You walk under a majestic arch with profound words written upon it and enter the unfamiliar world you’ve only heard about from movies and older siblings—high school. For the next four years, you know you’re going to change and grow and sometimes that’s mysterious.
“Can’t wait to’s” somehow turn into “remember when’s” overnight. But sometimes, you feel it. From orientation to graduation, there are certain moments that stand out in your mind and will for years to come.
Before the first day of school, you have to face another step. Orientation: the gateway to high school.
You shuffle awkwardly to get your nametag and huddle in high school formation – circle or semi-circle – with your new classmates, exchanging the necessary information: name, old school, what sport you play, etc. Some people you might’ve known since kindergarten, others you’re meeting for the first time.
Regardless of how well you know your future classmates, everyone feels awkward. Everyone is in that odd transition moment—too old for kisses on the first day of school but too young to drive yourself. Because we’re all in that in-between stage, we bond.
And right then you know that high school has just begun.
A week or two into your first year, you embark with your peers on class trips. The excursion might start out awkward, but then you strike up conversations with people you normally wouldn’t.
It’s orientation 2.0, with the looming parental presence banished from your mind, and you can really get to know your classmates. Of course, the usual hesitation to speak for fear of embarrassment still keeps some to themselves, but as each year goes by, the hesitation melts away.
By the fourth time you step onto a bus with these people you’ve known for what seems like a liftetime now, quiet conversations spanning no farther than a pair of freshman turn to shout across the aisle for things as trivial as headphones.
Fast forward to your first high school football game. After a month or two of getting acquainted, you feel confident enough to venture out with a couple classmates to Laguna’s field on a sunny day.
Once there, you feel the sense of community and you realize for the first time that you are a part of something as you wave pom-poms handed out to you by the football moms.
The first time you have to go to class in the senior quad is terrifying; walking through a sea of older kids is nerve-wracking, but four years later you look back and realize they were no different from you.
Each year, the mighty seniors seem to become younger and younger until you step onto campus and realize that this time, it’s you. At this point, you can barely remember the trepidation of entering this seemingly exclusive area.
All at once, you feel out of place, yet unnoticed. It’s quite unsettling. But with each return journey, you know that one day you’ll saunter through the quad like you own the thing.
Sophomore year is finally here and you don’t feel so vulnerable anymore. Soon enough, you’ll be able to flash that coveted card when people ask to see your license photo. Yet the day is still to come when you can wield your newly acquired driving powers on school grounds.
After a year of starting and signing petitions as a sophomore, you finally obtain the privilege to drive to school.
Taking the SAT/ACT for the first time is a tedious and overwhelming process. You are confused and frantic from the moment you get there, especially if your test center is not your high school.
“As soon as you put your pencil down it’s a great relief but then you leave the facilities you realize you have two weeks of pressure as you wait for your scores,” said senior Andrew Puzder.
You have worked all year for this, but it is over in approximately four hours.
APs are stressful, but exciting. Your class surrounds you, murmuring in Spanish into the recorder or chewing on their erasers trying to remember what year the Revolutionary War began.
You began plotting before you even entered high school and now is the time to bring these ideas to life. Senior prank and ditch day is a celebration of making it this far.
You’ve endured the awkward first conversations of freshman year, the monotony of everyday life as a sophomore and the grueling work of junior year. Now’s the chance to band together with your class and collectively say “I’m a second semester senior and look how much I care.”
Sure, you’ve adopted the aloof attitude and probably contracted a severe case of senioritis, but here’s where it all starts. You know, from this moment on, you’re practically done. With your college chosen and APs completed, this prank is a well-deserved reward for all you’ve accomplished over your high school career.
Prom. It is the inevitable day when girls spend hours dressing up and boys grimace through the photos.
It is the day people will ask you about for years to come. Prom. Laguna is special and you get to have two proms, even if you weren’t invited in years prior.
While Junior Prom tests the waters, Senior Prom is an all-out last hurrah, a night to remember.
Senior projects are an opportunity to show the world what high school has made you. It is your first venture into the real world and can give you connections for life. This is a chance to try something new and embrace both the good and the bad.
And now, somehow, you’re there. Graduation: the bittersweet moment when you get to look back and say, “I made it.” It is the end of the beginning of your life, a goodbye to the familiar and a hello to the undiscovered now.
Maybe you’ve seen one or two things before, but none from this point of view. It’s exhilarating; it’s emotional; it’s finally here. Relatives and family friends come in and fill up rows in the Ruston.
You hear the familiar tune play as you stride out into the ampitheatre, packed full of teary eyes and beaming faces. You take a seat among your peers, all immaculately dressed. You see the emotions of parents reflected in their faces: pride, joy and a touch of melancholy.
The speakers dictate each of the vignettes until, at last, they call your full name. Stepping onto the podium, you look out at the sea of faces until your eyes rest upon the most familiar out there.
As the teacher lists off your talents, attributes, accomplishments, you stand a little straighter, make your father beam a little more and see the tears begin to flow from your mother’s eyes.
You look at them, they look at you, and they know they’ve done everything right to raise such a wonderful child who’s done so many wonderful things. You smile at them, as it’s the only thing you can do from where you are.
Then you smile at the world because you’ve done something amazing. You hear your full name called again and the applause commences as you shake hands and receive your diploma.
You walk under that arch as you’ve done many times since your first, last time as a student, first as an alum, and you know your life has just begun.