As a little girl, I went to the daddy-daughter dance every year. I was always so excited, but it wasn’t the dancing or the dressing up like a princess that really made me look forward to it. It was sneaking out of the dance with my dad and exploring South. I thought South was like a castle; the biggest, most beautiful place I had ever seen, and every year I was so excited to be closer to going to school here.
Then freshman year came, and boy was it a let-down. I dreaded coming every day. In a school of so many kids, I somehow still felt alone. The classes were hard, the people were cliquey and it was not the dream come true I’d imagined. “It’ll be the best four years of your life,” people told me. I called BS.
It took time, but eventually something changed. I found my people, and as cliche as it sounds, I found myself too. I got involved in everything I was passionate about and started seeing what everyone loved about high school. That included Tower. When I became a page editor, I felt like I found somewhere I belonged. On top of having an unexpected creative outlet, I formed such amazing relationships with my fellow staffers that the back of the Tower room is truly my favorite place at South.
All of that began junior year, the first half of which flew by in a blur of jukeboxes and football games. I felt like I was on top of the world, thinking the rest of high school would be incredible. Then COVID-19 arrived, and took everything down with it. I remember sitting outside of South in my car last spring, longing to be back in the marbled halls and wondering how I ever once hated it here. But despite not seeing my friends for months or the senior year that never really was, I look back and only see good memories and growing up. I see the windows-down, late-night Lakeshore drives that turned into road trips up north. Homework and 7-11 nights that became devoted to college applications. And regular Mondays that began being spent with my second family in Room 142.
It wasn’t until now, as I sit here writing this, that I realize just how much I’ve grown up at South. I walk the halls reflecting on the last four years; climbing up to the bell tower at night, sneaking out of class to meet friends in Cleminson Hall, and talking with teachers and staff who became family. I will be forever grateful for the incredible memories my time at South has given