It’s that time of year once again. Seniors no longer scuttle over prom preparations and instead shift their focus to beach-week reservations, juniors revel in their soon-to-be senior status, sophomores enjoy their last few weeks of carefree bliss before the college invasion hits in August, and freshmen celebrate completing their first year of high school.

Amongst all the happiness and change coming our way, it’s easy to see the month of May as a tragedy, a loss, a sadness. No matter how hard we try, it’s inevitable that we will lose a good deal of the people we currently have at Paint Branch. While strong best friends hold a better chance at staying close, that guy who sat behind you in Food Trends probably won’t be a close pal five months from now. The teachers whom we admire and love now will be replaced with new college professors in September, just as star pupils now will be replaced with newer and younger students, ready to take the role at the top of the class.

Moving on and parting with the familiar leaves a nerve-racking and bittersweet feeling in our hearts. Not everyone has gotten along with each other over the past four years, as rivalries have formed and nerves have run thin. However, all the families, friendships and bonds that have made our high school experiences memorable and worthwhile outweigh that negativity.

As the class of 2014, we have been through everything together; from freshman orientation to our senior meetings this past summer, from “No Hands” to “Party Girls”, and let’s not forget our days of fire drills in the rain, we’ve done it all.

Although we are each moving forward, the majority of us in different directions, we all have one thing in common: whether we’re headed to North Carolina or Rhode Island, we are and always will be Panthers. Paint Branch may no longer be our home when we start school again in a few months, but it will always be a vital part of who we are. As Walt Disney once said, “Goodbye may seem forever. Farewell is like the end, but in my heart is the memory and there you will always be.”