It’s hard to believe that I am writing my last column. It’s true what they say time flies when you’re having fun.

The truth is that I actually kind of liked this place and that is hard for me to say. As much as I had my share of problems with certain members of the administration, honestly that’s not what I am going to remember. I’m not going to remember getting numerous detentions from Mr. Perry or spending time getting chewed out in the hallway by Mr. Vierheller for not buttoning my top button. Instead, I’m going to remember wasting my off mods playing wiffleball and almost beating Curley’s football team under the lights.

But with all kidding aside,  as much as I say that I hated JC, I loved it. This truly is an environment where people are free to express themselves. I mean, an idiot like me got his own column in the newspaper. I got to drive my editors insane for an entire year!

 I probably could not do that in any other school.  Most other schools would look at my immature jokes and Never take me seriously. Instead the teachers at JC embraced my jokes and let me expand on them. If I went to another school, I definitely wouldn’t be a columnist for the newspaper. I’m sure that almost every student has a story where they got to do something at JC that they definitely could not do at another school.

Don’t get me wrong, JC has flaws, but come on, so does the entire United States. But even with these flaws, would you really want to go anywhere else? As much as you say that you think JC is an awful school, would you rather go somewhere like Curley or Mercy? That would be like leaving the U.S. for Canada. Sure, it looks a little nicer, but people there are just not the same.

So what am I getting at here? All I want to say is you should treasure every single moment at JC. It is pointless to waste your time complaining about how bad this school is, though I confess it can be an easy habit to fall into. Try to make the most of every moment, and I promise you that you will enjoy your time at JC. I know that I did.

Ryan Lina is a Reporter for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com.