This is my first, and last column for The Red Ledger. I have never once written a story for TRL, and I never thought that my first would be my senior goodbye. Writing this was pretty hard for me. I have been pushing it off for as long as I could because I just didn’t know what I wanted to write about. When I read the senior goodbyes as a freshman, I wasn’t sure what I would write mine about. With 14 days left of my high school career, I reflected on what it was like for me as a freshman and what I wished someone had told me sooner. So for my first and last column, I am giving advice to the underclassmen.
To the freshman,
Please try new things, join new clubs and get involved. Getting involved with the school is one of the best ways to meet some of your best friends. Joining TRL my freshman year was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve grown up with the TRL staff for the past four years, and these people have become some of my best friends.
To the sophomores,
The best advice I can give to a sophomore is to focus on your school work. Personally, I signed up for more challenging classes and AP classes my sophomore year, so I could prepare myself for junior year. Freshman year classes are relatively easy because it is your first year of high school, and junior year classes are more of a taste of senior year/college classes. Signing up for more AP classes was a good transition to ease myself into what junior year would be like. I found that doing this helped me so much in my transition from sophomore to junior year because it didn’t feel like I was piling on more challenging schoolwork that I didn’t feel prepared for.
To the juniors,
Always remember to make time for your life outside of school. In my personal experience, junior year was the absolute worst year of high school. It genuinely sucks. The classes are harder; there is more pressure on your grades; you have to study for the SAT and ACT, and it’s the start of college applications. My junior year revolved around school, and I never made any time outside of studying to spend more time with my friends and family. Only doing schoolwork made me extremely stressed and feeling like I was missing out on the fun aspects of high school.
And finally to the incoming seniors,
Nobody prepared me for how stressful senior year actually was. Everyone always talks about how senior year is a cakewalk and stress-free. It’s really not. Your senior year, you have to make a life-altering decision by choosing what college you want to go to, choosing your major, saying goodbye to all your family and friends, packing up your life, and going and living somewhere where you know almost no one. My advice is to cherish every moment because it goes by extremely fast.
Looking back, I am extremely grateful for my high school experience because it shaped me into the person I am today. High school is what you make of it and it truly does go by in the blink of an eye. Appreciate the lessons you learn and grow from the mistakes you make. I am incredibly thankful for The Red Ledger for bringing me some of my closest friends, and some of the hardest goodbyes. For the last time, FNR.
