Euphoric, scary and overwhelming are words I would use to describe senior year. It feels like yesterday I was a freshman stepping into the unknown, with nerves building up faster than homework. A bigger school, more kids and bigger classrooms were nerve wracking, and the next nine months seemed as if they were going to feel as slow as the lunch line. I always knew I was going to be a senior, it seemed so close yet so far (which is also how it feels waiting for graduation).

I never expected senior year's arrival to come so soon. Three years have already passed us but it feels like they lasted three seconds. Now we walk the hallways like we own them and wear sweatpants every day. Our cellphones have pictures of last night's homework answer, but we still won't turn them in. First period is an excuse to sleep in and lunch time is an excuse to ditch school. We ran the school, and we took full advantage of it.

But as empowering as senior year is, we also experience a lot of lasts; lasts that for many are heartbreaking. We have our last, first day of school, our last homecoming week, our last football game and our last prom. These moments you cherish because you know they're your last; they're bittersweet and filled with tears as you prepare to say goodbye to the life you've known for the last four years.

There will be disappointments, whether its getting rejected from a college, losing your last game of your athletic career senior year, or not excelling as much as you hoped, and that's okay, too, but take my advice when I say your grades still matter- this is not the time to be unorganized or get behind because senioritis is real and it's consuming. At this point, I wouldn't hesitate going back to being an awkward freshman again, even if it means reliving the lectures, assemblies, pacer tests and finals.

Senior year forces us to grow up and face the future we never thought was coming, and if one more person asks what our goals are after graduation, we just might explode. We didn't expect high school to end, and we certainly haven't figured out what's happening after it. Senior year is an emotional roller coaster that we never want to get off. As much as some of us want to think we are too cool for school or don't care about leaving, it will hit you, some sooner than others, and it's going to hurt.

A strange feeling engulfs your stomach as you walk down the aisle to grab your diploma, and you realize you're not only going to miss the people you have grown to love, but the person you are at this very moment because you won't ever be this person or this way ever again. This year consists of many obstacles but it's a year I wouldn't miss for the world.

Graduation isn't the end, it's the beginning. Our lives are just getting started.