Senior year will definitely be one of the most memorable years of your life. The actions that you take during this final year of high school will decide whether this year will be memorable in a good way or bad way. There are specific steps you can take to make this year the most enjoyable year of high school.

One important thing to remember is to not purposely overwork yourself. By your senior year, you are probably already involved in several sports and activities on top of a part-time job. You should not make your year harder than necessary by taking overbearing classes. While it is good to show colleges that you are challenging yourself and that you are focused, it is not necessary to overload your schedule with grueling classes.

Kya Vega-Allen, a current senior student, weighs in on her experience with an overbearing course load. She says, “I decided to fill my schedule this year with as many higher-level course as I could so that I could appeal to the colleges that I was interested in. I am currently taking 4 AP classes and I must tell you that it is treacherous. I have never been so stressed out in my life. On top of handling a part-time job, I’ve had to deal with time consuming work from these classes on a daily basis. I can not stress enough how you should not take this many AP classes in one year.” Take the best, most challenging courses you can without overwhelming yourself.

Another important thing you should do is cherish this last year with your friends. We all know that once you graduate from high school it becomes increasingly hard to keep in touch with many of the friends that you had in your childhood. You should make sure that you set time aside to spend with your friends no matter how busy this year may be. There is a slim chance that you will ever be able to be around them as much as you are now, so make these moments last.

Darlena York, a current senior student, shares how she tries to make the most of her last year with her friends. “My group of friends really just try to spend time together whenever possible. We always go out to eat for each other’s birthdays, we celebrate holidays together apart from our families, and we just try to set aside time for each other so that we don’t get so distant,” she reflected.

The most important piece of advice I can give you all is to not procrastinate. Procrastination never leads to anything good. Trust me I know how tempting it can be to put things off, but all it ever leads to is stress and failure. If you do your school work as soon as you possibly can, you will have much more free time to do whatever you desire. You should also make sure you that you are completing college, financial aid, and scholarship applications well before the due date. Procrastinating here can cause you to fail to get into colleges and also cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Conversely, completing these things earlier can make your applications look better and it can literally pay off. By not avoiding your immediate responsibilities, you can make your year brighter, less stressful, and more enjoyable.

I wish you all the the best in the rest of your high school career, and I have no doubt that if you listen to these three pieces of advice, you will have a positive and memorable senior year.