To all high school seniors,
As your last semester as a high school student begins, there are surely some things that you take for granted. With only a few short months left, remember that this is a time in your life that you won't ever get back. In some ways that's good—I can vouch for that—but there is something special about those last moments as a teenager living at home.
1. Always Having a Friend Nearby
In high school, you always have someone you'd at least consider an acquaintance throughout your school day. Must be nice, right? Please cherish your times with all your friends and maybe get to know someone new from your graduating class. You'll miss it when you go multiple days in college without seeing a single recognizable person besides your roommate and professors.
2. Teachers That Care
Something that I realized after starting college is how much I missed the connections I had with my high school teachers, whether I liked them or not. College professors won't hold your hand each day and stay hours after class to help you with that single math problem. Appreciate the adults around you who have your back and understand the 'real world' more than you do.
3. Simplicity
It might feel like you have a lot on your shoulders—AP classes, sports, graduation, a job, friends, maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend—but, just wait. It really is the simple things you'll miss. Like having a routine everyday.
Or not having to journey all the way to the other side of campus at 8 am. Or being able to phone your mom or dad when you forgot your books at home. Or having a driveway, and for some, a car in general. There are a lot of these mundane things of life as a high school student that you won't realize you miss until you don't have them.
4. Being Home
Home, sweet home. There are very few things more satisfying than coming home from a long 8-hour school day and plopping yourself on your couch with absolutely no responsibilities besides catching up on all the Twitter drama or questionable Instagram posts.
Appreciate that couch. And that living room. And home-cooked meals, a bathroom that's not being shared with 60 people, and seeing your mom and/or dad every day—not to mention your PETS, who deserve all the loving in the world that you can't give because you aren't there. Appreciate it all, seriously.
5. Friday Night Lights
Whether you're a sports fan or not, there is something so special about being surrounded by your entire town and cheering for all the jocks from school. College football games just aren't the same.
You don't see all the players wearing their jerseys earlier that day at school, you most likely don't personally know them (if at all), and that massive stadium isn't the same feel as the rusty old bleachers that you're convinced could collapse any minute. Even if you don't like them all, appreciate those last times with your grade.
It seems like high school lasts forever, but soon, you'll be wondering how it went by so fast. Those years definitely aren't the best years, but they are special, even with all the good and bad they bring. Keep that in mind as these last few months fly by!
