O-M-G everybody, the time is here! It’s the seniors’ last first article for our last first full week of school! The tears are flowing; it’s basically a tsunami in the hallways. Last Friday night was our last first football game! Last Wednesday was our last first First Day of School (and Senior Sunrise). Do you really think your jeans were the best? Did you get your senior pictures taken yet? Did you post them on Senior Sunday? Did all your “best friends” repost it? How about your mom; did she make a Facebook post bragging about “her sweet baby being too grown”? I bet you just can’t wait for our first last hoco and soon enough prom! Don’t even get me started on graduation. There’s so much to do and so little time, but regardless, it will all be caught on “vintage” digital cameras and posted on everyone’s stories because apparently, everything that isn’t online doesn’t exist. How ironic.
In my decidedly professional senior opinion, this is all literal insanity. I might not make it through this year if everything is a last-first-first-last. Now don’t get me wrong, I love capturing memories and rolling in sentimental feelings, but it gets to a point, and I believe we as a society are past it. It has gone from cute to worrying. As someone who has no idea where I want to go to college or what I’m going to do when I get there, it’s draining. There’s quite a bit of pressure on people my age to somehow have the time of our lives while also managing high school without peaking during these formative years. It’s pure hypocrisy (which is my biggest pet-peeve)!
People, aka adults, are usually pretty understanding when it comes to being nervous about college and all that it entails. I’m eternally grateful to have many wonderful mentors who will eventually help me through that process, but I’m here to argue that that’s no longer the hardest part of being a high school senior. The hardest part is remaining true to who you are. It’s easy to get lost in the loose glitter from senior jeans and blinded by the flashing lights during Friday Night Football games when you’re walking across the bridge, or should I say stage, into adulthood. At the risk of sounding pun-ny, we’re all in a tornado of choices and decisions.
However, all that being said, there is undoubtedly something special about being a senior that goes beyond graduating high school. As bitter as I appear to be, I wouldn’t want to have gone to high school anywhere else. Dover gets a lot of flak for superficial problems. It is a privilege to complain that the air-conditioning isn’t cold enough or that the walk to classes is “too far.”
I think my aversion to last-firsts is simply a refusal to accept that the best 4 years out of the 17 I have been alive are practically over. This being said, I still think it’s all a bit much, but I know someday I won’t.
