As I walk on white linoleum tiled halls, my eyes peruse the familiar sights around me: the colorfully decorated bulletin boards, freshly painted walls, and owls.  Absorbing in this scene, my heart begins to sink as realization floods over me and the entire class of 2009.

This is our last first day of school at Hondo High School.  Knowing this, I pay attention more acutely to this educational institution that we have taken for granted.  Passing the journalism room, my mind recalls all of the hours, frustration and laughs spent there last year, and I wonder how this year will be.

Looking to the left, I see the cafeteria and stifle a giggle.  I remember freshman orientation clearly.  The cheerleaders attempted to pump us up but Jaclyn was the only one to stand and cheer.  It makes it even more ironic that it seems half of our senior class are cheerleaders. I smile once more because I also remember how I had wished I had possessed the same courage Jaclyn had.  Was it seriously three years ago?

This calls me to reflect how much I had grown through those three, noticeably swift, years.  All the seniors, in all honesty, have begun learning about reality.  We’ve made the transition from awkward teenagers to semi-responsible young adults. 

To think the place which has harbored our maturity will be out of our lives within a one year span arouses mixed emotions.  A small pang of sorrow echoes through me.  This will be the last year to have no-strings-attached fun.  Possibly the last year we can ask our parents for money and actually have them fork it out, no questions asked.  We have created numerous memories, good or bad, and generated countless inside jokes, in which our little worlds revolve around.  We have found our niches and ourselves here.  But this gloom is slight in comparison to the joy this last new school year brings.  We can test new waters with more leniency from parents.  We can have the fun adults enjoy with the responsibilities of a child.  Once graduation is over, we will be thrust into the real world.  So take advantage of this year. 

Churning these thoughts around, I decide to make a promise.  A promise to the school, myself and those surrounding me.  I promise to be as positive and optimistic as possible; maintaining this attitude will be difficult when deadline days approach.  If we are negative about our last year, it will not be as fun as it should.  It is what we make it.  I do not know about you, but I want to make my senior year the best, and it will be.

I’d like to make a note concerning the parking lot issue.  Although seniors have technically lost rights to it, I have noticed that many juniors and underclassmen still park in the other lot.  It means a lot to us seniors that the other students show that respect toward us.  Thank you.