Yet another year that flew by rather quickly, and, naturally, everyone is eager for the summer vacation to arrive. As a senior who has been in this school for thirteen years, I began to ponder and think about my final departure. Ever since I was little, I always imagined that in my final few months of school, I would count down the days to my graduation so that I can flee to “the real world” and pursue a major I’m passionate about, and it’ll all be ‘rainbows and sunshine’. However, all these whimsical thoughts are slowly fading away as the big day approaches. The one thing that hit me the most is the fact that I am leaving a community that I genuinely love being around. It’s a bittersweet feeling: I’m happy that I’m leaving because of the exciting prospect of becoming independent and mature enough to have control over my own life choices and to make an impact on the world around me. However, it saddens me that I have to leave this tightly-knit community of amazing students and teachers who have always been here to support me and with whom I have become so familiar. I won’t be there to annoy Mr. Fouad, my math teacher, with my redundant questions. I won’t be there to visit Mrs. Olfat’s office to constantly bug her. I won’t be there to hear Ms. Rana’s loud whistle as its high-pitched sound echoes in the hallway and jolts the students into scampering hurriedly out of their classes.
I constantly hear my family members saying that the transition from school to university is rather challenging. I’m not going to lie: the fact that this time next year I won’t be in Mawakeb frightens me to the core. It startles me that I will not wake up every morning to get ready and wear the same uniform I have been wearing for years. It terrifies me that I’m going to leave the place that I consider to be my second home. However, coming from a school like Mawakeb, I am certain that I will be able to surmount any and all adversities that might come my way, for it’s a school that taught me so much about resilience and adaptability. Aside from the fact that I can now find the derivative of a function or analyze a Shakespearean sonnet, I feel like in these mere thirteen years I’ve acquired many life skills and qualities. I have learned the importance of tolerance, persistence, and accountability, and, most importantly, I have learned the skill of individuality. As my sister, an alumnus, always said: “Mawakeb builds character”.
Yes, I am aware that this essay sounds a bit too cliché; however, as a student who has spent her whole conscious life within these walls, I have great despair when I think about leaving this place. Despite this, I look forward to put the knowledge I’ve gained from this school into good use and show the world what a “Mawakebi” can do.