I remember asking my second grade teacher what the 2021 next to my name was on my report card. She told me it was the year of our graduation. It seemed like it was never going to come. I remember fantasizing about high school. It was going to be just like the movies: driving around with my friends all night, going to school dances, and living it up like the cool seniors I had looked up to. 

Well, as you might have guessed, that wasn’t how it turned out. I got to spend my junior and senior years living it up in my house with my dogs (like my actual dogs, not like dawgs). It definitely was a big let down not getting to have those special moments I had anticipated getting to experience, but we made different memories. I’m not saying they are necessarily better, but who else can say they were Pod 8 champs?

Seriously, this made me understand what is really important. It’s not the $500 prom dress I bought a month before going into lock down (and, yes I did occasionally put it on to just watch Netflix). The things that really matter, what really made these four years special were the people who cared. The teachers who made sure there was enough time to do the fun activities even if we were low on time. The girls at lunch who took me in and made me feel a part of the group. My classmates who complimented my outfits every morning. Thank you all for caring about me.  

Out of all the things I learned here, the most important was that I learned to be someone who cares.