Dear High School Senior,

Congratulations! You are approaching the light at the end of the tunnel. As graduation draws closer, the days and assignments seem endless. Your “senioritis” that you’ve had since freshman year has peaked, you wear your college name proudly on your chest and you aren’t sure what you want more: summer or graduation. As you prepare for the changes to come, be excited, but do not wish away the final weeks.

It seems like just yesterday you were a freshman. You were so excited for everything. You remember your parents hugging you tightly on your first day, your first pep rally, your first football game and your first homecoming dance. You were terrified of the seniors, but now you're one of them. You look at the freshman and can’t help but wonder if you were ever that small.

In these final weeks ahead you’ll be experiencing the last of everything. Your last day ever of high school, your last pep rally, your last baseball game and prom. Remember how excited you were to experience everything for the first time during your freshman year? Be that excited to do everything for the last time; be your freshman self again. Go to all the school plays and sporting events you can because these are the memories you’ll remember most vividly. Participate in the senior prank because that’s the legend you’ll leave behind. Cut school on senior ditch day because you won’t remember what you learned that day; you’ll remember how you spent the night before partying with your friends and the day after lying in bed binge-watching Netflix. These are your last moments as a high school student.

Graduation day will finally come, the day you have been counting down for. It may not hit you right away that you’re done and that you may never see half of these people ever again. You’ll get to school a little earlier, park your car in your spot for the final time, and hug your friends tightly because you all know that in a couple of hours, your lives will change. Your parents will be teary-eyed and taking a million photos of you—let them. You will look back at these photos when you come home from college.

As you listen to the valedictorian speech, you’ll wonder where the time went. High school seniors who graduated before you always told you that high school would fly by, but you never believed them. Now that you are the graduating senior, you finally understand. You may think right now that high school was the worst four years of your life and that you’re happy to be done, but you will end up missing it. Make the most of your summer. Spend as much time as you can with friends and family, eat all the home-cooked meals you can, and appreciate your dirty laundry magically becoming clean again.

Before you leave for college, thank everyone you know. They have helped shaped you into the person you are today. Thank your teachers because they are the ones who have set you up for success in college. Thank your friends because they were the ones who made you laugh when you wanted to cry, helped you through your heartbreaks and drama, and stood by you through thick and thin. Thank your family members. They were and will always be your biggest cheerleaders. You will learn that your family members are the only ones you can rely on 110 percent. Laugh at dad’s jokes (he’s trying), eat mom’s dish she worked hard on (don't tell her you don’t like it), and fight with your siblings only to make up with them 10 minutes later. Your family may be getting on your last nerve now, but you will miss them terribly next year.

In a couple of months from now, you’ll be starting your life in a brand new place. You’ll be sitting in your dorm room surrounded by unfamiliar faces with only photos and phone numbers from home, wishing you could go back to what’s familiar. You’ll start using phrases like, “When I was in high school…” You’ll make new friends, explore new places, and have new experiences, but you will never forget where you came from and who helped shaped you into the person you are today and the person you will soon become.

Sincerely,