I know I should start out with something classy, but I can’€™t. I took an AP test today, and I’m kind of dead. The year’€™s winding down, the grad parties have started, and I’€™m here stuck in my basement, pretending I know what my Stat homework is talking about. There’€™s a lot of things I’€™ll never be good at, and math is definitely one of them. But while math may have been the bane of my time here in Ames, it is not the focus of my column. Rather, it is the fact that I am complaining about math in Ames, and not in Roland Story, which I’€™m not even sure has a school paper, come to think of it. Ames has given me a lot of opportunities I don’t think would have been available to me at RS. Photography, AP classes, the WEB. While I’ve been here, I’€™ve seen a ton of cool things and been able to do some awesome stuff. Marching in the Parade of Lights in Disney World is not something I’€™ll be forgetting anytime soon. Or the 29 hour bus ride to said Parade of Lights. I know we’re supposed to give out advice in these things, so prepare yourselves, I think I’m about to drop some knowledge on y’€™all. The most important thing to do in highschool, is something. What you do doesn’€™t matter, as long as it involves other people. I did marching band, cross country, track, Econ-Poli Sci club, and movie club while it lasted. I did all these things, and they only sucked some of the time. Oh who am I kidding, cross country was singularly the most painful thing I’€™ve ever done. Thanks Moon Dog. Anyways, just do stuff. That’€™s the big idea here. It’€™s what I did, and I seemed to have turned out decently alright, depending on who you ask. Now that I’€™ve benevolently graced my knowledge upon thee, it is time for me to dispel a myth. You’€™ve all heard the phrase, “You’€™re going to get out of high school what you put in.”€ Pardonnez mon françis, but that is complete and utter bullshit. I worked hard throughout high school, taking AP classes, challenging myself, and it’s come back to bite me. Granted, there are a few colleges out there that still use weighted GPA’€™s, but I’ve found that those colleges are few and far between, and I haven’€™t found a single scholarship that uses weighted GPA’€™s. What this means is that all the hard work you put into those AP classes, and getting lower scores than you would have if you had coasted through the normal classes, means that all that extra work was for nothing, because the fact that you took an AP class versus a normal class counts for jack squat in the eyes of the system. I’ve been told numerous times that my GPA is quite literally screwing me over in my search for scholarships. While I could go on for quite a bit, the screwing over of AP students is neither the point, nor the reason of my article. In August, I will be leaving for Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I will be pursuing a double major in photojournalism and news writing. As terrible as it is, I’m looking forward to leaving Iowa. I’ve been here for almost ten years, and it’€™s time for me to go somewhere new. I’€™ll always remember Ames, unless I get hit on the head really hard, in which case I may forget everything I’€™ve ever known or learned. Possible amnesia aside, it is time for me to leave you. So, in the imortal words of Douglas Adams, one of the best authors this world will ever see. So long, and thanks for all the fish.