Don’t you remember on your very first day of high school? You were a bright and eager little freshman. Do you remember how all your teachers told you this was a new beginning? You would easily got lost in the hallways and were (maybe) intimidated by all of the upperclassman. But still, you were excited and you were eager. Do you remember meeting your friends? How you met Jeremy in the most awkward yet funniest way possible or maybe how you met David because he was one of the nicest. How about meeting Christopher because you would always awkwardly say hi to him in the hallways or meeting Jay because he was quiet, but when he said something, he would get everyone’s attention. Don’t you remember how looked up to the seniors? You wished you were already almost done with your high school career. Do you remember getting in trouble for things you didn’t even know wasn’t allowed? Every morning the Dean of Discipline would give you the finger and you would think to yourself, “What did I do now?” By the end of freshman year, you felt great, new, and also tired. You had two handfuls of new friends and you knew all your teachers well. You were still bright and still eager, you couldn’t wait until the new school year.
Don’t you remember your first day of sophomore year? You were bright and still a bit eager. You saw all of these familiar faces and were so excited to see who was in your class this year. You finally knew where you were going and what teacher to look for. Do you remember how all your teachers were telling you, “You’re not freshmen anymore” and expected much, much, more of you? With homework and classes, you were a little less worried and stressed because you had gotten the jist of how the school works. Do you remember your two handfuls of new friends? Yeah sure, he didn’t hang out with you as much anymore or she had stopped talking to you out of nowhere, you were okay, you still had a solid handful of friends. Don’t you remember how you continued to look up to the seniors? You were already counting the days until it was your time to get out. Do you remember how the Dean of Discipline now greeted you with a smile instead of with a frown? You finally figured out what to do and what not to do. You were bright, but your eagerness started dying down.
Don’t you remember your first day of junior year? Your light began to die out, but there was still some eagerness inside of you. You were slowly getting tired of seeing all the familiar faces and was ready to see new ones. You now knew the school like the back of your hand and could relay back your school’s “mission” off the top of your head. Do you remember how all your teachers were telling you, “You’re upperclassmen now, everyone looks up to you” and treated you more like adults. The homework was harder, the papers were longer, and the tests just made absolutely no sense. You were stressed, you never thought you would ever be this stressed. Do you remember your handful amount of friends? Well, now you only had a few, but that’s okay, you were okay, these were the friends that you would have for the rest of your life. Don’t you remember how you loathed the seniors? Here you were literally less than 100 days away from becoming a senior, almost stepping out of the door. Do you remember how cool with became with the teachers? Especially the Dean of Discipline? You would go talk to them during your free or even speak with them just for conversations after school. You grew tired and was eager to get out of the school.
Don’t you remember your very first day of senior year? You were tired and exhausted and got bags under your eyes just thinking about going back to school. Do you remember how almost all of your teachers would say, “They won’t let you do that in college!” or “This is it, this is the end of your high school career” or just college this and college that. The homework, the papers, and the tests all seemed like they were light, it was nothing. You told yourself that you were ready for college. Do you remember how eager you were to get out of there? Do you remember how you were “so over” everything? You’d talk about how much you hated the school and just wish “school” was never a thing…. Now, do you remember the days approaching graduation? You walked through the school for your last few times and conversated with people who you might never see again. You thought to yourself, “Maybe this wasn’t that bad after all”. As you muttered your last few words to people and took your last few steps in that school, it all began to hit you, you were going to miss high school.
Going from high school to college is one of the biggest transitions in a person’s life. We don’t come to realize this only until we find ourselves stressing and wanting to pull our hairs out over money for textbooks and length of classes. In high school, (most of) your teachers are on top of you with homework, papers, and tests. Your parents handle much of the financial situations and your classes are already predetermined for you. Most of the time, you’re living right next door to your high school or you have a short length of transportation to get there. You saw your friends every single day and they lived nearby. In high school, everything was so convenient for you that when you enter college, you just get shook by all the changes. Your professors won’t be on top of you about your work, you’re on your own. You now deal with the financial situations and have to stay up until 12 in the morning to make sure you get a seat for that class you’re dying to take. You have to make the decision of will I be a commuter? Or will I be dorming? With both options comes pros and cons. Despite the fact that college is helping prepare you for the “real world”, it can be quite a scary and intimidating place. But whether or not you want to believe it, this is the beginning of the rest of your life and your entire preschool, middle school, and high school careers have led up to this moment, to this opportunity.
