High School Departure

Isabelle Gagnon

Winston Churchill once said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”. When we think about high school ending we think of it as the end of a chapter in our lives, and as a new chapter starting. We think back on all the memories and cherish them. Then we must think of what comes after the beginning.

Every book has an end; we are reaching the last chapter of our books. This year, was surreal, practically like a dream. Sooner than we think we will be on the last page reading the last words of the 2011 saga. We must take our book and reread it over and over until the memories are for ever engraved in our minds.

We must think back on our first strike in secondary 1, our first ped-day, our first detention. Then we go to secondary 2, our first fight with our BFF, our first crush, our first kiss. As we go on to secondary 3 we have our first non-sleep-a-thon, our hearts break for the first time, and we laugh about how silly we looked in secondary 1. Once we reach secondary 4 we feel strong and proud. We have our first winter formal and we begin to think about “what happens after this”. Now we are in secondary 5, we think about Grad pictures, Grad breakfast, our prom dates, and our prom dress. Now we don’t only have to think about what happens next. We have to know what happens.

Next year most of us will be in college or a trade school. We will be living out our dreams, and facing new challenges. With the end of the beginning, we begin to build our lives. This year we stress over college applications, jobs, and mistakes we should have fixed. We will think about all the things we should have done and all of those we shouldn’t have.

This year tempers will soar, friendships will bloom, and the graduating class of 2011 will bond. As we think about the change that is to come, and we will cry for all those we will lose. We will laugh from all those insiders we made through out the years, and we will forgive those we never thought we could forgive. This was the year we will remember for the rest of our life, this is our year!