Every day we come to work.

We don't get a pay check, but we do get paid.

We have bosses, but we call them by a different name.

The tall brick building used to scare us freshman year,

but now its a second home and it is what you make it.

 

We have to punch in on time, "that's the warning bell folks!"

Our bosses pile on work all at once, teachers schedule tests

on the same days.

We have to file our taxes and balance our check books,

spending four or five hours of homework, projects, labs, and college forms a night.

We have to pay our bills bills BILLS!!!!!

Our college course fees, AP fees, SAT and ACT fees all due soon.

 

Sign up for this class, do your extra credit, why don't you go out anymore?!

Teachers and parents always pulling us.

Anymore strings attached, more games of tug-a-war and we'll tear into little pieces. 

Grades, sports, tests I have to study for, labs, homework, grades, college,

no time for friends (unless you want to study?! No? Okay.), GPA, class rank, grades again!

A never ending cycle!!!

When summer rolls around research your future,

plan out every second of your life for the next ten years.

Question yourself once and you're a failure,

have full confidence and you're ignorant and stuck up.

 

Life, school, they're not games, you can't win.

But then you cannot lose.

You can pass up opportunities or the make best of them, but you cannot lose.

 

I love this struggle. Fighting every day to be the best,

not of my class, but of me.

And everyone had different reasons, different goals.

She wants to be a doctor, he wants to paint like Picasso.

Others don't know yet, and that's okay.

I want to be a cop, to protect and serve,

but right now, right here after after school

working alone in my own little world,

this is where it begins.

Let's not wait until college to express ourselves, to explore our interests.

And teachers, though sometimes we get frustrated this is life.

Graduating high school is not the end nor should it truly be the beginning.

Why wait to be who you want to be?

 

Everyday we come to school, our childhood work.

We silently get paid in knowledge, understanding, and respect.

We have bosses,

our teachers who push us towards our goals

even though we might not know them fully yet ourselves.

The tall brick building used to scare us freshman year,

but we are not the same people we were then.

Our values, our beliefs, our goals have changed.

 

We have to punch in and do our time,

twelve years of high school that creates the possibility of the future

that used to be only a dream.

Our bosses pile on work all at once, but if we really want to

we can do anything. Let's see how we work under pressure.....

Okay now next time rearrange and see if that works better.

We have to file our taxes and balance our check books,

instead of looking at our workload in hours, look at it in accomplishments.

I wrote two essays, finished my economics and government projects,

did twenty calculus problems, typed up an AP Physics lab,

and still persevered forward and filled out scholarship applications.

We have to pay our bills bills BILLS!!!!!

But really we are making wise financial decisions because

courses in college are so much more expensive.

 

So, what I'm trying to say is:

Students, take it easy on your teachers. They've already done this.

Maybe not in the same way that you did, but they want us to be the best we can be.

Teachers, we appreciate what you do. No, your class isn't the only one we take

It must be hard to understand because you teach that subject all day every day.

And when we just don't get it, please be patient. 

We will learn, we want to learn, we just have a funny way of showing it.

Parents, thanks for your support, but please don't take it badly

if we need to talk to someone else about our day.

This is our separation of home and work, please respect that.

Friends, we love you, but our future started yesterday

and now we need to catch up.

But hey, if we don't stop working for a few days straight,

bring over movies and food and just be there for us.

Mentors, no matter what form you take stand by us.

Even when you're far away we think of you.

Would you approve? How would you handle this?

 

Just remember how important you all are to us.

We are going to be great,

change the world in ways we never imagined.

Thank you for putting up with us in our innocence and youth.

You may not even realize you fall into these categories,

but we will never forget what you've done for us.