Sometimes we get so caught up with high school—with all the awesome things we do and have done—that we forget that everything we know now that we actually had to learn. We tend to forget that we started from the bottom. However, it’s important that we try to stay humble and be grateful to those who have helped us along the way. It’s not every day we get the chance to thank the people in our lives who have influenced us the most and taught us the most valuable lessons. I’d say we owe much of our success to the adults in our lives who took the time to point out our problems and help us fix them.

While many of us seniors are more than ready to leave high school behind and start a new chapter, we mustn’t forget that we were once underclassmen. And as underclassmen, we were ignorant, loud, inexperienced—just as unrefined as some of the young’uns we see now. The fact that we have all changed and morphed into the people we are now is due to a lot of hours that went into teaching and grooming us to be adults. A skilled player will always have a coach, just as a performer will have a director and as a writer will have a reader. We may have braved high school, but we made it this far with help from the best: our teachers. Even when we are too stubborn to say it sometimes, we have to admit that even the ones we haven’t always connected with are among the ones who influenced us the most during our high school careers.

So when we look back on all the times we struggled and came in during study hall to figure out an equation or clean up an essay during our lunch period, we should think of the teachers who took the time to help us. When we get our caps and gowns and when we listen to speeches during that night in June, we should be not only proud of how far we’ve come, but also grateful to the ones who helped us along our journey. From one senior to many others: if there’s one thing I advise you not to forget—don’t forget to be grateful.