Only a few days left. 

Only a few days left before we don’t have to get up at 6:30 in the morning for school. Only a few days left before we leave school for the last time without having to come back 3 months later. Only a few days left of staying up all night doing busy work for class. Only a few days left until we never have to do math notes again. Only a few days left until we turn the page to start a new chapter of our lives.

As we walk through these halls as students for the last time, moments from our childhood slowly start to flood our brains as we are reminded of all of our first knowing that soon they will repeat themselves as lasts. 2,340 days we’ve spent sitting at a desk, surrounded by people that we never realized would mean as much as they do until there’s only so much time left. Only a few days left before we will never all be in the same place again. We all have said the words “we have time” at least once in our life, but it isn’t now that we truly start to wish we had more. More time to really listen to the people around us, laugh with our friends in a high school classroom, or thank our teachers for all that they do for us and the sacrifices they make for our benefit on a daily basis. More time to enjoy the presence of our fellow classmates that we have been surrounded by each day since we were five years old. These people have become a part of who we are, and will hold a piece of our soul for the rest of our lives.

Though the education that we’ve received will be a lifelong resource for us as well, we don’t fully understand the importance of the kids we go to school with until we don’t see them anymore. When we reflect on our childhood and our years as young adults, we don’t stop and think about the test we failed in 6th grade or the time you had to get caught up on missing work, we think about all the times we sat in a classroom and laughed harder than ever. We think about the time we were forced to watch a goldfish get eaten alive by a piranha in math class, the times we got McDonald’s and played Uno in Spanish, or when we made a wedding cake as a final in Gourmet Foods. We remember these things that don’t seem so major at the time, but when you stop and think about it, we realize that all of these moments are now embedded into our brains forever. Though some of these memories will not reside in the front of our minds, we are constantly reminded of the little moments spent with the people we love most. We will all look back on these times and wish we could do it all again at some point or another. 

In these last few days left of senior year, we all become more aware of the people around us and how they have impacted our daily lives. Our best friends become more important than ever, as well as the people who sit across the classroom from us who we know are there, but never engage in conversation with. Those people, who we are so used to seeing everyday, will soon become nothing but a memory in the blink of an eye. So, as we finish out our public school careers, and we all want to reminisce on the time we wish could get back, we must stop and appreciate the time we have left with the people we’ve grown up with. Cherish the moments that will one day just be an image in your mind, and embrace the feeling of being so young and alive with the people who, up until now, you’ve basically spent your whole life with. There’s only a few days left. Only a few days to skip class with your best friend, only a few days left to laugh with the people you won’t see anymore come June 2nd, only a few days left to be a high school student. Only a few days left to really appreciate the wonderful memories that we’ve all made together over the last 13 years. Only a few days left.