The flood of graduation photos has begun and Facebook has been plagued by those formless gowns and silly square hats. While I am happy for my friends who graduated and excited to see what is to come for them, I can't help but feel selfishly sorrowful to see them go. The class of 2016 has had a lasting impact on me and some of the graduates posing with their diplomas have become my closest friends over the past three years. Perhaps what has been more striking today, though, is the realization that just a year from now it will be me standing in the Trinity fountain celebrating my own graduation. So, with that, I would like to make a toast to my senior year.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has made the past three years so special. As a freshman, I often felt lost. Like I was going through the motions but not making the most of what should be the most memorable years of my life. At times, I felt homesick and I probably took more mental health days than was acceptable. Fortunately, I didn't transfer, despite the many long phone calls with my parents where I explained that I thought that would be the best choice. Now that I look back on those nights I felt lonely and like I didn't belong, I realize that those difficulties were crucial to realizing the amazing support system I had, and still have today. The friends I made my freshman year are now my very best friends and the late nights eating Kylito's salsa and watching "America's Next Top Model" are still some of my fondest memories. Without these people, I wouldn't have stayed at Trinity and I wouldn't be entering my senior year in San Antonio.

I hope that during my senior year I can continue to develop these friendships, while cultivating relationships with people who I do not know as well. As an upperclassman it is easy to become complacent in friendships. You become comfortable with your four best friends (you know who you are) and you don't venture out and try to make new friends. It's certainly easier to eat lunch with the same group each day and to be attached to your best friend at every party, at times forgetting anyone else is around. My wish for senior year is that I continue to cherish the friendships I already have, while I simultaneously create relationships with my classmates in our final year at Trinity. I hope that next May, when I am reflecting on my time in college, I am able to thank the people who have meant so much to me, but, even more, I hope to touch the many lives of those around me. I hope to be a source of encouragement when a classmate needs it, comedic relief when things get tough, and a shoulder to cry on when senior year is too much to handle.

I hope that my senior year is filled with more laughter than tears. The next year is daunting. Do I apply for graduate school? Do I go abroad and relive my semester in Copenhagen? Do I pray that my English degree is enough to get me hired right after graduation? All these decisions are certainly enough to make one cry. It's hard to imagine that every time I go back home to Denver, it will be to visit; I will never live in my parents' house again, even if it's just for the month of winter break. It's strange to think that it won't be okay to wear yoga pants and a t-shirt everyday. It's difficult to consider going to bed before midnight, and, even worse, it's terrifying to think that I'll have to be at work early in the morning. Well, earlier than my 11 a.m. class. Next May, I will have to start paying full price for Spotify. That alone brings tears to my eyes. Despite all the stresses that come along with senior year, I hope to laugh and continue to make great memories in the face of remarkable change.

I hope that the house my friends and I recently moved into becomes a home. I anticipate many late nights in the living room, cuddled up on the mismatched couches watching "Friends" for the 10th time. Although I am fearful, I can't wait until we have to trap our first rat or kill our first cockroach, which, knowing Texas, will probably be as big as a rat. I am excited to organize my room, for the first time in my life. Although, it will probably be a mess shortly after. I dread the day that I have to move all of my things out. Primarily because moving it all in in the San Antonio heat was torture and I can't imagine moving out will be any better.

Finally, I hope that my senior year is filled with adventure. Next May, no matter where my next chapter takes me, I hope that I can leave San Antonio having done all that I wanted to. Whether this is going to all the swanky bars in Southtown, cheering on Trinity's soccer team, or getting good grades in my final two semesters, I hope to make the most of my remaining time at Trinity. I can't believe that my senior year is here. I feel like just yesterday I was sleeping in my freshman dorm, thinking how old the seniors in my sorority were, and now I am them. Well, I am not nearly as put together as them, but a senior nonetheless. If next year is as amazing as the past three have been, I know that I will remember it for the rest of my life. There will certainly be bumps in the road. There always are. But the best years of my life are coming to a close. I feel a profound change today as if I am taking the first step toward the rest of my life. I wish all rising seniors a happy and prosperous final year of college.

Cheers to good friends and good times. Cheers to senior year. May it be as great as the ones before it.