Dear soon-to-be high school senior,

Senior. Senior year. Even the word sounds superior. You’re so excited just thinking about the year ahead of you. Finally, after 13 years, you are on top and rule the school. In one short year, you will be getting ready for life in the real world, whether that's college or the workforce. But don’t get too ahead of yourself. You have a whole year of high school left. The best year, in my opinion.

So your LAST year of high school is starting soon. This year will be full of LASTS. Your LAST first day of school. Your LAST sports games/meets. Your LAST band or choir concerts. Your LAST school dances. Your LAST classes with the friends you've had since preschool. The thing with lasts that makes them so powerful is that you will never do these things again. You will never again lead the student section at the Friday night football games. You will never again fool around in Spanish class and convince your teacher to play games all class period. You will never again get dressed up for homecoming and dance the night away with your best friends. To make these LASTS more meaningful, I suggest living fully in the moment. When you are at these events or even just a regular day at school, don’t think/worry about anything else except focusing on the task at hand and having fun.

Now as mentioned, senior year is full of fun, but it's also full of responsibilities. Responsibilities like deciding a career path, completing college applications, taking Advanced Placement tests, filling out scholarship applications and working a job. I’m sure some of these things make you excited for adult life and your future after high school. As the last days of high school are flying by, you may be caught up in stressing about these responsibilities or wishing senior year to be over so you can start the next chapter of life. Please remember to just slow down and live! You don’t want to look back on your final year of school and notice you’ve missed the excitement of the little moments while hoping graduation would come faster. And those little moments, those are ones you can’t get back.

So starting right now, I encourage you to spend lots of time with your friends and loved ones, take tons of pictures, live in the moment, and don’t spend so much time thinking about what lies ahead. Do these things and you will have memories for a lifetime!

Make the LAST your best.

Sincerely,

Me