For the longest time, I was told high school was about change. New friends, new classes, and new interests—essentially becoming an entirely new person.

But if I’m being honest, I haven’t changed all that much, and that’s okay.

Most of the clothes I bought freshman year, I still wear. My core interests, like video games and fashion, have remained constant since I was six years old. My intrinsic values and personality have been the same—so what is this transformation everyone raves about occurring in high school?

What if being true to yourself is its own form of growth?

What if the evolution wasn’t in becoming someone new, but in becoming someone braver, someone who could stand by the kid they used to be?

This was not always easy. I was bullied both online and in person, which did serious damage to my mental health. I’ve encountered many people who think bullying is just a thing in the movies, but it happens more often than most people know—even in the halls of South. From eighth grade to freshman year, people would make cruel comments on my social media posts, send me direct messages, or confront me in person.

Our high school culture rewards conformity, and people are intimidated by anything outside of that. Unfortunately, I was a victim of this.

However, I saw no reason to change who I was for people I didn’t care about. In all honesty, at times I even felt sympathy for the people bullying me. I could see through the rude comments—see that they came from a place of insecurity and jealousy. In many ways, I become a more empathetic person from it all.

There were moments I lied during ice breakers about how I spent my weekend, even if the truth was I played on my Nintendo 3DS or read manga. However, I’ve learned that being true to yourself is so much more rewarding than trying to “please” people.

The beauty of high school is that it’s one blip of your life—so why spend it trying to please people who don’t even know you?

All of this isn’t to say that I am the exact person I was when I started freshman year—I’ve matured in more ways than I can name. As I move forward into the next stage of my life at college, I am more than excited to continue evolving, without losing sight of Sofia.