As my senior year comes to a close, there are a lot of things to reflect on. I’ve been on the Pelladium staff for all four years of high school, and I have seen a lot of senior issues come and go. Often the topic that comes up during our story meetings for this issue is giving advice to underclassmen. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that high school really does go by in the blink of an eye. I remember sitting in the library in elementary school and getting our first school email accounts, and I distinctly remember seeing that “23” at the end of the email and thinking it was lightyears away. But now it’s 2023. And nothing gave me that realization quite like seeing the 2023 graduation aisle feature in Wal-Mart.

Like most classes from the past, our class has gone through a lot together. The class of 2023 was the last class to experience a year in high school getting cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. While we didn’t feel the effects quite as hard as the 2020 and 2021 seniors might have- not getting prom or graduation and missing other important events due to being quarantined- its impact wasn’t lost on us. Most of us had close friends or siblings who were juniors or seniors at the time.  We saw them miss out on key high school events.

I think one of the most important pieces of advice I can give to underclassmen is to not ever take things for granted. While high school might not exactly be the “best four years of your life” as some people claim, you get out of it what you put into it. We were blessed enough to go to school in a community that supports us and an administration that wants us to succeed and have fun. Participate in prom, winter formal, and homecoming, no matter how “popular” you are. You never know when it could all be ripped away from you.