“I AM a senior.” I had some trouble rolling my tongue around these words on the first day of school, as I could hardly believe they told the truth. Most students wait three years of high school to reach this point in their lives, but I’ve looked forward to this moment since I was 4 years old.
My sister and I are 11 years apart, making me a preschooler when she started Saratoga High. I remember getting picked up from school, driving over to the front parking lot and waiting for my sister to come out. My mom always pulled the car in front of the gym, and I used to stare admiringly at the falcon logo and little pieces of the mural coming together, which had been under construction for several months. My sister frequently came out through the main entrance, surrounded by a laughing group of friends, and I would always see her smiling at me through the car window.
From making “Don’t Miss This, Vote For Cismas” T-shirts for her senior class presidential campaign, to watching her finish up an AP Computer Science final project the night before it was due with a certain student-turned-current English teacher at the high school, my sister’s senior year especially stood out in my mind as an energetic and happy time. In my eyes, her senior year was the defining moment of her teen years, and for me to finally have reached this same time period is truly surreal.
Many people anticipate senior year because they think they will gain a new type of status among
other students. Now that they’re seniors, they can have an awesome Quad Day, drive their own cars, and go to that highly anticipated Senior Prom. I, however, am looking forward to this year not just for these materialistic advantages, but to the realization that I have finally crossed over into territory that I have been looking forward to since I was a kid. Now I will know what it felt like for my sister during her time here, and be part of the picture that had such a large impact on my childhood.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to organize a Thriller dance for Quad Day or breeze through Calc BC, but for now I’m just happy that my senior portrait has finally found a spot hanging next to hers in the living room.
