Senior year memorable
Ask high school seniors about their final year in high school and they will tell you the same thing: “It is a roller coaster ride!” For me, the ups and downs of uncertainty for next fall and the anticipation of a long slew of decisions have instilled a sense of bitter-sweet sentimentality.
Senior year became the year of “lasts.” The last road trip to state volleyball, the last field goal at the last football game, the last movie night, the last BIP cookie…. I swear, as I walk down the halls of my high school, I try to imprint in my brain the faces I have taken for granted over the past four years. I think graduation, if anything, is not only a reflection of the last 12 years of education, but a celebration of the relationships formed, lessons learned and memories made.
I am groggily writing this article the morning after prom, yet in my “post-prom” stupor I have come to the epiphany that graduation is really about cohesiveness. (My AP Government teacher would be so proud.) There seems to be a deeper connection among the seniors as we all share the same fears of the approaching the “real world.” Just like the physical symbolism of a sea of royal blue caps and gowns, the graduating seniors of 2006 are presented side by side, cloaked in the same colors and indistinguishable to passing eyes.
Although we all have individual accomplishments (you may be a three-sport varsity athlete, honors students or even the mighty Panther mascot), we also have individual aspirations (we are the future Olympic athletes, professionals and voting block). After all my parenthetical statements are said and done, as seniors we will forever have the laughs, gut wrenching at-the-buzzer victories, the cold sweat as a black scantron is placed on our desks, the physical battle through the cross halls during the passing periods and the amalgam of other good and bad memories that make up high school.
The good news is, the best is yet to come. As we prepare to cross the stage, shaking hands and smiling at our families and friends, we will all undergo a similar transformation – the metamorphosis from high school student into an integral part of the “real world.”
Take a deep breath; although the thrilling roller coaster ride of high school has come to its conclusion, life’s next adventure has just begun. The possibilities are infinite and will be thrilling.