From day one, kindergarten to today, the final weeks of my senior year and the entire 13 years in between, the time has gone by so fast. When we were younger in elementary school and middle school, your senior year of high school always felt so far away. But now that I’m here just a few days before graduation, I realize that the time flew by. 

Walking into those gates freshman year with my friends by my side and hundreds of new faces around me, I thought to myself, “This is going to be the longest four years of my life”.

Little did I know, they would be the most exhilarating and fast four years of my whole life. I was just a freshman, then blinked, and suddenly I’m standing here in my cap and gown getting ready to graduate. 

Agua Fria has taught me so many things. Not only do I know the pythagorean theorem by the back of my hand but I also learned a lot about myself, my morals and the people I should be surrounding myself with. 

I learned that it’s okay to be yourself, whether you’re into sports or band or politics or religion, Agua Fria has it all. This school showed me that I’m in fact not too cool for spirit weeks, and I love to dress up and be involved. I even joined the Student Council my junior year and had the time of life and am currently the Student Body Historian. 

I also learned that honor first win or lose doesn’t just mean if you lose in your volleyball game and have a good attitude about it after, but it means that no matter what someone will have your back as long as you have theirs. 

Agua Fria is a family. We have seen the highs and lows. Through a pandemic or not this school stuck together as one. And we showed up and showed out. 

Of course this was not the senior year that I had always dreamed of, but it was definitely one to remember and I can’t wait to tell my grandkids that I survived a pandemic in high school. 

Let me tell you about the best advice I have ever received, advice that damn near saved my life. Picture this — I’m in my sophomore English class, and my teacher Mr. Martinelli is the most upbeat, ready-to-go teacher I’ve ever had. He always came in with a smile and some corny joke to tell the class and was prepared to be made fun of all by 7 a.m. 

About half way through the school year Mr. Martinelli said, “Start making your bed every morning.” His reasoning for this was because once you make your bed it’s hard to get back in it, and it is the first productive thing you can do in the morning to set your day up for success. 

Now much like the rest of us, I took this information with a grain of salt and did not care one bit. Until I started making my bed every morning. It started with just making my bed, then with eating breakfast, then a skin care routine, then working out, then walking the dog, and so on and so forth. Before I knew it, just making my bed each morning turned into a full blown morning routine. 

Now these may seem like simple tasks, maybe you’ve even been doing these things every day since you were 6. Well, coming from one of the darkest moments in my life, having a routine is what saved me. And to this date two years later, no matter if it’s Tuesday at 6 a.m. or Saturday at noon, I will still do my routine, because it’s what gets me out of bed every day. 

So my advice to you all, start making your bed every morning. 

With that, finding a routine and finding yourself in high school can be hard, like really hard. We are just young adults trying to figure out what’s going on and what’s next for us. So take your time. As Avicii says, “These are the nights that never die…so live a life you will remember.” 

Each day, each hour, each minute, live with a purpose. And if you ever get stressed out or depressed, remember that your Owl family will always have your back, honor first, win or lose. 

Peace out, 

Bella Buckets