Dear High School Senior,

It’s the fall of your senior year, and you are probably still wracking your brain trying to convince yourself that it’s here. You have dreamed of what this year would be like ever since you could remember. You probably walk the hallways and look at the freshman and laugh because, let’s be honest, they are overly energetic little pests who clutter the hallways. You are probably expecting senior year to be the best thing that has ever happened to you, but here is what they don’t tell you.

1. You will have a ton of work.

We have all heard it before, “you will barely have anything to do your senior year, it’s mostly study halls and naps.” In some cases this is true, but in most cases, it’s not. In my high school, we wrote 16 essays my senior year. Yes, 16. For every actual class that I had, I always had a ton of work do, because they are trying to prepare you for college. Which, yes, this sucks, but trust me, it pays off.

2. Senioritis is INCREDIBLY real.

Senioritis is probably what you hear about the most. People talk about always being lazy, and that it’s because you never have work to do outside of school. Just let me tell you, senioritis is real, and it is a beast. You will have work to do outside of school and every day that you are assigned work, the more you just want to graduate. The winter months are definitely the worse. When you think you feel it on day three, just wait till you are only a month or two from graduation. Just remember, if you don't do you work, then you don't graduate.

3. Keep it classy

Senior year is when everyone thinks they rule the world. You took 3 years to get here, and now it is your turn to rule the school. That’s all fine and dandy, but by the 3rd time you yell at a freshman to get out of the way or to stop yelling, they really aren’t going to like you anymore. Even though freshmen get annoying, they are the future of your school.

4. Don’t take it for granted

I made this mistake and trust me, it is one of my biggest regrets. Your senior year, you don’t think about it, you are just excited to be finishing up high school. But when you get lazy and cocky about graduation, your grades start to fall. You aren’t doing as well as you wanted to and before you know it, you are panicking about being on the edge of not graduating. Don’t put yourself in a panic mode. Also, DO NOT miss out on opportunities that you will never have again as a student! Don’t skip the homecoming dance, go to the football games and dress like the most crazed fan there (even if your team sucks), go on field trips, join clubs, go to the Prom! Don’t miss out on these opportunities that you will never have again because these are the moments that make your senior year.

Finally…

Time flies by. Make it the best year that you can, because one day you will be sitting in your freshman dorm, looking back on all of your pictures from high school. The new senior class is going to be posting pictures of their spirit weeks and homecoming dresses. If you didn’t make the most of your senior year, you are going to regret it. SO when graduation day finally rolls around, you will just want to take that moment and put it in a bottle and keep it forever. So forget about your drama, make amends, forget about all the crap of high school and remember all the good times, because you won’t ever get these four years of your life back, and trust me, you will look back and say “I miss those days.”

Sincerely,

The Graduate