By Kayla Kim
Throughout my four years at Westmont, I have realized that my journey reflected the same nature of a 3 course meal. My freshman and sophomore years were short and sweet, allowing me to experience real adult life and catch a glimpse of my ambitions and goals. Junior year was a hard year to swallow with all the life altering decisions and online school classes. Now to senior year, this was the cherry on top for all of high school. I maintained and built lasting friendships, stepped into adulthood, and learned to look forward to bigger and better opportunities in life.
Appetizers: Freshman and Sophomore year
To open the meal, appetizers are served to awaken your taste buds and give you a small glimpse of what you can expect for the rest of your meal. Like freshman and sophomore year, you are foreign to the foods and the experience allows you to dip your toes and test the waters. I was able to utilize freshman and sophomore year as a time to foresee my future, making me hungry for more in store. I tried new things by joining many clubs, meeting new teachers, and finding activities I enjoyed. My first course of high school set me on a path to success by giving me many opportunities that interested me and helped me to continue on a somewhat set path.
Entree: Junior Year
Onto the next course, the entree is the main course. With this serving star of the meal, a lot of focus and dedication must be applied while eating the entree. Junior year, filled with online classes and zoom, was the hardest year and the biggest challenge of my high school career. Having to juggle college preparation, sports, COVID, and friendships made me realize the importance of junior year. As junior year remains the second to last year of high school, many students focus on college for sports and academics. Specifically for me, I wanted to pursue a path in playing collegiate soccer; yet, disaster hit when I tore my ACL (once again) right before the most important season of my career. Once I realized that soccer was not an option, I took initiative to busy myself with numerous clubs, extracurriculars, and relationships. Many decisions made in junior year set my path for college and the future I wanted to pursue.
Dessert: Senior Year
To end the meal with a sweet bang, dessert is served to seal the meal. As one would say “save the best for last,” senior year definitely applies to these wise words. Although the first semester of senior year was filled with immense stress of college applications and challenging tests, everything seemed so much more meaningful. I took on these challenges with heart and triumphed through with the mindset that I will miss high school stress when I am in college. Now as a second semester senior, I feel like this short (but sweet) last year went by too quickly for me to fully enjoy it. I wish I had taken the time to enjoy the present instead of dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. But now that my last week of high school approaches, I have learned to enjoy the time (or meal) at hand so that I can hold onto my youthful memories forever.