Dream big while you can -- senior year is coming
AS I reflect on my three years of high school, it is mind blowing that I am approaching my senior year. Senior year is supposed to be the time of every high school student's life -- obtaining that ever-so-important driver's license, living it up at senior prom and being the oldest in the school seem like a blast, yet I am surely not in the mood. With privilege comes great responsibility. Carrying more of the weight of the school on our shoulders, being responsible to lead the underclassmen and not having anyone older to aid us with our problems ultimately is the job of the senior class. Senior year is all about giving back to the school, and that proves to be a tough job.
From the moment I stepped into the huge campus of high school, I knew my life would change from that day on. As I had just moved up from middle school, I had dreams and aspirations of meeting new people, playing in a new orchestra, obtaining my driver's license and graduating with honors. Once I reached my first class, my dreams vanished, and all I could think of was getting through that first day.
Freshman year was a blur to me -- everything was brand new, my dreams of becoming a senior seemed so far fetched, but eventually throughout sophomore and junior year, I learned that the least complicated and least demanding time of my high school life was the year I was the most anxious about -- freshman year.
On the other hand, with age come new opportunities as well. As a junior and a sophomore, the freshman class seemed so young. You wonder, "Was I like that when I was a freshman?" and then you think back and reply, "Yes, I was." Junior year proved to be a totally new experience, with the ACT and SAT tests, taking the right classes for college and doing homework for those AP classes are very time consuming, not to mention those extra-curricular activities and service projects that are essential to applying to the college of your choice.
With all this going on, you ponder if one could have any amount of fun during junior year. The answer, of course, is yes! Junior year was stressful, exhausting and challenging, yet the roller coaster of my life. With its ups and downs, I have nothing but positive memories to reflect on -- hanging with new friends, feeling kind of smart after surviving AP classes (not to mention the AP exam) and junior prom were the highlights. So really, senior year can't be that bad. But it's just around the corner.
When you are younger, dreams of flying on magic carpets and living a Magic Kingdom life seem so real and attainable. Believing that the princesses in those Disney movies could one day be you are the dreams of your life. Once you reach high school, reality strikes, and the fantasies you once lived in disappear. Getting older is always about gaining more responsibility, knowledge and experience. As an "almost" senior, I now understand that though the road to come might be a tough one, I would not pass it up for any other experience.
We all must learn how to grow up, and one day maybe the dreams we once held when we were younger will help us understand that with determination almost anything is possible to achieve. "Hold old memories and have young hopes."
Jayna Omaye is a senior at Moanalua High School. She wrote this column during her junior year.