Step by step, I get closer to the platform.

One person after another is handed their diploma, shakes a hand, and walks down the aisle. Three people in front of me, no nerves, no butterflies. Two people, my chest becomes tingly, a light feeling of “this is actually about to happen” hits me.

One person, the feeling spreads through my body and the butterflies are in my stomach. I am next, looking down at the stairs in front of me I realize it’s almost time to walk.

It is time for me to walk up the stairs, time for me to give the announcer my name card, time to get my diploma, and time to shake the principal’s hand.

The 2013 Kingston High School graduation ceremony itself was fantastic. The principal gave a great speech, the salutatorians made an amazing speech, and the valedictorians did not disappoint even with the bar set so high by the previous speakers. I watched as my friends walked and were given their diplomas. I looked at the people I had known for years, some since the second grade, and saw them graduate. Some of them I know quite well, and others I used to.

I walked with my girlfriend, Rachael, surrounded by most of our friends. The experience was quite surreal, the entire day a blur. It is hard to believe that it happened and it still has not settled in.

The Class of 2013 made it through, put in their time, and are now free; we can make our own decisions and there is nobody that can tell us otherwise. It is up to us to make the right choices. We are free to go where we want and do as we please, continue on to college and study what we want, or start a career right away. The world is our ice cream sandwich and if we want to we can eat it before dinner.

The graduation party Saturday night was phenomenal! Fake blackjack, delicious food, prizes, laser tag, and a game of “Fear Factor” with your best friends — what could be better? A shout out to the parents who put it together is definitely deserved; they could not have done a better job and I thank them for all the work they went through for us. The only sad thing about the whole night was the thought in the back of all of our minds: This is the last time we will all be together in the same place.

The whole experience is over. High school and all of its youthful turmoil is over. We all made it through the jumbled mess of school work, hormones and dramatic encounters, pulling it off with our diplomas and our new emerging selves to boot. I know I have grown and changed these last four years, more than any other time in my life. I am more grown up, responsible and definitely a lot smarter — though I still have much to learn, as we all do.

At the end of this summer, it is “goodbye Kingston” for me and “hello Spokane.” Classes at Whitworth start early so I will be heading there in late August.

I will be pretty much on my own, student loans and all. It will be time to get my first real job and time to start buying my own food, doing my own laundry, and making my own lunch.

Thank you so much, North Kitsap School District, for the education you have given me. Thank you everyone who helped me get where I am and thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you to all of the staff at Olympic College for being so helpful, friendly and pushing me to be a better student. Thank you to all of my friends who I would not have been able to do it all without. Thank you to Rachael for being there when I need you to be, and most of all thank you to my mom and dad — I could not have done any of this without you guys.

Thank you all for reading what I write and coming back to read again and again.

Writing this has been an incredible experience and I love hearing everybody’s comments in the community. Thank you, Kingston Community News.