The first day of school never really gets any hype once you get to be a senior. For pretty much all of the people I know, the first day is a looming date that you pray comes slower and slower each year. 

But it doesn’t. 

Summer always flies by, and the first day of school arrives perfectly on schedule, with all of the work, drama, and stress just waiting there, exactly where you left it the year before. It’s the end of endless free time we had in the summer, and the start of a new and unknown era that you begin to navigate every August. 

But this is my senior year, and I’m not sure that this day is as daunting for me as it has always been. I actually found myself looking forward to the first day, and I can’t say I’m completely sure why. Maybe it’s the excitement of rushing to pick seats next to your friends, or getting to take classes that I’m interested in, but for whatever reason, I’m super stoked. 

But, unfortunately, varsity volleyball has a tournament. We’ve had a tournament every year on the first day of school, but it’s particularly bothering me that i’m missing the first two days of my senior year. 

I feel like I’m missing the beginning of the end of my high school career, and it’s really not sitting with me. The first two days were supposed to be fun, and exciting, but instead I’ll just show up on monday when the luster of the new year has worn off, and the real work has begun. I wanted those two days to ease in, meet my teachers, friends, and just get a feel for each class I’m in, but I can’t, and there’s really nothing I can do about it. 

But there is something the rest of the school can do. Change your perspective! Don’t dread the day, seize it, and understand that one day, there won’t be a first day of high school for you to anticipate. Next its college, then your real job, where summer is no longer a time for vacation, but just another season in the life of a working adult. 

I’m missing the first two days of my senior year, and I’m bummed. But I sincerely hope others can appreciate the significance of the first day of school, and appreciate its job as a gateway from the freedom of summer to the excitement of the school year. I wish I could be there on the first day, so I really hope that other students can find the value in it, and make it a day you look back on fondly, when you’re all grown up, and your high school days are just a memory.