I can still picture it: returning from Christmas vacation and all of my senior friends talking about which college acceptances they had received, how much they couldn’t wait to graduate and how ‘senioritis’ was kicking in.

Last year, as a junior, I could feel my senior friends slowly slipping into a new phase of their lives. When we came back to school and started second semester, I could see all of them starting to care less about homework and more about everything that they were going to experience in college.

Before I knew it, I found myself thinking about what was going to happen when the seniors graduated and I was left to be one of the big seniors on campus. I would then be the upperclassman who could go off campus for lunch and who could legally drive friends around in my car.

Senior year really is a special time in a teenager’s life. Though it is full of ‘lasts,’ it’s the start of a new part of your life and growth as an individual. As I prepare to finish my last semester of high school, I am reminded of the feeling I had last year: the feeling of being left behind.

While I am definitely looking forward to graduation and to seeing what God has in store for me, I am hoping to finish high school strong, not only in my academics, but also in the relationships that I have formed throughout my five years at FC.

During Christmas break, I was able to really contemplate what kind of mentality I was going to enter second semester with: one of laziness and only clinging to everything after graduation, or one of being present with the people I am still with and enjoying every last bit of high school.

Instead of spending my last days at FC telling my friends how much I can’t wait to leave for college, I want to take this time to let my family, friends, teachers and coaches know how much I appreciate them and how they have impacted my life by pouring so much of their lives into me.

While it may be easier to slide into ‘senioritis’ and to start mentally checking out of what is here right now, I want to challenge myself and all of my senior classmates to enjoy this final year of high school. Rather than complaining about how everything seems so pointless during second semester, set an example for others by going against the senior stereotype and finishing strong instead.

According to Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV), “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” The verses go on to list different times in an individual’s life: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh and so on.

These verses remind me of the season of life I am in right now. There is a time to be excited for college and to look forward to the adventures of adulthood, but there will also be a time for leaving my family, crying with friends and remembering every memory from high school.

Graduation is now five months away, but the time I have right now should be used to work hard in my classes, to take every opportunity to spend time with the people I love and to prepare my heart for what I will experience in the next chapter of my life.

I am very thankful for all of the opportunities I have had throughout my time at FC and I plan to enjoy every last school event. Whether it be playing in my last soccer game, going to cheer on the basketball team with my friends, attending NOTS, and even writing articles for The Feather, I feel so privileged to be a part of this community, and I plan to finish even stronger than when I started.

For more opinions, read the Dec. 18 article, Korean exchange student compares Christmas with home.