When I first arrived in August, I expected—well, to be completely honest, I don’t know what I expected it to be like. I guess you could say I expected the worst. Just between you and me, sixth grade was a pretty awful year. I lost some really good friends. But as the school year wore on, I realized that seventh grade wasn’t going to be that bad. By October, I was on a roller coaster that just kept going up*. I joined cross country and discovered my passion for running. I formed strong friendships with some awesome people and my classes weren’t extremely difficult. Eventually, I found my self on the path to figuring out who I am. Over the course of the school year, I learned three things:
a) never give up and just keep running. Cross country taught me this. At one race, I got 11th; I was one place away from a medal. Even when it hurt and I wanted to stop, I knew if I wanted to win, I had to keep running.
b) a positive attitude will get you far in life. Orchestra taught me this. I had to record audition pieces to try out for sinfonia and I was freaking out! I practiced and practiced but I just couldn’t get one of the pieces right! I was stressed, confused, and frustrated. But my bestest friend Lily made me calm down and you know what? I got into sinfonia!
c) you’re more important to others than you think. My friends taught me this. Whenever I was depressed and lonely, I could always count on one of my friends to make me feel wanted and liked.
As the year comes to a close, it’s hard to imagine how I got to where I am today. If I could do it all over again, I would make the most of every day because it went by way too fast. My advice to next year’s seventh graders: keep calm and everything will work itself out.
Trust me.

*The Fault in Our Stars reference.