Selina White

Selina White is a graduating senior from RNE’s class of 2023. She has been a part of Cavplex since her sophomore year of high school, and she plans on attending Lander University to study nursing.

I just can’t help to think that my younger self would be so disappointed in who I am today. There were no movie romances or promposals, no driving past one a.m, speeding to make it back because I missed curfew. There are so many things that I thought I would have accomplished by 18 years old that I just haven’t. I’ve come to realize that even if my younger self is disappointed in who I am today, my current self is not. I’ve never really been sure of anything in my life, always being indecisive, never really knowing what I wanted for myself. Different styles, different hair, different personalities that fit into a box I thought would make people more comfortable when talking to me. Now I know that none of that matters, and those people that deem me “weird” and “expressive” have become some of the best friends that I have ever met in my life.

There are many days where I feel like my personality is too much to be liked, or when people expect me to be that happy all of the time. But sometimes I don’t feel like laughing or smiling, and my friends understand that and make it better. I think that making friends in high school is important, not only because it will help with friendships and relationships down the road, but because they are experiencing high school with you. Connecting with each other on some issues that teachers and parents cannot understand, but these people that walk the same halls with you will. They sit with you while you do your homework and they listen to you complain about sports teams and heartbreak. Sometimes you tell these people things that you have never told anyone in your life, and no matter how much you love them, distance is inevitable. We will have our own lives with new problems that they don’t understand anymore, and that is okay. I hope one day we will see each other, and we’ll smile and all of those memories will come flooding back. 

I don’t know where I’m going to end up ten years from now, or even five years from now, but I hope that I never change. I’ve met the best people ever just by talking and being true to myself, and I hope that they go far in whatever they want to accomplish in life. I know that when I sit down with my children the summer before they attend high school I won’t tell them about the drama, or who was dating who or even all the people I didn’t like. I will tell them about the friends that became my family and the memories that make me smile when I’m folding laundry. Most importantly I will tell them that high school is hard and that it is just a small part of your life that will move in a blur. All of the friends that they make they need to cherish and hold on to, because they will make the hard days easier.