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As a senior in high school, I can personally attest that life as a 17 year old student feels marginally different than what I remember my freshman year to be like. It’s safe to say I share the sentiments of many in that it still feels like I’ve only scratched the surface of my high-school life, which supposedly comes to a close in only a few short months. Those younger times I spent with friends and in classrooms I’ve since graduated from don’t seem that long ago and it truly is hard to believe that I’ve matured from my 14 year old self, like all seniors supposedly do over the course of their high school lives. And now, in what feels like a cruel and sudden responsibility, we seniors are told that it is time to abandon the childhood that passed all too quickly to decide exactly where our adult lives will take place, what people they will be centered around, and what subject of study they will focus on.
But even in the rueful nostalgia of closing out one’s high school years, there is much to be looked forward to. Rather than a forced exodus from a worry-free childhood, we seniors should view graduation as an opportunity to expand our educational, vocational, and social opportunities. The cliche is certainly true—there are endless possibilities. Whether those possibilities lie in a typical 4-year undergraduate program, medical school, trade school, or perhaps even an apprenticeship of sorts or a direct transition into the working world, we should celebrate our newfound ability to equip the skills that we have acquired over the past few years to shape our futures. Nonetheless, opinions aren’t all optimistic.
While some have already carved out their plans for the future, others haven’t. While some have narrowed down exactly what university it is that they would like to attend, others struggle to decide which is the best fit for them, among so many options. An anonymous open-ended survey given to a small yet sizable pool of Vestavia seniors certainly corroborates that seniors feel widely different about the months ahead. While one student affirmed their commitment to one of two universities, a relatively unstressful and straightforward process, another stated their intention to apply to seventeen universities. Needless to say, the second student expressed a significantly higher degree of stress than their classmate. This stress was appropriately founded—even after their extensive research of these various institutions, the student expressed that their vision for the future did not become any more clearer than it had been before.
It doesn’t help that college applications open in the busiest semester of the school year. Researching scholarships, taking standardized tests, crafting a CV, and writing essays are not exactly activities that a strenuous course load makes time for. Deadlines span from early November to the close of December, and students are expected to draft a comprehensive portfolio of what kind of person they are while maintaining a static GPA, athletic career, or extracurricular commitment.
But it’s best to end on a positive note, hidden within what at face value appears to be a burden on most high-schoolers’ lives. The stressful sentiments behind choosing an institution have forced us seniors to consider how we want our futures to play out. The next few months will be uncomfortable, sure, but they’ll prepare us for what’s to come next. Come springtime, regardless of decisions, expectations met, or let down, we will have a much clearer picture of where we will go and what we would like to do, something that will undoubtedly be a relief. Until then, I see no tangible solution to dealing with the stress behind college applications and the first semester of senior year except to just keep moving forward. Among those who know Phil Knight’s significance in history, few remember what university he attended or his grade point average upon graduating. What people remember about him is the forward-moving fluidity within his swoosh, to “just do it.” His words have the same significance as they did in 1988, even in the lives of us young scholars, some thirty-six years later.
Education is a journey. For those of us who haven’t yet finished ours, the most important thing is to just keep walking forward on our path, regardless of which it ends up being.
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