Dear seniors,

Guess what, it’s almost time to leave the comfort of high school and while you may be excited for this, don’t take it for granted. Most of you have spent the past 12+ years or so around the same people and you’ve grown comfortable…but now it’s time to leave all of that behind. Your time is almost up and it is time for you to embrace that.

High school graduation is both exciting and intimidating all at the same time. On one side, you’re completing a chapter of your life and moving on to bigger and better things. On the other side, you’re leaving the relative safety of your home and high school which is admittedly intimidating. During my senior year, I’ll admit that I fell a lot more on the intimidation side (and I was only going to college 20 minutes away).

My honest advice is this: live up the remaining time you have left and embrace the changes that will be coming.

The moment you take that diploma and step off the stage your life essentially changes. The people you’ve gotten used to seeing every day, you won’t really be seeing them much anymore. You’ll have the summer yes, but soon you will be moving on to different places and most people you will really only see on breaks. It’s a change you’ll have to accept, but it’s a good change.

Live up your remaining time though. Enjoy that time you have seeing your friends at their lockers, you won’t have that again. Stop by and thank the teachers that have had an impact on you, no longer will you see them on a daily basis. Thank your coaches and club advisors for everything they have done for you. The important part: don’t let finals get you down.

Don’t let finals define your final moments of high school. The stressful studying, the reliance on good grades, don’t let that define the last lines of a chapter of your life. You may have some really awful finals, but that doesn’t mean they’re the ultimate description of your senior year, they’re a small fragment of it. Don’t focus on the finals, focus on all of the great things that happened to you during your high school career. When you look back on high school, would you rather remember that you got a B in AP Lit or all of the memories of the great times you had before graduation?

As you leave those halls, embrace the changes that are undoubtedly going to hit you and all of your fellow graduates. Some people will be going to college, some the military, the workforce, different countries, etc. There is a plethora of possibilities. The friends you have been close with for so long, you may not see each other much anymore. You’ll make new friends wherever you go and whatever you do, that’s perfectly normal. Changes will happen in your life, they’re natural.

Your time is nearly up my friends, just promise me that you will live up your final moments.