Here you are my friends: yet another senior reflection to read, yet another opportunity for a nostalgic look back on your high school years. Some of us seniors are on the verge of tears, whether it be tears of sorrow or joy, and some of us are just plain anxious. I tend to lean more towards the latter; I am ready to move on. I will, however, be the first senior to admit: high school wasn’t that bad. I do complain about school like anyone else. I complain about the classes that I don’t think benefit me and I complain about projects I think are busy-work and I complain about tests just like anybody in high school. But I also see what I have gained in these four years. Between the periodic busy-work and required nonsense that has come my way, I have learned an awful lot that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I have learned how to communicate with people, I have learned about the world that surrounds all of us, and I have discovered true passions that I previously didn’t even know I had.
But if I learned anything in high school, it would be this: it does not adequately prepare us for college! Contrary to what most teachers seem to believe, I am anxious to experience the life in which nobody is there to hold my hand. I am anxious to not have note packets handed to me. I am anxious to leave this school, leave my home, and heck, leave this state! I am ready to live life how I want to live life, without parents or teachers breathing down my neck and saying, “They won’t do this for you in college!” It is time for us to leave the safe little nest we call high school, and dip our little toes into the ice cold pond of the real world.
Personally, no matter how ready I am to dive headfirst into that brand-spanking-new experience, I will never forget my four years at Prairie Ridge. I had some great teachers, some great classes, some great friends and some great times, but I know there is much more out there to experience. As Paul Simon said, “I’m on my way, I don’t know where I’m going…” and that’s a feeling I do not want to take for granted—it isn’t going to last forever. Before you know it, we will (hopefully) be secure in a job, a home, and a lifestyle. Now is the time to take a few risks, have some fun, and develop the skills and acquire the knowledge you want to and need to in order to secure a successful future. But we had to start somewhere, and Prairie Ridge was truly only the beginning. Therefore, on behalf of the senior class, thank you PR for a great four years; you are a chapter of our lives that we will never forget. We are now off to that “real world” you warned us so much about!