Mason Erbini

Graphic made in Canva.

As a student enters their senior year of high school, they can be exposed to both much more stress and fun than they have ever had in their previous high school years. With entering this new and final year, students ought to prioritize certain aspects in order to maximize their success while also maximizing the amount of fun they have. Here are some steps every student should take as they enter their senior year:

1. Create a solid plan for one’s immediate future

If someone is prioritizing attending higher education, many college application deadlines present themselves during the first semester of one’s senior year or near the beginning of the second semester. Applications can be lengthy, very time consuming and also very competitive at times. That is why beginning to work on college applications as early as possible is extremely important. Beginning to utilize free resources like videos on YouTube or resources at school can be a great help to ensure that everything goes smoothly with this process. If higher education is not a path one wants to pursue, ensuring that one enrolls into a certain program, job or path that they find interesting is important. No matter where one’s path lies, creating a solid plan for one’s plans after graduation is of the utmost importance.

2. Meet graduation requirements

It sounds pretty simple, but there are plenty of graduation requirements that must be met before one can graduate from high school. Obviously ensuring one has completed a valid high school diploma through their course load is extremely important, but there are many additional requirements such as certain surveys that must be taken through Naviance, certain meetings students must partake in with employers or college representatives and certain deadlines that must be met (filing the FAFSA, submitting service hours, etc.). The last thing anyone wants as they near graduation is to figure out that they have not met certain requirements and cannot walk the stage, so staying on top of it is an absolute must.

3. Soak in every moment

Senior year will present itself with a lot of “lasts.” Last first day of school, last homecoming, last concert, last meet or competition, etc. When someone has been doing an activity for so long, it might feel like it will never come to an end. However, that is simply not the case. Making sure to soak in every moment of any activity one partakes in is extremely important because after being a senior in high school, many of those activities never come back. 

Ultimately, senior year is an amazing time to be in high school and comes with so many great wins and moments of happiness that can also feel bittersweet at times. Ensure that senior year begins with creating a solid plan for one’s immediate future, meeting one’s graduation requirements and most importantly, soaking in every moment of this special time in life that will never come back.