One word to describe my high school experience: unexpected. As an underclassmen, I assumed everything was already figured out for me. My freshman friends would be going to college with me one day and my classes were going to be a breeze, somehow would just fall perfectly into place the way I wanted it to. Let’s just say, none of that happened. We all fantasize about living the “ideal” high school movie life, when in reality it’s not true.

As a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was petrified. If you go to the vending machines in downstairs Plymouth in B-pod, picture fourteen year old me with an oversized light blue Jansport backpack on my shoulders hiding behind the wall. That was my first day of high school. Now look at me; I’m eighteen years old and I currently have a couple of weeks left until I graduate, or in the cheesiest way possible, it could also be called a couple weeks until a new chapter of my life begins.

If I truly look back on how my life was when I was fourteen, I would not have expected it to turn out this way, but it only did from the help of P-CEP. Since this school contains over 6,000 students, I had the opportunity to make a lot of friends. The only hard thing about making friends in high school is realizing in these four years you will either meet some of your best friends, friends that fade into strangers or friends that will end up being life lessons for you. Do not believe that you know every student because I promise you will be very disappointed as you stand in line on senior schedule pick up day. It’s not your fault though, it’s not a normal thing for someone to say they go to a school with three high schools combined on one campus.

Another thing that I learned is that this school can help you follow your passion. Certain classes helped me figure out the path I want to take for my future and it wasn’t even on purpose. I had a hole in my schedule and randomly got put in Medical Careers Foundations. Little did I know, it was going to influence me to take Health Occupations with hopes of going into the medical field in college. The Park gives us a lot of opportunities that most people don’t even realize. If you have your mind set on a career, there is a very high chance the school provides classes for it.

I will say that I will never forget the experiences and opportunities this school has given me in the last four years. I would like to thank all of my teachers, Plymouth security guard Mr. Lucas and all of the closest people to me for always believing in me and watching me grow every day these last four years. They have all impacted me in so many ways and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.