My Reflection In High School

Thirty seconds. Thirty seconds is all it takes. It took thirty seconds for me to look at my reflection in the mirror this morning. It took thirty seconds to put on my maroon, polyester graduation gown, hood and hat. Thirty seconds to hang the variety of colorful chords, stolls, and medals around my neck that displayed my achievements throughout high school. Thirty seconds for me to realize that today, I am graduating high school.

As the traditional graduation song that we had all be waiting to hear, Pomp and

Circumstance, started to play, the nervous energy began to rise in the reverberating corridors. As each of us, all 542 two of us, began to enter the colossal arena, in alignment with the students coming in from the opposite entrance, we

But little did they know, I had spent all of my high school years serving them. I served them in those 5 a.m. before school shopping trips. I served them in the nights that I spent at the school working and tearing down events until 1 o’clock in the morning. I served them in my sleepless nights and stressful days. I served them in my countless hours of planning and volunteering. I spent these past four years serving them as student leader, trying to make their experience just a little more tolerable. This wasn’t the significance, though. It wasn’t that I stood superior to them as I stood upon this stage, and that I wanted them to recognize all the hard work I had done for them or everything I had sacrificed for them. However, it was in that moment that I looked into the eyes of my

541 classmates, that I had realized much they had done for me. I am not going to go to the extreme to say I was fond of every single student, because quite frankly the majority of my student body wasn’t exactly my choice of people to surround myself with. But through my service to them, I had truly found myself. That’s what high school was all about, wasn’t it? Finding yourself.

So I stood before them, with my insides feeling turned inside out, my