After three years of waiting for this day, we are here. Senior year has arrived and it is in full swing. We have studied for countless hours, lost days of sleep, and made an innumerable amount of acquaintances, some who have become our best friends. Welcome to the year of lasts, my friends. Our last back to school dance, our last homecoming, our last prom and after-prom. Our last finals of our high school career. We have made it. Our hardest years are over, and now it is our time to relax and actually enjoy our ride. But first, I would like to give you a couple pieces of advice before you continue your senior year.

• Do not just skate by. Yes, the last year that colleges will look at is your junior year, but that does not mean that you should stop doing your homework, stop studying or stop doing what you would always do for your grades. It is very important that you keep up with your schooling. In our (last) senior meeting, Mrs. Pramenko mentioned that a student had gotten accepted to Colorado University at Boulder and did not do so well in their second semester of their senior year, so CU retracted this student’s acceptance. It is very important that you continue what you have always been doing. You do not want your college to be swept out right under your feet.
• Despite the need to focus on your school work, make sure to have fun. Like I said, this is the year of lasts, so it might be in your best interest to attend every football game, pep rally and dance that you possibly can. Do not forget to make memories along your journey through your senior year. This is the year we have all been looking forward to, so why would one waste it?
• This is not the year to continue pointless, high school drama. We have all had enough of that for the past three years, but this is not the year to feed into that anymore. You do not want to look back on your senior year and remember it as just drama. That is not what should be taking up your time. Rather, you should give your effort to the friends who have been there for as long as you can remember. Give your effort to your school work and to the memories you will make along the journey this year.
• Though money is important leading into the next stage of life, make sure your job isn’t taking all of your time. This does not reign true for every senior. Not every senior has a job, but for the ones that do, I understand your pain. I understand the late nights where you are up past midnight because you just got out of work and you still have homework to do for the next day. But please remember that you are always capable of making money, but do not bar yourself from making the memories that will last you a lifetime. This is senior year. You have your entire life to work but you only have one senior year of high school.

This year is going to go by in the blink of an eye. Before you know it, we will be on winter break, and then May will appear right before us and we will all be moving on. No matter what, remember who you are and what motivated you to get here. Without your tenacity, you would have stayed in a different grade. But you all are here. Do not forget what got you here. Do not forget who inspired you, pushed you, and gave you faith through your high school experience. Most importantly, make memories.

Welcome to the last year of high school. I hope you enjoy the journey.  

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

Mackenzie Callahan, Class of 2017