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During last July’s 5.8 earthquake, 3-year-old Bronwyn told her 1-year-old sister, “We’re going for a wiggle.” READ MORE
Teen Years
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Academics at school seem to have come to a standstill. Senioritis, already a powerful force first semester, has reached a new, climactic pitch: Though most of us still somehow manage to come to class, we're there more out of habit than anything else. We gaze blankly at our teachers and deadlines fly by without stirring our slightest notice. It's clear we're all ready to go to college. Yet as my last year of high school draws to a close, it is with a mixture of fear and eager anticipation that I await the coming months. In August, I will part ways with my friends and family, leaving one life behind to embark on another, crossing the country to live on my own for the first time, leaving sunny Southern California for the unwelcoming Connecticut cold. And I'll admit, I'm scared. It's not that I'm not ready to move on. I've been looking forward to this for as long as I can remember. In many ways it feels great to be almost out of high school. In fact, I'm almost obsessed with college, reading my future school newspaper every day just to get a feel for life on campus. More than ever before, I'm content and excited about the future, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave an entire lifestyle behind. The prospect of going to college is accompanied by a plethora of worries: being thrust among more than 1,000 new students in my class - none of whom I know - I have to wonder if I'll fit in and make new friendships as dear to me as the ones I have now. And what about those relationships: Will my high school friendships last through my college years? At this point, it's pointless to speculate. So instead, my friends and I put off our worries about college by planning to go out with a bang. This summer is our last taste of high school, providing our final memories of adolescence and our entry into the world of adulthood. Though some of us have to find work to raise money for tuition, many also are taking the chance to travel (for some reason, backpacking through Europe seems to be the activity of choice), while others are organizing giant going-away bashes or simple get-togethers to remind us of our soon-to-be-forgotten high school social lives. It's a joyous time for all of us, but at some level I can't help thinking that we're using celebration as a cover for our insecurities about the end of this phase of our lives. Perhaps I'm just being cynical. Beyond academics, college is, of course, an amazing social experience, and I'm sure that within months I will have made enough new friends to easily counter any homesickness I may initially feel. That said, the unfamiliar continues to be intimidating, and the sheer depth of the change in lifestyle associated with going to college remains daunting. Regardless, like my friends, I'll use the summer to eagerly celebrate my entry into adulthood, enjoying what is supposed to be the most relaxed and stress-free time of my life. Marcel Przymusinski is a senior at Troy High School in Fullerton. |
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