A month into junior year, staring at the newspapers hung on the classroom wall, rethinking every moment that has passed. Where did all the time go? Every graduate’s advice finally clicks: “High school goes by fast, enjoy it.”
Freshman year feels like it happened yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time. Walking into school on that first day, heart racing, everything felt so big. It seemed like every class lasted forever. I remember counting down the days until summer and thinking I had all the time in the world until graduation.
Before you know it, it’s your first football game, surrounded by people you barely know, and it feels like something out of a movie. You fall into your first high school crush and spend way too much time overthinking every text. You take your last STAAR test of the year, and just like that, the year is over. The last bell ringing and jumping in joy at every thought of basking in the hot sun.
Sophomore year comes next, and with it, the slump. The excitement from freshman year wears off and what’s left feels like routine. You’re not clueless anymore, but you’re also not important. You’re somewhere in the middle, just trying to stay afloat. Classes get harder, and chemistry becomes your personal nightmare. You stop caring as much, or at least you pretend to. Every day is predictable. You wake up, go to class, do your homework, scroll through your phone, and do it all again the next day.
The days feel long, but the weeks fly by. You look up and the year is half over. People start saying things like “next year you’ll be a junior” and it doesn’t even feel real. You keep thinking you have time, but the truth is, time doesn’t wait for you to catch up.
Blink and junior year is here. I am the age I always dreamt I was as a child. Now I revert back to my childish ways. Watching To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, now realizing I’m the same age as Lara Jean. Will I find my Peter Kavinsky? Deep diving and purchasing LaLaLoopsy dolls to get a glimpse of what it felt like to be a kid again. Loathing the fluorescent light of algebra 2, wishing to turn back time to learning shapes instead of solving for them. Reminiscing can only last so long, eventually we all have to grow up.
The years of high school go by as quick as it takes to read this column. High school experiences won’t matter, but your grades will. You might be expecting me to tell you I’ve enjoyed high school so far, but I’m not. I surely haven’t enjoyed the work, but I’ve met my forever friends, and I would never trade that for anything. There is so much to look forward to when high school ends. Adult life begins and soon the worries of presenting in front of your classmates will go away. Don’t worry about how the future will pan out, it’s all up to you.
