Some seniors get nostalgic this time of year, and have a hard time leaving high school behind here in “Perfect Village”, Kansas. In fact, this will probably be the only senior column that doesn’t reflect on great memories as a Lancer, or inspire you to take pride in your alma mater (no offense, Goble).

In these final few weeks of senioritis, though, all I can think about is how anxious I am to get my diploma and leave high school in my rear-view.

Maybe I skipped too much class to get the full effect. Maybe it was all the times I ended up in Mr. Loe’s office for something even dumber than the last time. Or maybe I’m just sick of being babysat by seven different adults, seven hours a day, five days a week.
Some people have the ability to fly under the radar, and I’ve just never been one of them. When the Eastonian came out last fall, guess who the administration brought in for questioning first. When me and a few students were suspected of gambling on sports, guess who got labeled a bookie and suspended five days. Needless to say, I had each hour’s ISS supervisor memorized by junior year. I wish that were a joke.

Not to say that I haven’t enjoyed my time here at East. I can’t say enough about the people that go to this school, and I couldn’t have asked for a better class to graduate with. But some people just aren’t set up to succeed in high school.

The tedious worksheets and assignments, the magnifying glass the administration puts on each and every unexcused absence, the mandatory school functions; it’s never made sense to me. While everyone else was packed in the gym for a pep assembly I was the guy staking out every door on the lower two floors for Betzer’s Gator.

Thank God college will be different. There are no hall monitors or unexcused absences or calls home or suspensions; you’re completely on your own. That realization is intimidating for some graduating seniors but I couldn’t be more excited to move on.
The fact that there is always a teacher watching over you at all times in high school just discourages the very thing college is about; independence. There’s no one to stop you from snoozing all the way through the day’s classes, and the professor isn’t going to parent-connect your mom if you have an F. Your grades are all on you, and what you put into it is exactly what you get out.

I guess that’s why I never tried hard in high school, because nothing could really come out of it, to me it’s only a bridge to college. There is no next step after college, just the real world; the work force.

What we learn in high school is only useful to a certain extent, whereas college focuses in on a specialized field. I plan on studying business and journalism my freshman year at KU because I want to own a business someday, or write in print journalism.

Those are skills that I have only been able to learn in two or three classes of high school, out of the dozens I’ve taken here in four years. At college, I’ll get to pick my courses. I‘ll get to decide what I learn, a freedom that actually makes me want to learn.

The required, must-take courses of high school, though, have gone in one ear and out the other ever since I walked in this building four years ago. Most of the lessons I’ve learned in my high school years have come out of the classroom, and yet it’s knowledge that will help me all the more in college. Things like how to balance a job, homework, and recreation. If you try to have fun all the time, you’re going to end up either failing out or sitting in the back of a Crown Vic (depends on your idea of fun).

But for all of the trouble I’ve gotten through here at East, I feel like a better person for it. No matter where I go there will always be obstacles in the way, and though I might not have learned what I was supposed to here, I’ll be able to handle them better than before.
So thanks, East. For the memories, the life lessons, and especially all of the office passes.

And finally, the four-year joke is over. Now I can laugh all the way to Lawrence.

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