High School Me,

First off, it has not been that long since you graduated. But, there are so many things that change once you do. Here are just a few things I've learned in the short time its been.

Popularity Doesn't Matter

This, of all things, is the biggest thing I have learned since graduating. All through high school, there is a constant battle to be the best, the one everyone wants to be friends with. It was all about knowing the kids who throw the best parties, the ones who wear the nicest clothes and have the most friends. When high school ends, this disintegrates into the past. These "popular" kids become normal college freshman, just like you. Social status of your high school self means nothing anymore; one person is just as equal as the other. You have the ability to start over, and become anyone you want to be. Some of these kids who peaked in high school become unable to communicate with anyone else other than their high school friends, making them worse off than you. So, those who neglected to be friends with you because they felt they were too good, are actually not as good as they think they are; they just got lucky in high school.

Where you go to School Doesn't Matter

In your senior year of high school, your life revolves around college applications, SAT' s and graduation. Everyone works their asses off to stay away from the dreaded COMMUNITY COLLEGE. The truth is, its not all that bad! Everyone is so worried about getting into the best schools around, and the most expensive, only to gain bragging rights. The truth is, the first year is the same classes anywhere you go. Just because you may not go to a huge school or may commute from home, doesn't mean you're a failure and an idiot. In fact, you are saving money, and gaining the same education everyone else is. So, unless you're going to school to be a lawyer, doctor, or something that requires intense schooling, where you go really doesn't matter.

High School Actually Prepares you For College

I can not even count how many times I though to myself how pointless high school was, and how screwed I was once I got to college. Reality, though, is that high school actually prepares you really well for college. All those nights you were up cramming for tests or finishing those papers, prepared you for the workload you will have the next four years of your education. So, appreciate the work, because you'll be grateful for it in college.

Your Friends Will Change

Unfortunately, once you graduate, people part ways and meet new friends. Sometimes, people you believed you knew change once they go to college, and become someone you don't even know anymore. This includes yourself; you may meet other people and become part of a crowd that you never thought you'd like back in high school. In fact, you even reconnected with people from HS that you never thought you'd be friends with. This happens, and will continue to happen as your college experience progresses. People change and mature, causing friends to come and go. The friends who stick with you through all of this, are really your true friends forever.

So, overall high school self, there are plenty of things I wish I knew while still there, but they are things I know now that helped me to mature as a person. I hope that as college continues, there are more things that change me and make me into someone who will become wise and successful in the future.

Love,

Kelly