The start of senior year feels like the quiet before the storm. For the last three years, the school has quietly watched me as I grew and learned. Now, the moment to prove that the learning I have undergone was worthwhile has come, and in no time I will be faced with the opportunity to showcase what I have managed to achieve these past defining years.
The phrase “the beginning of the end” is far more than a metaphor for the last year of high school. It is especially evoking to me as a twelfth grader, impatiently waiting to find out what life has prepared for me next. Looking back to my younger, naïve self from my freshman year of high school, I can barely fathom both how much I have accomplished and how much I still have to do.
The question of what I have learned or achieved is way beyond grades and GPAs. These last years have demonstrated that education is not just about memorisation; it is about what truly matters to me, drives me to burn the midnight oil so as to finish projects, homework, and what ultimately led me to write personal statements for college applications in fields I am now passionate about and wish to pursue as a career.
However, managing to hone my skills in numerous domains and enhance my knowledge are dwarfed by the hardly surmountable challenges I have yet to overcome. Despite the numerous achievements I have managed to accomplish academically as well as extracurricularly, unprecedented hurdles testing my resilience arise with each new sunrise.
Therefore, as my time in high school draws to a close, I find myself not only assessing my academic achievements but also reflecting on my personal growth. Seeing how much I have grown in all aspects and analysing the shift of focus from just spending time with my friends to actually preparing for the upcoming exams is tremendously poignant. Such events stir profound feelings of gratitude towards teachers and friends who I am going to miss deeply, but also of nostalgia, as I am on the verge of leaving in the past four fundamental years for my development and for the formation of who I am today.
As graduation draws near, so does the staggering reality check that adulthood is right around the corner. Shifting from high school to university should be an overall dowdy task. It is the interpersonal factor from which its difficulty and complexity stem. As I prepare for this transition, I know friendships may change, memories will fade, but yet, I know these years will remain a cornerstone of who I am. Though the path forward may be uncertain, I’m ready to step into it, carrying with me the lessons, friendships, and memories that have shaped me.
Oprean Alex 12A
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