What happens after high school? For the class of 2018, this question has been running rampant in our minds for years. This year, however, is the year we find the answer. Some of us have already been accepted into college, some have jobs lined up for after graduation, and some don’t have a clue what they are going to do.
As our birthdays pass, most of us will no longer be considered a child. Eighteen is the year that we are expected to begin to figure things out on our own, like paying taxes, making our own doctor’s appointments, and potentially moving out of our parent’s homes. Transitioning from child to adult has been gradual, but also very sudden. Last year we weren’t allowed out past midnight, and this year we can legally buy cigarettes. And, for a lot of us, this change is scary.
Our last year of high school will most likely be stressful, but should also be fun. We should enjoy this chapter in our lives as it comes to a close. After this year, we will split off from these people that we have known and grown up with since childhood to pursue our own dreams. Some of us will move away, losing contact with those that we used to be so close with. Some of us will stay here, deciding not to leave the comfort of home.
There will be people from this class that you do not speak to again. But there are people that will travel with you through life, remaining friends, continuing to grow together. This is the year that we will begin to step away from the confines of school and step into the real world. We do not know exactly what will happen after high school, but we should not fear it.
Wherever life takes us, we should go with our heads held high. Most of us have gone through thirteen years of our lives together, developing from small children to young adults. We have become individuals with our own sense of life, our own sense of direction. Where this direction takes us, no one knows. Wherever it may take us, we will always remember the journey that led up to this point in our lives.