Beginnings happen every day; waking up is a beginning, school is a beginning, every life is a beginning. 

Life is a cycle that makes routines a constant, but then things change. 

There are ups, there are downs, and things always shift and shake. 

We all constantly cycle through happiness, to anxiety, to depression, and to hope. 

I found my cycle, and everyday something happens that alters it just a little. I take an extra step down the hall, I wave to a different person, I laugh at a new thing, it all becomes a new routine. But what happens when our routine breaks? Do we become lost, do we start making a new one, do we shift into someone else’s? The list cycles as much as our old routine, but now, everything is different… 

My routine broke a while ago, it shattered and all I could do was watch. My structure and stability was shaken to its core. My thoughts and ideas changed. I didn’t know who I was anymore. That was the first step down the halls, the first step in the band room, the first step in the newspaper, everything turned my world upside down. 

I began to get the gist and tried to learn all I could, but it was incredibly difficult going from homeschool to Marian Catholic. I just simply wasn’t used to having these expectations, but I still survived!

        The leaps and bounds I have made in character and knowledge have made me so much stronger. I can do things I never dreamed of, like play an instrument, write paper after paper, solve real world problems, and so many other things that just have become natural to me. I have learned to trust myself and others more, which was extremely difficult for me to accept. I don’t need control in every situation, I can simply be content to follow. I can lead projects and take the time to make something I’m proud of. I have become someone else than that little freshman, and I only move closer and closer to who I want to be.

        I have had to fight many battles as well. Schoolwork is always overwhelming, the band has a very long schedule, and extracurriculars are always on my mind. These struggles have made me who I am, and the scars only prove that I lived through them. The bumps and bruises were inevitable, but life always delights in the unexpected. Learning from mistakes made me accept that I have different ideas and thoughts than many other people, and that it’s okay to think differently than others. I can stand up with my injuries and keep going, because I learned that it’s okay to want to heal. Each one of these breaths that reach my lungs has become precious to me, because it reminds me that I am alive, and I have faced my perceived impossibilities.

        In The Spartan Star, I was just a first-year writer. I didn’t know anything about articles, but I knew I was a poet. I can write for days on end, and it makes each compliment so much more personal. Through countless letters and words, I showed some people how I think. I taught people about me through how I make my own art. Each word gives a glimpse into a new world of endless possibilities, and for that I thank all who read this work. 

        I thank all of you who see how I think, how I hope, how I dream. It means the world and beyond to me that all these little thoughts that come to pass became immortalized in ink and paper. Only through the support of my peers, teachers, and family have I gotten this incredible ability to write. I plan on using my pen to my death, and even then my words can still reach someone. I will never stop learning, and the stories that I collect and write down are always close to my heart. 

        For my grand finale in high school, I thank you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope that everyone on earth can create just a little good and give it to someone else. 

        It may be curtains on high school, but it’ll never be the end.