Senior Column by Meredith Thornton

I think a lot of people misunderstand things that I say sometimes. I’m pretty sure I misunderstand what I say sometimes. Okay. That opinion article I wrote a while back about how I think people who settle for a school are bums, doesn’t mean I think people who go to college in state for legitimate reasons are slackers. I think people who just go to K-wood or U of I without looking at all their options suck. See, there’s a difference. But I don’t even know why I’m using my senior column for this. Really, who cares?

Anyway. So City. I do love City High but it’s more of an, “I love this building and all the memories I have here, but I really can’t stand being around anyone I know for another 2 minutes,” type of love.

Think about it. You’ve probably done so many exciting things here that you couldn’t possibly remember all of them. We’ve spent approximately 720 days and 36 months to total the 4 years that we’ve all had together. And now we’re leaving, whether it is to Oregon, Maine, downtown IC or in my case, Tennessee. But we’ve also spent at least that much and probably more time together, which is part of the problem. I am so ready to meet new people. Aren’t you?

Remember when your babysitter was in high school and you thought they were SO old and wise and just, grown up? We’ve been at that point for a while now, and I don’t feel the way I thought I’d feel. I still feel like a little girl, that I have too much to learn and more than enough time to figure it all out. But I don’t. I know it sounds morbid to think that as soon as you’re born you start to die, but it’s true. We’re all growing up. And we’re all waiting for something. We need to stop waiting and start living. I know that life isn’t going to change all that much when we go to college and there isn’t some magical land over the rainbow where all dreams come true. But maybe if we finally take our lives into our own hands-really take control of our lives, we can accomplish something amazing.

I was looking at my mom’s high school yearbook the other day and she told me about all of these people who are totally drunk now and people who got rich right after college. It was so cool to hear it from my fairly accomplished mother that people you go to school with really do hit both sides of the spectrum. While I’m thinking about my parents, my dad has a really cool life too. Firstly, he has me-so that’s cool, but he also works in DC and has all of these awesome job opportunities. But he really doesn’t have anything to say about his HS years.

Your parents probably have a pretty sweet life too and they might have been someone completely opposite in high school. What we’ve done here doesn’t define us. As cliché as this sounds, leaving City is the beginning of a completely new and crazy adventure. And I am so excited to journey on.