​The Last Step

It's hard to put my senior year into words. For so long, it felt like a distant moment, something that would happen eventually, but never now, and even when it arrived, it still felt far away, unreal. Leaving the place where you've spent your entire life is not easy, and I believe that you are never prepared, no matter how much you try. Senior year has been a whirlwind of emotions. I felt excited, of course,  but also deeply scared. The realization that I was living my last moments at school hit me hard, my last Halloween, my last Christmas, my last everything. Looking at my friends and not being able to imagine a future without them by my side every day was heartbreaking. Everything that I once took for granted during all my life (mornings at school, PE classes, spending all day with my friends) suddenly seemed so temporary and fragile, like they could be gone forever without me realizing it. 

 

Nevertheless, although it has been a tough year, it has taught me more than I could have imagined. It showed me how, without even realizing it, everything that once felt like your daily reality can suddenly turn into memories. What once felt like your everyday reality suddenly becomes a memory, you accept that one day you won’t walk down those hallways again, sit at that lunch table, race to class after recess, or eat that chocolate bread from the store.  After saying all this, I think that it is evident that this senior year has been hard for me, but also, the most beautiful thing, learning to appreciate the present, because even the smallest moments can become the most meaningful memories. 

 

Finally, I have seen that senior year was not just about finishing school. It's about growing up, letting go, even when you're afraid of what comes next. That is how life goes; every beginning has an ending, and I love to compare the person I am now to the little girl who started preschool. That little girl was also scared, and now she is grown up, ready, even if it doesn't feel like it, to say goodbye to the place that has been my world and held all my memories, stories, and friends.

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Maria José Gomez caseres