Just a short three and a half years ago I was walking the halls as a skittish, little freshman just trying to get my 5’2 self to class on time. I was in new classes I thought I was interested in and swam through my days learning the ins and outs of a new school.

Now I am a senior and I have taken a lot of experiences and life lessons away from these past few years.

Take note, none of them are academic lessons.

I am a walking cliche of what the administrators speak on the first day of high school: try new things. You will never know what you do or don’t like unless you give new activities a chance.

As a freshman I thought I was going to be on color guard and twirl baton for the marching band and became Bellevue West’s first feature twirler. This was my mindset all summer during band camp up until after the East versus West football game that year.

While I did get to twirl the duration of the school song, it was not at all what I expected after what I had heard from other schools. After that season of my envisions and expectations completely switching, I did not stick to marching band after that year.

Being with the band was something I thought would be a part of my high school years but it turned out to only take a semester for me to realize it wasn’t my thing.

During this same year, I was asked if I was interested in being on newspaper staff and applying for the next year.

My first instinct was to completely disregard that idea because, as much as I liked writing, I did not want to be a part of the journalism department. I was sucked into the stigma that journalists are weird, nosy and relentless (which can be halfway true at times).

Now as a senior speaking as the Editor-In-Chief of the newspaper staff, you can see where my interests switched in just a couple months. I’m not sure why I ended up applying for staff; maybe because I felt wanted and like I was really good at something so i figured why not give it a shot?

I can say that was one of the best decisions I have made during high school. My passion for writing grew, I made a lot of good friends every year I was on staff and I grew as an individual expanding my leadership skills and overall finding who I am and who I want to be.

As cliche as it sounds, high school really is the time to expand your interests and find what you do or don’t like. It’s a time to discover who you are and at least have an idea of what you find intriguing so you aren’t running around like a headless chicken after graduation.

Even if what you want to try is outside your interest zone, it might just be what inspires you. Don’t be afraid to succeed or fail or even waste some time. Try, and then quit or endure–it might just be the best decision of high school.