I’m currently sitting in room A111, a room that has become my safe-place, my work space and my home. It’s the last late-night and the last time I’ll ever watch my friends run around in a mad dash to finish this month’s magazine. But instead of simply feeling sad, I can’t help but think about (and regret) all the times that I secretly wished I could go home or ditch to get boba.

The point of this article is not, in fact, for me to just complain about all my regrets (well, for the most part). The point is that high school isn’t a time to rush through, and that in the two years that I’ve attended Monta Vista, I’ve grown in ways I’m still discovering. The stress of homework, the occasionally tricky social situations and my love for journalism have bettered me as an intellectual, a friend and a person.

Do I regret joining middle college? Absolutely not. But no matter how mature and contrarian I might imagine myself to be, there is no questioning that by subjecting myself to the stress of high school, I was also taking part in the teenage experience. I fell in and out of love with people, with the world, with myself. I found friends, I found myself and I didn’t find God, but I did find politics.

High school is about more than just education, it’s about the experience. And yes, the Monta Vista experience is different than other high schools, but it’s not any less important. That may sound trite, but as I reflect on the past two years and all the ways I’ve grown as an individual, I know that it’s true, and I know that by leaving early, I’m depriving myself of that quintessential growth period that my peers will continue to experience.

Will I experience personal growth in middle college? Yes. I’m not cutting myself off from the world; I’m simply trading one experience for the other. But in twenty years, as friends reminisce about their high school years, laughing fondly at old memories or cringing at once-beloved clothing items, I’ll look back on an entirely different time.

In a lot of ways, high school sucks. That much is undeniable. It’s difficult and emotional and stressful. But it’s a time to grow up, and as I prepare to say goodbye, I feel more like a kid than ever. The message I want to leave you with isn’t that high school is always going to be fun, or that middle college isn’t a good idea, or even that I’m a sentimental piece of trash. For those of you who still have a couple more years of high school, treasure it. Hold onto it while you can. As my high school days become fewer and fewer, that idea is becoming clearer by the minute. So take this time to appreciate high school, appreciate your friends and your teachers; heck, you could even appreciate your homework. Because eventually you’ll be thrown into a whole new world, and suddenly you’ll be a kid again.