It is what you make of it.

There have been quite a few posts about the vacuum that was high school. As an educator, it's hard to deny that secondary ed has gone downhill rapidly over the last couple of decades due to increased costs butting heads with lower budgets and, of course, No Child Left Behind, which seems to be doing the opposite.

And, truth be told, not all teachers are inspiring...or are really dedicated to teaching as a passion and not a job. You will one day, mark my words, shake your head in wonder that you were allowed to learn from a gifted teacher like Kathleen or Joan McKay.

I am who and what I am due to one amazing individual at my own high school. As a science geek coming from a family of engineers, my life path seemed pretty straight forward. Oh, sure, I was creative, too, but I chalked the photography and writing and other projects up to hobbies or curiosity, not a talent.

Mrs. Price, a 9th grade English teacher, saw something else in me during a brief six week class I had with her. When, two years later, I hadn't shaped up into the kind of person she knew I was, she came hunting for me, and the world of theater that she opened up to me changed me forever. Oh, sure I went on to an advanced engineering school, but Mrs. Price had already ignited the fires of creativity, and I felt restless and unfulfilled until I found a college with a creative program that I could embrace.

Despite the process that would create a completely different person from my rough, freshman clay, I enjoyed just about everything about high school. Well, except PE. I don't think any school offers Phys Ed anymore. That's okay; I did enough push-ups, pull-ups, and laps around the gym for all of you! But I loved English. I loved math...of all kinds. I loved science in all its permutations. Okay, so I wasn't all that enamored with the Government class, but I did manage to get a B+ in it. Ruined my GPA.

I was in the science club, the radio club, the rocket club (which I formed and presided over for four years), drama club, National Thespians, Honor Society, Latin club, the yearbook staff, and the newspaper staff. (I'm probably forgetting a few.) Go ahead, say it: GEEK! (Proudly.) I carried my textbooks home every night and dutifully studied for tests.

Of course, the boys that were popular with the girls were on the Football or Basketball teams, but that's another story.

A good friend's husband whines that he had a miserable time in high school, that he was embarrassed to be thought a good writer and interested in science. He felt a victim and imagines that there was a large group of bullies always waiting for him. He hated every second of high school, far more than seems natural. Really. He makes it sound like Hell on Earth. Perception or truth?

I've been told recently that "It is what it is." Well, that's a little too fatalist for me. I would offer, instead, that "It is what you make of it." Which isn't to say that you can always find a silver lining or that if you had a less than stellar experience in high school that it was all in your mind. But I know from experience that it is possible to find a better path, even in the midst of chaos, if you can focus on what you want, rather than what you have.

This is tougher if you don't really know what you want. But if you listen carefully, you'll find that you will be guided. Call if a gut feeling, an inner voice, or something higher up on the spiritual trail, it's your guide to the rest of your life. Sometimes, if you can't hear that voice, a teacher somewhere will hear it for you and point you in the right direction. But whatever you do, wherever you go, what is does not have to be all there is. What is can be much richer if you give yourself a chance to believe in yourself...or listen to a teacher when he or she believes in you.