Congratulations! You’re a second-semester senior: an identity that you will either choose to ignore or whole-heartedly embrace. Your walk across the stage isn’t as far away as you think. No matter what your storyline was in high school, graduation is a day you’ll anticipate—if not now, then sometime very soon.

Many of you have already been accepted to and/or committed to your future homes at universities around the country and even the world. You may decide to skip your classes during this ‘waiting period’ between now and the next step. Perhaps you’ll even go as far as to ditch a couple days to reward yourself for surviving 12 years of formal education. And I’m not here to say you shouldn’t be proud of all you’ve accomplished, but these last couple of months are your final opportunities for holding onto and appreciating everything you have at your disposal as a high school student.

No, I’m not talking about free textbooks and food always being in the fridge (although, honestly, those should be treasured). I’m referring to those nights when you can curl up on the couch with your mom after a stressful week. Or if your university doesn’t allow you to have a car on campus right off the bat, going on late night drives with friends isn’t something you can just decide to do. In most cases, you’re stuck on campus or at least the immediate area.

In addition, maintaining friendships involves putting in more effort than just passing by in the hallway at school or sitting next to each other in class. You have to plan to meet for lunch during the week because you won’t be ‘assigned’ to eat at the same times. Enjoy the seemingly-limitless time you have with those you grew up with. There’s always a chance that your friendships won’t be the same when you come home on holiday.

Remember that in September, at the same time your class took the school by storm as the top dogs, we were just starting a brand-new journey as the underdogs—the newest freshman class. And I would argue that the same unfamiliarity of not having a group of people to look up to is not so different from not having a group of people to influence under you. This past year was the first time we were in similar boats without being on the same ship.

You may think that graduation day is the light at the end of a tunnel—that tossing your hat up will be some euphoric experience indicating the end of an era. Sure, college is different. It comes with freedoms you may not have been accustomed to as a teenager. You are forced to make adult decisions every single day without someone hovering over you. But high school and all the memories (both good and bad) that come along with it aren’t things that just disappear when you accept that diploma or step into your college dorm for the first time.

Soon you’ll be in your second-semester of your freshman year of college with a small part of you wishing you could take a step back just for a couple of seconds. So, slow down your walk through the familiar halls of the science wing. Commit to memory the contents of the bulletin board that never seemed to get updated on your way to Spanish. Wave to that teacher you had in 9^th grade that never forgot your name and get as many signatures on your yearbook as it can hold. Delete the graduation countdown in your phone and live in these final moments before there aren’t any left. You’ll be glad you did.