Never thought I would cry on the last day of school, but there I was thursday morning, tearing up a storm as I walked through the Senior Hallway. I’ve always pictured myself to be a pretty stoic person who’s rarely shows any signs of affection, but as I breezed through that hallway, the action felt more sentimental than dutiful.
The first thing I noticed when I walked through the hallway was that it was so empty. The second thing was that the administration had posted silver stars on each locker with our names on them. Seeing this immediately made me tear when I went to open my locker and place my travel mug in its resting place. Doing this for the last morning and seeing how caring my school’s administration was made me realize that school was more than a competition based game, but more of a second home. After snapping a quick pic of my locker and sending it to my parents with the caption, “look what my school did for the seniors,” I made my way to english where I was greeted by one of my best friends who started on the rant of finally finding her locker due to the “stupid star things,” and then proceeding to tell me that she couldn’t wait to yell at whoever took her locker nine short months ago.
Wow, it’s been nine months since we trotted in as high schoolers, feeling high and mighty that we are one step closer to college. Now that it’s nine months later, and we are at that step of college, it’s hard to come to terms that this is all over.
The day came in went, I was in and out of class, took a health final, went home for lunch and grabbed mom’s car to return to school for math and then to go through the tradition of waiting for the final bell to ring for the last time.
Those last twenty minutes were incredibly sad. The hallway was at least 98 degrees and the floor was coated with sweat, but all that didn’t matter as our grade played sad songs, cried, and embraced each other as we experienced this for the last time. Seeing my friends cry, as well as the boys in my grade cry (holler at those “macho,” football players) made me cry and feel something I hadn’t felt in a long time. A sense of belonging. Although I found my school to be very competitive, insensitive and clique-ish, I did find my place as a photographer, a good friend, and a responsible student.
It’s true that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. From one senior to the next, I would advise that you enjoy the ride. Before you know it, senior year will be over and then it’ll be time to explore another avenue of your life: college.
Life As A Teenage *itch 