Reminiscing on Uni High

Throughout my life, I’ve always tried to live with the notion that whatever I do or experience, I won’t be able to experience it again. More recently, over Thanksgiving break, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on what I’m thankful for, and first and foremost that’s the time I’ve spent at Uni over what will soon be 5 years. I’ve made lifelong friends, memories that will last a lifetime, and have also grown as a person. The one regret I have is not appreciating everything more when it was happening. The quote “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them” comes to mind. If there was anything I could experience again, it would be time at Uni, just so I could take it all in before it inevitably comes to an end in a few months.

More than that though, I feel it would be interesting to experience Uni through the lens of the person I am now, versus the person I was when everything was happening. For the most part, I feel as though I have changed and grown from year to year at Uni. Looking back, I’ve always thought of different scenarios and situations where I felt I would have done things differently. One of those things is Subbie year in its entirety. Something I have felt regret for from time to time is not being more outgoing, social, and extroverted Subbie year. Going back, it interests me the idea of getting the chance to experience Subbie year again holding that regret inside of me.

Freshman year for me was a fun year, and it’s purely for that reason that I would want to experience it again. I feel as if there’s a childhood innocence that all of us have within us that fades as we get older, and to some extent, I miss feeling that innocence. The best way I could sum it up would be having fun for the sake of having fun, and not stressing over the responsibilities of life, or in our cases now, the responsibilities that come with approaching adulthood. For whatever reason, I feel that childhood innocence as being present more so, for me, during Freshman year than Subbie year.

Quarantine was a period of personal development for me, and because of that, I wouldn’t mind experiencing it again. I remember when I was able to see people again, I took full advantage of it, spending as much time as possible hanging out with the friends I hadn’t been able to see for almost a year. The enjoyment that came from spending time with one another was heightened because of the time spent apart from one another, and as such the summer of ‘21 was one to be remembered for me.

For the most part, I can’t really determine how Senior year is going for me so far. A trend throughout my life is changing my opinion or view of something after I have experienced it, and as such, regardless of whether something was enjoyable or not at the moment, I don’t consider the experience or memory as a happy one until I can look back on it from the future and think of it with a smile. I’ll only really know how Senior Year was for me after it’s the conclusion. I think I can confidently speak for my classmates and myself that the workload that comes with College Apps is something that we definitely won’t miss. Regardless of enjoyment though, Senior year is the last official year before adulthood that we have, and in that, I think it will forever be a memory.

All in all, to use the lessons I’ve learned over my time here, to appreciate everything while it lasts, and just to feel the joy my peers bring me, I would love to experience Uni again. Knowing I can’t though I think prepares me for the future, to really love and make the most of everything that's coming in my life, whether that be college, work, or anything else.