by opinion editor, Reanna Moon

            In many cases, high school has been all about trial and error, and I am not an exception. I am not a straight-A student, I barely ever do more than is expected, and my volunteer work has not always been done with honest intentions.

            If anything, I have vicariously lived the past three years through my smart friends, taking AP classes I had little interest in and struggling to maintain an average grade.

            During the core years of my high school career, my goals had become all about getting good grades, trying to impress colleges with my name and reputation. It was not about learning, but a challenge of how much I could cram before each test; not about letting out an opinion, but how many essays I could speed through in a couple hours before it was due.

I became paranoid and started to feel like if I didn’t succeed in high school, then there was no way I would get into a prestigious college. And you know what that means…

No UC? No Ivy League? No job.

No job? No money.

No money? Failure.

And this brainwashing cycle went on and on in my head like a never-ending hamster wheel.

I had this crazy I-need-to-go-to-a-great-university mentality, but after meeting my co-worker, Maria, my limit was drawn.

I met Maria when I first started at my theater job last summer. We were both sitting in the break room, gossiping about silly things. Her youthful spunk and vibrant personality led me to assume that she was in her early or mid-20s.

However, to my complete surprise, she told me that she was in her mid-30s and married with two children.

Aren’t 30-something-year olds supposed to be boring, married, and slightly unhappy?
Maria must have been the happiest woman I had ever seen. Although many people would look down upon her having a part-time job at her age, she let nothing bother her. She knew what was important to her and although she occasionally joked about having “bling-bling,” she would never forget to mention how much she loved her life with her husband and kids.

My initial thought had been that maybe her husband was filthy rich or that he came out of a great school, but she told me that they both graduated from city colleges.

For that one moment, I panicked.

Do they have enough money? Is their home big enough for their family?
Yet, I was suddenly soothed by her certainty with her life and where she was headed with her family.

She made me realize that the hype about college was not everything and that although education is important, there are so many things in life that are far more important than getting into the best college.

So a little advice from me? Never take classes just because your friends are in it. Although getting into college may seem like everything, it’s not.

Success does not start at high school, or a set time, but when you want it to.