The Right To Remain Superior

“SEN-IOR-YEAR, SEN-IOR-YEAR, SEN-IOR-YEAR!”

Get used to hearing this chant for the rest of the year, and learn to respect and appreciate it. Because making it through three long years at Highland certainly is something to cheer about.

Freshmen: enjoy being at the bottom. I know that sounds absurd, but you have it the easiest. High school is still thrilling and the slate is clean. Try to stop dreaming about going to many dances in the future, or driving off campus for lunch. Those things will come soon enough.

Sophomores: continue crushing on the eye candy of the senior class. They’ll all be gone next year. Be smart about driving as people start getting their licenses. Soon you’ll be the one driving everyone around, and it gets old. Most importantly, enjoy the last standardized test free year of life.

Juniors: finally being considered an upperclassman feels nice. What’s not so nice is the ACT… get used to having this new best friend. Embrace junior year though, because it’s the last year of little worries and responsibilities. Senior year is just around the corner.

Seniors: hang in there…we’re almost done.

By the end of freshman year, it becomes apparent that high school is not like what the T.V. shows and movies make it seem. Instead of spontaneous dancing in the halls there are too many people not wearing deodorant and major PDA. Homework is actually a thing and so is caring about getting good grades. Most students anxiously wait until the day they can finally call themselves seniors and rule over the school. Don’t be deceived; senior year comes with much more baggage than expected. Suddenly thought has to be put into life after high school, and it can be terrifying. The words “college” and “application” will be repeated at least ten times a day. Not taking that art class freshman year will come back and haunt as the scramble to fill all high school graduation credits begins.

Senior Elise Vanderheide is one of the many students that have definitely started to feel the pressure of preparing to leave the four-year comfort zone high school creates.

“I basically thought everything would come together my senior year when in reality it’s the same stuff as every year, but I constantly feel like crying thinking about my future,” Vanderheide said.

No matter how challenging or not-so challenging the courses in a senior’s schedule are, we can all agree on one thing: no one can fully be prepared for the college application process. It’s tedious, exciting, and time consuming all at once. Senior Gannon McNamee, like most seniors, wishes he had been more aware of this.

“I expected senior year to be a lot easier. No one really warned me about how much work would go into college preparation, with all of the counselor meetings and application processes,” McNamee said.

Then there is the issue of “senioritis”- a term I would constantly roll my eyes at every time a senior used it as an excuse to not do anything. But it is definitely a thing. After spending so much time thinking past making plans for the weekend and actually trying to put together a solid life plan, high school feels irrelevant. It’s a tricky situation because while trying to enjoy every “last” that senior year entails, the thought of the many “firsts” that less than a year from now will bring seems to out shadow everything.

Senior Raegan Plewe has truly felt the effects of senioritis so far.

“I have just realized that I am done with high school. I feel like I’m getting reading for the next step in my life instead of focusing on high school,” Plewe said.

And the reward for making it through three years of high school and being thrown into the world of complete responsibility?

A front row seat in the Black Hole. And can’t forget about a parking spot in the luxurious senior parking lot…if you’re lucky.

A combination of all the pressures senior year brings plus the fact that some of us are old enough to vote, adopt a child, buy a house, and file a lawsuit is exactly why seniors deserve some special treatment. True, we might abuse it and go on a power trip, but just accept it because we aren’t going away until we’ve left a mark on Highland. After three years of working hard, senior year is the time to wrap up the high school experience. It’s our last chance to feel powerful and admired until we are thrown into the real world.  It’s the last year Highland will have to put up with us.

Next time the seniors attempt push through the hallways out of annoyance, let it happen.

Next time you hear a continuous chant about being a senior, don’t interrupt.

Next time a senior asks you to move back a bleacher at a football game, just do it. We deserve to be at least 4 feet closer to the football field. You’ll get your chance soon enough.