My senior year of high school was filled with mental ups and downs. I had the highest GPA of my class for two years in a row (my sophomore and junior years), and I was a shoe-in for valedictorian as long as I kept up with my grades. The year had a rough beginning though, as my great grandfather, the patriarch of my family and also the guardian I lived with, had to be flown to a hospital in Houston for a brain bleed. Though he made a strong recovery, my mental health was hit hard by this event, and I began to fall into a depression. I skipped class and spent days in bed with no interest in going out. My peers worried about me and made efforts to get in touch, but I had lost my motivation and got burnt out. I felt my life slipping out of my hands, and though I eventually did return to school, I knew my dreams of being the valedictorian were dashed. I managed to push myself back to my old routine, working hard in class and trying to keep up with attendance. I still lived with my great grandparents, and it was hard to come home to my recovering great grandfather and my great grandmother who suffers from severe Alzheimer’s. It felt difficult to keep up with their fast declines, but I wanted to keep doing well in school for all of our sakes. I was also balancing a part time job after school, and multiple odd jobs that added onto my stress. I can’t express how lucky I was at this time to have people in my school system who cared about me. I felt hopeless. I thought since I’d thrown away my chance at being top of my class that I might as well drop out, but there were people looking out for me. My science teacher, the strictest in the school, showed me her soft side and pushed me to try harder and make up for what I missed. My principal encouraged me to keep going, and jumped through hoops to save me from getting into trouble for my attendance. My counselor constantly gave me her words of affirmation and reassurance, and for the first time in a while, I started feeling like I belonged at school again. In March my principal broke two big pieces of news to me: he was going to be moving on to another job and wouldn’t be there when I graduated, and that I was going to be the valedictorian of my senior class. I was conflicted. On one hand I was ecstatic that I had somehow put in enough work to climb the ranks and regain my number one spot, but my heart was broken that one of my biggest supporters would be leaving the school only months away from my graduation. More trials came before the school year ended. Our replacement principal for the remainder of the school year was incredibly apprehensive towards me and disrespected my choice of college and profession. She berated me often and showed fierce favoritism towards the class salutatorian, but I knew that I couldn’t let anything get in the way of my success again. I ignored her harsh criticism and kept working towards my goals, and graduated having achieved one of my proudest academic accomplishments. I walked the stage as my school’s valedictorian. I discovered that though giving up is easy, especially after you get a taste of it, it's never too late to make the change that will best benefit your life.