As my time in high school comes to a close, I am abundantly aware of the phrase “hindsight is 20/20.” For those of you who are underclassmen and feel that things are not going your way, I am here to tell you — prepare for the impending cheesiness — everything happens for a reason. Any time that a result for a club position or a test came out that didn’t go my way, I felt that I had fully ruined my future. Looking back, I see that each of these “failures” were necessary for the path that I ended up on in my 4 years of high school. 

Going into high school, I had a few vague ideas of subject matter that I was interested in. I knew that I liked math, but did not love it; I hated science, but maybe that was just because I had poor teachers in the past; I wanted to join some volunteer organization, and I would definitely join the soccer team. Beyond this, I knew nothing about my interests or what I wanted to pursue for a career. So, in my freshman year, I signed up for classes and joined any club that interested me; it was Key Club that truly captured my heart. 

After gaining my footing in ninth grade, I moved into 10th grade with great confidence that I knew which activities to continue being involved in; at the time, I definitely did not have any career interests. I signed up for all the hardest classes and walked into Chemistry Honors thinking that my hatred for science was something that didn’t matter — there was no way I would compromise having another honors class just so I could take it easy in a subject area I wasn’t fond of. In balancing chemistry, Key Club and all my other activities and classes in sophomore year, I ended up having the toughest year of my life (yes, it was worse for me than junior year).  

I found myself constantly stressed about studying for chemistry and extremely disappointed after not receiving the position I wanted in Key Club — the club that I had spent hours on, hours that I could have spent studying for chemistry. It seemed like I had completely ruined my life. Not only was I not succeeding in my schoolwork, but my extracurriculars were not going well either. Many nights were spent crying as I equated these two instances of failure to a lifetime of shortcomings. 

I laugh now thinking about how overdramatic my reactions were to events that have no effect over my success today. In fact, they just acted as catalysts for me to try out things beyond my comfort zone and reach even higher. In Key Club, I applied for a position outside of school and received it. Through my experience in chemistry, I was able to definitively recognize that I did not like science and began to search for jobs unrelated to the field. With this new positive outlook and knowing that the humanities interested me more than STEM, I began to grow more involved with Key Club. I signed up for The Epic and I pursued summer internships at various marketing companies that led me to my current career interest. 

It took me a long time to realize that everything really does happen for a reason. I may have felt utter disappointment during certain parts of my high school career, believing that those setbacks would keep me from achieving my dreams, but it was those setbacks that pushed me to reach beyond my comfort zone and discover my true passions. Here I stand at the end of my four years at Lynbrook, pursuing a major I was never interested in while in 10th grade, when I struggled to pass my classes and aimed for positions in clubs that I didn’t truly need. I couldn’t be more confident in the path that I am on, nor could I be any happier.