Olivia+H.

[|Animoto]

Script

I've always heard that high school is supposed to be the time during which you "find yourself." Well, I may not have found a way to define myself just yet, but I have had some amazing experiences that are definitely worth nothing. I started freshmen year excited for the next four years of my life. I had already made the dance team duing the summer. I even had a pretty decent class schedule. And I had a group of girls who I thought would be my best friends for the next four years. But by the end of the year, we had already drifted apart. It all worked out though because during my sophomore year, I made some great new friends. It was with this group that I passed so many teenage milestones: turning sixteen, earning a driver's license, beginning the exhausting college search process. And even though we knew that we had a challenging junior year ahead, we also knew that we had each other to lean on in order to survive it. Then came our second half, so to speak, of high school, bringing with it college visits, AP classes, and SAT prep. It seemed like all that anyone had time for was work. But, just like most other high school students, we still managed to find ways to do what we wanted to do. We filled our Friday nights with football games and hanging out at each other's houses. We went shopping and went off campus for lunch. We even found time to get dressed up and go to prom. All the good times made the year fly by and, before we knew it, we were standing face to face with our senior year, the year filled with so many lasts and so many firsts. When the summer ended, we had our last first day of high school and the senior car parade. As dance team captain, I had my first experience of choreographing so many dances, but I also had my last football games to dance at and my last pep rally to perform in. We had our last high school snow days and our first taste of acceptance and rejection letters from colleges. But, most importantly, we had our first real glimpse at how life would be after high school, when we moved onto college. I think we all basically decided that we would have the best year possible before we went our separate ways, so we did all that we could to spend time together: went to the state fair, participated in spirit week, attended the New Moon premiere, had Disney-themed parties and snow day sleepovers. We tried our best to do it all. We even spent an amazing week at Emerald Isle for our senior year spring break. And then, in a flash, it seemed like the year was over. So, now, here we stand. I look back on all of the amazing times and, I have to admit, the whole idea of graduation is bittersweet. There's the excitement of going to a new place, meeting new people, learn new things, all of which seems sweet. But there's the bitter too: the unfamiliarity, the missing comforts of family and sleeping in my own bed, the separation from friends. For me, it's going to be even more difficult because I'm being torn away not only from school friends, but also from my best friends at Cary Dance Productions, the dance studio where I've spent a good deal of the last six years of my life. It's hard to explain the bond that forms between 17 girls who see each other almost every day and have together experienced the best of times, the worst of times, and just about every time in between. All I can say is that I will definitely be bringing a huge box of tissues to our last dance recital on June 12. I have faith though that college won't keep me from maintaining the strong relationships that I've managed to build over the last four years. Because I think that's the most important thing that I've learned. Change is inevitable. Times are going to change. People are going to change. Situations are going to change. But the good friends are going to be there to help you cope with those changes, no matter the circumstances.