Ashley Attanucci Web Manager

I am leaving Coppell High School.

the past four years, almost a quarter of my lifetime, I have been part of this routine – school at 8:20 a.m., classes, friends, lunch, pep rallies, car pool, homework. It has become my life and the life I love.

Now, suddenly, though I have known and looked forward to this fate since my first trip up the freshmen stairs, I am being pushed out of these halls I have come to know as a home away from home. And I don’t like it.

After finally understanding the ins and outs of high school, I am forced to leave. Today, I can tell you where almost any class is, who your AP is, favorite teachers’ birthdays, the bathroom that stinks most, that you cannot avoid parking lot traffic; but, moreover, I can tell you who the best teachers are, how great Mr. Hunt is and how amazing it is to be a student here, how it feels like home.

So why, now that I have gained the privilege and honor and wisdom of seniority, do I have to give it up so fast? I know that when I leave Coppell this summer, memories and friendships will carry over with me, but this is not comfort enough. I think what bothers me most is the lack of familiarity I know I will have to face in college.

It makes no sense that, after making a place for myself here in Coppell and at Coppell High School, I have to leave? After a semester of fun, watching my grades drop due to being carefree and then realizing again that I have to get my act together for college, the epiphany came.

It was the epiphany that I am going to college, where once again I will face another four years in a huge new school as a freshman, forced to work my way back up to seniority. Learning in high school and acquiring seniority and all the benefits that come with it only to loose it again – this is the circle of life.

I will gain knowledge and use it, or at least try to use it, right. I will fail. I will also conquer. But most importantly, I will have my falls and I will rise again. The wealth of knowledge I acquired in high school – from class curriculum and also through just experiences – I will have the opportunity to use for the better, as a freshman or as a senior, it really doesn’t matter. I have concluded that the idea of leaving my hometown is depressing, but knowing that leaving will open so many new doors is exciting.

Truthfully, though: hakuna matata, because there is nothing one can do to fight against the natural current of life of growing and falling and growing and falling and growing again.