Bella Zingler-Hoslet: What It Means to Be a Senior

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Bella Zingler-Hoslet, Guest Writer, Creative Writing

Ever since the beginning of freshman year students have all longed for the day to become seniors. Seniors hold the power; they are superior to all classmates, especially the freshmen. The day has finally come, and my classmates and I are finally seniors, and it feels pretty great. We have finally made it to the top. 

Being at the top is a time for great joy and reflection, but during this last hurrah of high school we have to start planning our future. Some things we need to do are pick a college, start looking at careers and apply for scholarships. Those grades we didn’t think about since first semester freshman year all of a sudden now matter. Every activity or achievement we have ever done or received now matters because we have to make ourselves look good for colleges. It feels like we have to jump through hoops in order to apply to the colleges and then hopefully get accepted by them. 

Being a first semester senior means  stressing. We have to be stressing because we have to make good choices on what colleges to apply to. If you pick the wrong college, this could affect you for a lifetime. If you pick a college that isn’t strong in your intended major, this could affect your job opportunities. Or if you pick a school that is known for partying, you could find your new-found love for beer pong more important than late nights studying at the library. On the other hand, if you pick a school with very rigorous academics, it could cause you to never want to study anything ever again. So finding the right fit is what it is all about. But this is a tricky process because you don’t want to fall in love before you even get accepted to the school of your dreams. 

After you have figured out where you want to apply, then it’s time to talk yourself up. It is like everything you have ever accomplished and all the hard work you have done for the past four years has to be put onto paper. You have to find teachers that believe in you to write letters of recommendation. And you have to tackle that dreaded essay and, for some colleges, even two or three. The hardest part is writing a thoughtful, well thought-out essay. It is something that all seniors try to achieve. This is an overwhelming process, but if it is worked on step by step, you are on your way to second semester. 

I believe that the second-semester senior is a lot different than the first-semester one. By this time we should have gotten accepted by our colleges. Now it’s finally time to relax. Since freshman year, we have been waiting for THIS moment because we are told that this is the time of our lives. Grades are no longer letters that stress us out; they are just a means to an end on our final report cards. We can finally all breathe easy because senior year is supposed to be about having a last year of fun with your best friends you have made in high school. The time of our lives means going to every football, basketball, soccer and hockey game to show your school spirit. It is about trying your hardest in every practice and game because they soon will be your last. I believe that being a senior is about lording over the freshmen just like previous seniors have done to us. It is about breaking a couple of the school handbook rules because you have obeyed them for four years and are finally sick of it. 

Most of all, being a senior is about the friendships, the people you have walked with in the halls, the people you have eaten lunch with, the people you have gone to dances with, the people you have waited for the bus with or gone to overnights for your sport with. It’s about the relationships you have created with your teachers, or with your musical cast or sports team. It’s about the last four years of memories each of us has created with each other. All the times we got all dressed up and danced at Fall Fest or Sweethearts, all the times we hung out with friends and laughed until late in the night and all the future memories we are going to create with those people. And at the end of it all to me, being a senior means throwing your graduation cap into the air like the scene from High School Musical and moving onto the next chapter in our lives. 

But this year is not like years past. The class of 2020s senior year is being completely messed up. This Coronavirus is taking away our last hurrah of high school. Instead of going to class with our friends we have to video chat and conference call our teachers and classmates. Instead of getting excited for prom, we are worrying about whether or not we are going to have prom! We are stressing about the possibility of going back to school and getting our normal lives back instead of de-stressing because we are in the home stretch. This is a time in which we should be praying for those in need and banning together by staying home for these next few weeks so that we can actually go back to school and enjoy our senior year. 

And hopefully throw our graduation caps into the air together.