Ah, senior year. After four years, I’ll be gone after this week. Of course there were times I wanted to drop out, but who could blame me? Everyone probably wanted to drop out at some point in their high school career, but obviously it wasn’t going to happen.

Throughout all my years of high school, I’ve witnessed the worst possible things that could happen to any high school student and the best things. That’s the thing about high school: it’s a roller coaster of emotions, drama (of course) and lessons. Most importantly, high school is about looking back at all the memories you’ve made with the people you made them with.

Truthfully I can’t remember how my freshman and sophomore year were, so I couldn’t help you there. Junior year was a year I could never forget even if I wanted to. Junior year was really something, more rebellious like. But after it was over, as I said before you, learn from the mistakes you make and grow from them. It’s up to oneself at the end of the day.

Now back to what I came here to talk about, the big final year of high school. Senior year. The year where you stress college applications, cram exams into your schedule, plan for your senior prom and senior beach week. Let’s not forget the most memorable time of walking on the stage with your graduating class.

Although I’ve got a couple of weeks left before that memorable time comes with the mighty 2016, I thought I’d let you all know that every day, week, and month counts. So make the most of every day of your senior year as I make the most of the last month of high school ever.

I’m not going to fool you like everyone else might; senior year is not easy at all. It’s all about running back and forth, checking your emails, multitasking (which to this day, I’m terrible at) and making sure your grades are at least “passable” so you don’t have to come back to school after all your friends left. Teachers would like to call that “Failure Week,” when the seniors who’ve slacked all semester come back to fix what they can before graduation.

Friendly advice as well, don’t get too caught up in situations that happen in school. Remember it’s only temporary–whether it’s a relationship coming to an end or a friendship breaking apart. Don’t let your school work get caught up in the mix. I can vouch for this. If things should get fixed, they will in due time. If not, so be it.

Just don’t let too many things get in the way of what really matters. You wouldn’t want to fail a test or let your grades drop because of something that happened years, weeks, or even days ago. Again, focus on what really matters to you and what is going to benefit you later on. Everything that is meant to be will be there.

I can definitely say that I learned a lot throughout my years of high school to help me in college. I’m grateful for the mistakes made and the accomplishments as well. You learn from both, so I regret nothing.