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Senior Year

They say that your senior year of high school is different from the first three years. Senior year is the best year of high school I have heard. Half days, respect from younger students and teachers, and many other perks come with it. But there is always another side to the story. Until I became a senior, I did not understand how different it would be. Some younger students and teachers may argue that not all seniors are equally in that community. I often hear the older generation saying how unaware or unprepared the younger generations are. With all the advancements in technology and other things, young generations sometimes come off as lazy or wrapped up in things of little importance. However, I would say that as seniors, we are now close to equals. I have entered the rhetorical realm of seniors because I am able to successfully use the required knowledge gained from previous years, I have gained a standing among other seniors, younger students and teachers, and have come to experience many of the feelings that come with being a senior.

I was not a person who gave much thought to the world around me when I first started high school. Topics such as politics and bills were something that I thought was totally above my head, and having to form my own opinion on such “adult” topics was far from my mind. In those years, the classes I took seemed tedious. “Who really is going to need to know any of this stuff, besides the basics?” I thought. I was just an average citizen in the society of school. Now, as a senior, I see that the many things I was required to learn in my early years are helping me get through this year. When I won an award in my AP American History class, I never would have thought that the facts I learned in that class would now be of great help to me as a senior in my government class. Although math was always my favorite subject, I never would have guessed how important my earlier math classes were, and just how much they would help me get through my dual credit math course, College Algebra. Before my senior year, I didn’t care about much outside of friends and having fun. I just thought, “Who cares?” However, with the facts I picked up along the way, I am able to use the knowledge I gained successfully in my senior year.

Because I have entered “senior-hood”, I am starting to make bigger decisions in my own life. Which college should I attend? What do I really want to study? What kind of job will I have? Even though at times it seems like I am struggling with these, and many other choices in life, I have officially stepped into that part of being a senior. I am making choices about college and other aspects of my life. Like other seniors, I am facing decisions about my life now and about my own future. Again, some may argue that I may not be ready to make these choices, that my decisions are lacking good reason or enough experience. I disagree. The decisions I face now are the same decisions seniors have had to face for ages. I believe that they can only be answered by me.

Moreover, I know I have truly entered into being a senior because of the many, tedious responsibilities and worries I have taken on. Taking ACT/SAT and getting good scores, choosing colleges and application deadlines, and balancing school and free time among many other things all add to those responsibilities we face as seniors. Some seniors take on jobs or volunteer work while others take on more classes or even dual credit classes, which are college courses. In my school, I’m the only senior taking college courses in English and math, and I have gained credibility because of that. The things each senior takes on may differ from person to person, but the outcome will be the same. The responsibilities of seniors will prepare us for our futures. As I go through most of these preparations, I sometimes wish I didn’t have to. Nevertheless, that is just the feeling that comes with being a senior. Sharing these feelings with other seniors has made me more credible among them as well, and better able to help younger students understand what is coming in their senior year.

The feelings we face as seniors can become confusing and divided. Talking to my other senior friends, they have also stated that they share the same feelings. Feeling of pride, for having made it this far in school, but at the same time sad feelings, for all that we have known coming to an end consume us at times. Time, itself, seems to stand still as we eagerly wait for our next step in life, but at the same time it seems to be moving too quickly as we feel everything we’ve known come to a close. Many other things bind me together with other seniors. My maturity level matches with most other seniors, and we share many values such as hard work and responsibility. Now that I have become a senior, I understand how different this year will continue to be. Before this year, I would never have understood the very things that make a senior. The way I view the world, the choices I face, the responsibilities I take on, and the feelings I have all contribute to me successfully stepping into the rhetorical sphere of seniors.

Like my other senior friends, I plan to carry the values I have gained, and am still gaining, after I leave high school. Honesty, reliability, hard work and many others are values I hope to care on. As a senior, I hope to gain even more experience and knowledge to use after high school. This year will help shape and define seniors into the adults we will become. Having entered into my senior year, I know I am preparing for the next step in life, and that I am becoming an equal to those before me. I am glad to have entered this community and hope to gain even more understanding from being in it.