Moving On: Leaving the High School State of Mind in the Past

Frank Zappa once said, “high school is a state of mind.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

As I’m sitting down at 1 a.m. to write this column the night before my senior prom, I’m nine days into my internship, and in my mind, high school has already been reduced to a past state of existence that barely even makes sense.  Part of my internship entailed paying two brief visits to Staples, and walking through those halls again was the weirdest feeling.

It did not feel like I belonged anymore.

I looked around at all the younger students drudging from class to class, and even though we’re only a year or two apart, it certainly struck me that the issues they are dealing with on a day-to-day basis already feel worlds away from mine.

For every junior, sophomore, or freshman reading this who is currently struggling with any aspect of high school, I promise you that if you persevere, things are going to change. I’ve already experienced it.

And it hit me a couple days ago that I now have choices I haven’t had in a long time. I’m no longer governed by the hallways of Staples. If I don’t like somebody, I don’t have to see them at all. We’re not going to end up at the same lunch table, we’re not going to see each other on the way to chemistry, and we’re certainly not going to have three classes together next semester.  As for my friends?  I can still call them up every day if I want.

If this is even a glimpse of how graduating from high school is going to feel, then life is really about to change for us, and I mean that in a good way.  Will a majority of us still be going to “school” in some form three months from now?  Yes. But that is the only area that these next few years are going to have in common with our high school years.  How come?  Because our mindsets have changed.  As have those of every other high school graduate around the world.

During my four years at Staples, I’ve watched some of my peers doing things that you can only get away with in high school.  Things like kicking people out of lunch tables, poking fun at the way people choose to dress, using high school’s rigid social hierarchy in a mean-spirited way.

And let me be clear, I’m not in any way trying to criticize any of my classmates; I wasn’t perfect either, just ask anyone.

I’m simply stating that all of this is behind us now.

We each walked into Staples freshman year with nothing but a blank white board attached to our names. Over these last four years, our peers, our teachers, our coaches, and our parents have all written on that board.

Graduation is about erasing whatever’s written on your white board and starting completely fresh.

High school is becoming a memory. Just like the first time you rode a bike, or that time in sixth grade when you tripped and fell at recess, it’s all in the rearview mirror.  And whether it’s a fond memory, a sour one, or somewhere in between, is totally up to you.

But any way you slice it, we’re moving on.

Congratulations class of 2012!!