Throughout my last four years of high school, I have learned many things. What has stuck out to me most is to always appreciate what you have and strive to do more for yourself.

I moved to Converse from Amarillo five years ago. Little did I know it was going to completely change my life. I left behind my home town, many friends, and most importantly, my family. Going through a drastic change, being depressed, and leaving all that I had known, things felt like they gradually got worse. Shortly after I moved here, I lost my dad to ‘natural causes.’ Him being one of the big things I left behind really struck me and kept eating at me for the next two years as I finished middle school and started high school.

As I began high school, the death of my father was a weight on my shoulders, so I didn’t really try to do anything. I kept to myself and I did my school work, but not to the extent that was my best.

With freshman year coming to an end, I didn’t have many close friends and I still was hung up on my dad’s passing. I wanted a better sophomore year, so I tried pushing myself in classes to feel like I was doing something that was worth being happy about. I tried to be more open and accepting to new people, which lead me to finding my three best friends who helped me get out there.

I began the next three years of my high school life a lot better than I expected. I actually made A’s in all of my classes, I hung out with friends and I was actually happy. Sophomore year, I wanted to do better for myself and see how far I could get with taking harder classes and actually getting into organizations. These small things helped me have a goal to do better and to do more.

Doing more for myself helped me get where I am today, helped me feel accomplished that I actually did something in high school, as well as helped me see that you have to do things for yourself and not just for others.

Being happy now with how I’m ending high school makes me think about the moments when people say, “high school was the worst”, “I tried to get out as a fast as possible”, or even those who say, “make the most of it while you’re a kid.” But with all those things being said, it’s all about how you make it and what you do for yourself. When it comes down to the point, it’s your life and you are the one who controls your future.