Photo courtesy of Max Pixel
For most high school students, the second semester of the year is just one semester keeping them from summer vacation. But for seniors, the second semester is a final semester to say goodbye to a place that has been a part of their lives for four years.
Leaving high school is different for each student; some students are nervous to leave the familiarity, and some students are excited for change. Senior Elsbeth McGregor fears leaving Northwood, because she is scared to be apart from her siblings.
“My biggest fear about leaving high school is definitely leaving my brother and sister, because we plan on going to different colleges,” McGregor said. “We’ve always been together. I mean we’re triplets, so we are always together, all the time. So I’m nervous to leave them. I’m really close with both of them. My sister is my best friend; we do everything together so I’m nervous about starting over without her.”
Senior Evan Jones is ready to move onto college because he is excited to take classes that more directly benefit his future career path.
“I’m excited [to move on from high school],” Jones said. “In high school you are put on a set path as to what type of classes you have to take, and outside of CTEs, it’s not much focused on building you into the kind of career or profession that you want to do. I think that a more direct path into a profession would be beneficial to me.”
Senior Hannah Fowler believes that the best way to spend your final semester of high school is to remember the things that you’re going to miss.
“Well there’s actually an article that me and my friends shared with one another,” Fowler said. “It’s a long list of what you should do your second semester of senior year. A lot of them have to do with remembering and keeping your hometown at heart. So they are like, ‘Go to all the games and just look and realize what you’re going to miss when you go to college.’ I plan on doing that and just holding Northwood in my heart.”
For McGregor, she is ready to move on but is nervous about leaving high school and starting over.
“I think I’m ready to be on my own,” McGregor said. “I’m just nervous about starting over, because you have to leave your comfort zone of friends that you’ve been with for the past four years. Of course you will still see some of them, but you have to meet new people, and I think that can be intimidating.”
Jones will miss the teachers who have inspired him over the past four years.
“I will miss some of the teachers that I’ve had, especially Mrs. [Jill] Jackl and Phil Cox,” Jones said. “They were great and inspired me. They inspired me to be the best possible student I could be with their subject material. Even if I wasn’t interested in it, they provided some incentive to do the work and get it done.”
Fowler’s experience at the football games and her memories she created with her softball team are some of her favorite parts of high school.
“I love the football games and I love being in the Nuthouse,” Fowler said. “It’s just a positive environment where you’re with your friends and you’re doing something so typical of high school students. And of course [I love] softball. I’ve spent four years playing softball with my friends and the girls on the team. I’ve played softball since I was little so, that is always going to be in my heart and will be hard to forget…. I will never forget the memories [my friends and I] have made on the field.”
McGregor plans to spend her final semester appreciating the little things in her life.
“I definitely want to enjoy my time here in Pittsboro and just focus on the little things that I don’t think about on a daily basis that I know I’m going to miss,” McGregor said. “[I want to enjoy] eating at my favorite restaurants and hanging out with my friends who live right around the corner, because they won’t be right around the corner when I’m in college.”
Fowler encourages underclassman to spend their senior year being with the people they love, not surrounding themselves with people who bring negativity into their life.
“Just make sure you spend your senior year doing the things you like, hanging out with the people you like and just end your last year [with] a bang,” Fowler said. “Don’t worry about things that don’t matter. Don’t bring negativity into your life, because you don’t need that. I feel like high school students go through a lot, and your second semester, you should have fun, and you shouldn’t surround yourself with people who don’t bring out the best in you.”
– By Hannah Gail Shepherd
