Photo by Christopher Ornleas

Mission hills graduate strings and metals rest on a pillow, signifying the approaching life after high school. Graduation is becoming dangerously close this year in early June. “I’m nervous about the future, but I know I’ll find my way through it eventually” Jacob Lawrence said

More often than not, the future is mostly defined through students’ long-term plans, completely undermining the fact that June 5 will be the very beginning of their independent adult lives. No longer protected by the safety net of school routines, lenient due dates and free counseling, ex-students can either dive straight into the deep end or finally have a break after 12 years of schooling.
“I think the first 30 days will be spent celebrating with my family. After that I’ll likely be spending the rest of the summer hanging out with friends, especially with the presumption I wouldn’t be able to see them that much after that,” senior Giovanni Orosco said.
With life being fairly simple at the moment besides the preparation of college applications and work, time will become very strained for some who choose to keep their space filled with objectives and goals. Although there is the temptation to sink into comfort after years of a continuous cycle of waking up early every day to go to school and working till night, it looks a lot more tantalizing than nose-diving into even more schooling.
“What would I do? I don’t really plan to do much really. I’ll just be doing what I usually do, which is just sitting around at home. I dunno, I would probably make the time for friends to play or go out or something,” senior Jake Trang said.
General consensus is apparent: seniors are exhausted after 12 years of the same day over and over again. The urge to finally have time to yourself without the looming threat of college is over, only this time the threat is actually here and needs to be dealt with. Entering the real world, students will be creating their own school, work and leisure schedules, controlling their own life to how it fits them. As scary as it may be to be fully responsible for oneself, students are at least finally able to take the wheel and turn themselves in the direction they want to go.
“First thirty days will be spent with my family. School took up a majority of that time that I could’ve spent with others. I’d especially take advantage of being able to sleep in. Any leftover time will be spent with my friends.” senior and Cardinal Scholar Quibey Gonzalez Hernandez said.
Rest easy seniors, don’t pressure yourselves!