Welcome to senior year – the last stage of childhood – where the time runs out faster and the list of things to do grows.

Let’s take a trip. Summer before senior year you are getting excited for senior year. Excited for prom, being 18, probably a car, parties, getting money and more. Asking questions like, “Who am I going to prom with? Who will ask me to prom? What color am I wearing? What colleges am I applying for? Where will I decide to go? Will I get a scholarship? What will my friends and I do to make this the best senior year?” If you are playing a sport then you are asking questions a little differently: “Will I go to state? Will I play in college? Will I get a full ride?” That sounds like a lot of questions, and I did not even talk about any classes yet. So many questions that need to be answered.

Let’s talk about classes. I don’t know about anyone else, but I did not take any breaks senior year. I seemed to pick all the hard classes. Time management is key. I key I lost after the second quarter. I lost the key at work somewhere. It is hard to go to work and then turn around and go to work. Especially when you have to do homework that will take about two hours plus. You are always tired when you get home, but still have to work on your work. Now, it is 1:00 A.M., and you have to be on the bus-stop by 6:25 A.M. One day you will decide to skip homework and just sleep. It does not work like that because now you are behind and you have to make up for It. When are you going to make up for It? Weekends? No, you can not; you have work that you still have to get up early for work. Battle between sleep and grades. Sleep wins, can not focus on your work if you are half sleep.

Next stop, college. FASFA, scholarships, and college visits. You are worried you will drown in debt, so deep in no one will hear your pleas for help. You decide to fill out some scholarships. Scholarships are not simple. You have to get letter of recommendations, find reliable people – also, write essays. Well, that’s not so bad unless you already have a whole bunch of homework you have not done yet. Adults always telling you that being an adult is hard. Forget all of that – the ages of 16-18 are hard. They complain about bills, but after work, they can chill. A student does school, work, homework and still tries to have fun. Small struggle compared to others, but the struggle is still real.

Ending the year, you are ready to go. Less days, more work, graduation and prom moving slow. As soon as the day comes it feels like seconds compared to the wait. Speaking of prom –  Seems like about $156,939.03 for the whole shebang, for it to last less than a day. That is crazy. Then months later, you have to pay what seems like $146,839,583,766.10 for college. Can you say broke?

Throughout the year you struggle. Barely any sleep. Always working. Always in school. Doing school activities still.

Stress, anxiety, depression, all of this just to graduate.

If you are struggling, you are not the only one. Hang in there and stay strong my fellow Hawk.