Because I am graduating this year it finally hit me that I'd have to leave and I had a crisis about it, so I wrote this.

I used to be embarrassed to say that I am from Winooski. 
I would lie, hide, do whatever I could to disguise it.
And point out every flaw I could to try to distance myself if I was ever found out. 
Now,
As we are honing in on these last few months,
Where soon I will actually have to leave,
I don't want to. 
It has recently dawned upon me how much this school and community has had an impact on who I am and who I will become once my tassel goes right to left and I exit these doors once and for all.
So I suppose I'm writing this as a thank you. 
Thank you to the student body, teachers, administration, everybody that has seen me cry and heard me say hundreds of times that all I want to do is fail and drop out, but then taking me over and over, and helping me succeed. 
Thank you for the laughs, the yelling, and the one detention I've ever received.
Thank you for giving me the space I needed to bloom as a youth leader, writer, and as an actual human being.
Thanks for having me these last thirteen years.
I have this fear of being forgotten so I hope I've made my mark.
And even though I must leave,
Lastly,
Thank you for making me proud to say that,
Winooski
Is my
Home.