Believe me, I’ve always been an odd individual.

I find chocolate disgusting (minus Reese’s). I have to sit at certain places. I always write the word “of” in cursive. Lastly,I have this weird tendency to speak in a British accent with certain words and phrases. I don’t rightly know – said in a British accent – why.

A lot of you may already know those tidbits about me — and a lot of you may not, which is a shame.

My goal throughout high school has been getting to know the people around me. However, I wasn’t always like that. I don’t know if I could categorize myself as “shy,” but for awhile I was cautious to share my opinions.

It was not until freshman year, when that changed. I made all these wonderful new friends and was comfortable being the goofball that I am.

And then this place opened.

This stupid new school.

I’ll be honest, I hated it. That first week I was ready to go back to my “best friends,” until I met some pretty magnificent individuals here.

Through cross country and newspaper, I met a great group, and that group continues to be extremely important to me.

I kept in contact with a handful of my close friends from Blue Valley. Maybe I’m not texting them every day, but they matter.

People will come and go out of your life, and letting go of friendships sucks. I could give you that baloney about how the important people will stick around, but that doesn’t make it any easier to cope with.

However, if there’s anything I’ve learned: it’s to not be afraid to care about people. The friends you have in your life now will mean something for this moment in time. Maybe they helped you grow or change in a way you needed to, and maybe you were just meant to be friends temporarily. That doesn’t decrease his or her importance.

I’m excited to see what friendships I keep once I leave for college. Regardless, I have the population here at Southwest to thank. The people who know but still don’t get that I don’t like chocolate unless it’s Reese’s. The people who join in with my British accent. The people I was privileged to meet, my Timberwolves.