High school is all about learning things, and that’s what everyone told me before I entered WA’s halls four years ago.

But the most important thing that I learned was from this past year, and it wasn’t anything I could learn in a classroom.

My friend and I were having a debate about how we wanted to spend the rest of our senior years, as the end was in sight, and we came to the terrifying realization that we had so many things left to do here before we moved on to the next part of our lives.

I told him that there was no point in wasting time planning huge events and excursions, barbecues and road trips, because that would make the moment when we all parted ways for the last time that much more emotional and tough to deal with.

And he told me that I was wrong, and that we needed to make memories that would last for the rest of our lives. Do things not because we felt like we needed to to check off a box, but because we would have the memories that would define our high school experiences, and set us up for who we will be in the future.

And at the end of the day, he was right. Everything that we do in high school, whether it be what clubs we join, who we spend our time with, how we perform academically, is all a set up for our future, right? Hell, even the classes are called COLLEGE PREP. Everything we do is presented to us as another step on the path to the future.

But we fail to take into account how we will act in that future itself. We spent the last four years preparing to go to college so that we could get a job so that we could start a family and have enough saved for our own retirements so that when we all eventually die our future generations will be set up for success; a continuous cycle.

Seems kind of sad, doesn’t it? Well that’s how I used to look at the world until that friend of mine taught me to look at it differently.

Make memories. Be stupid. Do things that you are proud to share, and some things that you are embarrassed to share. The most important thing that I’ve learned to do is learn to tell a story, about me, about my friends, about some random event that I spotted on the street.

The future is something that we spend so much time preparing for, but we never focus on the present that we live in now. So go get yourself some stories, so that in the future, you can share everything you have experienced, whether it was stupid, funny, embarrassing, or even sad. Because those memories and those stories are what define you as a person, and sharing them with others allows you to meet new people and forge new connections with those around you.

This new outlook on life has changed how I view that future. It no longer has a definitive end, with specific moments where the next chapter starts. Instead, the future is fluid, and the only clear parts are the moments when I make new stories and share the ones I’ve already made with the people that matter to me in my life.

Go out and have fun, WA. Make yourself some stories that you will always want to share, and I promise you will always be the life of the party.