Every single freshman is told that high school really flies by, and then at the end of their senior year, they realize how fast it really did go. 

I feel as if these past four years have flown by, but there were definitely some long days. Those days and weeks seemed so long back during my sophomore and junior year, but now I sit here as a senior and realize that they really flew by.

I sat next to my little freshman sister on the band bus ride to our last football game at Southview. Yeah sure, I knew it was my last ever football game, but I didn’t actually realize it was until it was over. I sat there thinking about it – how do I act? This is my last game ever, I need to remember every second of it. After half time it started to hit me. That was the last time I would ever perform a half time show and conduct my high school band. Third quarter I walked around with my friends, talking to everyone, just as I would during a normal game. I decided I wasn’t going to cry, I felt like I wouldn’t. But I was wrong. Every game we had, I just kept thinking, this is my last time doing this, this is my last time doing that, but it never really hit me. 

As I stood on the podium and conducted my last ever alma mater, I looked at my sister who had started crying. My sister is not one to cry in public, but she was. I had never had so many emotions rush into me than I did at that moment. I started to tear up, and before I knew it, we were done playing “Sweet Caroline”, and I was crying. I gave many hugs to all of my friends and directors and realized it was actually over. 

I cruised through my freshman, sophomore, and junior years, acting like it was no big deal. But now when I look back, I realize I was making memories that would stick with me through the rest of my life. I used to always wonder why seniors would always tell the freshmen how fast it went by, and now I know. We tell the underclassman that because when you’re in that moment your junior year when you feel like it’s never ending and all you want it to do is end, it will end. It will end quicker than you realize and you’ll be seeing your last class, game, match, or whatever you may do end the next year. The days seem slow, but the years fly by.

I made a point to listen to those seniors who told me it went by fast, and I tried to hang onto every second of it. So, my advice to those freshman is to find the things you love and the people you love and hang onto every second of it through high school because you want to make sure these fast four years really are your best four years.