To you, the graduating senior,

After four years, the gruesome eight-hour school days that took up most of your week are nearly over. Believe me, better things are coming, whether it’s college, a gap year, or anything else you chose to do post-graduation.

Take a moment and just think. Think about your high school prom. Think about homecoming. Think about all the other events that will soon be coming to an end. Just know that senioritis will hit you like a ton of bricks. It’s inevitable.

No matter what has happened in the last four years, be proud of the decisions you’ve made about your future. Looking back, I wish I had known to just let things happen naturally and not spend so much time being paralyzed and anxious about the future. My best advice would be to spend as many moments as you can in the present.

I regret not savoring the years when I would see my best friend every single day, or when he would make me laugh until my ribs hurt. This might end up being the case for you, so savor every moment you have because it is almost over.

By the time you graduate, you are going to have so many emotions; it’ll be bittersweet. You’ll realize that you grew up with the very people surrounding you on stage; you’ll realize just how close you got to your teachers. There’s a sense of comfort here, but honestly, you are onto better things.

So, when you walk across the stage on that Saturday in June, when it’s disgustingly hot and you are trying not to make it obvious that you are melting underneath that cap and gown, just remember that you did it.

You officially did it! You made it.

- A College Freshman