GRACE BALDWIN
Guest Columnist
It’s that time again — Back to school.
Somewhere in between my pre-season practices and school shopping it hit me — I’m a senior. It’s the year I’ve been waiting for literally my entire life.
I remember as a small child I would attend the Belfry High graduation ceremony and I could just envision myself in the white cap and gown prancing across the stage. With a few handshakes and a diploma I could just see myself marching on out into the world as a “grown up.”
But now that my senior year is actually here and is no longer a glorified scene in my childhood imagination, I’ve been blindsided with a lot of emotions I certainly was not expecting.
All the things I’ve always thought “Oh, I have plenty of time before I have to worry about that” are flying at me with fast approaching deadlines: ACT scores and GPA and College, oh my! Not to mention after a lifetime of my parents taking care of all the major decisions in my life, it’s suddenly up to me to make the choices deciding how my life will play out for at least the next four years.
I’ve always been somewhat of an observant person and I have always noticed that a generous fraction of the seniors make some really strange decisions. I always wondered why they often did things that seemed so out of character. I even began referring to it as “senioritis” because so many seniors seemed to be infected. I guess the old saying about having to walk in someone else’s shoes to understand is really coming into play here. Everyone deals with stress differently, and if I had to guess I’m not the first senior to feel quite a bit overwhelmed.
I cannot begin to give you a number of how many times I’ve been told that senior year would be the best year of my life. I mean, in all honesty, it’d be really easy to get caught up in trying to make sure it lives up to the expectations I’ve had for it for so long. I’ve always heard about all the crazy things people did “back in the day,” and wondered if I will have such entertaining stories to tell when I’ve been graduated for several years.
All the while, I can’t let my fixation with having a blast get out of control because my senior schedule doesn’t leave a lot of room for my unfortunate habit of play now, work later.
I don’t want to seem as if I’m Negative Nancy over here, because I, like all my classmates, am extremely excited for senior year. I will never argue that seniority doesn’t have its advantages. I’ve been around long enough to know the good, the bad, and the ugly at BHS.
I’ve finally made it to the top of the totem pole: I can drive to school, enroll in student services, get cute senior shirts, and if I get a gold card (fingers crossed) I can go outside and get some fresh air at lunch.
Getting older has its advantages, it’s not all stress no reward. All I’m saying is next time you see someone infected with “senioritis” try to remember that stress affects us all in crazy ways, and no one can deny that senior year is certainly a crazy time.
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