Dear High School Seniors,

Soon you'll be taking your last EOG and walking out for your last fire drill, receiving your last report card, and cheering at your last Friday night football game. One day it'll be the last time you get books out of your locker and you'll walk out of your high school for the last time at the final bell. Soon enough you'll be standing in line alphabetically wearing your cap and gown with people you've known your entire life. Some of these people you're never going to run into again, and eventually they'll just be a distant memory from your class that'll jog your memory when you find some old notes in a used notebook under your bed. Soon enough you'll be packing up your things, moving into a brand new room with a brand new roommate, and saying goodbye to your family. You'll feel like you're just throwing away high school and the memories, but you have so much to look forward to.

Soon enough you'll be taking your first lecture notes in a huge auditorium with 300 brand new faces. Soon enough you'll have a whole new group of friends that you get to make memories with. Soon enough you'll be eating dinner at the dining hall every night and looking forward to the daily specials. Soon enough you'll be taking your first college exam. Soon enough you'll be rushing Greek life, playing on an intramural sports team, volunteering with a new organization, working a new job, and so many other new things.

It's a new chapter. It's a new start. It's a new life. You aren't leaving your old one behind. You aren't leaving your friends, your family, or your memories. You will always have them and you can always go back to them. Just think about how scary it was to transition from middle school to high school, well, this is sort of like the same thing only on a larger scale.

College, a new job, missionary work, whatever your plans are after high school, you will make it. You're going to love it and everything will fall into place. It'll be a great experience, a brand new one. These next four years will be some of the best ones of your entire life. You'll meet lifelong friends, have brand new experiences to remember, fall in love, succeed, fail, grow. You're going to grow into a version of yourself that is closer to who you'll be.

Come June you'll walk across the stage where your principal will hand you your diploma. You'll feel a whole array of emotions. You'll be upset, excited, stressed, nervous, and undeniably grateful. You will always have high school, but now it's time for a new chapter. It's time for a new beginning. It will be absolutely terrifying, but it will be one you never forget.

Trust me, you can't wait.