New Year, Still You

30… 29… 28… The days of summer are ticking down one by one, and the new school year is growing even closer. “School” seems like a forbidden word that isn’t supposed to be spoken during the months of June or July. The back to school ads are beginning, your mom is making you read more books, and an inner sense of panic is starting to settle inside you. You suddenly realize you don’t really want to wake up before 7 A.M. every day just to make the bus on time, you don’t want to sit through eight hours of class after class, and you really don’t want to lose your nice summer tan sitting under the glow of artificial light in a stuffy classroom.

However, the inevitable is coming whether we like it or not…. the much-dreaded beginning of the school year. Now I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if we’re honest, this is a reality that we all have faced at some point in our lives. Let me tell you, I’ve definitely been in your shoes more than once. My case of “new school year blues” was especially bad last summer. It was my last summer as a high schooler, and I was determined to fit in every summer activity I possibly could. I had made plans with all of my closest friends, and we knew it was going to be the best summer of our lives.

When the summer was over, I couldn’t believe it was time to start my senior year of high school. Where had all the time gone? I found myself asking the same questions I had when I was starting my freshman year of high school: Who would I sit with at lunch? Would I like my classes? What if I didn’t make homecoming court? As the first day of school came closer, I took some time to reflect on how much I had changed from the first day of my freshman year to the very moment I was in right now. My hobbies were different, my group of friends had changed, and I didn’t play the same sports. How could one person have changed so much in just three short years?

Entering the main doors on the first day of my senior year, I was still asking myself the same question. As the first couple of weeks of school came and went, I noticed I sat with new friends and made bonds with different teachers. In the back of my mind, I knew homecoming was on its way. I had been selected my freshman year as my grade’s attendant, and I desperately hoped I would be chosen for the senior homecoming court. As the voting got closer, I started to gravitate towards different friends than what I had at the beginning of the year. I was trying to alter who I really was in order for my peers to like me. Trust me, I wasn’t enjoying myself in the desperate struggle of wanting to be on the homecoming court.

Finally, the voting had finished, and I eagerly awaited to hear the results. Name after name was announced as I was sitting on the edge of my seat. Finally, the last name was announced… and my heart sank as I heard it wasn’t mine. I hadn’t made senior homecoming court, even though I tried so hard to be someone that everyone would like. I suddenly felt absolutely awful for pretending to be a person that I didn’t even recognize. I tried to be that freshman version of myself that was still interested in the same things, yet it didn’t get me elected. The desperation of wanting to be gratified by my peers consumed who I truly was.

The author Matthew Kelly stated in one of his books, “We become like our friends. No man becomes great on his own. No woman becomes great on her own. The people around them help to make them great.” After coming to this realization, I knew that I didn’t have to pretend to be someone else to make other people happy. I knew that the friends I surrounded myself with at the beginning of the school year helped make me a better version of myself, a version that didn’t have to be a homecoming queen to be worthy of their friendship. Those were the true friends that helped me build my own confidence within myself.

I challenge you this school year to surround yourself with friends that will make you the best you that you can be. Life is so much sweeter and with true and genuine friendships that help build you up, not tear you down because you aren’t who they want you to be. Forget about the popularity contests that consume our selfish nature, and turn your efforts to celebrate the qualities of our friends and teachers that strive to make us better. If I would have clung tightly to those friends that didn’t want me to change, I would have felt so much more fulfilled and happy. As the school year gets closer and closer, we have to remember who we are, not who everyone wants us to be. When we recognize and appreciate our true selves, our potential in day to day life will be much greater than we ever imagined. Be yourself, love your friends, and make this your best school year yet!

Cassie Bond

South Central State Vice President