If I were to be brutally honest, I did not want to write this article. It’s not easy for me to put my emotions into words (which is maybe one of the main reasons I’m a photographer), and I did not see the merit in giving empty thanks to a school that chewed me up and spit me out all of the four years that I was here. I don’t want to lie about how much I’m going to miss the shallow encounters with friends who I will never keep in touch with, teachers who didn’t believe in me, and superfluous curriculum that I’ll probably never use in my adult life. That being said, despite my less-than-pleasant experience these past four years, I don’t regret a single decision I’ve made throughout highschool. I’m grateful for the lessons I learned and the experiences that built the strong, resilient human I am today, and I sincerely feel that I’ve grown incredibly in my time at Northwood. And although I am so happy to be leaving Northwood and to say goodbye to the blissful ignorance and innocence of my childhood, I’m so excited, yet so scared, to dive into the unknown world of adulthood.