The senior year of 2020, I think, for the most part, was a pretty smooth-sailing year for me. I pretty much was in between doing the bare minimum and doing my utmost best. Sometimes I wish that most of those times I did do my utmost best because then I wouldn't have as much struggle as I do now with all this college stuff. I believe that overall your senior year should be the year of no worries, so don't stress yourself over dumb things, like annoying Instagram posts or people that don't care about you and are judging you. Eventually, those people will realize all the garbage things that they did and get some tough personal reflection time. So there's no point in intervening unless it's incredibly hurtful or traumatizing. Also, a tip, even though friends are significant, I hope that you are just a little bit selfish and do what's most important to you in terms of completing schoolwork, instead of avoiding assignments, because, at the end of it, you are going to want to leave school. Still, you also don't want to leave with a horrible GPA, so set your priorities straight. I should have invested more of my time in scholarships to reduce more money from my loan payment, and although my loan payment might not be that much, I think that it's best to lower that down as much as you can. One thing I can say that I feel something that I believe improved my senior year, in all honesty, was when I helped during the lake worth street painting festival. It helped me come out of my shell and open up to new people, in which we would, later on, become good friends. My last message is that senior year as a whole is one colossal learning lesson, and at the end of it, your out in the real world where no one cares except for the people that you keep close to you. So cherish that and hold it dear to your heart because it will get you through a lot of tough times.

• Elijah Gabriel Ramos, Class of 2020