Remembering high school ‘lasts’

It is a very strange feeling when you walk through the door and go to your last first day of high school. I remember feeling excited because I couldn’t wait to attend college the next fall and nervous because everything that was familiar to me was ending.
A part of me didn’t quite believe that it was my last first day, but it still felt very final at the same time. Those feelings and that paradox were present was for all my lasts of Lawrence High School: the last first day of club meetings, the last winter concert, the last Disney trip, the last food drive, and the list goes on and on. At the beginning of the school year, everyone’s attitudes were along the lines of “we can’t wait to get out of here,” but as graduation day approaches all the aspects of high school that you couldn’t wait to leave behind start to seem more special.
It’s an odd feeling to walk around knowing that your high school experience has an expiration date and that at the same time the next year, your entire life will be different; you will be surrounded by new students, new faculty and you might even be living in a different state far from where you are now.
Anxieties and sadness aside, I cannot wait to experience my new uncharted territory. If college life is anything like it has been depicted in movies and television shows, I will never gain the “freshman 15,” wake up before noon for a class, or sacrifice my social life for a night of hardcore studying.
So, I am hoping that college life is exactly like it has been depicted, even though that might be somewhat unrealistic. These idealistic views paired with complete freedom make the idea of leaving my high school behind somewhat easier.

I believe that senior year can be broken down into three parts. Over the first part, the beginning, when the stress of a heavy course load and college applications and the knowledge that within a couple of months high school is over, your desire to leave high school will exponentially increase.
In the second segment, high school is tolerable; it might be because college apps are completed or because senioritis has consumed your life, causing your motivation to drop into the negative digits.
The third part gets to you, because it is when all the fun senior activities such as the Senior trip, prom, and Senior banquet occur, making you realize how much you truly enjoy the company of your classmates and walking the halls of your second home over the last four years.
It’s diabolical; really, making you realize how meaningful high school was to you at the very end. But, all good things must come to end and we must move forward on our journeys. My particular journey will continue at the Ohio State University Honors Program this fall.
All I hope for is a fantastic last couple of weeks at Lawrence High, and to be able walk across the stage at graduation without tripping over my own two feet.