As summer begins to wind down, you realize you are going into your last final year of high school. As seniors, we have one last time to be adventurous, to have fun, to do wild things and to enjoy ourselves.

This is the last summer before real life kicks in. If you are about to be a senior, you know graduation will be here before you know it. You know the countdown you have will be over before you can blink.

Next September will roll around abruptly, and you will have many life choices to make. You will have to decide whether you are going to prom, whether you are going to go on the senior class trip, whether you want to start working and whether you want to go to college.

The summer before senior year, you will start valuing and admiring the people around you a little bit more. You know that next summer is going to involve working, getting prepared for college and then finally going off to college.

It is important to make friends, but it's also important to get rid of harmful ones. Don't try to be something you are not — not to any of your classmates and not for the essays you write to get into college.

Get it into your head that what you want and what you need are two completely different things. Don't get angry when you can't find your perfect school at first. It's out there somewhere. You just have to venture out there and find it.

The sun will shine sooner or later, but it may be rainy at first.

Go on that senior class field trip, go to the prom, go to the party, go hang out with all your friends and do what makes you happy. Don't leave your high school with a pile of regrets. Be happy and confident with all the choices you make. Take advantage of the opportunities you get and make millions of memories.

It will probably feel as if life is flying before your eyes. It seems like we are on a never-ending roller coaster ride, and nobody is there to stop the ride.

You just have to search for every possibility, keep pushing towards your goals and refuse to stop until you reach them. Remember that you will never get where you want to go if you are always playing it safe.

Just hope that, in the end, you make the most of everything you have been given. Stop for a moment and take a breath, and look around… you have finally reached your last year of high school.

To the Class of 2019, I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your years. You have almost accomplished the first chapter of your lives. Remember to take big and bold risks, be open to taking the path that is less traveled and explore opportunities as they come along.

We did it!