It seems that summer is winding down as schools in the area resume next week, meaning that this week is the last full semana of summer. I would like to say that for most people, it has meant spending as much time with friends and family as possible while enjoying the time while it lasted, but let’s be honest here. This last week was spent cramming in all the summer work people procrastinated on, because if you haven’t kicked that habit yet, why start now, right?

For those students embarking on their senior year, it’s hard to believe how much is going to change. Everyone walked into high school with at least two or three solid people to hold on to and they all came in as different groups of people who didn’t quite know one another. The thing is, by the end of a year of rallies and Sunrises and constant talk about sticking together before college, all the seniors walk out of high school as a class. Because that what senior year is, it’s not just the end of 12 years of schooling… It’s the drama, the games, and most importantly, the friendships that ultimately bring people together in the end.

Then there are those going into their junior year and under, and for those people, all I can say is keep going. Sometimes it seems like those years are going to last forever, that the people and the classes and the grade checks are all never going to end. But they are. As some people say, all good things much come to end and sooner or later, so does mandatory education spent with some of the people you have known all your life. So I say keep working, keep studying, and don’t let up. But also, find a way to keep smiling, keep discovering yourself, and keep on finding your people. Because, like I said, all good things must come to an end. Why not use the time you have to make the good moments count? And the bad ones? We can all get through those together.

Last but not least, we have the rest of us students: The ones either embarking on our freshman years of college or those continuing their journey through it. This is where things really change, where we take one step closer to the real world and one step farther away from our parents. More responsibility, more maturity, and most of all, more discovery. These next four years or so will change all of us, hopefully for the better, as we uncover who we are and find the place where we fit in a world of 7.4 billion people.
We are chasing our future, and if we are lucky, we might catch a few new friends and hold on to a couple old ones while we do it.

This is the story of our lives, the story of how we become the people we are supposed to be. Sure, it includes a plot of heavy lifting and countless frustrations. But it also includes a lot of laugher, good times, and hopefully, a whole lot of love. This is the journey we all take together, the same obstacles and same hardships often plaguing more than one of us at the same time. But in the end, that is okay, because together we are taking each of these steps toward our future and reaching for the opportunity to come out the other side victorious. No matter where we are in life, I know we are all going to make it to where we need to be just fine. Maybe, if some of us are smart enough to catch on early, we might be able to kick that procrastinating habit before we do.