By Abigail Cianciolo
Editor-in-Chief 

Recently, I’ve been stopping myself to think. Thinking about high school, about friends, about life. And as I am now days away from graduating, everything I have known the last four years will begin to change, and I will have to take the lessons my time at WA has given me and bring them to the “real world.”

The other morning I had a meeting with John Rogers, DECA advisor, well-known business teacher, polo shirt enthusiast, and most importantly a person that has become a close friend of mine. This was our final meeting to talk about my internship and to go through my presentation with him.

After we discussed my internship, he told me he had one more thing to give me. It was a graduation card, and in true Mr. Rogers’ fashion he found me the one of a jungle that sang this very loud song when opened.

I chuckled when I saw it, knowing he probably went through the entire store to find this card, annoying every salesperson in the aisle as he opened a dozen singing cards. At first all I saw was his signature at the bottom of the card. He instructed me to turn the card over and on the back it just had two words, “Don’t settle.”

Don’t settle. Two words and that was all it took to become one of the most important lessons I have learned in high school. Not to say that all the educational pieces I learned in my classes weren’t important, but this was a real life lesson.

Don’t settle. Whether it’s at my career, my relationship, opportunities in college or beyond, I can’t settle for anything less than my full potential. I can’t think that I am not the most qualified candidate, or that this is as good as it’s going to get, or that I am not being the best that I can be.

Don’t settle. I think there were several times in high school that I did not adhere to this advice. Not trying out for a team for fear of failure, not getting out of bad relationships for fear of being lonely, not standing up for a contradictory belief to my peers for fear of rejection.

But when we give into fear, we are settling for the safe route. However, if we always followed the safe route Neil Armstrong would never have walked on the moon, Amelia Earhart would have never flown across the Atlantic, the colonists would have never made their way to America and our lives would be completely different.

Without looking back, use these two words to propel yourself in the direction of a better tomorrow. Never be okay with your second best and continue working, dreaming, and living every day without settling.

So to my friends, classmates, WA students or any student for that matter, please remember these two words. Carry them with you and let them guide you on a path to success and achievement of being the best “you” that you can possibly be.