A Junior's Goodbye

When you come into high school starting as a freshman, you think about many things, such as where is that class? Will this teacher like me? What side of the hallway do I walk on? But you don’t question the sophomore friends you make. You think you have forever, but you don't realize that there will be a time when you move on to the next part of life, and you don´t get to be there. With prom just beyond the horizon, I realize now this is my big last event with some of my friends who just so happened to be a grade above. Many Grad party invites and a summer left with some of the people who have been there for me at my worst moments, and have given me the best advice. Over a week of senior pranks and watching them have their memories to last forever, we have to remember this time will be the last that many of them will ever be kids again. It's easy to be annoyed by teenagers having fun in public; it's easy to say we will miss them and wish they weren't leaving. It's harder to keep in mind that leaving is important; it's growing up, going to college, starting work, and traveling. It's even harder to think that we are right behind them. When I was a kid, I didn’t even think 2027 was a real year, and now it's next year. As the end of the year comes and summer approaches, we will start to hear the questions that will be the beginning of the end.

Will we still be friends?

For all the underclassmen with an upperclassman friend, don’t fret. We have a whole summer left with our senior friends. Some will stay, some will go, but we can thank a thing called cell phones and visits home for keeping friendships alive. But if things go left we have to remember people grow up and people grow apart, similar to the friends you maybe didn’t bring to high school from middle school. Enjoy them now, celebrate them now, don’t be afraid to say we will miss them.

When are you taking senior photos?

This will feel like a question asked too soon and too exciting, but be mindful, as someone who also did yearbook this year, the deadline for senior photos and quotes is estimated to be around the third week of November. Pick somewhere meaningful, someone beautiful, somewhere fun. Don't miss the deadline and have fun with it!

How many classes are you taking?

I know 3 years of classes, and you're ready to be here as little as possible. To just meet your requirements and get out of here. But beyond personal finance and other must-haves, you should take the chance to take as many college classes as possible. Why? Because it's free, and if you wait, it won't be. Because nows that chance to have a schedule full of classes you actually want to be in. Now's your chance to show off and get the best grades possible to show colleges.

Are you planning your grad party?

Maybe you won’t have one, maybe you aren’t thinking about it, and want to wait. But I wouldn't. Plan and do it big! Because we worked hard, and if we walk that stage, every one of us deserves a moment for everyone we know to celebrate us.

Where are you going to college?

I know, this might be the biggest and scariest one yet. I know quite a few juniors who have their hearts set and already know. Quite a few of us will be at UNI or Iowa State. But if you don’t know now. That is okay. It's worth a thought or two. Are you gonna stay close? Are you gonna go far? Are you gonna go at all? It's up to you to decide, but when it's time to apply, do yourself a favor and apply to the ones you want, but also apply to the ones you think you won’t get into, because there is always a chance.

Are you ready?

The short answer is yes, we're all ready to feel like adults and be done with high school. But the long answer is probably no. It'll feel good that first semester, but by the second semester, it'll feel real. It will be leaving behind the people we have been around every day for four years. Leaving friends and family, it'll be that last football game, that last choir concert. That last bell ringing, that last ride home from school. But mostly it will be big decisions that suddenly make us feel too small to have the answers. From what I've seen its enough to make some seniors have panic attacks about prom. But ready or not, it's coming soon for us and even sooner for some of our peers, so be kind.