Dear West Boca Raton Community High School,

I went into my freshman year with equal parts nervousness, excitement, and a dash of complete apathy. This was it, high school. American media has popularized and dramatized high school time and time again, and to be honest, while I did not believe in the overdramatized stereotypical high school Hollywood is so fond of, I truly didn’t know what to truly expect. My personal belief was that it would be no different than middle school.

In this, I was both wrong and right in my assumption.

Yes, objectively, it was in most ways middle school 2.0, in terms of classes and coursework. With the exceptions being the classes were harder and you got the opportunity to take some classes you were interested in. I expected this.

What I didn’t expect was the collective camaraderie and genuinely good people I would meet. I found people I could connect with more than a superficial acquaintanceship between peers. I found camaraderie and friendship with the people of the newspaper, one that I cherish, as cheesy as that is. I found both students and teachers that genuinely care about how you were doing, and teachers that loved teaching their respective subjects as much as I loved learning about them. (I love to learn, so it was most likely a lot.)

My advice for people, as cliche as it is, is just to enjoy the ride. Society, especially now, expects so much out of students it’s often overwhelming on the best of days. Do what I had to learn the hard way, take a breather and go to a game, just for the sake of going, whether or not you like the sport. Cheer and attend the pep rallies, despite how pointless they might seem at the time. Join clubs just to try them, and perhaps you could find at least one person you just click with. This is the last stop before we’re tossed out into the world with no life vest on, so it’s time to start building those rafts. Just as the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither are you, so enjoy the experience as you work towards your future.

Thank you West Boca for these four amazing years. 

Jordan Smith