With a week to go until winter break, I am getting extremely anxious to get out of school. It’s been increasingly harder to get myself out of bed and to school each morning, and it’s been much more difficult to have motivation to do my homework. But, as much as I take the internet to complain about going to school, there are still a lot of things about BVNW to be thankful for. And although I should be thankful the entire year, this time of year is highlighted as one to act thankful. So, I’ve come up with a list of reasons to be thankful to attend Northwest – 10 to be exact.

10. The automatic hand sanitizing machines at lunch: Try to visualize how crowded it would be if every single person in the lunch line went to the bathroom to wash their hands before lunch. Or, worse, imagine if nobody in lunch line did any form of sanitizing their hands before eating their food. I’m not a germaphobe by any means, but my guess is that the amount of students sick would increase exponentially without those automatic foaming machines.

9. The art and posters on the wall: Until recently, the student murals were something I took for granted – they’ve always been there and I didn’t really see how special they were. Now, seeing that administration plans to remove them off the walls, the paintings signify individuality and art that I’m thankful for the time being.

8. Spirit week: I know how much the phrase “Northwest has the best spirit” gets thrown around, but it’s true and the school knows it. After all, what other school in the area has a spirit stick or spirit dances?

7. Late arrival: This one’s self-explanatory.

6. The Dawg House: Where else could I satisfy my basic Thursday-morning Starbucks needs or my Friday afternoon gummy bear cravings?

5. TCB: It is so much nicer to have a built in period in the day to get help from teachers than have to go in early before or after school. Plus, if I don’t need help from my teachers, it’s just a nice time to just relax in the midst of a busy week.

4. Advisory: Having advisory has allowed me to have a place to meet people and teachers I wouldn’t have otherwise met. Also, the discussions that we have in advisory are ones that we don’t have in the traditional classroom and are topics that, to me, are more socially relevant than discussion about equations or literary symbols.

3. The Wi-Fi: It’s free, it’s swift, and although Twitter is blocked, it’s a better alternative than draining my phone’s battery by connecting it to mobile data all day.

2. The people: I have met some of the friendliest, funniest, and smartest people I know at BVNW. Most everyone is willing to talk to anyone, and the people are what makes BVNW such a worthwhile and diverse place to be.

1. The ability to attend school: I have a big tendency to take on Twitter to complain about school, but then I temporarily remember that millions of kids in the world desperately want to attend school but cannot because of social location, financial issues, etc. You and I are part of the lucky, small percent that gets to attend school – and part of the miniscule percent that gets to attend Northwest.