Accomplished

Some people think graduating is their key to freedom, a new life, new people, and a chance to be the person they never could in high school because of the immaturity they were surrounded by. For me, I remember I couldn't wait to graduate, but that was in December and the months kept going by me faster and faster. I changed within that short time. From September to March, I was running, and graduation was just that drive that kept me going because after I graduated, I would be running even further. I guess it's typical then for every senior to run then isn't it? I mean, why would anyone want to leave a place they called home for four years with friends that they won't be seeing every day? Honestly, anyone who says they can't wait to get out of here is just running, running away from everything they are tired of dealing with. After hearing my fellow classmates on the way home from Senior Ditch Day discuss whether or not they made the best of their four years spent at our high school it made me think. Did I myself make the best of these four years. Was my decision the right one after all? And was it all worth it in the end when I look back on it? To tell you the truth, through out the years I constantly had the agonizing painful regret of "What if I had gone to Indio?", but that's life is it not? We choose a path for a certain reason and we will always wonder what it might have been like had the other path been traveled. Well, to be quite honest, as much as I think Indio was the right place for me after all, there is a reason God led me to La Quinta. As I begin to think about my four years at LQ, I realize how much change and torture I went through. The sleepless nights with endless amounts of homework and studying only to pull off a B, with the friends where there was never a dull moment. What exactly did I make of these four years? I will tell you what I made. I made a well prepared high school graduate ready to take on the world. I made friends. I made mistakes. I played sports. I took the hardest classes knowing I wouldn't get straight As. I took the challenge. I fell in love [or so I thought]. I chose the wrong battles. I won the right battles. I had fun. I got into trouble. I was the listener. I was the advisor. I was the true friend. I was the best friend. I was trusted. I was Ashley. I made the person that stands before you today. Four years ago, I was the quietest person you could find sitting in a classroom. Now, I am one of the loudest. There are so many things I dislike about La Quinta and so much corruption that I went under, that it caused me to have this defined hatred for the school since freshmen year. This hatred continued over the years until I graduated. Was it all really worth it in the end? Yea I had my ups and my downs, and boy let me tell you there were definitely some downs, but that’s what my friends were for. Yea Indio is an amazing school itself and is definitely not given enough credit for, I know I didn’t give it as much as it deserved until two years ago, but the decision I made is La Quinta, for whatever reason it is I chose it. Did I make the most of it? Of course I did. I made the most of every night I got only 3-4 hours sleep. I did everything on campus I could or that I wanted to. I made sure I tried everything I wanted to try. I left that school a well rounded person. I left that school with more knowledge than just what I learned in my IB Classes, I discovered who I was. Discovery is by far the best subject you can learn and I think that’s what made me make the most of La Quinta. I am pretty sure I walked into that school on in September of 2003 scared as ever but saying, “you better make the most of it”. Of all the goals I have had in life, this is by far one of the ones I am most proud of. I told myself to become all I could in high school and I did. My goal to make the most of high school is accomplished, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. [I know for once right Elyisa?] Now that I accomplished that one, I am off to bigger and better goals to make and fulfill.

*Ashley*