Goodbye!

When you’re a freshman, you feel like being an adult is a world away. You’re an invincible teenager who may or may not care about their current academic status, and is just getting a feel for what clubs they may or may not want to throw themselves into. College is far away from your mind, even if you claim otherwise, because you’re too busy being a new high school student. You make friends, you lose some, and decide where you’re going to sit for lunch for the rest of the year or maybe for the rest of your high school years. Dances feel so grand to you and prom sounds like something magical, yet out of reach. And then the year ends, and you wonder if you’ll remember this year. 

When you’re a sophomore, things are much the same but much less shiny. You consider the prospect of AP classes, and you may even take an AP World History class, but for now they’re mostly out of mind. Your clubs are starting to pick up, you have more responsibilities and you’re even considering running for cabinet next school year. Now, you have more school spirit, going to a few dances and events. It will all fly by. Still, adulthood is so far away, too far away for you to care. Will you forget this year? 

When you're a junior, the end is dawning. Adulthood has reared its ugly head just over the horizon, waiting for the day it will reach you. You might have the most AP classes you’ll ever take in high school if you’re the studious type who likes to be challenged. The person you’re closest to this year will probably be stressed, because everyone is telling you that this year is what the colleges will look at the most, the last complete year before you apply. You’re going to start thinking about your ‘lasts,’ like how it’s the last time you’ll ever choose classes for next year and it’s the last time you’ll ever sign an AP course contract. Finally, you can go to prom and then you find it’s not as amazing as you first thought. The two AP weeks you experience send you into an unavoidable zombie state before you take your final exams and then it’s just…over. You’re done, and you’ll remember this year, for better or worse. 

Senior year is better than junior year, but worse than sophomore year because the world is ending (not in a literal sense, but kind of). Adulthood is just about to snatch you away, and any joy will be sucked out of you with the stress of college applications. You’ll begin to worry about money and about the passage of time as every deadline looms closer. You’ll remember your assignments and realize you’ve over estimated yourself and you’ve stretched yourself too thin. Then you’ll pull yourself together just in time for prom. After spring break, and just before AP testing, you’ll wonder if you can push through. It feels like everything is burning, is it all okay? Will anything be okay? 

And before you know it, it’ll be freshman year all over again in a city far away from Rosemead High School.