Over the weekend I went to my first (and last) prom. Honestly? I had a blast.
If any of you reading this saw me, my dance moves ranged from “white dad at a barbeque” to copying the person next to me. I got overly excited at the fact that there was ice cream, and though my feet were killing me, I refused to take my heels off because of my pride. Well… also the fact that I wanted to live the life of having average-to-tall height for as long as I could.
One bittersweet thought I had had whilst taking a break from dancing was “wow, I’m leaving high school soon.” Next year I will not be walking onto Foothill campus, trying to predict what teachers I’ll get, and becoming annoyed at freshmen for not walking in the halls correctly (we have all been that freshman, and we have all been the older students getting annoyed at the freshmen).
This thought terrified me. I like a lot of the people I go to school with, and I like having a basic knowledge of what to expect at this point in my high school career. I like the comfort zone that I feel like I have only recently achieved.
But isn’t this normal? I can’t be the only senior that thinks this, and I know I am not the only one terrified of what the unpredictable future holds.
As terrified as I am, I am also excited. Seniors, we are taking a big step, whether it be out of state or across the street. We have worked so hard these past four years, only to prepare for some vague future full of new responsibilities and uncertainties. Prom was a perfect time to both forget and remember this.
Before I lose you, let me explain my logic behind that statement.
Prom felt like a well deserved pick-me-up for the upperclassmen, the ones in (arguably) the most difficult years of high school. A night full of dancing, food, and fun was a perfect event in last quarter of the year as something fun to encourage us to “Finish Strong.”
However, as I stated earlier, it was a startling realization that high school is coming to an end. Within these next two months the Class of 2016 will be presenting Dragon Talks, attending senior awards night, and graduating.
These two months will be hectic, there is no question about that. That is why I feel like we need to take the advice that Captain Lindsey once gave during an English class, which was to “put down the glass.” This essentially means that we need to be able to take a break, rather than let our work loads break us. It is easy to get caught up in school work and preparing for graduation, however it is not healthy to work and work without stopping.
I am 100 percent saying that we need to stop and smell the roses. We have been told that senior year goes by in the blink of an eye, which is true.
We can’t waste what’s left worrying over the next physics quiz or English essay. It is important that we make time to do what we enjoy within these next two months, whether it be going to the beach with our friends, doing yoga, or teaching ourselves something new.
This is our last quarter of high school, so we need to both work hard, and have a good time. All work and no play is not healthy, and this is also our last chance to act like kids (which, after all, is what we are).
