While I am most certainly ready to graduate, I think it’s fair to say that I got a lot from my four years at Sage Creek High School. As a member of the founding class, I went through several of the noteworthy experiences that characterized our freshman year together.

These include enduring the (what I found to be) brutally difficult Honors Physics class, refreshingly miniscule class sizes, and answering the question “Oh, you go to Sage Creek… where is that, exactly?” over and over again until we’d rather still be in middle school.

Admittedly, it was strange to be the only class of students in an entirely new high school. I can vividly recall my peers’ frustration in sophomore year when we lost the privilege. It was a unique Sage Creek experience to meet someone new and ask “are you a freshman or sophomore?” It afforded an opportunity to form close friendships that are harder to come by at a typical high school. No other school in the area was as new as ours, and that elicited a particular attitude amongst our first graduating class.

This air of status among our students conflicted with our relationship with Carlsbad High School, which can be described at the very least as rocky. Even before the infamous KKK sign incident at a basketball game this February, there was a tension between the two schools. Jabs have been exchanged on social media since before Sage Creek even opened, not to mention the vicious cheers during sports games from both sides.

The Lancer senior shirts this year read “the Carlsbad High School,” a less than subtle nod to their former position as the only high school in the city. Personally, I chose not to participate in the rivalry, not only because I have good friends on both campuses, but because I believe it’s petty and unnecessary to pit two schools against each other for the sole reason that they are the only ones in the city. There are better things to do with our seemingly Sisyphean four years together.

Apart from the balancing act that is keeping up my grades, the majority of my high school time was spent in clubs and programs. Now when it comes to extracurriculars, my resume is admittedly beefy. I’ve been a part of 10 different clubs, four leadership programs, one sport, and a few drama productions. At one time or another, I’ve been a junior varsity athlete, a Science Olympian, a Treasurer, an AP student, Champion Bobcat, and a cast member. It took me a long time to find my niche, as it were, as I drifted between friend groups and activities.

Of course, most of that struggle can be chalked up to the focus on identity formation that characterizes the adolescent phase of life (learned that one in AP Psych, thanks Ms. Williams.) We as teenagers try on various roles as we grow older. Not every one of them is right for us, but we try them anyways. The advantage of Sage Creek is that it offers an opportunity for a student to discover what they’re good at and what they enjoy doing. For me that growth was afforded by our astounding English department, allowing me to further my passion for writing.

For some of my close friends it was the art and theater departments that gave them a place to hone and showcase their skills. I am astonished by the impressive feats accomplished by my peers, and I think the learning environment at Sage Creek is conducive to those achievements. Something as open-ended as the Genius Project would have been far less likely to succeed in a school without our diversity and collective passion for challenging the status quo. If innovation makes us “Sage Geeks,” then so be it.

The senior Bobcats have been through a lot of changes in our four years, and there are still many more to come for our freshman, sophomores, and juniors. The numerous achievements made by our first graduating class has set a high bar for Sage Creek, one that will no doubt be met and outdone by future Bobcats for years to come.