When people begin or end a stage in their life, there are different emotions that come with it. Maize High seniors Laney Turner, Jocelyn Zambrano, and Reese Martens are all students who will graduate and begin their new journey. When you are in high school, you have teachers surrounding you and helping you guide yourself to reach success. High school is a crucial time and you have many things going on.

Turner has been in student media since her freshman year, and has created many different bonds and connections with journalism and her classmates along the way. 

“I have many amazing memories at Maize, but my favorite has got to be the journalism trip to Washington, D.C. for a national convention. A bunch of kids in student media were able to go on this trip and I just felt it was super memorable and created stronger friendships,” Turner said. “We got to go on a tour of the White House and the Capital along with other exciting activities. Although it didn’t happen in high school, it is still one of my favorite memories that I associate with the school and the people.” 

Graduating high school is one of the biggest things you can accomplish when you are young.  During your high school years, you always tell yourself that you wish time would go by so fast, but during that time, you only think of the freedom you will gain, not the stress of actually adulting. 

Zambrano has attended Maize High for all of her four years at Maize High. 

“My feelings about graduating are that I am super excited to see what life holds for me but at the same time I am nervous to start adulting. Although I am not as stressed about graduating, I am more stressed about how teachers are saying to turn in Chromebooks as soon as possible yet assigning more assignments, ”Zambrano said. 

Many graduating students can relate to Zambrano’s statement. In many cases, at many high schools, a few of the most stressful things are making sure you have all assignments completed, paying all the final fees, turning in school belongings, etc. Not everyone may know what they want to become, but they know that going from high school to whatever path they choose, it will be a different experience to start adulting in the real world. 

“One of the most stressful parts to graduating is the pressure of when you start your senior year, you have to for sure know what college you will be attending so you can start applying. Getting all homework done, especially your senior year, it’s gets harder because all of the students want to get it done,” Zambrano said.

Being more excited than stressed, Martens is ready to get out of school and move on to her future at KU. 

“I have a habit of always stressing myself out about the future and time passing in general, but after giving myself a moment to step back and appreciate graduation for the accomplishment it is, I’ve become more excited about it than stressed, ” Martens added, “ I want to spend so much time with friends this summer, and then I’ll begin my first year studying Music Education at KU.There’s definitely way too much pressure. I remember feeling pressure over having planned out back in September. Knowing what you want to do, where you want to go, and how to achieve it all is incredibly overwhelming. Once I decided I wanted to teach music, everything else started falling into place, but I wish I could go back and tell myself to relax a bit. We often get too caught up in the importance of the future that we forget to enjoy the present,” Martens said. 

A majority of seniors are ready to graduate, and some of them already know their next step. They are scared, nervous, excited, but better yet, they are prepared for what the future has to offer them. 

Turner mentioned how she is really excited for her next step after graduating but there is only one aspect of adulting she has not experienced before.

“I feel like I’m not really pressured for having things planned after graduation, but rather just figuring things out as I go,” Turner said. “I feel like once it gets closer towards August, I’ll start to feel the pressure of figuring things out on my own. I’ve never lived away from home, so adjusting to that will be new and just simply learning how to be more independent,” Turner said. 

Martens had some last words she wanted to offer those, as a piece of advice, from her high school experience.

“I would say that it’s okay to relax a little bit. Holding yourself to high standards is good as long as you remember to go easy on yourself every once in a while. Life is hard,” Martens said.