Dear Current High School Juniors,
You made it. You have survived the majority of your high school career and are ready to embark on the last year of this journey. You are in the home stretch, about to enjoy the last homecoming games and dances in the gymnasium. This is just the beginning, and trust me, it will fly by. It seems like just days ago that I was where you are, and in the blink of an eye, I became a junior in college. It is my hope today that we can look out at all we have coming in the next year and see how important it is to stop wishing for the time to go by, stop counting the days until you move out or go to college, or in cases like mine, move out of my comfortable college apartment and enter the real world. Enjoy the time you have now. And although college is great and in a year, for me, the idea of fancy grown-up attire and never eating another PopTart is appealing, there are many reasons why we should soak up every minute of the year we have right now.
We are on the same path right now. That path may have different destinations, but we are at the same mile mark. We are about to embark on our Senior Year. To be the big group on campus is something we have waited for years. Everyone starts experiencing “senioritis,” (I am hoping that’s still a thing in college, but it’s not looking promising). Enjoy this made-up ailment while you can. Let’s remember to go to all the sports games, school events, and random Wednesday night get-togethers, because these are the times we will look back on when we are surrounded by a new group of people on a brand new campus or working for a new company. During the last few months, people will start writing countdowns to graduation, planning their last few weekends together, and talking about college 24/7. Accept these changes. They will be bittersweet, but we can do it.
College will be overwhelming for a while, just as I am sure finding and starting a new job will be. Let’s promise each other to enjoy the simplicities of high school and college while we can. Appreciate the time at your lockers, the same lunch period every day with the same friends, and the other routine niceties of day-to-day life. Take the study guides and open-book quizzes happily. These joys are rare in college. Try not to argue when your parents yell at you to get up in the morning, because soon enough you will be forced to wake up and go on your own. In college, the nights will be a little louder than you are used to, and the mornings will be a little quieter. Many things will change, so enjoy what you have right now. I may just enjoy what is similar and routine, but trust me; you will miss these things when you get to college.
It is so important for all current High School Juniors and College Juniors, to stop wishing for the time to go by, and enjoy the time that we have right now. We need to live every moment and make the best of every part of our upcoming Senior Year. Do not rush through this year, college and the job market will be there for us when the time comes, but for right now, let’s just enjoy the view.
Sincerely,
Maddie Keefe
Current College Junior
