To the class of 2016,

After 13 years of school, you've finally made it. Congratulations! It's a great feeling. You can't stop imagining how it will feel to walk across that stage and get your diploma. You only have one or two excruciatingly long weeks left. You've always been told to savor every moment of your senior year because it flies. Now that you're here, I think you'll find that to be true. As you're cramming for those last couple of tests and writing that last paper for government or English, remember this: these last couple of weeks still count as your senior year experience. Don't just sit around waiting to graduate. Take part in senior tag. Thank your teachers. Hang out with your friends, because you will not be seeing some of them a whole lot after your graduation day. Take part in whatever privileges seniors get. Go to your classmates' graduation parties. Don't just sit around at home. Have fun at your own grad party and be prepared to get at least one copy of "Oh the Places You'll Go."

Relish these last few memories because you'll never get this time back. Soon you'll walk across the stage, or lawn or whatever your school's tradition is, and you'll think, "Wow, it took long enough." You'll hug your family, say "So long!" to some of your friends and rush out of there to celebrate. After graduation, you'll head off on your own journey and leave high school life behind. You might go on a senior trip or spend the summer working. It will seem like a normal summer. When it comes time for school to start again, it'll hit you that you're not going back there. It's time for another class to step up to the plate, and you'll tell them what everyone told you: to cherish every moment. You'll look back on how you felt when you were told this very thing, and you'll think about how crazy you thought everyone was to tell you this. You had known the year would drag on and that you were so ready to be out of there. But as you tell the incoming seniors what you were told, you realize that the time flew and you wish you had it back. Then someday you'll come back to your alma mater. You'll sign in and write yourself a visitor's pass. You'll find yourself looking into the classrooms that you never thought you'd escape from and you'll think, "Why was I in such a hurry to grow up?"

I do not write this to depress you. I simply hope to encourage you to take your future self's advice. Don't wish away these last couple weeks of school. Don't wait around for graduation day. Make memories that are irreplaceable.

Congratulations, class of 2016. Make these last few days count. You'll do great things.