School can be a NASCAR race. If you don't slow down, it's over before you know it
Whenever I think about how fast these years in high school have gone, I always come back to one thing that someone said to me in middle school.
They attributed those middle school years to going by like a NASCAR race.
I would venture to say that high school has gone faster.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up this feeling of time, but I know that the pandemic is not the sole reason.
These years have gone fast because most of us want to grow up and move on to better things.
By always looking forward to the next best thing and the next big event, we miss the little moments in our high school years. I am guilty of looking forward to college but I am also guilty of missing the small moments.
Like in freshman year, when I finally learned how to do a proper toss with my flag in color guard, or when I went to homecoming with my new friends for the first time since eighth grade.
Those small moments were overshadowed by a longing for more that I mistook for the most important part of my life.
A year feels like forever, but looking back feels like life went by in a blink of an eye.
If I had to go back and do it all again, I would be more appreciative of the time I had to be a kid without responsibilities like driving a car or getting a job. I would have spent less time wondering when it was going to be my turn to do something special and go out and do it.
This thought process feels like a process a senior would be having, but I feel like it’s occurring because I am slowly recognizing that this summer into the school year will be the last year to do it all.
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Movies and shows overdramatize senior year a lot into something more meaningful than it probably is. But senior year is filled with a lot of “lasts.”
Last band camp, last competitions, last layout sessions.
Junior year was filled with stress and anxiety about driving, colleges, academics, and anything else life decided to throw at me. But now, I get to move on to a senior year and experience the little moments I did not in my younger years as a freshman and sophomore.
I will try to make this senior year go slower, by appreciating my time with friends and family before I go off to whichever college I choose.
However, that is wishful thinking, because I will probably be going through the same feelings I am now when I am at this point again next year.
Enjoying experiences is the best part of growing up and it will be something that will not be taken for granted as I move up to my senior year with more opportunities to enjoy my last year at Souderton.
Like a NASCAR race, the main strategy is to hold on and go for the ride wherever life takes you. I know that I will be grateful every step of the way and appreciate everything that I will be going through in my senior year.
Roman Craig is a rising senior at Souderton Area High School in Pennsylvania. They are an avid reader, write for the student newspaper The Arrowhead and are on the color guard for the school's marching band. they is CQ
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Souderton senior reflects on their high school years
