Joan

High school. Who would have imagined that those years would come and go so quickly? It’s a shock that I already lived 17 years and those last 4 years made who I am. I heard a lot about American high school. How much fun you get to experience and how much memories you get to cherish forever. I was the typical freshman who was afraid to dare myself into the core of high school and joined numerous boring clubs. After dipping my toe into the high school life, I chose to delve in. It started out of jealousy to plunge myself into marching band. It was an experience that you could not forget. I could not imagine who I would have become if I didn’t seize the opportunity. Awards did not matter. Awards were just matters. The tear of happiness and sweat of pride in my courage to seize the chance to change me was what matter. Nothing else. I am proud that I grab the door at the right moment and hold on to it. Marching band really opened me up to so many things. Indeed the sweats pouring under the scorching sun every summer at band camp seemed to last forever. I learned so much from becoming the drum major of our marching band. That was my award: the intangible lessons that I’ve learned will be the stepping stone. There’s so much regret, happiness, sadness and pain in my years of high school. The curtains of my show are closing but I got the greatest award in my life out of my high school years: the lesson that “happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if only you remember to turn on the light.” (Albus Dumbledore) Now I truly understand the meaning of another chapter of life. With the stepping stone I’ve created for myself during those 4 years, I will have another chance in life. Another chance to prove that I am me. The only me.

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