One last hurrah

To say May was a busy month would be an understatement. There were many moments when my friends and I would stare into space, too overstimulated to interact with one another or anyone else, and agree that we all felt the same strange, paralyzing emotion: numbness. 

This starkly contrasted the longing and nostalgia I felt during the last week of eighth grade, when my friend and I were so attached to our middle school memories that we took laps around our English teacher’s classroom, running our hands along every nook and cranny before she gently told us to go home so she could leave too. 

Four years later, it wasn’t until the first two weeks of summer break that everything I had accomplished — graduating high school, preparing for college and getting ready to embark on my two-month-long trip to Taiwan — finally felt real. Since then, every time I thought about the fact that I won’t walk alongside the same people in the hallways, sit and chat with the same classmates or smile at the same people who have been a part of my everyday life for the past four years, I’ve felt physically sick to the stomach. It’s a feeling that surprises me because there were so many moments these past four years when Burlingame was the last place I wanted to be, and the last person I wanted to be was Iny Li. 

Yet, through the ups and downs, it’s finally clear to me that Burlingame has truly shaped me to be who I am today — even through the tear-stained days after chemistry exams, friendship fallouts and everything in between. 

So thank you, Burlingame. 

Thank you to those whom I’ve once held close but had to slowly say goodbye to, to those whom I can’t quite let go of yet, to those who have been there from the start and to those who helped me recognize both my strengths and imperfections.

Thank you to the Burlingame B for sparking my love for journalism and teaching me the value of telling other people’s stories. From covering protests and immigration policies to silly columns about Team Conrad versus Team Jeremiah, I’ve learned more about navigating a workspace, collaborating with others and finding my voice than in almost any course I’ve taken. 

Thank you to all my teachers and mentors who have been my biggest cheerleaders, toughest critics and strongest supporters. Thank you for believing in me when I struggled to believe in myself, for pushing me to think deeper, work harder and grow into someone I can be proud of.

But most of all, thank you to the people who made Burlingame feel like home. All the little moments that once felt ordinary — bickering in the back of economics class, eating popcorn chicken in the Burlingame Public Library study rooms, the monthly late-night grinds to publish the paper and last-minute coffee runs — are now the memories I find myself holding onto most. 

So here’s to one last hurrah. 

Thank you, Burlingame, for the memories, the lessons and the version of myself I found along the way.

Iny Li is a recent graduate of Burlingame High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.