Today, I am less than 3 weeks from my high school graduation. It doesn’t seem real. I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished enough to make it to this point. But here I am, almost there! The next few weeks of my life are insanely busy: graduation parties, preparing for my own, prep for my last ever dance recital, banquet after banquet, and last minute scholarship applications, ALL while attempting to work full time and go to school. Through all of this, I’ve come to the realization that being a senior is more than just your grade in school. It comes with responsibility. Not only are you seen as the leaders of the school, outside of school you are finally seen as an adult. You begin to save for your own education & apartment even. Receiving scholarships and attending banquets because YOU worked your butt off to deserve them. Being a senior is so much more than just “grade 12”.

People always refer to their high schools years as “the best years of your life”, but I never thought I’d miss high school until about a week ago. I was walking down this hallway that connects our gym to the rest of the school, that we call “the long hallway”. I turned to my friend and said, “I have so many good memories in this hallway and I just realized I’m really going to miss it”. She thought I was crazy but it’s true. Throughout high school, I had several team practices in that hallway, decorated homecoming signs, got ready for half time performances, and who knows what other shenanigans my teammates & I got into in that hallway. Moments like this are the embodiment of senior year. Looking at something & realizing you won’t be able to look at it everyday, doing something & realizing you may never do it ever again. I never thought I’d miss walking those halls, sitting in those classrooms, attending the pep assemblies, or talking to the teachers. But I will.

Another thing about senior year is that it’s full of “lasts” and that means taking part in every one of them to make those memories to look back on, creating as many as you possibly can. Going to football games, pep assemblies, school dances, senior nights. Every one of these is an opportunity to make memories you’ll never have the chance to make again. Senior year is about living in the moment & realizing that you’ll never be a senior again. This is your last chance to do all of these things. Don’t skip out & regret it. It’s better to go & leave if you don’t enjoy it than to not go at all & wish you had. You may end up regretting it for the rest of your life. So go. Attend. Participate. And hold every memory close.

“Our lives are before us, our pasts are behind us, but our memories are forever with us.”