As I open my planner to write down new homework assignments, I let out a sigh. 

   The work just keeps piling up. The stress of college decisions and my future hangs over my head. I manage to finish my regular homework for each class, but it still doesn’t end there. I have to study for the SAT, finish college applications, and apply for scholarships. 

   High school hits me with new pressures every day, and I don’t know the last time I got over 7 hours of sleep. In moments like these, I find myself wishing I could go back to simpler times. I miss elementary school.

No stress and homework: I miss not being stressed and not having hours of homework each night. I was excited to go to school, instead of dreading my third test of the week. Times were simple back then. A homework assignment meant getting a permission slip signed, not a five-page research essay in MLA format. The increase in homework is understandable, of course, but I miss being able to go home after school and just enjoy time with my family. I miss coming home and playing outside, rather than coming home to more school work.  

Sr. Adria Hamilton said, “I miss elementary school sooo much! I miss it because times were simpler back then, and we weren’t stressed about getting certain grades on tests.”

Sr. Kegan Garcia said, “I miss recess the most and being able to play with my friends and not be stressed about school.”

Sr. Leah Hopkins said, “I miss having time to relax, socialize, and having a break from the stress of classwork.”

Teachers: I miss the teachers. I think everyone can admit that they accidentally called one of their elementary teachers “mom” at some point. For me, this happened more than I’d like to admit, but it goes to show how comfortable I was with my teachers. At Lakewood, I was blessed with amazing teachers who are still my favorite to this day. It is crazy to think I used to spend the entire day, every day, with just one teacher; however, I remember not wanting to leave the side of most of my elementary teachers. As a high school student, I have many teachers for only a semester. I see each teacher for one hour a day and our conversation is generally limited by classwork. It is not that I don’t have great relationships with my high school teachers, but I miss the meaningful relationships I could develop each year with my elementary school teachers. 

Sr. Kaley Hendrick said, “I definitely miss my elementary school teachers. I miss how close I was with them and a lot of them are still my favorite teachers to this day. They had the biggest impact on my life and I just have such good memories of their classes.” 

Sr. Emmorey Strait said, “I miss elementary school teachers because they felt like family to me. I always felt accepted, loved, and supported in their class.”

Friendships: I miss being friends with everyone. In my experience, I was friends or acquaintances with almost everyone in my class. I could develop relationships with all of my classmates because I was with them every day. I guarantee I could still name just about every classmate from my fourth-grade class. In high school, I don’t think I could name every student in any of my classes.  In elementary school, everyone was friends with everyone. Popularity didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if I knew my classmate well or not, I still chased them on scooters during gym.

Hendrick said, “I miss elementary school every day. The days before growing up were always the best. It didn’t matter what you looked like, how smart you were, or what gender you were. All that mattered was that you were a good person, and you would be extra cool if you could do a trick at recess.”

Sr. Blake Bosma said, “The thing I miss most about elementary school is the friendships you make. Every day you are with the same people for many hours and you get to know your classmates so well. Now in high school, I don’t know my classmates on a personal level. I really miss knowing who they are as a person. I was able to do this in elementary because I had the same class the whole year.”

Recess (duh): Petition to bring recess into the high school schedule? I’d sign it. I’d give up almost anything to have a free hour to just run wild and play with my friends. Every day I’d race out to the swings or monkey bars with my friends. We’d play kickball, every type of tag, four square, and build snow forts in the winter. We were just little kids having fun. Recess gave me something to look forward to every day. Looking back, some of my favorite elementary school memories were during recess. 

Sr. Brecken Panse said, “I miss recess the most. It was a time where we could take a break from work and hang out with friends. My favorite memory would have to be when at recess, in the winter, we would make snow forts and then ‘sell’ snowballs to other teams or people.”

Bosma said, “My favorite memory in elementary school was the football games we would play during recess! I still have many memories from playing football at recess with so many kids.”

Several years later, here I am. I’m only 17, and I am already reminiscing about the “good old days.” However, with the teachers, friends, recess, and the stress-free days, what’s not to miss? 

While this has been a fun trip reminiscing down memory lane, those college essays won’t write themselves. Back to reality.