As the end of my high school career comes to an end, it’s hard to believe that only 2 quarters remain before I leave high school once and for all. Each quarter and each year provides a student with a different challenge and different triumphs and failures that a student forever remembers.

For myself, finishing the first semester of my freshman year was a time of great excitement.  I survived the first part of high school, and I was going to continue to survive. The ending also provided me a great deal of sadness because I had only just begun my high school career. Each year, I experienced the same conflicting emotions over the end of the first semester of the year.

First semesters in my opinion hold so many unknown parts at school because each year a new grade level begins, a new year starts after a long, relaxing summer and holiday breaks, there are new teachers to meet each quarter, and there are new friends to meet as well as old friends to reconnect with.

During the first semester of high school, the greatest struggles included getting to know the new teachers, meeting their expectations of you in class, and organizing the high school workload. Another conundrum included figuring out where you fit in in the social hierarchy of school and what specific cliques you will continue to be or become part of.

First semesters also have their perks because you get to start a brand new year to prove yourself worthy of colleges, your teachers, and your parents. This time of transition from school summer breaks to learning also allows for students to get involved with different activities and sports — the opportunities perhaps missed the previous year.

I find great sadness in knowing that this is the beginning of the end for my high school career because at this time next year, I will be somewhere completely different, forcing me to relearn the whole concept of school. I will no longer have a community of friends and teachers at PLHS to push me to do my best and get involved.  I’ll be on my own for that.

Like I said before, first semester is the beginning of the end for all grade levels.