“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

-Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill certainly had a way with words.

Graduating from middle school is definitely nowhere near the end, but it gives me the opportunity to reflect on my experiences in school and the experiences switching to my new school has allowed me to have. In this one year, I feel as though I have aged one hundred years. I turned fourteen. I discovered video podcasting, then audio podcasting and blogging. I gained friends and grew distant from others. I had good days and bad days. I wrote good things and pieces of writing that were quite simply too terrible to look at. I extended my social network online, met Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell, and discovered Twitter. If a person’s life is the sum of their experiences, then I think I’m off to a good start. And I’ve only just begun.

In everything I do, there’s always a chance that I will get tired of it. Every once in a while, I reflect on something and decide it’s time for a change. I looked at my career at Mac News Weekly and decided it was time to move on much as I looked at my public school career and decided I need to go somewhere else. There may come a time when I will feel the same way about my current school, but I doubt it. There are always more opportunities in advanced placement and honors courses to keep me challenged and I can always challenge myself outside of school (by writing things like this).

Wednesday marked the end of my first year in my new school. I made the transition from public school to private school and gained a much better education. I lost economic diversity in the student body, but it was overall the best move I possibly could have made. The public school I was attending was one of the best in the country and had a few excellent teachers, but it was a slave to standardized testing. Now I get to go to one of the best private schools in the country and still have excellent teachers, but I am no longer a professional test taker.

I’m indebted to the teachers I’ve had this year as well as my classmates, if for no other reason than they have been willing punchlines when I need them. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was in a good class, but I’ve found that it is not until the end of something that one realizes just how extraordinary something is.

Whether or not a class will be good is hit or miss. There are so many factors. Is the teacher good? Are students eager to learn? Is the topic interesting? If the answer to all three of those questions is yes, then the class is generally excellent. If the answer to any of those three is no, then my experience leads me to believe that the class will be either great or terrible. If the answer to all three is no, then there’s a problem. I’m not well versed in probability, but the chance of having every class fall into the first category must be astronomical. I suppose I’m just lucky.

I will be posting all summer, even while I’m away. To stay sharp, I’ll be reading this, this, and this. Have an excellent summer (even if you don’t get a break) and check back regularly for updates.