Many people say high school goes by fast, so it is important to make the most of it. But, they don’t tell you the confusion surrounding this monumental life change. Suddenly, the end of the tunnel to the life I am used to living is in sight with a new path beginning to form.

Throughout my life, I have always had a strong sense of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had it all planned out, down to where I wanted to work when I graduated from law school. Call me crazy, but 10-year-old Ari thought she had her life together. However, with maturing and growing up, comes new passions and the ability to dive deeper into one’s sense of self. 

With the end of the first semester of my senior year quickly wrapping up, it is almost impossible for these thoughts of what comes next not to consume my mind. While the next chapter is guaranteed to be filled with new beginnings, new friendships and much more, it is hard to leave behind the life I’m used to living. The classmates I see on a daily basis will no longer be the classmates I struggle to find a parking spot with as we race to see if we’ll make it before the bell rings or the people I walk with to my next class. However, it is these memories that shape the next chapter of my life. 

As a kindergartner, I would look up to those scary, old fifth graders playing four-square on the playground with me, thinking it would be forever until I’m that old but then suddenly I was that fifth grader. Soon, that fifth grader turned into a middle schooler who turned into a high schooler who would soon turn into a college kid. Each chapter is full of more experiences than the last. 

So, as we all venture into the last semester of the school year, whether or not it’s the last semester of high school, it’s important to welcome that change into one’s life and enjoy the moments we have left because after we have completed the K-12 circle of life, we are out into the next chapter of our lives.