I remember the morning of my first day of freshman year. I was jittery with excitement. I imagined that when I walked into the intimidating double doors of CHS I would be immersed in a world of self-discovery and adventure surrounded by beautiful, complex people straight out of an Abercrombie catalogue or an episode of The O.C. More like straight out of Malcolm in the Middle at best.

Thanks to the movies and television shows that paint high school as a roller coaster of drama, revelations and adventure, we all enter high school as hopelessly excited freshman with visions of the perfect high school experience, but in reality, high school really is a four-year period filled with embarrassing moments, immaturity and stress.

Let’s start with the immaturity part. I can remember sighing that ridiculously love sick sigh that only a preteen can with little embarrassment while talking with my friends about what high school would be like. I thought that all of the girls would be beautiful with lives full of drama and romances with intelligent, mature guys (you know, the types that wear berets, write poetry and break out into perfectly rehearsed serenades on a daily basis). Basically, I thought high school would be the suburban version of Gossip Girl.

And mature peers? Ha! As a senior I can assure you that at least 75 percent of senior boys still find farts hilarious and spend more time playing World of Warcraft in one day than they ever will spend writing romantic poetry.

And all the exciting social lives and drama that you think await you within high school doors? Nope! Doesn’t exist. In CHS history we’ve probably had five fights total, one that lasted less than ten minutes and resulted in the banning of wearing hats (Don’t ask me why. I’m still trying to figure out the logic on that decision). Actually, the craziest most newsworthy and dramatic incident that has occurred in our school was, of course, the computer grade changing scandal. Oh the scandal! Those no good CHS students are the embodiment of drama and rebellion. They try to change their grades so that they can get into Ivy League schools and continue being voluntary nerds for another four years. Yeah, we’re definitely the epitome of scandal.

And there is no Breakfast Club/Mean Girls/High School Musical moment when we all look at each other and think “Hey! Who cares if you’re an absolute nerd and I’m dating the captain of the football team? Let’s be friends!” Nope. Everyone swims in his own circle without overstepping the unspoken boundaries of social hierarchy. So, if you’re waiting to walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand with your peers, singing kumbaya, and throwing your graduation caps in the air in slow motion, I wouldn’t hold your breath. But you know what, that’s the way I like it.
It is those obstacles of high school that cannot be solved by a convenient musical montage and sometimes are never solved at all that teach us lessons of hard work as well as failure. The rarely challenged cliques that separate us all into one dimensional titles of geeks or jocks are what inspire the urge to break out of our socially imposed molds as we reach adulthood. In other words, high school is annoying, grueling, awkward, embarrassing and stressful, but within those four years we all learn the lessons of adulthood that shape us into who we will become.