I began high school at Buchanan. I had the choice between a public school and FC, and, being uninformed and unsuspecting as I was, I chose the former.

Two months into freshman year, however, I realized how miserable I was, being at a school of 3000 with “friends” who could care less whether or not I showed up that day.

It was then I decided to give FC a try.

Contrary to popular belief, there is not a huge difference between public school and private. I simply hit the jackpot; my class was full of welcoming peers who immediately invited me into their lives.

All of a sudden I found myself in choir, which I loved, playing new sports and attending a new church with an amazing youth pastor. My life began to change for the better, all because of one decision: to switch high schools.

Each year seemed to get even better and by the time my senior year started, I had an amazing group of friends and a lifetime of memories with a million and a half pictures to go along with them.

Something changed, however, in the last semester of this year. My three and a half year record of drama-free friendships disintegrated.

All of a sudden people were gossiping about their “best friend” as well as every other “close” friend, and the worst part is, our so-called tight-knit group fell apart.

That got me to thinking about how ridiculous and unnecessary gossip is. I am guilty of it, as is every person, but how much better would it be if everyone made a conscious effort to cut down on all the bashing?

So this is my piece of advice for the underclassmen: stop focusing on the faults of others, because, in actuality, we all have faults and let’s face it, we all get on someone’s nerves at some point.

Nobody is perfect, so we need to act more like the family in Christ that we are and less like competitors attempting to out-do the others and point out their flaws.

Instead, distinguish between sincere and damaging friends and hold on to those relationships like nothing else, because, before you know it, senior year is over and everyone goes their separate ways, and chances are, you will not see many of them again.