Throughout life, a large portion of the things that come up will seem annoying or mundane, but if you spend all of the time you are given hating these things, your life will be full of resentment. 

As the year comes to an end, people in every grade begin to look back and reflect on their time at West. During my consideration of the past four years, the word that came to my mind was cherish. To cherish the moments you are given and to find something to make everyday more worthwhile.

Believe me, I know how difficult it is to wake up everyday to go to school then when you finally come home just to have a long to-do list of assignments waiting for you. It is so easy to fall into a sense of discontentment where each day at school is spent counting down the minutes until you leave or complaining about all the tasks that are being assigned. But my advice to you is to cherish the moments you have and to look for the good in each and every moment. There is enough bad in the world that will present itself, so look for the joy that is there, too.

Although you may have a long list of tasks you need to do, you still get the chance to be with your friends and to access education that others might not have the opportunity to get. You don’t want to think back after graduation and realize that the last four years of your life were spent dreading every moment in school and wasting every moment out of school scrolling endlessly on your phone, so look for ways to make each and every day memorable. Wear that outfit that makes you happy, participate in the spirit days, join that club, or give that compliment you were thinking. Just be your authentic self and work to find the joy in the small mundane moments. High school comes with many elements of stress, but it can also come with genuine friendships and cherished memories if you let it.