Seniors Say “Auf Wiedersehen”

Wow. That is all that I can say about these past couple of months. Wow, I can’t believe it’s senior year. Wow, I can’t believe I am applying to college. Wow, I can’t believe that I got into a college. Wow, I can’t believe that I will be leaving everything I’ve ever known behind. Just wow.

I honestly feel like it was just yesterday when I got off the bus and nervously walked into my first class of high school, English with Ms. Stone. I vaguely remember walking past the classroom at least five times because of how lost I was. I was a mess, but I was so excited and anxious for this new experience called high school.

Now in my senior year, I don’t know what I would say about it. I would say that it hasn’t been what I expected, both in good and bad ways. I think when you first approach senior year, you have a kind of a YOLO-mindset, where you think that it is going to be full of adventures and you are going to live it out because it’s your last year before you go out on your own.

That’s what I thought would be my senior year. It’s pretty unrealistic though. Just like many other things in life, some things just don’t turn out the way that you planned, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It was because I had such high expectations of what certain moments this year would be like that I wasn’t able to realize how amazing the actual moments were. Prom is the perfect example of that. I was a bit upset for not having a date and I let that put a damper on the night because once I got there, I felt like I needed a date in order to have fun. It wasn’t until after prom when I was sitting around a bonfire with my friends that I realized that having such expectations makes you overlook the greater moments, like being able to spend the entire night with your best friends instead of being tied to a date.

Life is a lot more fun when you don’t have such crazy expectations and you are able to just let it be.

My advice to seniors next year would be to just enjoy what’s in front of you and accept life for what it is.

Listening to myself, I sound incredibly cheesy, but I mean it. My biggest regret in high school was trying to be like everyone else and do what everyone else wanted to do.

I often forced myself to do things just because everyone else was doing it, like going to football games. I hate football, and I don’t particularly care for many of the people that go to the games. Yet I would go just because I felt like I was missing out if I didn’t go, even though I much preferred to stay in for the night and have a never-ending Netflix marathon with my friends. I never understood that it is okay to do your own thing. It doesn’t mean that you are boring, it just means that you like to do things that you enjoy.

Looking back on my high school years, it seems that the main thing that I am going to miss about Albemarle are my friends. To Sydney, you have been my best friend since second grade and I am grateful every single day to have someone that has had my back for so long. I’m not about to write an Oscar speech and name everyone, so to my other friends, I want to thank you guys for giving me a reason to come to school everyday.

Finally, I can’t end my senior goodbye without mentioning my J-Squad mates. You guys are the most talented and hilarious people that I have ever met. You mean the world to me and I can honestly say that I have never smiled or laughed so hard in a class before, but you guys are truly remarkable. Whenever I go to Chipotle in college, I will think of you. And for the record, I will not be complaining about crappy buns since JMU is ranked number two in the nation for the best campus food. Anyway, to say that you will be missed is an understatement. I may in fact have separation anxiety just by not being able to watch YouTube videos together, bond over food and gossip during late nights, or laugh at Bailey and Julia while they try to drop it like it’s hot.

But I wish you all the best of luck for next year, I know you will continue to make The Revolution great.