For years it’s been told and portrayed through movies and books the senior year is the year. The year to have fun, squeeze in the last memories you can, have a laid back school year, and look forward to your future. This image of the picture perfect senior year sets up students to expect these things. This only leads students to an unanticipated stress that could have been avoided, or diminished if they had time to prepare.

I realize that obviously senior year is not going to be perfect for everyone but for me, I was sure that senior year was going to be a breeze and I was going to have the time of my life, so when I was met with four AP classes, a part time job, a managing editor position in journalism and a social life, it’s an understatement to say I was overwhelmed. To add on top of this, students are faced with what feels like is the biggest decision of their life so far— college.

The financial strain of applying to colleges and the struggle to choose who you want to be for the rest of your life is difficult for students to process. I know this is nothing new, students have been struggling for years but as the world grows, life is becoming a reward system in which value is based on a letter grade and the competition to get into schools is only getting harder.

Senior year is the year high school comes to an end. The next part of your life is about to begin and that’s a major factor added to the stress of what comes next.

Personally I’m surrounded by what’s in front of me and I can’t seem to see my future. I know it’s there, it just seems like it’s five years away because the path that’s in front of me for senior year is a long one. Senior year is filled with stress trying to accomplish all your goals that your teachers have set. There is no more leniency, half of us turn 18 in the first semester. As adults in our personal lives we are expected to be responsible for ourselves, and in our school lives we are expected to behave as  adults but we are still treated like children.

We’re adults now, welcome to the real world.