Kaitlyn
Craig
As the end of the semester draws upon the school, it is hard to believe
senior students at Colonie High are almost through with the 2013-2014 school
year. Although it may not affect underclassmen as much, seniors especially are
getting ready to say goodbye to high school and create a life of their own
independently.
Personally, as a
senior doing her best as she finishes school, it is hard to believe how close
we are to the end of everything we knew up to this point. After we walk across
the stage at graduation, we will have the world at our fingertips to discover
and venture into. We will have the ability to make our own decisions and choose
the paths we want to take, while we evaluate whether it would be the right
choice for us. Although it is scary to think that we will make the wrong
decisions about our lives and our futures, it is important to have a positive
outlook for the future.
Students have
varying opinions when it comes to leaving high school, but it may be an
exciting thought to move on to the next
stage in our lives. “It feels like it’s taking a long time to graduate,” senior
Victoria Tallman said as she thought about the nearby future. Graduation date
is just months away for seniors, and students are thinking to the future and
what they would like to do once they graduate. “I’m becoming a nurse and going
to Hudson Valley,” Tallman said. In two words, senior Yesenia Coello sums up
her future; “college and freedom!”
Students may be
moving to some greater point in their lives, but they will most likely never
forget all the good and bad times we have had in our high school days. “You
have a better judge of character,” Coello said, reflecting on how school has
impacted our lives. However, some feel that high school simply gives you work
to do before you go to college or get a job, and do not find any potential
value in the high school system. It seems that this education level does not
always provide you with what students feel are important to move on, grow, and
develop into who they are planning on becoming after school is over. “They
don’t teach you the real world,” Tallman agrees. Although Olivia Berrington is
a junior this year, she is in one of the most important years in high school,
one that people say colleges look at the most. She is planning and looking to
the future, with her graduation date planned for next June. Trying to think of
the ways high school may have prepared her for the future, she says “sometimes
you’re going to use English – it teaches you that.”
Eager to move on, Berrington
has evaluated the past two and a half years at Colonie High School. “What I
will not miss is anything. I will miss…nothing,” she comments with a smile.
When asked what she will miss, Tallman had a similar thought: “Nothing, maybe
my friends - I will not miss the overpriced food!”
