When asked to reflect on the class of 2005, Principal Dixon gushed “They’re fabulous. I think of them as fabulous ‘05. It will be a very difficult graduation. I haven’t cried at a graduation yet, but I might cry at this one. It will be tough.”

As seniors end their time in high school, they also look forward to the next big stage of their lives, either in college or in the workforce. April is traditionally the month when colleges send out their acceptance or rejection notices. Seniors must make the decision of which college to attend, a choice that will determine how their next four years play out. However, for seniors who have been wait listed from their dream schools, the anxiety about college applications is still not over. “It’s really frustrating when you get wait-listed because it’s like you don’t know what’s going to happen to you,” said Tuan Huynh, who was wait listed at the University of Maryland.

For other college acceptees, the hard work has just begun. Students must pick housing options for next year, financial aid packages, meal plans, and make an assortment of other choices. In addition, if a student’s school of choice is out-of-state, he or she often needs to arrange visits to view the campus and dorms.

Another undeniable aspect of the end of seniors’ high school lives is senioritis. It is a well-known fact that seniors tend to slack off on their school work during the second semester, after college applications are over with and the pressure to do well in school decreases. “My senioritis has recently increased a lot. It’s just hard to care about school as much as I did even last year,” explains Jon Thomas. As teachers deal with student apathy, it is hard to fault seniors for the trend; second semester senior grades are the only ones that usually do not have a large affect if they slip down from what a student previously received. But seniors also must keep in mind warnings about colleges revoking acceptances because of poor grades.

Still, most seniors are not all happy about leaving high school. “I’ll definitely miss a lot of things about Paint Branch,” says Jen Wright. “High school’s been a lot of hard work sometimes, but I’ve had so many great experiences meeting new people and taking interesting classes with interesting teachers.” Marian Elbert agrees, saying that one thing she’ll miss about high school is the structure. “College is different because it’s so much more independent and you have to do everything by yourself without the guidance that high school gives you.”

However, for most seniors, the last four years of high school are already starting to feel like a blur of memories. Activities like the senior English assignment the Zine cause seniors to look back introspectively on what they have accomplished in high school, but for the most part seniors undergo a change in these last few weeks. Their thoughts have already transformed from picking courses for next year to picking where to stay for Beach Week. High school may be over, but the rest of their lives are coming up. Soon, before they even realize it, it will be college that seniors are graduating from.