You’re just a few months away from the summer before your senior year of high school. I know what you’re thinking, finally. Right? Well, before you know it you’ll be applying to colleges and anxiously waiting for months to hear back. So start looking. Take the time and find the colleges that you think will be the best fit for you.

Visit the ones that you can, and try to learn more about the ones that you can’t visit. Visit ones you think that you’ll hate, visit ones that you think you’ll love. It’ll all be worth it; trust me.

Up until my sophomore year of high school when I started the college process, I didn’t think that I wanted to leave home so I assumed that I would end up at West Chester University, just 15 minutes down the road from my house. Once I started looking into colleges, I knew that WCU wouldn’t end up being the place that I would call ‘home’ for the next four years of my life. The process of elimination for the college selection process is so important, it's so needed. If I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what I really wanted, I don’t know that I would have found the right school for me.

So, here’s my advice to all of the juniors out there. I know all of your teachers and counselors keep telling you that junior year is the hardest and most important year of high school, but they’re wrong. Having just gone through this, I’d like to fill you in on a little secret; senior year is the most important year of high school. Senior year is the year that you’ve been waiting for. It’s the year of your senior prom, your senior sport season, your senior club year, your year of college applications, your high school graduation, and most importantly the year of you.

My senior year, I found myself abandoning the unnecessary drama of high school and preparing myself to move on to the real world of college. Find yourself, be happy, enjoy your entire year, not just the end of it. Don’t stop working hard just because you made it to senior year. Push yourself because trust me it is not an easier road ahead.

Juniors, you are living in the best moment of your early life right now. Second semester of junior year is the last push before the rewarding year that lies ahead of you. In just two months, you’ll be finished your third year of high school and entering into the summer before your senior year.

Cherish these moments, do everything that you possibly can, and explore as much as you want. Don’t worry about the drama, push past any obstacles that may come in your path, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You’re not going to want to look back and wish that you would have done more with the time that you have right now, so make the most of it.

Don’t get ‘senioritis’ just because all of your friends are. Work just as hard as you have the past three years, if not harder. Get your license, be with your friends, love your hometown, do it all.

Here’s to you, juniors. I know it hasn’t been easy, but the road that lies ahead will make everything worth it. You just wait. Take it from the girl in this picture who visited UD not knowing that in just about 6 months she'd be receiving her acceptance letter into her dream school.