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THE SENIOR EXPERIENCE: What do I want to be when I grow up?
Tara Keenan
Senior year is, for many people, the best year of their lives. Homecoming, football games and graduation all mark our transition into the rest of our lives. But senior year can also be daunting. Having to fit in college applications, sports, clubs, and schoolwork can be a lot for one person to handle. It’s difficult to manage so many things at once, and knowing that your future depends on it, these aren’t things we can brush off or hope we won’t ever have to do. It’s stressful to think that your entire future lies in your hands. Some go into their senior year so sure of their lives after high school, having everything planned out. Others, like me, enter unsure and uneasy about an imminent future approaching faster than we would like.
 
For many seniors, we have one thought on our mind: college. Where do I want to go? What do I want to study? What if I don’t know anybody? Even thinking about college is a scary concept, but knowing that in less than a year we’ll actually be leaving is something entirely different. On top of just worrying about this upcoming process, we’re forced to complete application after application, while still keeping up with schoolwork. Senior year is hectic to say the least, it’s difficult to make time for friends, sports and activities when our weekends consist of sitting down and writing supplementals. Choosing a school can be a hard task in itself; do I want to be close to home; what do I want to study? There are so many major parts that make up this process that it becomes a daunting one.
 
Although senior year can be stressful, it all ends up being worth it. Our hard work and our hours poured over countless applications will pay off, and we know we’ll end up at the right place. Although we feel young, we are ready. Our parents, teachers, and many others have prepared us for this exact situation. It’s easy to want to hang on to our high school selves, to mourn some of the best memories of our lives, but trusting that we have done our best and made the right decisions will allow us to start the rest of our lives off on the right foot. 

Photo caption: Indian Hill High School Senior Experience journalist Tara Keenan with her piles of paperwork for college applications.