After being gone for 4 months and returning back to the motherland, I’ve encountered one too many conversations about peaking in high school. What does it mean? To some, it’s a reference to their abundant ‘social credit’ they had amongst their class, or how exciting and promising life was then (and how disappointing it became afterwards), or maybe even just a comparison of how happy they were then, and unhappy now.

And you know what? I don’t believe in peaking in high school.

Amongst my newly matriculated college buds, our conversations usually burst with funny, scary, and stupid stories about our first 4 months in our new homes. Seeing my friends again allowed me to relish in familiarity and the comfort of being in a ‘no judgment zone’. We freely talked about our loneliness, struggles with classes, and fears of the freshman 15; things that rarely surface the ISB network on Facebook. We also talked about missing certain aspects of high school: being constantly surrounded by friends, having supportive and friendly teachers, the IB program (yeah, you read that right), and just the fact that there’s 30°C weather, like, all the time. And you know what? This is extremely normal. Missing high school, especially if it was awesome, is natural.

But to say that after one semester, or 2 years of college, you peaked in high school, is a rude and disappointing statement to make about yourself and your potential. Especially coming from a sheltered and diverse international school, the transition into any university can be rocky. Some overcome their difficulties better than others. But to take a time of transition into a new stage of one’s life, and compare it to a build up of four years that led to one of the most exciting milestones in your life, is all too unfair to yourself and your new experiences.

So too all my future college kids soon to be graduating in June, please keep this in mind. Savor these last few bits of warmth, the golf cart bubble, and the city. Throw yourself into the mess that is the first semester of college. Relish in it. Even if it sucks, or is tougher than you expected, remember: whatever goes down must come up.

Ciel S