Senior year. I’ve been waiting for this ever since the very first day of high school. I was excited for this very experience back then. I was excited for the homecomings, new people, new relationships, and new opportunities that awaited all of us. I became envious of the seniors then, envious of them taking their girls to prom and getting to go to beach week with friends, having fun in an Airbnb and envious that they could finally get out of here and actually start their lives. 

You see, I dreamed of being a senior. But now that it’s here, I’m simply terrified. A year from now I’m going to be away from the safety net that are my parents, away from the guiding hands of my teachers, and thrown into those that are cold and harsh. And it terrifies me because this is the last year of my childhood, and to say that I’m ready for what lays ahead would be nothing more than a lie. I’m about to enter a world where I will be forced to grow up and I just don’t know if I’m ready.

But that’s what this year’s for. It’s the year we prepare for a major part of our future.

Our whole academic career we’ve been studying, learning, and testing in order to try to get into a good college because in our mind that’s the key to a successful life. This is the life desired by all. For many of us, senior year is the final year for us to do something that makes us seem memorable or unique on paper, making us scholarship worthy, and most importantly, “college material.” 

But what does that do for us? How does something of that magnitude, something that causes so much pressure, affect us?

 It hurts us. It hurts us because we stress, we push ourselves to the limit in order to accomplish a goal so coveted that we allow ourselves to forget we need sleep, forget we all need a social life. To lose sight of these things would be a shame, because our FINAL year is meant to be cherished, not hurried.

Let us enjoy the relationships we have made over not only these last four years, but for some, the last twelve. We need to enjoy the homecomings and proms, the beach week, and each other. After this we enter a world where rejection is waiting at every direction, and a world where people can be beyond cruel. Even though it appears scary, it’s actually isn’t, because at the end of the day we’ll have a new freedom that is just simply amazing. All I’m trying to say is, do your work! Do what needs to be done. Just don’t let school’s reality prohibit you from experiencing the joys of your senior year.