As I walk down the English hallway at CHS, seeing a myriad of quotes etched into the glass doors, one by Mark Twain sticks in my mind: “I have never let my schooling get in the way of my education.”

This quote resonates with me. It is easy to forget that our education is not solely confined to the eight hours a day we spend in a classroom. Our education is more than just memorizing dates and formulas. It is the expansion of our minds, the definition of our characters and the exploration of our identities.

Don’t get me wrong, school is very important. It is a time to start honing the skills needed to compete in the global economy, but it is also a time to be stupid, make mistakes, pursue random passions and discover who we are.

As students, we lose track of why we are in school. We are constantly under the scrutiny of colleges, parents, teachers and peers. These expectations are enough to get even the most laid back people caught up in the emphasis on objective results.

In high schools, we are shaping ourselves into the people we want to be when we tackle the real world. Nobody is going to care that you had a 4.0 GPA or scored a 36 on your ACT when you are trying to become a functioning member of society.

Students spend so much time stressing about school. They agonize over every test and assignment. The truth is that you’re never going to remember a bad grade you got on one chemistry test or English essay in 10th grade. You will remember what you were passionate about.

A student can spend 4 years doing extracurriculars they hate, but look good on a resume and taking AP classes they have no interest in just to get into Harvard before realizing that they have absolutely no idea who they are and what interests them. High school is about building your identity. If you spend the entire time stressed out about getting good grades and padding your resume, you are going to realize that this formative time has been wasted and you will have to start from scratch discovering who you are later in life.

Now is the only time that we are able to do whatever we want without having to worry about adult problems like paying taxes or finding a job. If you want to sing, or act, or play an instrument, or read books, or play a sport, or do anything else, now is the time. We can explore our passions and get to know ourselves before we are tossed out into the real world.

So, stop stressing out about every little thing. It may seem now like you will die if you don’t do well on an upcoming test, but you won’t. The most important thing to do in high school is to make sure that you are doing what you love. So what if you don’t get a 4.0 GPA, it won’t matter in the long run. Go do what you want and make sure your schooling doesn’t interfere with your education.