Graduation. The actual definition is the receiving or conferring of a diploma. But I can tell you that is not the definition according to every senior. The word graduation holds so much more. Graduation holds the end of 13 years of work and the closing of our chapter here at CMR. The word alone holds fear, anxiety, excitement, and accomplishment. I have not found another word that holds so much in just 10 letters.
All through school, we are told to stand out, find our place and experience everything school has to offer. When we enter the gym on June 1, we enter as a class. We all look identical in our green caps and gowns. But for one last moment was get to be an individual within our class. When our names are called to walk across the stage and receive our diplomas, we are our own person. During the walk across the stage, I will be fighting back tears. How did this all go by so quickly? Why am I being handed my diploma now? Am I actually ready?
When I began senior year my focus was to get the heck out. I wanted to graduate in September. I didn’t want to fight my way through another year of the same thing. I got to experience Homecoming as a big bad senior. I was finally able to sit in the senior section at pep assemblies and wear camo pants to sporting events. I was able to park in the senior lot, take our senior class picture, and participate in the senior march at prom. There is so much I was excited for when senior year arrived. I know that each moment carried the word “last” before it. It wasn’t just Homecoming. It was my last Homecoming. I wish I hadn’t done that. It made the happy moment sad. I didn’t want my time to come to an end. Now that graduation is less than a week away, I’m freaking out. I want to go back to the beginning and cherish each moment. The “real world” is scary.
Underclassmen, you’ll find yourself in this position before you know it. You think that your time in high school is never going to end. Individually each year goes by painfully slow but as you look back you realize that everything went by in a blur. There really is nothing that you can do to slow down time. My solution to time going by is to bring a camera everywhere. Take pictures of the things you do each day at school. Photograph lunch with your friends, math class, basketball games. Those moments create your high school memories. You will want to keep those memories for as long as possible.
I’ll carry the moments of my high school career with my forever. I’ll do my best to remember each face that made a difference during my time here. As of now, I have thought about the end far too much. It’s almost over. It will soon be as if I never existed in the Great Falls Public School District. I will be a new face at the University of Great Falls. I’ll make new friends and new memories. I’m scared but I’m ready.
