Summertime Sadness Settling In

Summertime Sadness Settling In As Summer comes to a close and the bleakness of parting with the town that built you begins to settle, one cant help but realize how important 18 years is. 18 years of the same friends surrounding you, teachers developing you, and parents nagging you. 18 years of memories: your first bike ride, your first sleepover, your first love and first heartbreak. Leaving home can be scary, but looking past the fear of change is the mass opportunity of growth. In the year to come, you will, indefinitely, growand I dont just mean in pant sizes. They say retrospect is 20/20. Looking back on my senior year of high school, there are many mistakes that I made, many failures I endured, and at the time they seemed so large, so monumental. Theyre not. Let me say that again for all the parents out there: THEY ARE NOT. That one test you got a C on? Not a big deal. That detention you got for hitting the snooze button one too many times? Not a big deal. Because all of those errors, all of those failures, and each and every experience will give you a chance to grow once you leave home. You will learn how to study, how to cram, and how to prioritize, and that is just the start of it. You will also learn about yourself, your identity, and your values. And while that feeling of security from your home town will never go away, use this next year and every year after to really jump start your growth into the incredible adult you can be. Rachel Class of 2020 I am studying Middle Grades Education with concentrations in Social Sciences and Literacy in the College of Education. Although I now reside in Champaign, I am originally from Vernon Hills, a Northwest suburb of Chicago.