Senior Editorial: It Goes By Faster Than You Think

I recently attended my orientation at Arizona State University. During one of the sessions, the incoming freshmen were asked to write down the “mark” we would like to leave within the next four years. While this realm of possibility added to my excitement for this next chapter of my life, it also led me to reminisce on my past four years here at Santa Fe High.

When I started high school, I was terrified and unsure of myself. I questioned every step I took. I wanted to be what everyone around me wanted, so I was never actually myself.

Throughout my years here, I grew into someone who no longer questions herself and who has stopped being so scared. I learned how to embrace everything I feared.

Back then, I thought I knew it all. Admittedly, I probably still think I know much, much more than I actually do. But one thing I’m sure of is that while our years in high school are nowhere near the best years of our lives, they are still unlike anything else.

High school is the time in your life to figure things out, to make mistakes, to make memories, to find out who you are and who you want to become. You shouldn’t worry if you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing because, honestly, no one does.

Never think that you’re “too cool” to dress up and go to homecoming, or to paint blue and gold stripes on your face and go to football games. Those times are probably going to be some of your favorite memories from high school.

In these past years, one thing that stands out the most to me is how everything has its own way of working out. Nothing is ever the end of the world, even though it feels like it is. Your first F on a test is something you learn from. A bad breakup is something you’ll get over. That fight with your best friend isn’t life or death.

Nothing ever happens the way you think it will, but that’s usually for the best. My freshman year I was placed in a Spanish class that I wanted so badly to get out of, but most of my closest friends today came from that class. Junior year, I didn’t really want to take journalism, but here I am about to major in it next year. Sometimes things are meant to happen.

I was always terrified of taking classes where I didn’t know anybody. Most of the time I would plan out my schedule with friends so that I would have at least one person in class with me. But the classes where I had to reach out and meet people is where I made some of the best memories.

Now, I will be going off to college where I will know no one, but that is one of the things I’m most excited about.

In these last weeks of high school I’ve realized how much has happened in these years, and how quickly the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday was my first day here when I got lost on my way to first period biology.

Everyone talks about senior year being the year you “rule the school,” and it kind of is, but only because in your time here you will grow to, in a way, feel at home when you’re walking through the hallways that you’ve walked a countless number of times. You’ll roll your eyes at the freshmen screaming that they “missed” their friend that they saw two days ago, knowing fully well that you did that exact thing four years ago. Or, if you’re anything like me, you’ll show up to class late every day with Starbucks in your hand.

As these four years start to wind down, I must say thank you to Santa Fe High because it has helped shape me into the person I am today. Thank you to my wonderful friends who have laughed and cried with me, and grown up with me. Thank you to my amazing teachers who have always pushed me to do my best, even with my neverending complaining. And especially thank you to Ms. Gerber, who has influenced me in too many ways to count.

All the hours spent in classrooms that seemed like they would never end, do end. All the days spent sitting at “your table” in the plaza for lunch are numbered. All of the mornings driving to school listening to your favorite songs are coming to a close. But, even if high school wasn’t the greatest thing, be grateful. You wouldn’t be who you are today without every single seemingly monotonous day of these four years that you thought would never end.

I’ve never been one to think that my “mark” will be some grand gesture that will leave my name in history books; I’ve always thought of it as little things that make a big difference, like buying a friend their favorite candy on a random day, saying thank you to my teachers, being fully involved and immersed in every second of high school because — it’s cliched, I know—it goes by faster than you think.