Photo by Emily Kinney
If you’re in high school, you’ve heard this phrase at least once: “High School is the best years of your life,” but is this actually true?
High school is a fairly simple time for everyone and maybe that’s why so many people fall in love with it. Maybe that’s why when people are older and have their own bills to pay and lives to take care of, they long for the day when their GPA was their biggest concern.
Junior, Olivia Schuchman believes what makes high school fun is how easy it is.
“People think [high school is some of the best years of your life] because students, especially here (Highlands Ranch), don’t have a lot of responsibilities outside of school,” Schuchman said. “Freshman year, we had so much fun because it was a lot easier than it is now, work wise.”
As high school progresses, more responsibilities are added to your plate. Jobs, driving, college, and SAT are among the tasks most high schoolers embark on. This is alike in how life progresses. As we get older, our responsibilities increase, but does that mean life actually gets worse? Do responsibilities make life go from great to good and eventually just okay as we sit in a grey cubicle and wonder where did things go wrong?
This is my fear. So I was lucky when I realized the only real people who think this, are people who lack perspective.
My dad, David Lovell enjoyed high school, but saying it was “the best” is a little far fetch.
“High school is the easiest. Building my company was the most challenging and having a family was the most rewarding,” He said. “It depends on how you look at ‘what is the best.’”
In my discoveries I’ve realized, simple doesn’t mean the best. I don’t know where this idea came from, but I know every single person has the capability to be more than what they are in high school. I’ve had a positive high school experience, but I’m excited for a life with more challenge because hard work makes the accomplishments worth it.
Allison Lovell, a college student and my sister, says college is harder yet more enjoyable.
“There are so many other things out there to experience,” Lovell said. “I’m enjoying the freedom and responsibility that my life now involves.”
On the other hand, my mom, Pam Lovell, didn’t have the typical, “simple” high school experience because of her mom’s passing at a young age.
“I don’t think high school or growing up was easy,” Lovell said. “But you have to learn to make your own happiness.”
Maybe what makes high school fun is not that it’s easy, but that it’s a time to grow and mature. High school taught my mom to be more positive and focus on the important aspects of life.
“I was so concerned about being someone that I wasn’t, but when I got older I realized it wasn’t as important,” Lovell said. “I wish I wasn’t as concerned with all the stupid stuff.”
Allison Lovell agrees these teenage years are a learning time.
“You have so much free time to figure out what you are and what you want to do in high school,” she said. “You’re old enough to enjoy many mature activities without having the burden of trying to balance the majority of adult responsibility.”
Mountain Vista is a great environment for growth and learning, but as I approach the end of my four years, I’m beginning to outgrow high school. I’m excited to be a senior and live out all of the “high school” that’s left in me. But, after a year I’m confident I’ll be ready to plant my little seed in a bigger garden… wherever that may be.
