On the last day of kindergarten in 2011, I remember receiving my first yearbook. Around the border of my class’s page was the number 2024. I asked my teacher what that number meant, since I thought of it as a rather large number, and my teacher explained that I would be graduating that year. I thought that year would never come, it was so far away! Of course, right after thinking about how long it would take before I got to be an adult, I forgot all about it when the bell rang for summer vacation.
As I sit here writing my final SPUB article in my 4th hour Physics class, I am confronted with the realization that in one week, I will no longer be a student at the highschool. I am both excited and nervous for my future, but one thing occupies my mind over everything else: my world is about to change drastically.
My first school was a preschool located in the Spring Hill United Methodist Church, just off of webster. My second school was Day Brook by Price Chopper. My third school, Spring Hill Elementary School, was conveniently located within walking distance to the first place that I lived. Then, I went to Spring Hill Middle School, but never quite walked to school, because I lived quite far at this time. Finally, here I am, graduating from the high school.
I never really considered the idea that I have been at Spring Hill through and through. As I am getting ready to move to Manhattan, KS, I am confronted with the discomfort of uprooting all that I know to move somewhere that I know far less about. I am sure I will be welcomed very nicely and find a way to call it home, but it will never be Spring Hill. Many people that I know speak about how they plan to move away from town as soon as they get the chance, and even away from the state of Kansas. However, I find myself wanting nothing more than to stay here, probably because it is all that I know. I also think that is exactly why I should leave town, at least for a little while.
Possibly the most challenging part of growing up is change, but it is also the most inevitable part. Few people, if any, stay exactly the same throughout their lives. Though it is scary, it is also clearly exciting. I will be honest with the fact that I am nervous as I am in the process of enrolling in college, but all of the adults in my life are telling me about how fun it is, so it is hard not to be excited.
My point is that welcoming the change is just going to make the process easier, and running from it is just going to postpone it. Just because something is different doesn’t mean that it is worse than before, and welcoming the change will make it better. Spring Hill will always be here when I return, but my next step in growth is elsewhere.
