I imagined my senior year would be..well, different from how it is now. I knew it wouldn’t be a big movie-type moment, but I hoped it would at least feel better than this. It’s not the same as before. In my opinion, this senior year isn’t the best – not like how it was a couple of years ago,  joyful, exciting.

A big reason is  the lack of creativity from students. Freshman are immature, and honestly, most of the other grade levels are too. Instead of making things fun, they make the atmosphere worse. Even some seniors don’t feel mature enough, which makes senior year less exciting.

If the students around me were more focused or knew what they were doing, it would make me want to join in more. It would make me feel like the time I spend at school is actually worth it and that I’m living my senior year the way I’m supposed to. I do feel that special “senior” feeling sometimes, but it could have been stronger. If this were a few years back, like 2022-2023, people at school were different back then – and so was the school itself.

The school also changed the way it handles senior year. For example, last year they started activities and events earlier. There were more fun things happening. This year everything feels delayed, and it even seems like people aren’t as excited about senior year as they used to be.

Maybe it will still get better. Maybe eventually it will feel like it’s really my senior year. Right now it’s not as exciting as I imagined. Seniors have Capstone projects, but even that doesn’t make us as busy as we expected. The real stress comes when the end of the year gets closer. It gets chaotic, you won’t know what to focus on. Classes take up a lot of time, and you want to enjoy other things, but you can’t because of all the work teachers give us. I don’t think it’s fair. Seniors should be able to focus more on who they want to become instead of being overwhelmed with schoolwork. We deserve some free time, especially because we’re reaching a stage in life where everything gets more serious.

Last year in 2024, right before the seniors graduated, there was a pep rally that slowly changed the way I looked at high school. I expected it to be loud, fun, and full of energy like it used to be, but instead the whole gym felt cold. Everyone looked bored, nothing was exciting, and the spirit that used to fill the room was just gone. It was the first time I realized how different things actually had become. When those seniors– the ones who were mature, involved, and actually cared – walked out of the school for the last time, it felt like something important left with them. After that day, I knew it wouldn’t ever feel the same again. I was right, it didn’t. Honestly, I think each year since then seems to get a little worse. That one moment showed me how much the people make the school, and how much you can feel the difference when they’re gone.