From what you’ve been told, senior year is the year of lasts. Last Friday night lights, last homecoming, last prom, last time all your friends will be together, last time you’ll be in this school that you’ve been in for the past four years. To most –and maybe even you– it’s a year of sadness, but don’t think of it that way!
It’s a year that’s preparing you for new and bigger beginnings. I tell you all the time enjoy your time because you really should it’ll all be different next year but that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. Senior year is the year to capture those precious moments with your friends, so that way, when entering your freshman year in college, you can have those silly pictures that have a meaningful story behind them that you can show your new college friends.
You may want the year to be over and just want to go to college already, but don’t rush your time. You may hate those dumb essays, tests, or just those pointless homework assignments, but do them and do them well. Don’t give your teachers a hard time. Yes, you may think they are out to get you and just make school miserable for you, but believe me, they just want the best for you and to watch you succeed just as much as you want to pass.
College is another level, so don’t keep that “senioritis” work ethic as you become a freshman in college because that won’t help you at all.
As the top kids in the school, be sure to always give a hand to the underclassman because you were once in their shoes, too. Let them know that you’ve got their back for the year in hopes that they’ll do the same for someone else once they become a senior.
Take tons and tons of pictures with your friends because you’d rather have a picture to go with your story rather than just a simple memory. Always go to your sporting events even if you don’t think your team is good. Go to those school activities, and participate in anything you can it’ll be something you’ll look back on later in life.
Make your senior year a year you’ll always remember. Don’t have any 'what ifs.' Live every day like an adventure (but not a dangerous or illegal one). Have those sleepovers where you stay up all night talking about silly things that are going on in life.
Don’t remind your parents on how you can’t wait for college because to them, that means you can’t wait to leave them, and to them, you’re their baby. It doesn’t matter how old you are – you’re never too old to show your parents how much you love them and appreciate them because once you leave for college, it’s another story.
Thank your teachers for their patience with you and tell them that you appreciate that they never gave up on you.
Now, it’s your time to shine this year. You’ve waited 11 years for this one short year. I know you have a countdown on your phone and are so excited that you can finally participate in Senior Sunday, but always remember that it will go by quicker than you think. One day, you’re this freshman who doesn’t know their way around school, and the next, you’re this big bad senior who knows the school like the back of their hand.
I know you cannot wait to put on that cap and gown, walk across that stage and receive that diploma that you’ve waited so long for, but that tiny piece of paper is not only your success in education. It’s all the memories you’ve created while being in school.
When you get that diploma, look at it and smile a big smile, because you deserve it.
