You only get to be a senior in high school once. At this point in the year, you are probably glad for that. I remember the stress of turning in college applications, gathering teacher recommendations, and setting multiple appointments with my high school counselor. It’s a small part of senior year that I wouldn’t want to relive, but I hope that you haven’t wished your senior year away.
Appreciate your classmates.
I miss the diversity of high school. In college, most of the people I have class with are like me in some way or another. Either they’re an English major, an honors student, or they’re Greek. In high school, almost everyone took the same classes. This meant you could be in the same classes as an AP student, a basketball player, and a hipster. In high school, you’re exposed to so many different ways of thinking without a professor lecturing me about it. I hope you make unlikely friends and learn about their lives. It can be a wonderful lesson in empathy when you meet someone who surprises you with their story.
Don’t forget your family.
It’s easy to get swept up in all the activities a senior year. Heaven knows there’s enough of them to distract yourself with. But don’t get so excited about all of these senior events that you don’t have time to just be with your family. That’s what I miss most when I’m at college: just being with my family, hanging out with no agenda and nothing to do. Spend time at home, just hanging out with your family. Some of my favorite high school memories are late night conversations with Mom, or Disney dance parties with my sisters. Have enough room in your life to be spontaneous with your family.
Be the example.
It sounds corny, but underclassmen really do notice you more as a senior. You have an amazing opportunity to lead in your school. Don’t waste it by acting like you’re too good for high school and zoning out all day. Be attentive to the underclassmen. Take opportunities to show them that you care about them. (This goes for your fellow seniors, too.) For some people, this is the last year that you will get to see them face to face. Make sure you don’t graduate with regrets.
Be your own person
It can be easy to let other people’s decisions guide you, especially when it comes to college. Just please don’t go to school somewhere because it’s where your boyfriend’s going to school. Don’t try to get in the same dorm room as your best friend. Don’t choose your college based on what your friends think of it. College is a time where you can push yourself. Choose the college that you love and that makes sense for you. Get a roommate that you don’t know very well, and stay in a dorm with a diverse group of people in it. A lot of people enter college with the perfect setup for high school round two, but college doesn’t really work that way. If you expect things to stay the same as high school, you’ll quickly find your walls crumbling around you.
Show appreciation
A lot of people have worked very hard to get you where you are now. Make sure you thank them for that. Visit your influential science teacher before you graduate, and make sure she knows that you remember her. Send your elementary school music teacher flowers, because she was the highlight of your day growing up. Thank your youth ministry leaders for teaching you patiently when you were too little to appreciate them. Get your team to do something special for your coach, and of course show massive appreciation for your parents. High school might be temporary, but showing someone that you care is not. Go out of your way to show gratitude to the people who deserve it.
Enjoy yourself
Yes, high school senior year can be stressful, but it’s also a bucket of fun. Don’t be so stressed that you miss the sheer joy that is the senior year powderpuff football game. Spend a little extra on your prom dress, because it’s the one you’ll be showing people pictures of for years. Make sure each of your “last”s is the best one yet- last football game, last church retreat, last Spanish class. Sit back and enjoy yourself, because it’s your last real chance to be a kid.
