BY MAYA SANCHEZ, Editor-in-Chief

This news publication is nearing its end: after this publication, there is the magazine, then it’s for next year’s team to start again. And as the year comes to a close, one of the things that’s most prevalent on seniors’ minds (not all seniors, of course, because each person is different) is college.

Some of you reading this already know where you are going, some are still deciding, and others have no clue. It’s stressful, to say the least, no matter what part of the college adventure that you are in. But it’s never just college, is it? It’s the programs that the college offers, it’s the city that it’s in, it’s the atmosphere of the college. It’s the parts that make the whole.

Out of my friend group, I’m the only one that’s going out of state. It’s not really a surprise, as I have only been looking at east coast schools, and they’ve been looking at solely Californian schools. It’s not unexpected but it still is a bit weird thinking about spending time away from them, meeting new people, and making new memories with new friends that aren’t them.

This isn’t supposed to be a sob story about me lamenting the woes of youth and about crumbling friendships, nor do I think of it as such. I think of it as another part of life that lies before me. I’m excited to take it, excited to leave high school behind and go onto the world full of bigger and better things. But change is always going to be faced with apprehension, and that’s okay.

Senior year has been filled with a lot of firsts. It was the first time I spent the entire school year driving myself to school. It was the first time I became involved in newspaper. It was the first time I went to prom! But in the same breath, it’s been filled with a lot of lasts. And as the days tick down, it is officially going to be our last.

For me, those lasts meaning enjoying the Californian sun as much as humanly possible because I know I will be missing it when I move out east. For you, it could be something completely different. Chances are, it is.

So whatever those lasts mean to you, whether it’s worry or joy or some odd combination of the two, make them yours. We’re only in high school once, after all. And even though these probably weren’t the best four years of our lives, they were four important ones.

Even writing this is a last– and a truly bittersweet one.

I truly hope that you make your lasts worthwhile.