“It goes by so fast.”  “The cheerleaders are at the top of the food chain.” “Food and fist fights happen all of the time.” “Junior year is the only year that matters.” “These are the last four years you have to really be a kid.” These are only a few of the statements made when the topic of high school pops up in a conversation. While they all may seem legitimate, there are many of these statements that are completely contradictory to the reality of high school.

For starters, the cheerleaders are nowhere near the top of the food chain, or at least not in my school. There’s no major group of jocks and their popular girlfriends; there are too many kids for that. There’s no particular “in crowd”; most people just get along with their friends and don’t worry about what the rest of their peers are doing.

As far as food fights and fist fights go, they rarely (if ever) occur. Half of my high school experience has gone by, and I’ve only heard of two boys getting into a minor spat, and the closest event we had to a food fight was when my applesauce exploded and squirted my friends.

Also, junior year is not the only year that matters. Each and every year matters; even your senior year counts (sorry guys)! Once you’re accepted into a college, they’ll be sure to keep tabs on your academic progress to make sure that they made the right choice in recruiting you.

These are not your last years to be young and have fun. While there are rumors that you’ll spend your days hitting the books once you start college, you’ll still be able to keep up a social life. Don’t try to cram in years of fun before you’re done with high school. It’s important to stay on top of your schoolwork and to put good grades before fun — as sad as that can be sometimes.

The only statement mentioned above that is consistently true is that high school goes by very quickly. It feels like just a few months ago that I was getting lost in the halls of my new school while trying to find my freshman homeroom; but, in reality, I’m only a few weeks away from ending my sophomore year. Overall, considering how quickly high school goes by, it’s crucial to stay on top of your grades and schoolwork, but to not forget to make the most of the short time that you have there.