Dear high school seniors,
It's that time of year! Your time as high school students is quickly coming to an end and your future as college students is closer than it has ever been. Remember when people told you it would go by fast? Well, they were right.
If you haven't fallen victim to senioritis yet, you surely will soon. Those lasts few tests and projects will seem irrelevant to you as you begin committing to colleges, planning your graduation parties, talking with potential roommates on Facebook. Finish the year out strong. You've worked hard for four years, so don't let go of it now.
As senior year closes down, high school becomes more and more distant in your rear view mirror as summer and college take center stage. But don't forget to really embrace those last few weeks of your senior year. The camaraderie that you feel with your class is something you may not find with the thousands of fellow first years at your new schools, and it is something that you will miss. Appreciate the pep rallies and class meetings, dance the night away with your friends and that kid from your science class at prom, and buy your senior yearbook. You might think it's stupid, but you will want to have those memories to look back on a few months into college.
Don't forget to tell your favorite teachers how much you appreciate what they have taught you, both inside and outside of the classroom, because those will be lessons that you look back on in rough times. Make sure that you keep in touch with everyone, whether that is your best friends or the girl that you were only friends with in gym class. You may not have been BFFs, but she got you through gym volleyball and always joked around with you about life. You will miss those simple, easy friendships as you struggle to find your group of friends while away at school.
Most of all, spend some extra time with your family. I know that you have been with them for the last 18 years of your life and cannot wait to get away and live your own, independent life. Believe me, I was the president of that club. But when you are at college, in some strange place with rooms that feel like prisons, and food that never seems to have any variation, you're really going to miss your mom. And her homemade meals. And your room and the constant company of your brothers to joke around with. When you move to a new place with absolutely no familiarity, the thing you will miss most is the place with the most familiarity, home.
You can't wait to start new lives and begin your adult futures, but don't wish away what you have now. Soak it in and live your life in the present, you will have plenty of time to worry about the future in the years to come. Congrats on everything you have accomplished so far, and good luck with everything you wish to accomplish from this point on!
Signed,
A college freshman
