrooms. Every junior complained about how miserable sitting there for three hours is. Eleventh grade was both the most challenging and rewarding year of high school.

In the last year of high school everything was different — anxiety, excitement and nostalgia set in with college acceptances, senior prom and of course, graduation. The freshmen looked smaller, the scones in the cafeteria tasted better, and teachers became our friends. Everyone learned all the tricks of getting by in high school.

Everything I have done for the past four years has boiled down to one incredible milestone graduation. I received my diploma last week and threw my cap in the air. For the last time, I sat in Hessel Hall as a student. I left LWA with a solid foundation to embark on my journey to college and beyond. The class of 2016 is way their way to being freshmen again and there is so much to look forward to.