lyrabetes3939

Today was my last day of high school!  It feels amazing to finally be done, but I really wish I could have gotten a normal senior year, I'm sure it would have been an amazing year if not for covid.

After I logged out of my last online class, I went to my school and picked up my cap, gown and diploma. I then spent the next hour or so walking through the building and catching up with friends and teachers from previous years. On Wednesday, when I was there to return a few things, I found my art teacher from 10th & 11th grade and gave him a thank you letter. I saw him again today, and he told me he really liked and appreciated my letter! My handwriting is so small and neat that he thought I'd typed it. He also allowed me to paint my name on one of his classroom walls, which was really nice. Although the walls were so full of previous student's names that it was hard to find a blank spot! I really enjoyed catching up with him and reminiscing about the good old times in his class. My art class from 10th grade was amazing - it was sort of a ragtag group of students in all different grades, but we all got along really well in sort of a jokey but meaningful way.

After that, I headed to the science wing and stopped by my Biology teacher's classroom. It was really nice to see her again, because her class had been one of my favorite classes in 11th grade. Me and four friends (two guys, two girls) were in a lab group together, and despite how much time we spent goofing off in class, we always got our work done before any other group. My Bio teacher had very fond memories of our class, and she was really happy to hear about my plans for next year. I also thanked her for writing one of my college recommendation letters last fall, I'm really grateful that she was able and willing to do that for me.

The road in front of my school was lined with about 300 signs, with portraits of each member of my graduating class. On the way back, my mom parked on the side of the street and took a picture of me squatting next to the sign with my portrait on it. That picture came out really well.

When I got home, I opened the big bag that I'd picked up. Seeing my name on a high school diploma was an incredible feeling - I'm not sure if the momentousness of this occasion has fully hit me yet. There was also a notice about a senior class barbecue on June 4th, the day before my graduation - I'll definitely be going to that! In addition, I found a couple of letters that were big surprises for me. One of them was a letter I wrote to my future self at the end of 9th grade (a month before I joined the forums, by the way). My younger self had some good things to say, but other parts of the letter just made me laugh and cringe. The other was a letter from my 3rd grade teacher - I was amazed that she still remembered me so well! Her letter was really nice to read, and she included her address at the end in case I wanted to write back to her, which I definitely will at some point this summer.

Overall, this has been a really great day that I won't forget anytime soon!