I get it. You’re tired.

Tired of homework. Tired of school. Tired of waking up early in the morning. You’ve had a first taste of what you remember high school being like during your freshman year, but that sweet, pungent sensation that got you liking it has probably gone sour. Now, you have been given an odious amount of responsibility, and four years of having it has worn you down. Nothing could possibly get you more excited than the day school ends and summer begins. Why, it feels like school is already over and done with, so why are you still trying so hard?

It’s not like I don’t feel the same way. I’m a high school senior; feeling irritation about school not ending yet is an entitlement by this point. Having three AP classes squeezed the enthusiasm out of me for the entire year thus far, too. Feeling jaded isn’t a good enough adjective to describe it, nor would it suffice to say that my brain has spent two hours in a microwave. I certainly feel that I need a rest.

I don’t think I’m alone on this either. Being through with school is certainly not an unpopular thought amongst students here at Foothill. With AP test and CSTs finished, exams that we spend a majority of our education preparing for, it certainly feels that the heavy burden of school has been thwarted and a long and hearty celebration is to be had. Finally, we say, we are done with school.

However, even if we feel that we are done with school, it does not mean in the slightest that we are actually done with school.

This is especially true with seniors. We still have the Hero Project presentation to give on Friday, some lingering homework assignments and most of all the stress of graduation and checking out of school without any troubles. What about finances for the colleges we are attending, or perhaps the transcripts and scholarships we need to complete?

This should not be of any new difficulty to us, however; we’ve been kept busy the entire year thanks to the teachers running the senior class to the ground with busy work, actual work, and busy actual work. By now, we should be used to feeling stressed out and alone near midnight while complaining about assignments on Facebook.

So what is there to justify a “senior ditch day” or simply not trying? We’re at the very last stretch of the race; it may have been a brutal, unfair race at times, but now we can all see the finish line. If you choose this time to congratulate yourself for a job well done, you’ve done it too soon. You’re not there yet, so don’t pretend that you are already out of school when we still have things to do.

Five feet from the finish line does not qualify as finishing at all.

My point is this: Even when the senioritis forces you to moan all the way through yet another boring day and the lofty aspirations have your mind wandering in college yet your body staring aimlessly towards the whiteboard, it is imperative to remind yourself that your last journey as a high school student still has some ways to go. To stop caring is to quit the race, meaning that all the hard work you put into the beginning will go to waste if it’s squandered now.

School is almost over. AP tests and CSTs are done. The colossal ton of pressure has been taken off all of our backs, and we should be glad about it. Yet, we also need to remember the importance of staying focused right up until graduation. The road that is still paved for us should be reveled, not railed. School was fun, has been fun, and will stay fun; this is how we can survive our last days together as the Senior class of 2011.

This is how we can finish strong.