The Importance of Senior Year

                A lot of people say that your junior year of High School is the most important, and that does make sense. However, your senior year is just as, if not more, important. You still need to focus on getting good grades so that you’ll be able to graduate and play sports and go to prom, and you also need to make your final college decision, which is arguably one of the most important choices you’ll ever have to make in your entire life.

                Junior year is when colleges look at your grades and SAT scores. That is why most people think junior year is the most important, and that is true, grade wise. Senior year is when you make the most important decisions of your life, and that’s why it is arguably more important than junior year. During senior year, you have to make two extremely big decisions: Where you’re going to college, and what you want to do for the rest of your life. These two things are most likely the two things that will have the most impact on you over your entire lifetime.

                One of the most reasonable things to do today is to attend a county college to get your Associate’s Degree, or just to go for two years to get you general education courses out of the way and then transfer to a four year school and get your Bachelor’s. Doing the latter will allow you, once you transfer, to focus on classes that only relate to your major, which is really what you want. A lot more kids are doing this because county college tuition rates are usually a lot lower than traditional four year schools, and some offer lower rates to students who live in that county.

                When asked “Why do you think senior year is so important?” Morgan Fisher, a senior at Sterling High School in Somerdale, New Jersey said “It’s when you realize who your real friends are. This is the year when you grow up and realize what you’re going to do for the rest of your life, you choose who you surround yourself with, and you also find out who you are. It’s the point in life when you get to become you.” After being asked the same question, Sean McMillan, another senior at Sterling High School, said “It’s the final year before ascending to college. You have to make critical decisions to help yourself choose your career.”

                What Morgan said really rings true. “It’s when you realize who your real friends are.” This statement is so true, it’s a little crazy. Obviously in movies they overplay this and make it a huge cliché, but it really is true. There are some people who you can be friends with for over 10 years, but when they get to high school, they make new friends and leave you in the dust, but then there are some people who you may have only known for a few years, but you can just tell that they will always be there for you, and that your friendship is going to last for the rest of your lives, and that’s a real friend.

                Friendship is a funny thing. It can either make you really happy, or it can make you upset. In the case of losing friends, which happens a lot over the course of your high school career, you’re probably going to be upset. When making new friends, however, you’re bound to be happy.