Dear Students of Mead High,

They say that high school is the best four years of your life. These are the years that you make the best friends for the rest of your life, the memories that you make and the lessons you learn stick with you for the rest of your life.

I am here to say: that is not true. But it’s not false either. I´ve learned that high school becomes what you make it. You can choose whether these are your years or aren’t exactly the best. Choose to surround yourself with people who genuinely care about you and give you crap for doing wrong. Find teachers who you feel comfortable talking about any of your problems. Don’t ever turn stuff in late. Just wait till the last minute. And finally, be yourself. I know it’s said again and again but I can’t stress it enough: be yourself. That way you make yourself the happiest and you find your true friends, the ones who accept you for all your quirks good or bad.

Here are a few personal experiences I would like to share: relationships are two ways, you should be getting as much as you are giving. You can’t make everyone like you so focus on the ones that do. And finally, make sure you always have money for crispido day. You always have to have some money for crispido day.

Now, I´d like to share a few thanks. I´d like to thank my friends who helped me through the thick and thin. I´d like to also thank my teachers, even the ones who I didn’t get along with. And I´d like to thank my parents for being there and dealing with my crap all these years.

Look, I’m going to be honest. When I started here I wasn’t sure what to expect. I tried my best to fit in, to make friends. I changed who I was for other people. However, I realized something extraordinary: I made more friends, made more people happy, and made myself happier just being me. This was the truth that I had been avoiding, the fact that high school isn’t a place to find friends, it’s a place to find yourself.  

While I can’t say highschool has been the best to me, I can’t say that it’s been the worse either. It’s what we choose it to be, from being a good person to our academics to simply getting through the day. The experiences I’ve made here will stay with me throughout the rest of my life, and I honestly won’t ever forget my time here. This wonderfully crappy school has taught me so much that I can’t help but to feel like I’m losing something and gaining something all at the time. I love you all and I love this place.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you,

Garrett