As soon as one set of students graduate and another move past their junior year, these juniors are already thinking about their next year of school. It’s no wonder why; it’s their senior year. They have heard all the stories about the privileges, senior memories and variety of choices made during the final year of high school, and they wonder if their senior year will be just as thrilling.

“I was expecting senior year to be the best, most exciting year,” senior Mariana Lagunas said. “I was just excited to be a senior. You’re only a senior in high school once.”

Senior year isn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, and some students were even warned of that by family, friends and other past graduates. Some students eyes are opened wide once they realize that senior year has its difficulties.

“I was told it would be a hard year because all you want to do is graduate,” Lagunas said.

“I expected it to be hard with college and scholarship applications on top of regular school work,” senior Megan Thomas said. “I was told that it would be easy second semester since class rank and GPAs are frozen after the end of the first second semester.”

When many students enter their senior year, they have several expectations and beliefs of what will happen that year. One major belief by incoming seniors is that senior year will be the easiest and the least stressful school year.

Many current senior students soon learned within the first few months of their senior year that this is not the case. On top of regular school assignments, college related applications and job interviews take place, adding onto seniors’ hectic schedules.

“What has made senior year stressful is having to apply to many colleges and waiting for scholarship applications to become available. When they do, it is all at once,” Thomas said.

“I thought junior year was stressful enough, but then senior year rolled around,” Lagunas said. “Trying to keep a balance between classes, sports and extracurriculars is hard enough. Try adding applying to college, looking for scholarships, sports and extracurricular stuff. It has definitely been harder than junior year. Many times I felt helpless and as if I was drowning in responsibilities, work and life. Did I mention how you must also maintain a social life?”

To help alleviate some stress during senior year, Thomas and Lagunas offered some advice for next year’s seniors.

“Don’t fall for the myth that you can take it easy the second semester; it is not over until it is absolutely all the way over,” Thomas said.

“It will be alright. Work your butt off and don’t give up,” Lagunas said, “There is nothing more rewarding than that acceptance letter. Make sure you distribute your dedication accordingly. Think about what is more important and always have a plan A; however, I think plan B is also just as important.”

Whether you’re a sophomore or a junior, be prepared that senior year definitely won’t be a piece of cake. Senior year has more responsibility than any other school year before. As long as you give it your best effort until the very end, all the hard work of your high school career will pay off as you succeed in graduating high school.