By Emily Bresette

I can remember it like it was yesterday: my first day of high school. I woke up extra early in order to make sure my white polo and tartain plaid looked okay. I straightened my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. I remember walking into advisory extra early (I was the first one there) and handing Ms. Dibble my stick. It was only 7:30. I didn’t know what to do for 20 more minutes. I only knew seven or eight people from my grade school and none of them were in the basement of Donnelly. I walked upstairs to my first class: Algebra 1. Figures I would start off the year with the class I despise. As I climbed the stairs from the basement to the second floor, I was overwhelmed. Girls were sitting on opposites sides of the hall talking, laughing and having fun. I remember thinking to myself, “I hope I find friends like that.” I still had a good 15 minutes to burn, so I awkwardly stood outside Ms. Harris’ room, waiting for someone else to go inside. With around ten minutes left, a group of girls who all knew each other walked in the room. I followed them in and took my seat. As girls continued to file in, I did not see one face I knew.

Now, as I’m approaching my last day of high school, I’m a different person. I’ll wake up 10 minutes late, pull on my skirt for one last time, and barely make it for my carpool. I’ll hand Ms. Dibble my stick and she’ll say something like, “Aww Emily I can’t believe it’s your last day.” I’ll walk across the quad and greet Mari Kerwin and I’m sure we’ll talk about how this is the last day we will ever go to school together. I’ll walk into spirituality with around five minutes to spare and sit down next to Caroline Mendus and Alex Mediavilla. I’ll go through my whole day taking pictures and thinking about how weird it is to be done with high school. And I as check out with Ms. Dibble one last time, I’ll be in shock that my time at STA is over. I’ll be sad that in the fall, I will no longer be a star, but now a bearcat. I’ll be sad that I no longer attend the best school in Kansas City: The Academy.