Earlier this week, I was walking down the hallway and overheard a few freshman discussing how they would feel or act their senior year.

A lot changes in the three years of high school before one enters senior year. You grow as an individual and as a class, especially here at Hockaday. So, here is a quick look into my first two months as a senior and the things I am already sorry for.

Underclassmen, promise to never think that we have our lives all planned out. I remember as a freshman looking into the long senior hallway thinking, if only I could survive my first three years then everything would fall into place my final year at Hockaday. Ha, I laugh back at those thoughts a bit now. The truth is we have this life thing far from figured out, but we are still trying just as you all are.

Please don’t assume seniors are perfect by nature because we are human and we will mess up. Odds are even the nicest of seniors will get frustrated at the sea of freshman that can occasionally block our only path to class. We may even snap at the sight of a college sweatshirt. We don’t ask you to take it off because we want to be mean or even because we want the senior privilege to ourselves. We ask you to take the college sweatshirt off because last night our friend called us in tears when she got home from her college visit to the school she had talked about for years. Only problem was she hated the campus and the school environment. It was her dream school, but it was not actually the school of her dreams but, rather a school that she had dreamed up. So, cut us a little slack if we beg you to pull the sweatshirt off. We promise that we have a reason. We have people we want to protect and tears we want to stop.

Teachers, please do not say that we are disengaged or no longer care about our classes. We care more than we could ever explain. Between college applications and homework, even a few cups of coffee can hardly keep our eyes open. We care, we want to learn and we want to further our education. You have inspired us with a desire of knowledge that leaves us thirsty for a rigorous college experience and we hope to find a university that will help us build upon our Hockaday education. Secretly, we sometimes fear that nothing will measure up to the green plaid skirts that we all love dearly.

People told us to remember everything about senior year and to enjoy each piece of this time in our lives. My brain sometimes gets full trying to take everything in and not take anything for granted. I try to go out to dinner with my family each time the opportunity arises. I even try to hit as many Hockaday events as possible because this is my final round as a student. I am scared, though, because I know I will take some piece of this year for granted and regret it later in life.

The world at large, I am sorry that my fellow seniors and I often fall short of your expectations. We are trying so very hard. We strive to be the role models that you need, the friends that you can lean on and true to ourselves. We hope to be the students in the classroom that every teacher wants to teach. Also, our apologies to the college counselors who put up with every email or frantic visit. We may eat the chocolate, but we come for the advice. In a little time, our lives will slow for a bit and we will celebrate our future. Until then, we are trying to hold on to the theme of resilience that we have read about for so many years.

XVI,

Austria C. Arnold

Sincerely, Senior is a column focusing on senior experiences and is written weekly by Castoff Editor Austria Arnold.