For some reason it's always been known that the last lap of a race is the most tumultuous, yet the most rewarding. The runner almost gives up but pulls through and makes it to the finish line, usually tired and out of breath but feeling accomplished. Treat our senior year like the last lap of the race. Don't quit.

Ever since we entered college we were counting down the days until our senior year finally arrived. It was a long wait with many months of all-nighters to submit essays on time, study for exams, and more recently prepare the most extensive and most epic lesson plan imaginable. It's been a great run, but it's not over yet...actually the adventure is just beginning. The adventure is equal to that last lap mentioned above.

When I first declared myself as an education major, the last thing I thought I would be doing was getting ready to meet my first-ever first grade class at the local elementary school. Here we are now, getting ready to do that. After all the textbook work is said and done, our learning begins now. For the last year or so, we have been taught different ways and methods to teach children and we are now taking what we learned and applying it to the real-world examples we've read about in our textbooks. However, our real lessons are awaiting us just around the corner. You won't remember the textbooks examples you've read about in different classes but you will remember how you've used those examples and the real students it had impacted the most. It's in this last year that we will learn so much.

There are going to be times this year when it seems like the whole universe is against you. And that feeling is totally fine, because in all honestly, it might be. But what is important is that you remember why you're here in the first place. Remember what made you decide to become a teacher and remember what brought you to the place where you are now. You have a whole army on your side -- a whole army of people living through the exact same experiences as you! Still wanting to quit? Don't give up. I assure you that together, we will make it through. That diploma is waiting just on the other side of this year.

Friends, education majors or not, it is important to not wish your time away. When you speed through time, you miss out on the lessons that are right in front of you. To all of my friends as we enter senior year: take hold of every opportunity because if you don't you'll miss it. The most beneficial and most rewarding year awaits us ahead . . . and it's our job to make the best of it. Class of 2017, here we come!