In recent years, it’s become more and more of a trend to hate your high school. I understand why some people hate high school because of where they go, but it actually bothers me when people hate North Hills. If you compare our school to other schools across the country, or even across the state, North Hills looks like the greatest place on Earth. What you do in high school is completely reliant on you, and no one should blame North Hills for how you feel about high school.

I, like many other students graduating in the class of 2014, have lived in the North Hills for my entire life. Since a really young age, I’ve always been proud to be an Indian. If I still have any of my old McIntyre art projects, I’d bet more than half of them are red and white, and I think I hold the record for being the smallest youth football player in North Hills history. But most of all, North Hills gave me a very standard childhood. I was a typical suburban little kid, I have great memories from my childhood, and I’m sure plenty other people do, too. That’s something I’ll always be thankful for.

What happens to you during your high school life is completely dependent on your actions and the people you surround yourself with. If you’re walking up and down the halls completely miserable and complaining about how bad North Hills is on social media, 95% of the time that’s on you. Everyone who attends this school should be ecstatic about how great we have it. For everything this school has done for all of us, it actually makes me mad that so many people are so ungrateful. For the last 18 years of our lives, we owe so many of the happy moments we’ve ever had to North Hills School District. I understand that people are excited to graduate and go on to college, and I understand that people are getting sick of the same old thing every day, but neither of those are good reasons to complain about high school and constantly talk down on North Hills. I’m going to miss North Hills a lot, just like many other people will. I’m going to miss walking up the sidewalk every morning and seeing the school in the distance. I’m going to miss seeing my friends in school every day. I’m going to miss spending Friday nights at Martorelli. I’m going to miss the neighborhood I grew up in and driving past my old elementary school. No matter where I am or where I’ll go, I’ll always be proud that for the first 18 years of my life, I was a North Hills Indian, and I’m always going to miss North Hills.