Seniors reflect on their time at Mill Valley, offer their advice to future students

Trying new activities is worth your time
If I could repeat my last four years, there are very few things I actually did — activities, classes, extracurriculars — that I would choose to undo. Instead, most of my regrets are decisions I didn’t make, or opportunities I passed up on. In high school, even when something doesn’t seem like your perfect cup of tea, it’s usually worth your time to at least give it a shot. My best pe...

Make an effort to live in the moment
It's cliche, but the most valuable lesson I'm leaving high school with is that living in the moment is key to enjoying life. Indecisiveness has always been my greatest weakness. I grapple endlessly with choices to determine what will reward me with the most joy and success, and least regret. So, I spent most of my high school career obsessing over the “perfect” variety of classes, extracurric...

Don’t overwhelm yourself with activities or APs
There is no one right way to go through high school. Every high schooler has something different that motivates them or makes them happy, whether it be pursuing sports, joining multiple academic clubs, taking as many advanced classes as they can or just getting passing grades. Whatever it is you want to pursue in high school, your first priority should always stay the same: learning. I have been ...

Balancing class workload with free time is important
Reflecting on the past four years of my high school experience has allowed me to realize that I never took advantage of the fun aspects of being a high school student. I was so focused and self-consumed with taking the most challenging classes, having leadership positions through clubs and newspaper and working at Panera — all in the hopes of having a compelling application when applying to prestigious un...

High school experiences can be worth missing class
For as long as I can remember, education has always been a top priority on my list, not because of my parents, not because of my teachers; it has always been something I personally highly valued. I’ve always worked to try my best when it comes to academics, putting my full effort and strength into every assignment, project, or test I complete in school. Excelling in school, in my mind, is importan...

High school shouldn’t define your life
I know that I’m supposed to write an opinion about the lessons I’ve taken away from high school and the impact Mill Valley has left on me, but no matter how many times I try to write that opinion it just doesn’t feel truly genuine, rather, it feels like I’m an old man giving eighth graders a motivational speech at the end of their middle school graduation. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of ama...

Never be afraid to have an opinion
Once again, I sit in front of my computer writing an opinion. Although I have always had a lot of — at least somewhat controversial — opinions, I never had felt the need to share them. When I was first presented with the opportunity to write an opinion for the newspaper, I laughed thinking “why would I ever do that?” It turned out to be the best thing for me. After a month or two of dodging opinio...
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