One of the most beautiful things about nature is change.
Change can easily be seen with the seasons. Animals live their cycles, breed, and die and new animals take their place. Plants grow and die, but their seeds change the forest around them. In autumn, the summer leaves fall, and then winter buries them. Then, in the spring, flowers bloom, and new life is born.
People change with cycles as well. This, sadly, is all a part of growing up. Change is healthy. It is a sign of growth and knowledge.
Changing as people grow into young adults shows they are genuinely living the teenage dream.
Students at Lakeland High School have experienced significant changes throughout their lives in high school.
“My life is in a much different place this year compared to last March,” Olivia Gibson said. “I finally have a friend group that I love to be around all the time, and I’m happy to have let go of certain people.”
Gibson feels that change has been necessary for her to grow, even though she finds it difficult to adapt to new things.
“It gives you new experiences and a chance to grow as a person, but it is very scary to me,” she said.
When seniors walk across the stage to receive their diplomas this June, they may reflect on their freshmen year and know they genuinely lived these past four years.
Human nature requires adaptation and growth. Learning from mistakes and becoming a newer version of yourself makes you human.
Looking back, some may say they miss the way things were but forget to rejoice in who they have become.
This year, Toby Emond is a senior at LHS and was a new student here as of the 2022-2023 school year. He has lived a life full of changes and moving around but has learned through it all and adapted well.
“I was homeschooled and lived in Alaska until my Junior year when I moved here to Lakeland,” Edmond said. “It was very difficult and challenging for me to adapt and make new friends. It helped me grow as a person because my personality has changed a lot, and I am happier with my life now.”
Experiences and mistakes shape people into who they are. A failed test will not affect how they handle their future, but the first heartbreak a teenager experiences might.
With spring arriving and most of the school year gone, it is crucial for students, especially seniors, to reflect on the previous years.
The hardships and successes of high school and teenage life were not just minor bumps in the road.
The little human experiences prepare students for the future, not only the classes they take.
Living through struggles and making mistakes can be very difficult at the moment. Learning and growing from these experiences can help a person be reborn into a wiser and happier person.
Spring is a time when high schoolers develop into very different people from the beginning of the year. New relationships form, old ones leave and new life is brought into their eyes.
The struggles of winter slowly disappear as the anticipation of summer creeps in.
Love, heartbreak, failed tests, excelling grades, game losses and major game wins. These are the things that shape who high schoolers are.
These things typically happen during the school year. Gibson finds that people change more during the school year.
“People at school are mean, and it shapes your opinions and how you act towards other people, and more drama and events happen,” Gibson said.
Some students do not take to change very well. They feel nostalgic for how things were and miss the times when they were younger and life was easier.
Parents tell their kids throughout life to stop growing and stay young forever, and all a little kid wants is to grow up.
People like Emond are coming around the peak of growing up, graduating high school as an eighteen-year-old, and heading out into the world.
“I am not scared of how my life will change after graduation because I am used to changing and moving to new places,” Emond said.
Emond is a prime example of adapting to change and growing through it as a person. He believes he would not be who he is today without all the hardships he’s gone through and knows he will grow through those things again.
Emond also observes how change affects those close to him.
“It helped me realize that you should care about your friends and help them through stuff, even if you have no experience with it, so you can help them grow into stronger people,” Emond said.
