The halfway point of senior year is approaching faster than I ever could have imagined, and it's slowly beginning to dawn on me just how much things are going to change - and how much has already changed, for that matter. So many high school traditions have already played out their final acts, turning from until next time into never again without my knowing.

One of my closest circle of friends used to be my local math circle. We sent teams to ARML, HMMT, PUMaC, and so many other in-person contests. Through my middle and high school years I changed and grew alongside them, shaped so much by their influence that I wouldn't be who I am today without them. In 2022, we started a tradition of recording, editing, and publishing vlogs of our contest trips.

But such trips will never happen again, at least not in the same way. A sizeable fraction of that friend group has already graduated, and the vast majority of the rest are, like me, seniors. Even when some of us meet again at Penn State next spring, it simply won't have the same energy - not to mention personal matters getting in the way. In effect, we laid that tradition to rest all the way back in June of this year at ARML 2025, the highest of all high notes possible.

In all honesty, if endings have to happen, now's a great time. Life is nothing without progress; progress cannot happen without change. It's just a little sad to look back and realize how much we've left by the waysides of time, picked up and put down for the very last time.

So, to everyone who have been part of my life for the last four years, I offer my most genuine gratitude. We've come so far.

and I'd do it all again...

tags: life