It is widely recognized that high school is supposed to be the best four years of your life. But it’s almost too uncanny that as a freshman a May 1st 2014 gun threat (and a bomb threat, and another one, and another one…) symbolized and foreshadowed what those four years of school life would become….explosive. Morbid jokes aside, high school was actually pretty memorable. The class of 2017 is a very unique class, the majority of us don’t despise each other.

Disregarding popular belief, students of the class of 2017 are not split into any sort of stereotypical cliques. Although there is an evident social hierarchy like there is in any other high school, students are surprisingly very welcoming and inclusive to all members of the grade in accordance to planned events, like parties. In the senior Groupme (which was titled very cleverly “Señors” for a majority of the time), students’ affection for each other and love for Wantagh High School is shown on a daily basis. Our classmates actually had a countdown for the amount of Saturdays we had left until graduation! I find it really remarkable that a multitude of the class of 2017 generally does not want to leave, and is quite gratitudinous to our class advisor.

I’ve expressed multiple times how I can’t wait to leave to friends and family, but there are several aspects of Wantagh High School that made my time spent here worthwhile. I will never forget the Wantagh tennis team which was like my second family. I will never forget my incredible track coaches and my attachment to the art department and my insightful teachers who pushed me to work hard (which hopefully compensated for my lack of participation).

I speak for my fellow classmates when I say that our hearts will always leave a little room for Wantagh High School and through the bittersweetness and mixed emotions with our upcoming graduation I am glad to have made so many significant milestones in a mere four years. It’s also safe to say that if I had went to a different school I would have missed out on some pretty special people. ‘

Hey, underclassmen – maybe this won’t be the best four years of your life. It probably won’t be, but that’s actually a great thing. Try not to convince yourself that this is the best it’s gonna get for you (actually, don’t ever do that). Why? Because, “when you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing,” as Jack Kerouac wrote. Anyone who’s reading this still has a future ahead of them, but life will only get better if you want it to. Wantagh High School is the perfect place to kickstart your ambitions and meet some exquisite people along the way.

I know now that no matter how far I travel, I can go to the ends of the Earth and plunge into the deepest depths of oceans if I have to – where my home lies will never change.