Before high school, I always thought it was crazy that artist Lorde wrote her Grammy-nominated album “Pure Heroine” at the age of sixteen. She’s so young, there’s no way she could write an album, I thought. But if high school taught me anything, it’s that only a 16-year-old could write a masterpiece like that. This album shows us that the emotions and experiences we face in our adolescent years light us on fire like no other age ever could.

For me, high school was a four-year course of “firsts.” These include my first intense emotions, first highs and lows, first relationships, first breakups, first parties, first bad grades, first serious deadlines but most importantly, the first idea I got of exactly what it means to be human. 

I left behind my innocence, but along the way, I also left behind everything that holds me back. I am coming out of here stronger than I’d ever been before. High school gave me a chance to avenge my younger self and take my power back from everything that scared him. To everybody in Algonquin, take a second to appreciate your inner child and tell them that they are loved. Younger you would be happy to hear it.

To everybody remaining in Algonquin, and to those leaving alongside me, I share with you what I know best. Remember that light cannot exist without darkness because there would be nothing to compare it to. There must be an opposite for anything; the universe was founded upon yin and yang. Therefore, you may not have happiness without sadness. Remember that your emotions are valid, and take your time to feel them to their fullest extent. 

I also remind you all to never judge anybody. We are all humans, we are all similar and we are all connected. Realize that everything and everyone is a mirror to your own being. Everything you judge within somebody else is only something you are afraid of within yourself. Take that with you wherever you find yourself in this life.

I leave you all with one last fundamental piece of my life, the law of attraction. You are the creator. If everything in the universe came from a singular geometric point of nothingness, then everything is connected and everything is one. Therefore, if you exist, you are the universe. The only person that can hold you back is yourself. Everything you have ever wished for is already yours.