My freshman year self did not expect that I would be sad to leave high school.

After my first day at ARHS, I came home and cried. The school was too big. There were too many people I didn’t know. I got lost and couldn’t figure out how to get to the buses, how to pay for my lunch, or how to get from class to class. I was overwhelmed.

Slowly, I began to find my place. I wandered the booths of the Extracurricular Extravaganza, and found the groups that would define my experience at Algonquin. Ballroom, Model UN, Juggling Club, The Harbinger, and the robotics team all pulled me in. I talked to kids in my classes, and people who had seemed so different and distant became familiar, even those mystifying Southborough kids.

When I was a marching band freshman at football games, I couldn’t picture myself as one of the thundering seniors screaming “Ole, ole” chants in the stands next to me. But when I was there, standing on the bleachers in the rain, with “SENIOR” painted on me, I felt every bit a part of Algonquin.

Becoming happy has come with a price. Graduation is here, and soon I’ll be moving on. My friends are scattering across the country to their colleges. I’m saying goodbye to the classmates that I enjoy seeing for quick moments between classes, chats at lunch, or catching up in the dubs nugs line. I will even have to leave my robotics team, which has become my home within ARHS.

As strange as it seems, I will miss waking up at 5:45 am, cramming into cafeteria tables, and fighting through D100 in the middle of the day.

Now the halls that once seemed so cavernous are feeling a little too small. The group of kids in our class that once seemed impossibly large is now a bit too few. We’ve outgrown Algonquin. It’s time to move on.

Soon my Gonk maroon and gold will turn into American University red, white, and blue. But my teachers were right, my experience here has prepared me for college. I’ve learned something that will be vital from the day of orientation. Algonquin has taught me how to become a part of a community, and someday, how to say goodbye.