The year is 2011. You’re standing with your kindergarten classmates, each wearing a cap and gown that wouldn’t even fit your arm anymore. Your parents are celebrating, and there are no tears yet because this is your first graduation. Your teacher makes you perform a song with a choreographed dance as your parents’ bright grins battle with the flash of their cameras. 

The year is now 2024. This four-digit number has been hidden in a file cabinet somewhere in your brain, but now it’s time to unlock it as the kindergarten class of 2011 prepares to walk the big stage.

The day you wished would come sooner is now creeping closer and closer, and your resentment of school has now become a reflection. This will be the last time you step onto the field with your high school team, build robots with your after-school club, or eat lunch with your friends in the courtyard. Rather than looking back at these times with sorrow, you should be grateful for those who made these memories happen. Grateful for your parents for any of the times they drove you to school, the teachers who made sure you were prepared for your exams, and your coaches who pushed you to be your best. 

Let both of these emotions consume you as you step onto the stage. It’s good to be thankful for everyone who has shaped your high school career, but also remember that you made your mark on others as well. From the simplest act of holding the door open to making sure they understood the test material, there is no need to worry about being a passing face in the hallway.

Years from now, you won’t think of that one calculus test you failed or when you didn’t get the officer position you applied for, but rather of the voyage you embarked on and the people you traveled with. 

The ugly truth is that you can never come back to high school. The phrase “good things always come to an end” might not be something you associate with graduating, but just like closing a good book, breaking up, and the last day of school, endings are inevitable. Instead of wallowing in sadness, you should focus on the good that comes out of this finale. Your kindergarten idol, Winnie the Pooh, once said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”