“Never back down, never what?” Never. Give. Up. Class of 2024, we are in the home stretch – almost there but not quite yet. We just started our last semester of secondary school and have 133 days until graduation. So, what are we going to do with it? 

Are we going to let senioritis take over? Are we going to burn out? Or are we up to the challenge?  

It can be extremely difficult to manage all the things that come with being a senior. The high school work, the college applications and scholarships, the clubs and sports, social lives, family time – it is a lot. Not to mention all the various, and at times contradicting, emotions of being a senior. The nostalgia as we look at how far we’ve come, the excitement of stepping into a new part of our lives, the fear that comes with our newfound independence. Altogether, it can be overwhelming. 

But when it comes to feeling overwhelmed or getting burnt out, just remember how hard you have already worked and how soon it will all pay off.  As Ferris Bueller once famously said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” 

Soon enough, you’ll flip your tassel from the right side to the left and together we will be announced as the graduates of the class of 2024. We will throw our caps in the air and then we will all walk out together and into the rest of our lives. So, savor every moment. The time you have left in a Fallston jersey, the time with your friends before you no longer live so close, and the rest of the days left in the building. Before long, it will all be gone. Our senior nights will have come and gone. Casino night and Prom will be here. And then we will graduate.  

It’s okay to be sad that this chapter of our lives is ending. To quietly whisper our goodbyes to the lives we know and the little moments that will be gone in the blink of an eye. But it is also okay to recognize that our time has come, and we have outgrown the place we are in now. To realize the unique lives each of us has ahead of us.