With Summer coming to an end, and the Fall season beginning, soon it will be essays, SATs, PSATs, ACTs and college applications. For most of you, it's time to start cramming last-minute for your junior/senior year of high school, and trying to maintain the average GPA recommended by your counselors and mandatory for your school of choice.

It can be difficult to balance out time for educational studies when you still have a part-time job or you're involved in other outside-of-school activities. Many students are stressed enough as is with their daily routine: trying to get up on time, not being late for school, studying for three test they have all on the same day. Life can be tough sometimes, but it gets better.

High school is not just a series of tests to determine what you've learned these last four years. High school is full of blossoming young men and women filled with hope and the same anxious thrill of becoming an adult that you have. When people say, "Those were the best years of my life," they may not be referring to the education alone.

High school is what you make of it. Everyone should be involved in at least one school club. This allows you to become more socially active and involved with other students sharing the same paths as you. You may not learn exactly how to file your taxes, or how to buy a car in high school, but you should learn that teachers, faculty, and staff are there for you, with answers to any questions you may have.

Becoming an adult can be stressful, but the best advice from me to you is simply, have fun when you're in high school and always ask questions. A wise woman once told me, "The more you ask, the more you know, the more you know, the more people want to know what you know, and how you retained that knowledge."

As a 2017 Senior, to the rest of my fellow classmates and young adults, good luck.

- A.