While sitting here writing this, so many images come to mind of the countless ideas to reflect on from my memorable high school years. Overall my high school career is one I thoroughly enjoyed and never want to forget. Now, here I am, scrambling to conjure up the right memories and the important lessons I have learned when I first started coming here in seventh grade.
Since I came from a small private school with 12 people in my sixth grade class, I was nervous about how I would get used to a slightly bigger school here at FC. Luckily, I came here with a few of my close friends and never had to start over with my friendships.
From the start, FC was very welcoming. I jumped right in to classes and electives, loving all the quirks about a small school. There were never difficulties about the person I wanted to be because I fit right in.
FC has felt like a home to me during these last four years. I have come to appreciate the camaraderie that students, and teachers, make during the school year. I have attended countless academic events with students from other groups, been to my teachers houses and bonded with students in the past months wishing I had met them earlier.
Now that I’m in my final week of school, I’ve been dwelling on my favorite moments that have impacted my life and taught me important lessons. God places people in situations where he wants them to work and these are just a few of mine: playing guitar in worship team, acting as a counselor for Calvin Crest, and being President in Spanish Club. No matter how mundane life may be, God has placed you in those situations for his purposes.
Throughout them all, there are two lessons I want to share that seem to have made the most impact on my life in my four high school years.
One thing I have certainly learned over the past few months of my senior year, is to value your friendships. When petty problems and stress creep in, it is easy to forget your friends and their feelings. People always talk about how you lose most of your high school friends when college starts, but I wish and strive to keep the few friendships that mean the most to me.
I have so many fond memories of late-night drives in my car, faithfully called “The Party Bus”, plenty of girl talks with my closest friends and laughing over the most ridiculous scenarios that only seem to happen to high schoolers. These carefree moments are something I know for sure I will miss in a few months. Never pass up the occasion to build a friendship with someone; life is too short to judge people by their appearances and miss the opportunity of gaining a new friend.
To this day, the few girls I came with from elementary school are my closest friends. The parting once summer ends and college begins will be challenging; these ladies became my constant source of laughter and fellowship everyday in school.
The second is to always take value of the opportunities that present themselves. Given that FC is such a small school, you can do basically everything! I have played multiple sports, hosted float building at my house, participated in many clubs and gained new friendships with people I would not normally communicate with had I gone to a big school.
By engaging in these activities, I discovered my likes and dislikes. Initially, I was a shy kid in seventh grade, but five years later, I’m probably one of the loudest people I know. Over the course of middle school and high school, I gained confidence of who I was and entered into crazy situations, just becoming myself.
In the end, my experience with meeting people and loving small environments are just two reasons I chose to attend Whitworth University in the fall. Having a Christian atmosphere in high school, I knew I wanted to attend a Christian school for college. Yes, the school is more liberal, but I look forward to the challenge of testing my beliefs and gaining new insight into the world I will soon be entering.
I have a basic idea of what college might be like, but you can only hear so much before you must discover it yourself. My excitement is mingled with nervousness because this is the first big change I will experience in my life. Moving schools is one thing, but moving to a different state is another.
Right now, my life is basically open and I can do whatever I want. With my FC background, I am confident of the person I hope to be and the honorable impressions I want to uphold. Always be willing to try new things and take charge of the spontaneity of life; you never know what could happen.
Senior Julianne King will attend Spokane’s Whitworth University in the fall.
